Ryan Murphy’s American Crime Story empire continues to expand, and he’s taking aim at another 1990s scandal in the Bill Clinton impeachment proceedings. But the trailer’s biggest piece of news is that we finally get a good look at Beanie Feldstein’s transformation into Monica Lewinsky.
The trailer for the “based on a true story” series opens with Feldstein’s Lewinsky sitting at lunch and talking about how she’s dating someone “important.” A shy Lewinsky pauses and seems to struggle to know what to say. The next shot is an image of the White House.
Feldstein’s transformation into the infamous White House intern may be a shock for people who last saw her play a high schooler in Booksmart, but the 28-year-old actress certainly looks the part as the center of one of the biggest modern scandals in American presidential history, non-Trump category. Here’s the show’s description:
Impeachment: American Crime Story examines the national crisis that led to the first impeachment of a U.S. President in over a century through the eyes of the women at the center of the events: Monica Lewinsky, Linda Tripp and Paula Jones. All three were thrust into the public spotlight during a time of corrosive partisan rancor, shifting sexual politics and a changing media landscape.
There’s a lot to discuss from the trailer, at least as far as the accuracy of the story it’s based upon, although Lewinsky’s role as an executive producer does lend credence to the truth of it all. But it certainly plays up the drama of the whole affair and the roles of other important characters who brought allegations against Bill Clinton that led to his impeachment. As for Clinton, the trailer only shows him briefly, as played by Clive Owen, at the end and on the other side of a phone call that starts with Lewinsky saying “Hey, handsome” into the receiver.
We’ll see it all play out when the latest American Crime Story hits FX on September 7.