With shows like Mad Men and Vinyl, TV series have turned to seminal times in recent history for inspiration. Some, like Underground, Masters of Sex and Manhattan have sought to anchor their narratives in historical periods of significance, examining true events and junctures in American history in their plots. The year’s best rated cable series so far this the year is The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story which revisits that trial as the first nexus of celebrity and justice that shaped today’s media culture. Now Confirmation returns to another trial of sorts that marked the American national experience: the 1991 Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings and the explosive testimony of professor Anita Hill who accused the Supreme Court nominee of having sexually harassed her. Justice Thomas would eventually be confirmed, but not before a previously taboo topic was entered into the national record, as it were. Kerry Washington, who stars as professor Hill and produced the HBO Movie, explains to the HFPA’s Alessandra Venezia why the story is still crucially significant and bears retelling.