Starz Watergate Drama GASLIT Rolls Out Recurring Cast

STARZ ROLLS OUT RECURRING CAST
FOR WATERGATE DRAMA “GASLIT”

Allison Tolman, J.C. MacKenzie, Chris Bauer,
Hamish Linklater and Chris Messina Set to Join the
Julia Roberts and Sean Penn Led Series

Santa Monica, Calif. – July, 1, 2021 – STARZ announced that recurring roles have been added to the STARZ Original series “Gaslit,” the untold story of Martha Mitchell’s role in exposing Watergate. Emmy® nominee and Critics Choice award-winner Allison Tolman (“Fargo,” “Why Women Kill”) will join Gold Derby award-winner J.C. MacKenzie (The Trial of the Chicago 7, “October Faction”), Chris Bauer (“True Blood,” “The Wire”), Hamish Linklater (“Legion,” The Big Short) and SAG award-winner Chris Messina (Argo, “The Mindy Project”) in the series created and executive produced by Robbie Pickering (“Mr. Robot,” “Search Party,” Natural Selection).

“Gaslit” is a modern take on Watergate that focuses on the untold stories and forgotten characters of the scandal – from Nixon’s bumbling, opportunistic subordinates to the deranged zealots aiding and abetting their crimes, to the tragic whistleblowers who would eventually bring the whole rotten enterprise crashing down.

The story will center on Martha Mitchell, played by Julia Roberts. A big personality with an even bigger mouth, Martha is a celebrity Arkansan socialite and wife to Nixon’s loyal Attorney General, John Mitchell, played by Sean Penn. Despite her party affiliation, she’s the first person to publicly sound the alarm on Nixon’s involvement in Watergate, causing both the Presidency and her personal life to unravel. As Attorney General, Mitchell is Nixon’s most trusted advisor and best friend. Temperamental, foulmouthed and ruthless – yet hopelessly in love with his famously outspoken wife – he’ll be forced to choose between Martha and the President.

“Gaslit” Recurring Cast

Allison Tolman - GASLIT - Starz — Allison Tolman — (Photo by Casey Curry / Invision / AP)

Allison Tolman will play “Winnie McLendon,” the DC journalist who would ultimately become Martha Mitchell’s biographer. An intrepid young journalist trapped in the “pink ghetto” of society stories, Winnie first sees Martha Mitchell as just another puff piece in Ladies Home Journal but ends up embroiled in the heart of the Watergate scandal.

Allison Tolman was discovered in Chicago and cast as a series regular on the first season of the hit FX crime dramedy “Fargo,” co-starring with Billy Bob Thornton and Martin Freeman. For her work on the show, she won the 2014 Critics’ Choice Award and she was nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe for best supporting Actress in a Movie or Mini-series.

Tolman just wrapped on the second season of the Paramount + anthology series ““Why Women Kill”. She stars as Alma, an All-American 1940’s housewife who finds herself in the middle of a dark set of circumstances.

Previously Tolman starred in “Emergence,” a character-driven genre thriller for ABC. Tolman also played the lead role in the ABC single-camera series “Downward Dog,” which premiered at Sundance: the only half-hour series to ever premiere at the film festival.

She also appears in the Jordan Peele produced reboot of “Twilight Zone” for CBS All Access. Other TV credits include recurring roles on Hulu’s “Castle Rock”; HBO’s “Mosaic” (directed by Steven Soderbergh); NBC’s “Good Girls”; “Brooklyn Nine Nine”; “I’m Sorry” with Andrea Savage; and FX’s “Archer.”

On the feature side, she appeared in the features Sisters Brothers, with John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix, as well as the indie dramedy FAM-I-LY with Taylor Schilling. Other feature credits include Killing Gunther (with Taran Killam and Arnold Schwarzenegger); The House (with Amy Poehler and Will Ferrell); Fresno (with Natasha Lyonne, Judy Greer and Fred Armisen); Krampus (with Toni Collette and Adam Scott); and The Gift (with Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall and Joel Edgerton). She is upcoming in the indie comedy The Last Shift starring Richard Jenkins.

J.C. MacKenzie - GASLIT - Starz — J.C. MacKenzie — (Photo credit Pierre Gautreau)

J.C. MacKenzie will play “Howard Hunt,” a former CIA agent who once collaborated with G. Gordon Liddy in Nixon’s “Plumbers” unit and helps him execute the bungled Watergate break-in.

