When the Prince Andrew of England claimed in a televised interview on the BBC “that he couldn’t have been in a nightclub with his abuse accuser because he was at a suburban Pizza Express restaurant with his daughter, Princess Beatrice,” or that he couldn’t have been sweating in the dance floor because an “adrenaline overdose” during his time as a helicopter pilot in the 1982 Falklands War had left him unable to sweat; His own words ended his position within the royal house.
Accused of abuse, the Prince wanted to purge his image by giving an interview to journalist Emily Maitlis within the “Newsnight” program from the BBC. That interview is remembered as one of the best pieces of investigative journalism of the millennium and serves as the premise for the new Netflix film ‘Scoop’ (The Great Exclusive).
“I hope the film serves as inspiration. This is a iconic moment in journalism feminine performed mainly by women and I hope it will be remembered with pride in the future. Accountability, freedom of expression and responsibility really matter,” Gillian Anderson, the actress who plays Emily, told us.
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Starring Rufus Sewell as Andrew and Gillian Anderson as journalist Emily Maitlis, who interrogated the prince for the BBC’s “Newsnight” program; “Scoop” is based on a book by Sam McAlister, the sassy producer who got the interview, Played by Billie Piper. It was this interview that made Prince Andrew a global laughingstock and caused his withdrawal from public life.
The film shows the period prior to the fateful meeting between the prince, a brilliant Rufus Sewell, and the BBC interviewer Emily Maitlis. When the team of Newsnight convention al Prince Andrews, “the queen’s favorite son,” to do an interview, it was the scoop of the century.
The association between “Randy Andy” and convicted billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein had been dogging British royalty for a decade since an infamous 2010 photo taken in the New York Central Park. The interview with Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis was aimed at setting the record straight; instead, she turned him into a jester.
Directed by Philip Martin, the film dramatizes the events leading up to the interview, as Maitlis, played by a magnificent Anderson, and her team set out to trap a prince in a palace. Billie Piper plays Sam McAlister, the journalist whose book Scoops inspired the script.
Las family references to the Prince’s disconcerting statements about sweating and Pizza are not as surprising as Andrés’ last question to Emily: “I think it turned out very well,” he says, not realizing that he is about to become a global meme. “Like a walk in the park,” she finishes, in a clear nod to her meeting with Epstein.
We had the opportunity to speak with Gillian Anderson for her fabulous performance in “Scoop”, another one for her wide range of unrepeatable women.
Q: Do you remember seeing or hearing the interview when it happened?
A: I didn’t see it at the time because I was too nervous to see it. It was clear to me that it was going to be an unpleasant interview and I was not in the mood to see something like that. Obviously, I saw it afterwards, and I did it intensely to prepare for the role. I think I know the interview by heart.
Q: Is there a particular television presenter or more than one that inspired you for the character?
A: No. It was more or less looking at Emily’s work and studying her properly as much as I could: reading her book, listening to her readings and then also studying the interview in depth and breaking it down, both in a video file and in an archive audio that put me in a loop. Emily is a unique person with whom I don’t have much in common, so I dedicated myself to studying her personality, her gestures, how she tilts her head, how she walks, how she stands, all those kinds of personal details. .
Q: How did you film the interview scene with Prince Andrew?
A: It was the first day of filming Rufus, while we had been working for a couple of weeks. We both walked onto the set and were surprised because it was a literal and quite accurate recreation of the South Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace. It was a huge room, where the chairs were placed six feet apart, with cameras that were filming the interview, plus our film cameras and they were all going to be used to film simultaneously. The idea was to film from start to finish. Our interview was going to last 20 minutes. We went in, we sat down without having rehearsed and Philip, the director, said: you can do it, and we did. We shot that scene first in one take and then tried it again and again for the rest of the day. I was surprised, when asking my first question to Rufus in person, how his answer sounded like Prince Andrew’s. I found his precision amazing, down to the last detail. My biggest challenge was concentrating on responding not as Emily, but as Gillian while she thought, “My God, what a performance by Rufus. This is incredible”.
Q: It is surprising from the interview that Emily does not react to the Prince’s answers
A: Presumably, if she had reacted in real time and one of the Prince’s team had seen her react, it is possible that they would have realized for the first time that the interview was not going in the right direction.
Q: Where do you draw the line between doing an imitation or an interpretation of a real character?
A: When I was doing “The Crown,” where I play Margaret Thatcher, I was given some advice that I think was very helpful and potentially useful for any time you’re trying to portray someone who is a real person: “There’s always a reason why.” that you are chosen for the role. You are chosen for a specific reason and it is important that an element of you remains in the performance.” I think it s true. If you try to get rid of everything, every last bit of yourself, it may seem forced, an imitation, or be unnatural in some way. You need to balance your work. I have learned to not always be so obsessive and allow a little of me to come forward. That also allowed me to let go when I felt like I wasn’t getting it or that my interpretation wasn’t perfect. That advice has helped me relax and do my best without becoming obsessed.
“I hope the film serves as inspiration. This is an iconic moment in women’s journalism done primarily by women and I hope it will be remembered with pride in the future. Accountability, freedom of expression and responsibility really matter”
— Gillian Anderson, actress who plays journalist Emily Maitlis
Q: You always play strong women from The X-Files to Emily in Scoop, why do you think you always portray unbreakable women?
A: I find the choice of unbreakable very interesting. In the UK, Emily is known as something of a superwoman because her intelligence clearly comes through when she sits down for an interview. She always appears with a lot of information and holds her interviewees accountable. She is a journalist with difficult questions who is not afraid. But she is also a woman who runs, who swims, who is a mother of several children, she is known in the UK for being able to keep her balance and handle everything honestly. That, for any actor, is a treat because it allows you to play with the role. I’m not a runner, I don’t swim and I don’t wear a miniskirt, there are many things I’m not, but she is a formidable character for me and it has been an honor and a privilege to have the opportunity to put myself in her shoes.
Q: Had you worked with Philip before on “The Crown”?
A: I didn’t work with him when he was on the show, but I knew him from previous seasons. Because he is such a quiet, gentle, soft-spoken man, and the script is so repulsive and muscular, I thought it would be interesting to see his approach to the text to match what was on the page with his directing style. When I saw the finished work I was amazed because he has achieved a thriller with an interview that everyone has seen. He seems like a masterful director to me.
Q: What does this film say about the situation of journalism?
A: We have to be careful how we consume information. We are all responsible for what we consume. The power of journalism changes the world when done well, this film reminds us that we must consume actively and responsibly, since this issue is as important as the fact that journalists have to be accountable for what they write. The truth has become malicious. Journalists are responsible for what they write and that makes a big difference and will only get bigger as AI becomes part of our lives and more and more of us don’t know what is true. The responsibility behind journalism will be considered something so valuable and unique and perhaps this is the moment, the turning point, in which we make the decision to understand that the consumption of information is really serious to ensure that we are protected and that not everything fall slowly between our fingertips right before our eyes.
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April is the release date of “Coop” on Netflix.
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