I really loved Frost/Nixon when it came out. I’m not saying that I don’t love it now but I haven’t seen it in ages. Not only is it a film that portrays an important moment in history but it manages to capture the tension of the situation. I mention is because whoever wrote Scoop clearly thought this was their Frost/Nixon. This time, David Frost has been replaced by Emily Maitlis and the disgraced former president of the United States swapped for the disgraced son of the Queen of England.
I know that Prince Andrew’s Newsnight interview was a big deal after it came out but I wouldn’t have said it deserved to be turned into a film. After all, Prince Andrew is still a member of the royal family and hasn’t seen any real consequences to his actions. It doesn’t feel like quite as much of a win. But, having seen Rufus Sewell’s transformation, I had to see what the fuss was about.
It certainly is quite an incredible job. The actor is hard to recognise as Andrew and plays him as an oversized man-child. He isn’t the playboy prince that we’ve heard about but a man who is wholly incapable of dealing with the real world.
A man who would rather spend his time ensuring that his teddies are set out correctly than think about the young victims of his friend’s actions. After the fairly grovelling tone of The Crown, this is a fresh approach for Netflix. Yes, it’s still happy to make money from the royal family but it’s not quite as bothered about being sensitive in the way it does it.
In terms of the story, it’s not really Emily Maitlis or Andrew that matter. The focus here is on Sam McAlister , the producer who secured the interview. She also wrote the book the film was based on. So, you get to see a lot of her story. Billie Piper plays her as a fierce and competent woman. However, her story is kind of bleh.
This film tries to bring up feminist issues but in such a half-hearted way. Sam is side-lined for her male colleagues but it doesn’t really go anywhere. She gets a pep talk from her mum but then nothing really changes. There’s also one moment when she tries to give some insight into the male psyche but, again, this doesn’t feel like a story of powerful women.
Really, I don’t know what the point of this film is. Yes, it’s talking about the power of journalism but it’s been done better elsewhere. It doesn’t add anything to this narrative. It doesn’t even fully capture the true absurdity of the interview. You’re better of just watching that online to get the full effect.
Finding out what went into securing the issues doesn’t bring anything to the table except pull back the curtain on the BBC a bit. Most of the time, we’re just watching people watching things. There’s so little going on and not in a dramatic way. We’re not watching great journalists researching and preparing. We’re watching Sam McAlister watching Emily Maitlis on Newsnight. It’s hardly riveting stuff.
This is the kind of film that doesn’t really do justice to anything. I don’t really think there was much of a story here and there’s very little for the actors to do. This is just a classic case of Netflix using a recent event about the royal family to bring in audiences. Now The Crown has finished, it’s going to be looking for whatever it can use.
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Gillian Anderson
As Emily Maitlis -
Billie Piper
As Sam McAlister -
Rufus Sewell
As Prince Andrew -
Keeley Hawes
As Amanda Thirsk -
Romola Garai
As Esme Wren -
Richard Goulding
As Stewart Maclean
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