Is Hugh Grant going to play Prince Andrew in a new film about the royal’s Newsnight interview?
That infamous BBC interview is getting the Hollywood treatment.
Emily Maitlis’ bombshell interview with Prince Andrew, in which she questioned him about his former friendship with Jeffrey Epstein is to be turned into a film, with Hugh Grant tipped as taking on the role of the disgraced royal.
According to an exclusive by Deadline, the film will be called Scoop and Your Honor screenwriter Peter Moffat is on board to write the screenplay. The publication state that the 61-year-old Notting Hill actor is “one of the unconfirmed names on wish list” to play Prince Andrew.
Prince Andrew’s Bombshell BBC Interview To Become A Hot Movie; Hugh Grant Understood To Be On Shortlist To Portray The Disgraced Royal In ‘Scoop’ https://t.co/GwlxEp1T2C
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) July 14, 2022
Scoop is expected to explore the story of how the BBC‘s Newsnight obtained the exclusive interview with Prince Andrew in 2019. The hour-long show made headlines across the world and was widely regarded as a PR disaster for the royal.
Although Hugh Grant has been named as a desired lead actor for Scoop, casting has not yet begun and the actor’s representatives told the BBC that he hadn’t even heard of the project.
The British actor has also addressed the rumours: in reply to a now deleted tweet by OK! Magazine about him playing Prince Andrew, he wrote “No I’m not. Never heard of it.”
No I’m not. Never heard of it. https://t.co/G8opDMFoWB
— Hugh Grant (@HackedOffHugh) July 14, 2022
Moffat told Deadline that the film would focus on “how the BBC’s Newsnight team got the scoop.” He added: “The other thing is, ‘Why did he agree to do it?’ How was it that he decided it was a good idea to do a great big long interview with Emily Maitlis on the BBC?”
In the interview with Maitlis, Prince Andrew commented on his former friendships with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who has since has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for sex trafficking and other offences.
“On the date that’s being suggested I was at home with the children… I’d taken Beatrice to Pizza Express in Woking.”
Prince Andrew tells @maitlis he was elsewhere the night it has been claimed he had his photo taken with a woman who says they had sex
#Newsnight pic.twitter.com/XoDEALx5MJ— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) November 16, 2019
Deadline say that shooting for the project is hoped to begin in November this year. They also say that the announcement of the film is “likely to be greeted with little amusement from Andrew’s mother, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and other members of the Royal Family.”
It was announced in 2019 that Prince Andrew would be stepping down from royal duties and earlier this year, the Queen stripped him of some of his titles.
