Scoop General Discussion

[DanaK]

Netflix scripted movie streaming April 5. Fictional dramatization about the disastrous interview with Prince Andrew and how the women of Newsnight pulled it together.

Starring Gillian Anderson, Billie Piper, and Rufus Sewell

Category: TV Movie, by streamer Netflix

Trailer

 

Edited March 31 by DanaK

[Snazzy Daisy]

[Snazzy Daisy]

Gillian Anderson, Billie Piper (Scoop Actresses) On BBC Breakfast

 

Becoming Prince Andrew: Rufus Sewell on Playing Prince Andrew in New Netflix Drama | Good Morning Britain

 

[DanaK]

I watched this this morning and thought it was pretty good, with some pretty good performances. Prince Andrew had no clue how he was coming across, didn't he?

Billie's character was pretty scrappy, even against that male coworker who seemed to continually give her a hard time. Gillian's Emily seemed pretty steely and careful

[buttersister]

On 4/5/2024 at 10:10 AM, DanaK said:

Prince Andrew had no clue how he was coming across, didn't he?

None. Kind of stunning and no-shit at the same time. Good work, Mr. Sewell.

But best work to Sam—her scene with Gillian’s character at the palace was my favorite moment.

[PurpleTentacle]

This was certainly gripping and as always I love Billie Piper and Gillian Anderson.

But I'm really dubious as to how much truth this contained. I mean they couldn't even get the blurbs at the end correct, that are supposed to be factual. "Prince Andrew [..] was later stripped of his royal titles." Not a single title has been stripped from him. Not one.

I mean you expect a lot of embellishing with something like this, but since so little care was taken, I assume everything but the parts directly taken from the interview was made up wholesale.

[PurpleTentacle]

On 4/5/2024 at 5:10 PM, DanaK said:

Prince Andrew had no clue how he was coming across, didn't he?

Him not getting it I get. But all the people around him not getting it is baffling. Though who knows if it's true? Truth might be that there were 10 people constantly screaming at him to not do it and he did it anyway.

Though if the Queen really got an advanced copy, I wonder why she didn't interject. She always seemed more savy than that. Maybe she had lost a step towards the end or maybe this also isn't true at all. Who knows?

[buttersister]

I can believe her getting an advanced copy. The BBC tanking it if she’d requested it? Not so much.

I wondered how much Sam really had to do with this—a lot, turns out.

[SeanBug]

On 4/7/2024 at 10:13 PM, PurpleTentacle said:

This was certainly gripping and as always I love Billie Piper and Gillian Anderson.

But I'm really dubious as to how much truth this contained. I mean they couldn't even get the blurbs at the end correct, that are supposed to be factual. "Prince Andrew [..] was later stripped of his royal titles." Not a single title has been stripped from him. Not one.

I mean you expect a lot of embellishing with something like this, but since so little care was taken, I assume everything but the parts directly taken from the interview was made up wholesale.

The Queen did take his military titles and patronages. And she helped pay for his civil suit against Virginia (pretty ballsy him suing the woman he assaulted), and she helped pay the settlement since Andrew doesn't have that kind of money. 

Apparently Andrew really liked Sewell's performance and thought he came off rather well.  Does anyone in what's left of the RF have a clue to how ridiculous and out of touch they are?  FFS hire some actual professional PR people and stop relying on these idiots who couldn't find their asses with both hands and a mirror.  I expect Andrew to be a buffoon, but that's why he is supposed to have people around him who don't let him consort with sex traffickers , let alone  sit with a journalist and spout bullshit about sweating and pizza parties. 

After watching the "She Said" movie about the reporters who took down Weinstein (or at least started the ball rolling), I found Scoop a bit of a let down.  It wasn't as dramatic as I thought it would be, I guess since there weren't any real stakes involved.  It was just an interview done years after the fact.  

[MicheleinPhilly]

I don't give a flying fig about the RF and don't really pay attention to what's going on with them but wanted to check this out because of Gillian and Keeley. 

It was entertaining for a Friday night watch and I was rather impressed with Sam's tenacity especially considering the shit she constantly got from her colleagues. 

I was literally laughing during "Andrew's" interview. Good lord man, it's bad enough you're a pervert. But you're also delusional if you thought that portrayed you well. 

