'Bombshell' focuses on a 'nonpartisan issue', says director Jay Roach

Filmmaker Jay Roach says the audience should leave their political affiliations aside when they watch his film "Bombshell" as it explores an issue which is "nonpartisan".

The film centres around the sexual harassment and misconduct scandal surrounding the late Fox News boss Roger Ailes.

It features Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly and Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson, the two women who were instrumental in the downfall of Ailes. Margot Robbie also stars as Kayla Pospisil.

Roach, who has directed the film from a script by Charles Randolph, said the film has received criticism from both the right-wingers and the left-leaning people, which really surprised him.

"Some of the criticism is about why should we care about these women because they're Fox women. And that is definitely tough to read that because that's part of the point of the film, to say this is a nonpartisan issue.

"It seems almost like victim-blaming to say, 'Oh, these women were sort of smiling their way through this ...