FX has today given a series order to the original limited series Mrs. America starring two-time Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine, The Aviator). Production will begin in early 2019.
Mrs. America tells the true story of the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, and the unexpected backlash led by a conservative woman named Phyllis Schlafly (Blanchett). Through the eyes of the women of that era - Schlafly and second-wave feminists Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug and Jill Ruckelshaus - the series explores how one of the toughest battlegrounds in the culture wars of the 1970s helped give rise to the Moral Majority and forever shifted our political landscape.
Dahvi Waller (Mad Men, Halt and Catch Fire) created the series and will serve as showrunner for the nine-episode season. She executive produces with Blanchett, Stacey Sher and Coco Francini. FX Productions will produce.
"Cate Blanchett is one of the great actors of our time - and we are truly honored to have her star in Mrs. America," said John Landgraf, CEO, FX Networks. "We have no doubt that Cate is the perfect actor to play the role of Phyllis Schlafly, who was one of the most polarizing and fascinatingly complex figures of the '70s for her opposition to and role in defeating the Equal Rights Amendment, which to this day has never been ratified. Dahvi Waller's scripts are extraordinary, and I'm thrilled to reunite with my former Jersey TV partner Stacey Sher, and commend her on assembling such a dynamic foursome of gifted, female, artist-producers to take on this timely story."
"I feel privileged to have this opportunity to collaborate with Dahvi, Stacey and Coco under the robust and fearless FX umbrella," said Blanchett. "I am extremely excited about delving into the material as there couldn't be a more appropriate time to peel back the layers of this recent period of history, which couldn't be more relevant today."