J.C. Mackenzie was born in Peterborough, Ontario, the son of Bill and Mary Mackenzie. His father was a pharmacist, and his mother was a nurse. He was raised in Ottawa, Ontario with his three brothers until discovering theatre at Concordia University in Montreal Quebec.

Subsequently he attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).

Mackenzie spent several years working in theatres across Canada including the national tour of Simon’s play “Biloxi Blues,” which ran for over 600 performances over the course of a year and a half.

His first television success came as Arnold Spivak in the Emmy Award-winning television series “Murder One,” which ran for two seasons on ABC. He was cast as Reagan “Normal” Ronald in the series “Dark Angel,” which won a People’s Choice Award and ran for two seasons on Fox.

Chris Bauer - GASLIT - Starz — Chris Bauer — (Photo credit Stephen Buskin)

Chris Bauer will play “James McCord,” a former CIA operative who serves as the head of the security team for John and Martha Mitchell. On orders from his boss, McCord becomes one of the Watergate burglars and forms an unlikely connection with Martha Mitchell, who recognizes him after he’s arrested.

Chris Bauer was most recently seen in the Warner Brothers film The Little Things, opposite Denzel Washington. In 2019, he concluded a long run-on HBO playing Bobby Dwyer on “The Deuce,” Andy Bellefluer on “True Blood” and Frank Sobotka on “The Wire.”

Bauer played Jimmy Flaherty on the Starz series “Survivor’s Remorse” and starred in the inaugural season of “For All Mankind” playing astronaut Deke Slayton, for Apple TV +. Other TV credits include “The People Vs. O.J. Simpson,” and “Law & Order: The Menendez Brothers.” Chris co-stars in the upcoming STARZ series “Heels.”

Film appearances include Sully his second film with Clint Eastwood, and Money Monster, directed by Jodie Foster. On stage in New York, he has originated roles for playwrights such as David Mamet, Jez Butterworth, and John Patrick Shanley, and appeared on Broadway in “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Chris Bauer is a native of Los Angeles, and a graduate of the Yale School of Drama.

Hamish Linklater - GASLIT - Starz — Hamish Linklater — (Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic)

Hamish Linklater will play “Jeb Magruder,” a high-level bureaucrat behind Watergate and John Mitchell’s right-hand man. Jeb ultimately goes to jail for his involvement in the bungled burglary, but not before his testimony makes headlines.

Hamish Linklater just wrapped shooting the lead role of creator/director Mike Flanagan’s upcoming Netflix miniseries “Midnight Mass.” Currently, Hamish can be seen in a starring role in the Amazon series, “Tell Me Your Secrets,” opposite Lily Rabe, which was released February 2021.

He was most recently seen in Brie Larson’s directorial debut, Unicorn Store, alongside Samuel L. Jackson which was released on Netflix. Linklater’s other recent film credits include starring opposite Steve Carrell and Ryan Gosling in the Academy Award nominated, The Big Short, starring opposite Tom Hanks in Ithaca, and co-starring opposite Emma Stone in Woody Allen’s film, Magic in the Moonlight, Battleship, for Peter Berg; 42, with Chadwick Boseman; Lola Versus, opposite Greta Gerwig; The Angriest Man in Brooklyn opposite Robin Williams; and Miranda July’s The Future.

On television, for three seasons, Linklater co-starred in the critically acclaimed FX series “Legion” from creator Noah Hawley. He has starred on network and cable shows, from the CBS comedy “The Crazy Ones,” where he starred alongside Robin Williams, to a season-long arc on HBO’s “The Newsroom,” for Aaron Sorkin, as well as FX on “Fargo.” Other television credits include “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” opposite Julia Louis Dreyfus, “The Big C,” with Laura Linney, amongst many others.

His theater credits include starring in Shakespeare in the Park’s “Much Ado About Nothing” and “The Comedy of Errors” as well as “Merchant of Venice” opposite Al Pacino, “Twelfth Night” opposite Anne Hathaway and “Seminar” on Broadway opposite Alan Rickman, to name a few.

