Kerry Washington fixes political scandals Thursday nights on ABC. But on Saturday, she'll be in the middle of the controversy in HBO's latest film, "Confirmation."
Washington plays Anita Hill, the law professor who accused then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in 1991.
Washington told NPR: "Back then that was a vague legal term that people were not using. There was little public understanding about even what sexual harassment was."
The high-profile case brought both sexual harassment and racism into the national conversation.
"I can't not care. I'm not Kennedy. I'm a black man in America," Wendell Pierce said as Clarence Thomas.
The film features Greg Kinnear as future Vice President Joe Biden and Kristen Ariza as Judy Smith, the crisis management expert Washington's "Scandal" character is based on.
"I think one of the things that really drew me to the project was that for five years, I had been playing a character that holds extreme access and power in Washington," the actress said.
Washington told told USA Today she was excited by the challenge of playing the other side of the power spectrum.
"Confirmation" airs Saturday at 8 p.m. Eastern on HBO.
This video includes clips from ABC, HBO, USA Today, NPR and PBS and images from Getty Images.
