In the fall of 2019, Prince Andrew decided to go on camera to tell “his side” of the story regarding his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein had died months beforehand in a New York jail cell, under mysterious circumstances, and following Epstein’s death, there had been renewed pressure on Andrew to explain the decades-long association. Emily Maitlis conducted the interview for BBC’s Newsnight. The interview was a trainwreck from start to finish on Andrew’s side, and completely brilliant journalism from Maitlis’s side. Following the interview, Andrew “stepped down” from being a working royal, although obviously he was still attempting comebacks constantly, to the point where he had to “step down” again this year following his settlement with Virginia Giuffre. I covered the Newsnight interview and the aftermath extensively in 2019.
Well, now it looks like a movie is going to be made about how the interview came to be, what went into it from Emily Maitlis’s side, the BBC’s side and the palace’s side. Remember, the interview happened IN Buckingham Palace with the Queen’s blessing. So… yeah, the movie could be quite interesting. Especially if they get Hugh Grant to play Andrew??
The story of how the BBC obtained the bombshell interview with Prince Andrew about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is to become a film called Scoop, and Hugh Grant is one of the unconfirmed names in the frame to portray the disgraced royal, Deadline has learned.
Acclaimed Your Honor screenwriter Peter Moffat is writing the Scoop screenplay for The Lighthouse Film & TV production company. The news is likely to be greeted with little amusement from Andrew’s mother, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and other members of the Royal Family. Buckingham Palace had hoped that, when it came to the errant royal, the less seen and heard the better.
Moffat explained that Scoop is “about how the BBC’s Newsnight team got the scoop, then the actual filming of it,” adding: “The other thing is, ‘why did he agree to do it?’ 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 asked incredulously, as he reflected on the Duke’s arrogance, ignorance, and his charm, which he said “quite often covers up for the bad stuff, that’s what I think.”
Peter Moffat stresses to Deadline that the story he wants to tell is more about Emily Maitlis and the BBC team (mostly women) who got the interview and prepared for the interview because they knew how important it was. Of course, Moffat also admits that the royal side of the story will be fascinating too, especially since Andrew’s royal team – including Princess Beatrice and royal staffers – seemed to not even understand how badly the interview had gone for him.
As for the rumored casting of Hugh Grant… I think it would be completely fascinating, honestly. I think Hugh would do a great job! I wonder who will be cast as Emily Maitlis. Hermione Norris would be absolutely perfect (Norris and Maitlis could be sisters, they look and sound so alike) but if they wanted to go younger, I think Carey Mulligan could pull it off really well.
Photos courtesy of WENN, BBC, Avalon Red.
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- Emily Maitlis interviews the Duke of York, Prince Andrew on his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Newsnight. Broadcast on BBC Two Featuring: Duke of York, Prince Andrew When: 16 Nov 2019 Credit: Supplied by WENN **WENN does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright, License in attached material. Fees charged by WENN are for WENN’s services only, do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright, License in material. By publishing this material you expressly agree to indemnify, to hold WENN, its directors, shareholders, employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), any causes of action, allegation against WENN arising out of, connected in any way with publication of the material.**
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- Emily Maitlis interviews the Duke of York, Prince Andrew on his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Newsnight. Broadcast on BBC Two Featuring: Duke of York, Prince Andrew When: 16 Nov 2019 Credit: Supplied by WENN **WENN does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright, License in attached material. Fees charged by WENN are for WENN’s services only, do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright, License in material. By publishing this material you expressly agree to indemnify, to hold WENN, its directors, shareholders, employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), any causes of action, allegation against WENN arising out of, connected in any way with publication of the material.**
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- Emily Maitlis interviews the Duke of York, Prince Andrew on his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Newsnight. Broadcast on BBC Two Featuring: Duke of York, Prince Andrew When: 16 Nov 2019 Credit: Supplied by WENN **WENN does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright, License in attached material. Fees charged by WENN are for WENN’s services only, do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright, License in material. By publishing this material you expressly agree to indemnify, to hold WENN, its directors, shareholders, employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), any causes of action, allegation against WENN arising out of, connected in any way with publication of the material.**
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- Emily Maitlis interviews the Duke of York, Prince Andrew on his relationship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Newsnight. Broadcast on BBC Two Featuring: Duke of York, Prince Andrew When: 16 Nov 2019 Credit: Supplied by WENN **WENN does not claim any ownership including but not limited to Copyright, License in attached material. Fees charged by WENN are for WENN’s services only, do not, nor are they intended to, convey to the user any ownership of Copyright, License in material. By publishing this material you expressly agree to indemnify, to hold WENN, its directors, shareholders, employees harmless from any loss, claims, damages, demands, expenses (including legal fees), any causes of action, allegation against WENN arising out of, connected in any way with publication of the material.**
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- Hugh Grant on the red carpet at the LAUREUS World Sports Award 2020 in Berlin. | usage worldwide,Image: 563621990, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: UK and US ONLY – DIRECT SALES ONLY – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no
My question is would the movie feature him sweating under the camera lights or no?
Hugh Grant is a great choice.
They have my theater ticket. Sounds like a future oscar contender. That would be great for Hugh Grant. Not souch for the monarchy.
I can see Hugh Grant completely nailing that look of Andrew’s from the first picture in this story. Any of the pictures really. He would nail Andrew’s supposed charm while also being swarmy, as well as his utter confusion at being questioned.
Hugh Grant is great but I think Timothy Spall, especially if he has a little weight on his face, would be better.