Something I kept being distracted by though: Did they use CGI or green screens for the exteriors of BP? I can't imagine the RF granting permits for a project that pretty roundly lambasted them. Or are they that desperate for money that they granted permission? 

[PurpleTentacle]

4 hours ago, SeanBug said:

The Queen did take his military titles and patronages.

But not one of the royal titles, which is what the blurb at the end said.

10 minutes ago, MicheleinPhilly said:

Something I kept being distracted by though: Did they use CGI or green screens for the exteriors of BP? I can't imagine the RF granting permits for a project that pretty roundly lambasted them. Or are they that desperate for money that they granted permission? 

They used CGI for those kinds of shots in the Netflix show "the crown". I assume it's the same here.

Season 4 VFX of the crown:

Here you have two drag queen reacting to the unfinished version (even though they overlayed the finished version in the video):

 

Edited April 10 by PurpleTentacle

[MicheleinPhilly]

Interesting. Thanks! 

I'm probably the only person on this board who hasn't watched The Crown. 😂

[merylinkid]

The stuffed animals on the bed was creepy.   We know this is true that Andrew has a thing for having them arranged just right.

I believe the Queen got an advance copy, but also believe that she thought Andrew came across just fine.   She always did have a blind spot for him.   At least in this show Andrew has some inkling that when his mother died, he wouldn't be so privileged anymore.   But yes Andrew is that dumb to believe he came across well.   I doubt he hired anyone who would tell him otherwise.   He does not strike me as the type of person who surrounds himself with people with tell him no.  

Gillian Anderson has that posh lady accent down perfectly.   Low,slightly slowed speech.   

[lovinbob]

Did Andrew's rep (Amanda?) think he came off well or did she know he'd cooked his own goose?

Not a party ... a straightforward shooting weekend. 

Oh, ok. That's fine, then. 

[Notabug]

On 4/12/2024 at 10:19 AM, lovinbob said:

Did Andrew's rep (Amanda?) think he came off well or did she know he'd cooked his own goose?

Not a party ... a straightforward shooting weekend. 

Oh, ok. That's fine, then. 

I got the impression that Amanda had a crush on him and had difficulty seeing him as anything other than charming.  Early in the episode, we saw her and the other PR aide watching while Andrew schmoozed a couple of visitors to Buckingham Palace.  After they left the room, she turned to the other guy and gushed about how wonderful Andrew was with people, how he had such a natural charm and wit which is why he needed to get out and do some PR rather than stay silent on Epstein and hope it would all blow over.  That the British public were bound to believe him and be completely won over if only they got to see him. The other guy, who ended up resigning over the decision to do the interview, gave her major side eye.

I think all the royals are used to being surrounded by people who admire them and tell them how wonderful they are and how amazing they are.  Some of them really come to believe it.  I don't think Andrew is the only member of that family who feels like he is exceptional and deserving of praise and adulation for virtually no reason at all.

I'm not sure the Queen watched Andrew's interview, or, if she did, that she saw what everyone else saw.  She'd spent years in denial as to Andrew's less than stellar qualities by that point.  I think he told her it went well and she bought it.

Edited April 15 by Notabug

[Bastet]

I didn't watch the real interview, and no very little about the royal family, so have no idea how accurate this was (did he really make that Jimmy Savile joke??), but I enjoyed it for the performances.  I love that it was three women (and a whippet) who made this happen.  And Emily and Sam giving each other respect in the midst of valid disagreement.  (I'm on Emily's side regarding anyone with a Daily Fail whiff, but also understand the reality in which Sam is working.)

Sam watching teen girls on the bus get to just be teen girls after hearing from the photographer about the parade of teen girls no one cares about in and out of Epstein's apartment was a nice scene.  As was Emily feeling guilty in hindsight for how she handled the Clinton/Lewinsky story, and shooting down the consent defense by saying she was a 21-year-old intern and he was the president of the United States.  And cutting back and forth between the BBCers and Andrew and his handlers both doing mock interviews to prep.

Everyone's WTF? reaction to "I can't sweat" was great face acting all around.

Speaking of faces, on a shallow note, I love seeing Gillian Anderson's lines and wrinkles.  In a sexist and ageist industry within a sexist and ageist society, I have no issue with women, especially those in the public eye, Botoxing the hell out of their faces, but I have a personal affection for the way her forehead looks like a shar pei's when she raises her eyebrows.