Keeley Hawes has said Prince Andrew was considered ‘heroic’ and ‘sexy’ by some when he was young, and added that it feel ‘disgusting’ to say that now.
The actor plays the role of Amanda Thirsk in Scoop, the Netflix film about the royal’s now infamous interview with Emily Maitlis about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Following the interview, Andrew stepped down from royal duties. He also paid an estimated £12 million settlement to Virginia Giuffre who accused him of having sex with her when she was 17. Prince Andrew denies all accusations.
Speaking about the movie, which is released today, Keeley discussed her role with the Telegraph.
While her role of Amanda Thirsk is, according to the outlet, ‘in the background’, it is ‘instrumental’, with Scoop saying the interview was organised ‘on Thirsk’s go-ahead’.
Pictured on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on the day of his wedding to Sarah Ferguson in July 1986, Prince Andrew used to be seen as heroic
According to Keeley: ‘She wanted everyone to see him through her eyes, and through her eyes, he’s a great guy.’
She added: ‘The people that I’ve spoken to who know Prince Andrew are full of love for him. Because he is a great guy. Of course he is. It’s easy to forget – and I was growing up during that period – but we celebrated those men.
‘Bill Wyman and his teenage bride, Randy Andy in his military suit. They were sexy – it sounds disgusting now to say it, but it was heroic.’
According to Keeley, it was ‘very difficult’ to look at media from the royal’s younger days and imagine how his behaviour was viewed ‘through a totally different lens’.
She added that she does not expect the Royal Family to comment on Scoop.
The film, which is finally released today, has been the subject of much anticipation.
Netflix’s drama details the story behind the interview with the disgraced Duke of York, portrayed by Rufus Sewell, 56, and also features an almost unrecognisable Billie Piper in blonde wig and high heels.
The actor stars as Sam McAlister, the Newsnight producer who secured Prince Andrew’s notorious 2019 interview with Emily Maitlis, who is played by Gillian Anderson, 55.
Keeley Hawes pictured as Amanda Thirsk in Netflix drama Scoop, which is released by the streaming service today
The film shows captures the tension behind booking the royal for the interview, as well as the tension among the cast during the interview.
It explores a behind-the-scenes look at how the interview was secured and how events surrounding it unfolded framed as a tribute to the work of the four women responsible.
It is based on Scoops by Sam McAlister who is also known as the ‘Booker extraordinaire’ on Newsnight having successfully negotiated and secured the interview which quizzed the Duke about his friendship with the late-convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein.
Ms Maitlis discussed Virginia Giuffre’s claims that she was forced to have sex with Andrew three times when she was 17 under the orders of Epstein.
The prince strongly denied the claims throughout the interview.
The discussion, in which Andrew made a series of claims – including insisting he couldn’t have been with Ms Giuffre at the time of the alleged encounter because he was dining at a Pizza Express in Woking and that a medical condition left him unable to sweat – has since gained notoriety and is widely acknowledged to have embarrassed the royals.
Prince Andrew pictured in 1982, on his return from the Falkland war, has denied all accusations made against him
Despite vowing to fight the claims and repeatedly protesting his innocence, the prince agreed to pay a huge sum to settle the case before it ever reached a jury.
Sam McAllister earlier this year appeared on This Morning as Netflix screened its trailer for the first time, to discuss her experience working on both the interview and the film.
She described how tough it was securing the interview, saying: ‘I was a complete underdog on booking content because who in their right mind, let’s be frank, would want to go on unless you’re a minister, or you’re selling a book or a movie.
‘Why would you go and take that risk, right?
‘So my job was persuading people to go on against their interest basically. So I spent my time trying to get them to do something they probably shouldn’t have done.’
The interview was described as a ‘car crash’ and on November 20, 2019, a statement from Buckingham Palace said Prince Andrew was suspended from public duties ‘for the foreseeable future’.
In May 2020, it was announced that the prince was permanently stepping down from his public roles.
In January 2022, Ms Giuffre was given the go-ahead to sue Andrew for unspecified damages in a New York civil court.
Discussing how she felt when securing the interview, she revealed: ‘I’d been dealing with a palace for a year. And I think the thing that I love about this movie…is I’m an ordinary woman who ended up in an extraordinary situation. And of course, everyone’s seen that interview. But this is the 95 per cent before that.’
The real life interview between Emily Maitlis and Prince Andrew which has been described as a ‘car crash’
She continued: ‘So it all started a year prior, and it was only on the Monday so we’re now 13 months in the Monday when I met Prince Andrew face to face with Emily and Stuart with with his daughter sitting next to him in Buckingham Palace…It was only then on the one day I thought this could actually happen.
‘And on Tuesday morning, they said yes. And I honestly I dropped my phone. I could not believe that they had said yes.’
Describing the biggest curveball of the day, Sam told This Morning it was when Prince Andrew was accompanied into the interview with his daughter Princess Beatrice.
‘Scoop is the insider account of the inner workings of the Palace and the BBC, twin bastions of the British Establishment, spotlighting the journalists whose tenacity and guts broke through the highest of ceilings – and into the inner sanctum and calculations of a man with everything to lose.’
‘Can you imagine you’ve gone to talk to a Prince and you’re in Buckingham Palace…and you’re talking about difficult subjects and then he brings his daughter?’ she said?
‘I mean, it was the curveball of curveballs. I’m not easily disconcerted, but I have to admit, even I was impressed by that as a curveball,’ she added.
Netflilx describes the production as portraying: ‘The inside track of the women that broke through the Buckingham Palace establishment to secure the scoop of the decade that led to the catastrophic fall from grace of The Queen’s ‘Favourite son’.
The film portrays Sam McAllister (played by Billie Piper) going to Buckingham Palace to discuss the interview with his secretary
‘From navigating Palace vetoes, to breaking through to Prince Andrew’s inner circle, the high stakes negotiations and intensity of rehearsal – to the jaw dropping interview itself.
Sam McAlister says ‘it is beyond my wildest dreams, especially as a first time writer, to end up working with this extraordinary cast, Netflix, and the amazing teams at The Lighthouse and Voltage. Watching Billie Piper, one of my favourite actresses, play ‘me’ will be a pinch myself moment and I’m truly thrilled to be involved in this film.’
Describing the film, director Philip Martin revealed: ‘I’m thrilled to be directing this film for Netflix and – together with an extraordinary cast – to be bringing Sam McAlister’s revelatory insider’s account to the screen.
‘Uptempo, immersive and cinematic, I want to put the audience inside the breath-taking sequence of events that led to the interview with Prince Andrew – to tell a story about a search for answers, in a world of speculation and varying recollections.
‘It’s a film about power, privilege and differing perspectives and how – whether in glittering palaces or hi-tech newsrooms – we judge what’s true.’
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