The trailer for Netflix’s highly anticipated film Scoop, which dramatizes the infamous Newsnight interview between Prince Andrew and Emily Maitlis, has finally appeared on This Morning.
The Netflix drama chronicles the story behind the interview with the disgraced Duke of York, played by Rufus Sewell, 56.
It also features an almost unrecognizable Billie Piper in a blonde wig and high heels.
The actress stars as Sam McAlister, the Newsnight producer who secured Prince Andrew’s infamous 2019 interview with Emily Maitlis, played by 55-year-old Gillian Anderson.
Based on the book Scoops by Sam McAlister, the film (according to the trailer) shows the tension behind booking the royal family for the interview, as well as the tension among the cast during the interview.
The film (photo) will be broadcast in the spring. Netflix has finally released the trailer and also shared some images from the film
Scoop stars Gillian Anderson (pictured) as Emily Maitlis, with the creative department and her performance delivering an eerie performance
The film will be released on Netflix in the spring and will offer a behind-the-scenes look at how the interview came together and how the events surrounding it unfolded in tribute to the work of the four women responsible.
It is based on Scoops by Sam McAlister, who is also known as the ‘Booker extraordinaire’ on Newsnight after successfully negotiating and securing the interview in which the Duke was questioned about his friendship with late convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein.
Ms Maitlis discussed Virginia Giuffre’s claims that she was forced to have sex with Andrew three times when she was 17 on Epstein’s orders.
The prince strongly denied the claims during the interview.
The discussion, in which Andrew made a series of claims – including insisting that he could not have been with Ms Giuffre at the time of the alleged meeting, because he was dining at a Pizza Express in Woking, and that he had a medical condition was unable to break a sweat – has since gained notoriety and is widely acknowledged to have embarrassed the royals.
The interview was described as a ‘car crash’ and on November 20, 2019, a statement from Buckingham Palace said Prince Andrew had been suspended from public duties ‘for the foreseeable future’.
In May 2020, it was announced that the prince was permanently resigning from his public positions.
In January 2022, Ms. Giuffre was given the green light to sue Andrew for unspecified damages in a civil court in New York.
Bille Piper (pictured) is barely recognizable in her role as Sam McAlister, the producer who booked Prince Andrew for the interview
Despite promising to fight the claims and repeatedly protesting his innocence, the prince agreed to pay a huge sum to settle the case before it ever reached a jury. interview and then the film.
Sam McAllister appeared on This Morning today when Netflix first showed the trailer, to discuss her experiences with both the interview and the film.
Describing how difficult it was to land the interview, she said: “I was a complete underdog in terms of booking content because who in their right mind, let’s face it, would want to continue unless you were a minister are you, or if you sell a book? book or a movie.
‘Why would you take that risk, right?
“So my job was to convince people to continue against their best interests. So I spent my time trying to get them to do something they probably shouldn’t have done.”
The film portrays Sam McAllister (played by Billie Piper) going to Buckingham Palace to discuss the interview with his secretary
Stills from the trailer show how intense parts of the films are – reflecting how Sam described her experience
Discussing how she felt when she landed the interview, she revealed, “I had been dealing with a palace for a year. And I think what I like about this movie… is that I’m an ordinary woman thrust into an extraordinary situation. And of course everyone saw that interview. But this is the 95 percent for that.”
She continued: ‘So it all started a year earlier, and it was only on Monday, so it’s now 13 months on Monday when I met Prince Andrew face to face with Emily and Stuart, with his daughter sitting next to him at Buckingham Palace …It wasn’t until that one day that I thought this could actually happen.
“And on Tuesday morning they said yes. And honestly, I dropped my phone. I couldn’t believe they said yes.’
Netflix describes the production as follows: ‘The inside track on the women who broke through the Buckingham Palace establishment to secure the scoop of the decade that led to the catastrophic fall from grace of the Queen’s ‘Favorite Son’ .
‘From navigating vetoes at the Palace, to breaking Prince Andrew’s inner circle, the high-stakes negotiations and the intensity of the rehearsal – to the breathtaking interview itself.
Sam McAlister booked the prince for the interview and wrote Scoops, the book on which the interview is based
‘SCOOP is the insider’s account of the inner workings of the Palace and the BBC, two bastions of the British establishment, spotlighting the journalists whose tenacity and courage broke through the highest ceilings – and into the inner sanctum and calculations of one man with losing everything.”
Sam McAlister says, “It’s beyond my wildest dreams, especially as an aspiring writer, to finally get to work with this extraordinary cast, Netflix, and the incredible teams at The Lighthouse and Voltage. Watching Billie Piper, one of my favorite actresses, play ‘me’ will be a pinch-me moment and I’m thrilled to be involved in this film.”
Director Philip Martin described the film: ‘I’m thrilled to be directing this film for Netflix and – along with an extraordinary cast – bringing Sam McAlister’s revealing insider account to the screen.
‘Uptempo, compelling and cinematic, I want to take the audience into the breathtaking series of events that led to the interview with Prince Andrew – to tell a story about a search for answers, in a world of speculation and shifting memories.
‘It’s a film about power, privilege and different perspectives and how – whether in glittering palaces or hi-tech newsrooms – we judge what is true.’