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The first official pictures for a forthcoming Netflix film depicting the Duke of York’s infamous “car crash” interview with Newsnight have been released.
The photographs show recreated scenes from the 2019 interview featuring Prince Andrew (Dark City actor Rufus Sewell), and Emily Maitlis, (Sex Education star Gillian Anderson), in the new movie called Scoop.
In 2019, the duke appeared on Newsnight to talk about the scandal surrounding his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The interview was widely regarded as a PR disaster and Andrew was widely mocked following its transmission.
Scoop will dramatise how the BBC Two programme secured the interview and imagines the drama behind the scenes as it unfolded.
It has been reported that Sewell spent three hours in the makeup chair to become Prince Andrew, while Anderson’s likeness to Maitlis has been praised already by fans.
Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew in ‘Scoop’
(Netflix/Getty Images)
In the first of three photographs released by Netflix, Sewell and Anderson are shown in conversation as they walk through a recreated Buckingham Palace, where the interview took place.
‘Scoop’ imagines the behind the scenes drama before the interview was televised
(PETER MOUNTAIN/NETFLIX)
The pair are wearing identical outfits to those worn by the duke and Maitlis on the day, with the second picture showing the pair facing each other as they discuss the duke’s links to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the socialite now serving time in prison for helping Epstein traffic underage girls.
Rufus Sewell and Gillian Anderson recreate the Newsnight interview
(PETER MOUNTAIN/NETFLIX)
In the interview, Prince Andrew denied claims he had sex with Ms Giuffre, who would have been 17 at the time. He said he could not have had sex with Ms Giuffre in London on 10 March 2001 as alleged, because he had taken his daughter to a birthday party at a Pizza Express chain restaurant in Woking, Surrey.
Ms Giuffre also claimed they attended Tramp nightclub together and recalled Prince Andrew being “sweaty” as they danced. But he said it could not have been him as he was unable to sweat at the time as a result of trauma caused by serving in the Falklands War.
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Gillian Anderson as Emily Maitlis in ‘Scoop’
(PETER MOUNTAIN/NETFLIX)
Netflix’s Scoop is based on the book Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews by former Newsnight producer Sam McAlister.
The film’s synopsis says it shows “the inside track of the women that broke through the Buckingham Palace establishment to secure the scoop of the decade”.
Scoop also stars I Hate Suzie’s Billie Piper as McAlister, Bodyguard actor Keeley Hawes as Prince Andrew’s former private secretary, and Atonement actor Romola Garai as Esme Wren, who led Newsnight at the time of the interview.
Scoop is expected to stream on Netflix this spring.