Tim Spall is who I came to suggest! There’s something in their expressions that is kind of hawklike.
He’d be perfect. Hugh Grant is too handsome to play Andrew.
Literally every time wormtail popped onto the screen I thought “Prince Andrew” so ….
Love this idea, Spall would be great in the role.
Another vote for Spall for the physical resemblance.
OMG perfect casting. Tim Spall has the ability to get the weaselly Andrew, but I have to say, Hugh would be great too. He’s hilarious and hates the royals so it would be a *chefs kiss* .
Hugh Grant would be amazing for this role.
The Palace thought by paying off Virginia this would go away but they were wrong. I look forward to BP and the press crying that the movie is fiction.
I love this for them.
As do I. The travesty that has been perpetrated by the BRF, along with the utter garbage printed by the BM, will certainly be a wonderful sight to see! I appreciate that they are working to expose the behind-the-scenes look at how this came to be.
Hugh Grant is too Hugh Grant if that makes sense. They need a little own actor but who will still be able to pull it off.
@Alexandria atleast the movie would feature him playing in his costume and stuff animals plus nagging about his tittle being removed
Take my money – I would love to see this, especially with Hugh Grant as Andrew!
YES. I actually am really interested to see the preparation that went in to Matlis and her colleagues getting this interview, laying out the questions, and how she mentally prepared. Hugh Grant would do a great job,but I think he’s way too flattering a casting for Andrew.
I predict that this script contains a lot of “Nah, he’s can’t be that stupid…can he?”
I only know Emily Matlis through the Americast podcast she and Jon Sopel did for the BBC World Service. In one of the episodes they discussed the lawsuit against Andrew, and she talked a little bit about what the interview was like from her side. And, IIRC, “No, he really can’t be that stupid, can he?” is pretty close to my recollection of her characterization of the interview. Link to the specific episode pasted below:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0bgywcr
Thanks for the podcast link, I’ll check it out!
Hugh Grant has done great dramatic work in the last decade. I think he would be great at portraying an unlikeable, smarmy character with contempt. I can’t wait for this.
Yes!! Do not let this incident fade into obscurity. Pack this film with big names and give it all the awards. Make this part of our cultural lexicon. Future generations will associate this era of the RF with paedo Andy! (Man I hope The Crown lasts another 10 seasons. What else is Netflix doing these days?)
Yes please!!! Netflix has enough material for decades! I love to see them squirm as to the exposure that the Crown has created within the façade of the BRF.
Seventy years-worth of material, at the very least!
I don’t know that any amount of research could have prepared Maitlis for what came out of Andrew’s mouth or for how important the interview turned out to be – it seemed like she was kind of shocked by how much of a train wreck was unfolding. But maybe they were expecting it – everyone has known that Andrew’s an entitled ass. I’ll be interested to see this.
I want an update from ABC on how that W&K interview is coming along in exchange for forcing Amy Robach to drop her Andrew story. I was baffled to read that a US news organization thought for one second that “access to the (dullard) royals” had any priority interest here. How many British royals have been interviewed on American television? There’s Meghan and Harry, and Harry, and hmmmmm. I don’t think Earthshit will have quite the comparable news worthiness.
Fergie did an Oprah interview. You can’t call her dull though.
William and Harry were also interviewed together by GMA or Today years ago.
Edward and Sophie did something for CNN last year I believe.
As much as I dislike the rest of the royals for what they’ve done to Harry and Meghan…we are in an era where their hundreds of steaming services, news organizations, needed clickbait etc.
Most of them would jump at a chance to interview Harry’s immediate family especially after what’s happened the last few years.
Harry and Meghan have upped the RFs profile on the world stage for sure.
KP, yes, I agree that H&M have upped the RF’s profile on the world stage, but that profile was built on the negative things that they’ve done to H&M. Not exactly the profile they were looking for.
Maybe the rf will dress up for the premier 🙂
Hermione Norris looks nothing like Emily Maitliss imho. I’d go for someone like Nicole Lahbib. And an absolutely no for going younger. It needs an actress who is a similar age to Maitliss.
Maybe they’ll do a 4D experience in IMAX, and, when he claims to not sweat, the audience will get spritzed with water.
This is a spit take comment. Oh my.
LOL
My first (stupid) thought was, but are Hugh’s teeth bad enough to play Prince Andrew? Then I scrolled down & saw that first photo of Hugh. Yes, yes they are. I’m liking everyone’s suggestion for Timothy Spall, though. Only Spall is kind of on the short side, and Andrew is tall-ish, so I think it’s back to Grant.
OMG MY FIRST THOUGHT AS WELL!!! lololol (Hugh’s bottom teeth are janky though). My *second* thought was Hugh was too thin and too handsome to play that Nonce.
Timothy Spall is DEFINITELY closer in looks to Pedo. He’d be my choice.
Hugh Grant has denied this story on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HackedOffHugh/status/1547607995684569090?s=20&t=0_CHMOEaMV4uo8STw6lvvA
I haven’t watched the interview (too disgusting), but I might watch the movie, especially if they approach it with irony/shadiness. I’ll look at the Celebitchy reviews first.
Not Timothy Spall because I like him too much.
PA is likely short of cash. He’d probably be willing to play himself.
he could hardly play himself any more than he already did in the interview itself! lol!
How about an American using a Brit accent, like in that mockumentary Spinal Tap? Michael McKean, who played David St. Hubbins, would be PERFECT!