The cast of a film based on the explosive BBC television interview with Prince Andrew, in which the Duke of York addressed his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and bizarrely claimed he is unable to sweat, has been announced.
A who’s who cast of British stage and film actors will play the key roles, including Gillian Anderson, Keeley Hawes, Billie Piper and Rufus Sewell.
The Netflix production will be the second theatrical outing for the infamous 2019 train wreck interview.
British broadcaster Channel 4 announced last year it was pulling together a satirical musical, Prince Andrew: The Musical, with a cast of comedians.
British film and stage actor and one-time Zorro star Rufus Sewell, most recently known for playing Declan Howell in The Marvellous Mrs Maisel, will face off against fellow Brit and X-Files alum, Anderson, who plays Newsnight anchor, Emily Maitlis.
Titled Scoop, the movie will go behind the scenes of that bombshell television event.
Directed by Emmy and BAFTA winner Philip Martin, Scoop will give viewers “the inside track on the women that broke through the Buckingham Palace establishment to secure the scoop of the decade that led to the catastrophic fall from grace of the [late] Queen’s ‘favourite son’,” according to the film’s synopsis.
That includes everything from “navigating Palace vetoes, to breaking through to Prince Andrew’s inner circle, the high-stakes negotiations and intensity of rehearsal – to the jaw-dropping interview itself.”
Based on former Newsnight producer Sam McAlister’s memoir Scoops: Behind The Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews, the looming flick will no doubt be another nail in the coffin of the Duke of York’s hopes of ever returning to public life.
McAlister, who negotiated and secured the booking, will be played by Piper while Hawes rounds out the cast as Amanda Thirsk, the prince’s former private secretary.
“I want to put the audience inside the breathtaking sequence of events that led to the interview with Prince Andrew – to tell a story about a search for answers, in a world of speculation and varying recollections,” Martin told Netflix.
“It’s a film about power, privilege and differing perspectives and how – whether in glittering palaces or high-tech newsrooms – we judge what’s true.”
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The ‘car crash’ interview
In the infamous Newsnight interview, Andrew sought to clear himself of wrongdoing over his friendship with Epstein, who had been found dead in his New York prison cell three months prior.
But the sit-down, widely regarded as a “car crash”, caused irrefutable damage to his and the British royal family’s reputation.
Filmed in an opulent room at Buckingham Palace, its fallout led to the prince – the second and apparently favourite son of Queen Elizabeth – effectively being pushed from public life.
The Duke of York, who will turn 63 on February 19, discussed his friendship with Epstein and Epstein’s former lover, Ghislaine Maxwell.
She was sentenced to 20 years in jail in June last year for helping Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls.
Andrew also protested his innocence about claims made by Virginia Giuffre that she was forced to have sex with him when she was 17.
Earlier, the prince agreed to pay a multimillion-dollar settlement to Ms Giuffre in a civil suit she had filed in a Manhattan court relating to her claims.
It acknowledged no wrongdoing on his behalf, although court documents said Andrew regretted his association with Epstein.
“I stayed with him and that’s … that’s … that’s the bit that … that … that, as it were, I kick myself for on a daily basis because it was not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family and we try and uphold the highest standards and practices and I let the side down, simple as that,” Andrew told Newsnight back in 2019.
Maitlis also famously asked the duke for his response to “very specific” allegations by Ms Giuffre.
Mystery medical condition
She alleged Andrew was “profusely sweating” when she met him in 2001 – when she dined with him, danced with him at a nightclub in London, and had sex with him at Maxwell’s house.
The prince said there was a “problem” with Ms Giuffre’s story because he has a medical condition that meant he could not have been sweating.
“I didn’t sweat at the time because I had suffered what I would describe as an overdose of adrenalin in the Falklands War when I was shot at and I simply … it was almost impossible for me to sweat,” he said.
He has repeatedly denied ever meeting Ms Giuffre.
Ahead of the Giuffre settlement, Andrew was stripped of his military titles and the right to use his HRH title in any official capacity.
Buckingham Palace said that “with the Queen’s approval and agreement”, the Duke of York’s military affiliations and royal patronages were returned to the monarch.
Moffat had previously told Deadline the upcoming film would be “about how the BBC’s Newsnight team got the scoop, then the actual filming of it”.
“The other thing is, why did he agree to do it?” he said.
“How was it that he decided it was a good idea to do a great big, long interview with Emily Maitlis on the BBC?”
Moffat has worked on BBC dramas Criminal Justice, The Night Of, and Silk, as well as Your Honor, starring Bryan Cranston.
