Billie Piper, Gillian Anderson cast in Prince Andrew Newsnight movie
The Crown star will portray Emily Maitlis in Netflix's adaptation of Newsnight booker Sam McAlister's memoir.
Prince Andrew's Newsnight interview is getting the Netflix treatment, with a film starring Gillian Anderson, Billie Piper and Rufus Sewell now in production at the streamer.
Based on the memoir of Newsnight guest booker Sam McAlister, Scoop will tell the story of the women who broke through the Buckingham Palace establishment to secure the interview of the decade "that led to the catastrophic fall from grace of the Queen's 'favourite son'".
The Crown's Gillian Anderson is set to star as Emily Maitlis, while The Man in the High Castle's Rufus Sewell will portray Prince Andrew and Doctor Who's Billie Piper will play McAlister, who secured the interview.
Netflix also confirmed that Stonehouse's Keeley Hawes will play the role of Amanda Thirsk, the former Private Secretary to Prince Andrew.
The film will take viewers behind-the-scenes of the headline-making interview, "from navigating Palace vetoes, to breaking through to Prince Andrew’s inner circle, the high stakes negotiations and intensity of rehearsal".
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"Scoop is the insider account of the inner workings of the Palace and the BBC, twin bastions of the British establishment," Netflix teases. "Spotlighting the journalists whose tenacity and guts broke through the highest of ceilings – and into the inner sanctum and calculations of a man with everything to lose."
In a statement, McAlister – who wrote Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC's Most Shocking Interviews – said that it was "beyond [her] wildest dreams" as a first time writer to be working with the "extraordinary cast".
"Watching Billie Piper, one of my favourite actresses, play 'me' will be a pinch myself moment and I’m truly thrilled to be involved in this film," she added.
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The Newsnight interview, which saw journalist Emily Maitlis speak to Prince Andrew about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, aired in November 2019 to a record number of viewers for the BBC Two show as almost two million tuned in to watch the interview.
Last July, it was rumoured that Hugh Grant was in the running for the role of Prince Andrew. However, ultimately the role went to Sewell, who has appeared in Judy, The Father and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
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