Billy Eichner will play Matt Drudge on American Crime Story: Impeachment
Billy Eichner is taking on his most challenging role yet—which isn’t a knock on his talents, but we imagine anyone might find it challenging to play Matt Drudge, as Eichner will on American Crime Story: Impeachment. Per Deadline, Eichner has signed on to reunite with Ryan Murphy for the third installment of the critically-acclaimed series, which tracks the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair scandal and Clinton’s subsequent impeachment trial. Drudge is, of course, the conservative journalist and founder of the Drudge Report, which broke the news of Clinton’s affair with Lewinsky in January 1998. Drudge was also the mentor of Andrew Breitbart, the conservative political commentator who went onto start his own website.
Eichner, best known for his Emmy-winning series Billy On The Street, previously appeared in the seventh and eighth seasons of Murphy’s American Horror Story. He’s the latest addition to the cast of American Crime Story: Impeachment, which is based on Jeffrey Toobin’s book, A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story Of The Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down A President. (The first season, The People V. O.J. Simpson, was also based on a book by Toobin.) Murphy is executive producing the series alongside writer Sarah Burgess. The casting so far has been pretty amazing, with Beanie Feldstein as Monica Lewinsky, Sarah Paulson as Linda Tripp, Clive Owen as Bill Clinton (perfect, when you think about it), and Annaleigh Ashford as Paula Jones. Filming is set to begin in March for an unspecified premiere date later this year.