Hugh Grant In Talks To Play Prince Andrew In Movie About His Disastrous Newsnight Interview

Hugh Grant is in talks to play Prince Andrew in a new flick about his infamous Newsnight interview in 2019, according to a new report. 

Scoop is set to tell the tale about how the BBC managed to land the interview, where the Duke of York was quizzed about his connection to the convicted sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein, Deadline reports. 

Scoop will be written by Your Honor screenwriter Peter Moffat, who told Deadline it would centre on ‘how the BBC’s Newsnight team got the scoop, then the actual filming of it’. 

BBC

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?”

The film will be based on Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews by Sam McAlister, who used to work as a Newsnight producer. 

Moffat told Deadline he wants the story to tell how ‘Sam and those two extraordinary women, Emily and Esme [Wren, former Newsnight editor] made the interview happen under real stress and pressure because once it was agreed it happened in secret. Almost nobody inside the BBC could know about it for fear it would leak’. 

He added: “What Andrew was going to say was going to be extremely relevant in court later… a real responsibility, particularly to Epstein’s women victims. It was our one shot at looking at what Andrew had to say about Epstein. The seriousness with which Emily, Esme and Sam were taking it, of course, was right.”

BBC

Notting Hill star Grant is said to be one of the actors being eyed up to play the prince, but when pushed executive producer Hilary Salmon refused to confirm rumours, saying that the team ‘have thoughts, of course’ but adding that, as yet, ‘no one is attached’.

The bombshell interview aired just months after Epstein was found dead in his prison cell. 

Shortly after airing, numerous agencies and causes he was involved with announced they would be ending their associations with him, prompting Andrew to release a statement in which he said he would be stepping down as a working royal.

Alamy

In the November 2019 statement, he said: “It has become clear to me over the last few days that the circumstances relating to my former association with Jeffrey Epstein has become a major disruption to my family’s work and the valuable work going on in the many organisations and charities that I am proud to support.

“Therefore, I have asked Her Majesty if I may step back from public duties for the foreseeable future, and she has given her permission.

“I continue to unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein. His suicide has left many unanswered questions, particularly for his victims, and I deeply sympathise with everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure. I can only hope that, in time, they will be able to rebuild their lives. Of course, I am willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required.”