Kerry Washington to Play Anita Hill in HBO Movie ‘Confirmation’

Olivia Pope is gearing up to tackle a whole new level of Capitol Hill scandal.

Kerry Washington, who portrays the D.C. "fixer" on ABC's hit drama Scandal, has signed on to play Anita Hill in the upcoming HBO film Confirmation, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The movie is based on the 1991 sexual harassment claims made against then Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas during his confirmation process. Hill testified that in her two years as Thomas' assistant, she repeatedly rejected him as his sexual advances grew increasingly more intense and inappropriate. Hill eventually took a lie detector test, which supported her claims, but Thomas, who refused to take a polygraph, was still appointed to the highest court in the land.

Susannah Grant, the Academy Award-nominated writer behind the thematically similar film Erin Brockovich will write the script. Janice and Michael Williams (of the upcoming ABC show Astronaut Wives Club) will produce. Rick Famuyiwa has signed on to direct.

We know that Kerry Washington is more than capable of playing a strong, educated and independent woman (after all, we watch her do this every Thursday night) and will have no problem filling the shoes of Hill, who today is a lawyer by profession.

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