Sigh. Sometimes all you can when you hear a news story is shrug your shoulders, look up at the heavens, and let out an almighty sigh. For some inexplicable reason, that torrid BBC interview with Prince Andrew is being turned into a feature film.
Back in 2019, The Enfant Despicable of the British royal family decided to sit down with BBC‘s Newsnight for a deep discussion about his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
It didn’t go well, but you don’t need me to tell you that. Andrew was widely criticised for dodging questions from the host and not showing enough sympathy for Epstein’s victims. He used being at a fast food restaurant as a truly ludicrous alibi (“does one get one large meat lovers pizza at Pizza Express if one happens to be related to Queen Elizabeth?”) Following the shocking interview, he was removed from royal duties.
As per Deadline, the infamous incident is now set to be turned into a feature film. Can they not just bash out 20 more MCU films instead of this? The film is set to be called Scoop and is based on Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews by Sam McAlister, a former producer on Newsnight.
Hugh Grant is one of the big names supposedly on the list of actors wanted to play Prince Andrew; playing a disgraced royal should look excellent on his CV alongside beloved titles like Notting Hill and Paddington. It’s being penned by British playwright Peter Moffat, who was once nominated for a BAFTA for a TV drama about Stephen Hawking.
What does an actor like Grant gain from such a role though? We are living much too close to the brutal reality of Andrew’s story to allow for a decent portrayal to come out of it; history needs to gestate before being turned into, for want of a better word, entertainment.
It’s the same with the upcoming five-part series This England, which will see Sir Kenneth Branagh portray Boris Johnson in a drama about the first wave of COVID-19 in the U.K.. Why would anyone want to watch this? Why would anyone want to relive that moment in time so soon afterwards?
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