Both films will be showing a version of events that lead right up to the moments before the interview. Source: Mark Harrison, BBC.
Royal sources are reportedly concerned over two films that will dramatise Prince Andrew and his infamous Newsnight interview on the BBC.
The 2019 interview, in which Prince Andrew sought to explain his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, proved to be a disastrous move for him.
He was widely thought to have failed in properly expressing regret over his friendship with the late sex offender, and empathy for the victims.
The interview will be the subject of two adaptations, one is a scripted drama from Emily Maitlis who conducted the interview with Andrew, and the other is a film from Sam McAlister a former BBC producer who secured the interview.
“Hearing the answers that he gave, each one worse than the last, was really an extraordinary experience that it’s still hard to believe actually happened,” McAlister said about the interview.
Both films will be showing a version of events that lead right up to the moments before the interview, which McAlister said is even more interesting.
“The bit before the camera starts is nine times out of ten the most interesting part of the experience.”
There is concern over what dramatic licence and alleged factual inaccuracies could lead to in the films’ retelling of events.
According to The Times, a friend of the Duke of York said: “This latest exploitation for financial gain of a book and now a film of what was, and remains, a very difficult time for the family, is unwelcome.
“Not least as the account of events leading up to and around the interview appear to have elements of dramatic licence.”
There has been pushback against some details of McAlister’s book, including her saying all senior staff members essentially left Prince Andrew in the room.
McAlister’s film Scoop is scheduled to begin shooting in November and will be adapted from her book Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews.
The book’s chapter that the film will be based on, describes how the interview was secured and gives details about the day.
