Streaming giant Netflix has swooped in and grabbed the buzzy, star-studded movie ‘SCOOP’. The movie is a biopic of sorts, which documents the explosive 2019 BBC Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew. ‘Scoop’ has just gone into production, and will be a Netflix Original film. The streamer has just revealed the cast of ‘Scoop’. It is headlined by a solid cast consisting of Gillian Anderson, Keeley Hawes, Billie Piper and Rufus Sewell.
The casting of ‘Scoop’ couldn’t be more perfect. Gillian Anderson plays Emily Maitlis, Newsnight’s lead presenter who conducted the interview. Keeley Hawes plays Amanda Thirsk, Private Secretary to Prince Andrew. Billie Piper plays Sam McAlister, who negotiated the bombshell booking. And Rufus Sewell plays Prince Andrew in the film.
For those who don’t know, BBC Newsnight is a BBC show that is famous for some of the most shocking interviews on TV. Former BBC Newsnight producer Sam McAlister is the driving force behind the explosive interviews. The BBC Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew in 2019 is a classic “car crash” interview, doing more damage to the prince’s reputation than good. ‘Scoop’ goes behind the scenes of the interview, and dramatises how the show secured the interview, the hectic negotiations, and the filming of the interview.
The Prince Andrew Newsnight interview had Prince Andrew talk about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Prince’s friendship with Ghislaine Maxwell, who’s been sentenced to a twenty-year prison term for helping Epstein abuse young girls, and much more. The incendiary interview had made headlines around the world in 2019, and exacerbated the Prince’s very public downfall.
‘Scoop’ is adapted from Sam McAlister’s book ‘Scoops: Behind The Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews’. The film is being directed by Emmy and BAFTA winner Philip Martin, who’s executive-produced several seasons of Netflix’s ‘The Crown’, and directed multiple episodes of it.