Should men be telling women’s stories of sexual harassment?

Charles Randolph talks about what prompted him to write a film like ‘Bombshell’

In a world charged with the ongoing #MeToo movement, the Jay Roach directorial Bombshell with its three Oscar nods is a statement in itself.  A film that focuses on telling the story of two women’s experiences working for Fox News, Bombshell is timely – the need for safe workspaces is an urgent one. However, it’s interesting to note that it’s a story about women’s issues written and directed by men.

In an interview with Refinery29, Charles Randolph, the writer of the film, revealed that he had, infact, penned the story way before the Me Too movement blew up in the wake of Harvey Weinstein’s expose. He wrote the story way back when Gretchen Carlson filed a lawsuit against Fox News’ CEO Roger Ailes.

“I don't think I would've written it after the Harvey thing. I would've felt like, “oh, the issue's being spotlighted enough that other people, more appropriate, could do a better job,” maybe. But no, I don't think I ever stopped to think, “Am I the right person?” Because I just felt like nobody was doing it,” he shared about his motivation behind telling the story.

Addressing a particular scene from the movie where Margot Robbie’s character interacts with Ailes, Randolph touched upon how his intent was to show men how complex the issue was. “These are situations are utterly complicated in a way that men don't appreciate. That whole relationship to power is very different. It's an utterly complicated situation that a woman will intuitively understand better than men ever can, and therefore, we men can't be in the business of judging it,” he said.

“Part of me agrees, and part of me disagrees,” Randolph said when asked about his response to people who say that this isn’t a man’s story to tell. “The part of me that agrees is if women want to tell that story, fantastic. And again, had I felt like women were telling it, I wouldn't have told it,” he continued.

“But on the other hand, there are always in any of these harassment situations two human beings in the room. And very often the perpetrator is a male. So, understanding that is important. I would say we need all kinds of movies that address this issue. Movies like this one are a little bit more commercially oriented,” Randolph added.

He also mentioned his reasoning behind the creation of an extra, fictional character, Kayla, portrayed by Robbie. He said that he wanted to create it so he “could tell that story, that really delicate, complicated story, which reflects patriarchy and power inequality, but in a very different way than we normally associate with narratives of harassment.”

Randolph added that he feels the exclusion of women led films in major award shows is an issue in itself. “We need to, in award seasons and in evaluating the work of others, open ourselves up to the possibility that there are emotional resonances and ideas that we just can't feel or see the power and beauty of to the degree that other people can, and therefore dismissiveness is not the approach you need to take.”