In addition to acting, Hamish is a celebrated writer, having produced his original off-Broadway plays, “The Whirligig,” starring Zosia Mamet, and “The Vandal,” as well as co-writing and producing his ABC one-hour pilot, “Prince of Motor City.”

Chris Messina - GASLIT - Starz — Chris Messina — Photo Credit Getty

Chris Messina will play “Agent Angelo Lano,” an FBI Agent tasked with the Watergate break-in who, with his partner Paul Magallanes, finds himself stymied at every turn by leaks in his own agency.

Chris Messina can most recently be seen opposite Rosamund Pike in the Netflix feature I Care a Lot, which premiered at TIFF 2020 and was one of Netflix’s most viewed original titles of this year. Messina also recently appeared in the indie She Dies Tomorrow, directed by Amy Seimetz, and in the third season of the critically acclaimed USA anthology series “The Sinner” with Matt Bomer & Bill Pullman. Elsewhere in the feature space, he stars opposite Margot Robbie & Ewan McGregor in the Warner Bros. film Birds of Prey. He just wrapped the independent feature ISS for director Gabriela Cowperthwaite & is currently filming Call Jane with Oscar-nominee Phyllis Nagy opposite Sigourney Weaver & Elizabeth Banks.

Previously, Messina played “Detective Richard Willis” in Jean-Marc Vallée’s HBO Emmy-nominated limited series “Sharp Objects” opposite Amy Adams and prior, he spent six years alongside Mindy Kaling in “The Mindy Project.” Additional credits include Live by Night opposite Ben Affleck, Gia Coppola’s Palo Alto, David Gordon Green’s Manglehorn with Al Pacino and Argo, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2012. In 2003, Messina made his Broadway debut in Oscar Wilde’s “Salome” at the Ethel Barrymore Theater.

Along with Pickering, Matt Ross (Captain Fantastic, 28 Hotel Rooms) will direct and executive produce, with Sam Esmail (“Homecoming,” “Mr. Robot”), via his overall deal with UCP, and Chad Hamilton (“Mr. Robot,” “Homecoming”) serving as executive producers under their production banner Esmail Corp. Roberts will executive produce under her banner Red Om Films along with co-executive producers Lisa Gillan and Marisa Yeres Gill. Anonymous Content and Slate’s Gabriel Roth and Josh Levin will also executive produce. Leon Neyfakh, who created the podcast, will consult on the project. “Gaslit” is produced by UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, for STARZ.

“Gaslit” will air on STARZ in the U.S. and Canada and on its international premium streaming platform Starzplay across its complete footprint in Europe, Latin America and Japan.

Executive Vice President of Original Programming Karen Bailey is the STARZ executive overseeing “Gaslit.”

About STARZ

STARZ (www.starz.com), a Lionsgate company, is a leading global media streaming platform committed to delivering premium content that amplifies narratives by, about and for women and underrepresented audiences. STARZ is home to the highly-rated and first-of-its-kind STARZ app that offers the ability to stream or download STARZ premium content, as well as the flagship domestic STARZ^® service, including STARZ ENCORE, 17 premium pay TV channels, and the associated on-demand and online services.

In 2018, STARZ launched its STARZPLAY international premium streaming platform to provide subscribers access to the “best of global SVOD.” STARZPLAY, coupled with its STARZPLAY ARABIA joint venture, has expanded its global footprint into more than 55 countries throughout Europe and Latin America along with Canada, Japan, India and Indonesia. STARZ and STARZPLAY are available across digital OTT platforms and multichannel video distributors, including cable operators, satellite television providers, and telecommunications companies around the world.

In February 2021, STARZ launched #TakeTheLead, a multi-faceted and innovative inclusion initiative expanding its existing efforts to improve representation on screen, behind the camera and throughout the company.

About UNIVERSAL CONTENT PRODUCTIONS

Universal Content Productions (UCP), a division of Universal Studio Group, is a best-in-class content studio that leverages the power and scale of NBCUniversal while collaborating with visionary storytellers. The studio is responsible for commercially successful and critically acclaimed scripted and documentary programming, including “The Umbrella Academy,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “Mr. Robot,” “The Act,” “Monk,” “Homecoming,” “The Sinner,” “Suits,” “Dirty John” and “Psych.” Upcoming titles include “Dr. Death” starring Joshua Jackson, Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater, and “Gaslit” starring Julia Roberts and Sean Penn.

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