Rufus Sewell is explaining how he prepared to portray Prince Andrew in the new Netflix film, Scoop.
The movie tells the behind-the-scenes story of the 2019 BBC television interview — called the “scoop of the decade” — which focused on Andrew’s relationship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. It is an adaptation of Sam McAlister‘s book Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews. (Epstein died in 2019 after being found unresponsive in his jail cell.)
Sewell, 56, told the UK publication The Telegraph that he did extensive research studying Andrew’s mannerisms for the role.
“Andrew actually has this blokey quality alongside the Windsor clenched-jaw thing. If you listen to him, as opposed to King Charles, he has a lad’s lad quality,” Sewell said.
The British actor reportedly spent up to four hours a day being transformed into Prince Andrew, with the aid of both makeup and prosthetics.
In the film, Gillian Anderson portrays journalist Emily Maitlis, who questioned Prince Andrew. The interview is considered the public catalyst for the downfall of Prince Andrew.
In addition to probing his interaction with Epstein, Maitlis also discussed allegations of Andrew’s sexual assault of a minor. Andrew denied the allegations, and he was the defendant in a civil lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre in New York State. The lawsuit was settled out of court in February 2022. In the settlement, Andrew paid an estimated $16 million.
Andrew resigned from public roles in May 2020 and his honorary military affiliations were removed by the Queen in January 2022.
Sewell said he had to see life from the royal’s perspective in order to play Andrew.
“His wishes are caught up with all kinds of muddled ideas. One is that he believes he’s a victim of being too honorable,” he said, adding,, “But he’s afraid of what the repercussions will be for other people. And he also feels that he has been set up.”
For Sewell, playing a royal family member experiencing the widest range of emotions was a tremendous challenge.
“Watching him, it’s clear that he has very mixed-up feelings of culpability and innocence and victimhood,” he said. “That is fascinating to play.”
Sewell told The Telegraph that the film “doesn’t make a case for guilt or innocence, one way or another.”
In a separate interview, Sewell confessed to the UK publication Daily Express that portraying Prince Andrew on camera was, at times, “painful.” He added that Anderson, 55, was “terrifyingly” up to the challenge of playing Maitlis.
Scoop debuts on Friday, April 5 on Netflix.
