Scoop (2024 film).
Scoop is a 2024 British biographical drama film directed by Philip Martin which stars Rufus Sewell, Keeley Hawes, Gillian Anderson, and Billie Piper. The production staff at BBC Two’s news and current affairs program Newsnight, along with presenter and journalist Emily Maitlis, dramatize the process of obtaining and recording Prince Andrew’s 2019 BBC television interview. The 2022 novel Scoops by former Newsnight editor Sam McAlister served as the inspiration for the screenplay written by Peter Moffat and Geoff Bussetil.
With a focus on Andrew’s relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and allegations of his sexual assault of a minor, the film tells the behind-the-scenes story of the women who bargained with the Buckingham Palace establishment to secure the “scoop of the decade” that served as the public catalyst for the Duke of York’s downfall. Subsequently, the interview was likened to a plane colliding with an oil tanker, resulting in a wave and potentially a nuclear explosion, rather than a vehicle crash.
The film was released on 5 April 2024.
Plot
Photographer Jae Donnelly of New York City sets up shop in a private Manhattan residence in 2010 to get an exclusive image. Having moments earlier taken pictures of a small girl exiting the same building, he eventually takes pictures of Prince Andrew strolling in Central Park with Jeffrey Epstein.
Nine years later, young BBC Newsnight guest producer Sam McAlister discovers the picture next to an article about a Prince Andrew-sponsored gathering for young entrepreneurs, right when significant job cuts are announced. She attempts to get in touch with the photographer.
Amanda Thirsk, Prince Andrew’s private secretary, thinks the Epstein picture played a major role in the press not being present for the palace celebration. Consulted is PR man Jason Stein, but the prince maintains that he broke up with Epstein after the mogul’s initial juvenile sex scandals became public.
Scoop (Official Trailer)
CAST
Gillian Anderson as Emily Maitlis
Keeley Hawes as Amanda Thirsk
Billie Piper as Sam McAlister
Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew
Romola Garai as Esme Wren
Richard Goulding as Stewart MacLean
Amanda Redman as Netta McAlister
Connor Swindells as Jae Donnelly[4]
Lia Williams as Fran Unsworth[4]
Colin Wells as Jeffrey Epstein
Aoife Hinds as Rebecca
Paul Popplewell as an editor
Andrew MacBean as Tony Hall
Charity Wakefield as Princess Beatrice
