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Kerry Washington will play Anita Hill in a film about the 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Clarence Thomas. Image Credit: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP

HBO says Kerry Washington will play Anita Hill in a film about Clarence Thomas’s contentious 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearings.

The film will be titled Confirmation, and Washington is also among its executive producers.

Hill’s sexual harassment allegations against Thomas put the issue at the centre of a fierce national debate. Hill became a hero and a target, while Thomas was confirmed as an associate justice.

Last year saw the release of Anita, a documentary by the Oscar-winning filmmaker Freida Mock about the Brandeis University law professor.

HBO didn’t give other casting details or an airdate for Confirmation in its announcement Thursday.