So much for keeping a low profile. Deadline reports that a feature film about Prince Andrew’s relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein is in the works, and Hugh Grant’s on the top of the wish list to play the controversial royal.
Vanity Fair – July 14, 2022
Scoop will tell the story of Prince Andrew’s explosive 2019 BBC Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis, and will be based on the book Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews by former Newsnight producer Sam McAlister. Your Honor’s Peter Moffat is writing the screenplay for Scoop.
So, who would play Andrew? “We have, of course, thoughts” about the casting, producer Hilary Salmon told Deadline. But she maintained that as of yet, “no one is attached”—though Deadline also names Grant as an actor who’s been floated for the role.
Prince Andrew’s interview inspired a litany of questions for Moffat: “What the hell did he think he was doing? Who got him to do it? Why, when the rest of the world was so appalled, did he think it had gone so well? What kind of a man is this?” Moffat told Variety. “In researching the film and talking to those on the inside of this extraordinary story, I got the answers to all these questions. They’re provoking, often surprising, sometimes disturbing—and I think they make for a compelling story about power and abuse and journalistic courage.”