If you’re a UK journalist, covering the Royal Family is about as big as it gets. Now imagine the story is nailing a Royal to the wall for being part of a sex trafficking scandal. Well, that’s what happened when Prince Andrew agreed to a disastrous televised interview connecting him to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. The story of that interview and how it came to be is now the upcoming Netflix film, Scoop, which has a brand new trailer.
The film centers on the insane sequence of events leading up to the BBC interview with the Duke of York, also the Queen’s son. Billie Piper stars as Sam McAlister, Newsnight editor and author of the memoir Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interview from which the film was adapted. Rufus Sewell stars as Prince Andrew, with Gillian Anderson as interviewer Emily Maitlis.
Following last month’s teaser which didn’t reveal much, we see a lot more footage of the behind-the-scene maneuvering to convince Andrew to agree to the interview, as well as the forces working against the journalists and their story, one of the biggest in history. Sewell is downright unrecognizable as Prince Andrew, and it looks like fun roles for both Piper and Anderson.
The film is directed by Philip Martin, known for episodes of The Crown and the 2014 film The Forger. Peter Moffat (Hawking, Your Honor) adapted McAlister’s book for the screen.
Also in the cast are Keeley Hawes, Romola Garai, Connor Swindellis, and Charity Wakefield as Princess Beatrice.
Here’s the synopsis: Inspired by real events, SCOOP is the inside account of the tenacious journalism that landed an earth shattering interview – Prince Andrew’s (played by Rufus Sewell) infamous BBC Newsnight appearance. From the tension of producer Sam McAlister’s (played by Billie Piper) high stakes negotiations with Buckingham Palace, all the way to Emily Maitlis’ (played by Gillian Anderson) jaw dropping, forensic showdown with the Prince, SCOOP takes us inside the story, with the women who would stop at nothing to get it.
To get an interview this big, you have to be bold.
Scoop hits Netflix on April 5th.
