ROYAL ROLE
I became obsessed with Prince Andrew as I transformed for Netflix’s Scoop, but a problem held me back, says Rufus Sewell
Rufus admits he faced a problem with mimicking the Prince as he got to grips with the role for the first time
SCOOP actor Rufus Sewell has revealed how he obsessively watched footage of Prince Andrew, and even dressed up as him at home, in order to get to grips with his new role.
The Diplomat star will play the Duke of York in the upcoming movie, which follows his 2019 Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis.
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The interview saw the Prince open up about his relationship with disgraced financier and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who went on trial in the same year on sex trafficking charges.
Speaking at the Next On Netflix stage this week, Rufus, 56, opened up about how he was initially hesitant to take on the role when approached by the streaming service for casting.
And, after agreeing to sign up, facing an even bigger problem in learning how to perfectly mimic the Prince's behaviour.
Rufus said: "It wasn't an easy yes, but I read the script, and it was so extraordinary that I found that I kind of needed to do it.
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"But, I didn't actually say yes until I'd worked on it on my own for a while, which is not something I'd normally do before a part.
"I had an instinct about playing him, and I have a good ear with accents, but not that natural ability to mimic."
It meant that Rufus quickly became "obsessed" with watching clips of Andrew, and even dressing up as him to get into character at home.
He continued: "I just became obsessed with watching the interview and watching him - and even on my own, I would dress up as him.
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"I won't tell you how I'd dress up, but what I mean is - I would put on clothes that felt like I could believe the idea of myself [being him].
"When people would catch me doing it, it was really embarrassing.
"But I would watch the interview for hours and hours and obsess, just trying to get behind it, inside it.
"I also watched a lot of footage when he was younger, and him at his 'best' - because one of the temptations is to avoid anything that seems to show the good lights.
"But watching him when he was younger, talking with people and actually being quite funny and good with people, and then seeing him in an environment where that contract is not on it.
"[You see] what he believes are his natural-born gifts as a person are in fact entirely reliant on people giving him the status as Prince and, without that, he can't get his oxygen in the same way."
To ensure he was playing the part exactly right, the directors had Rufus and his co-star, Sex Education's Gillian Anderson, who plays Emily Maitlis, film the interview in full over and over again.
Rufus explained: "I did as much studying as I could until it started to come through, and then I sat opposite Gillian on the first day, who had been doing her own version of the work [to become Emily].
"Then we filmed the interview for two days, on a loop - and that was our way of starting, we just did it from top to bottom, over and over again, just moving the camera slightly each time."
In February last year, it was confirmed that Gillian Anderson and Billie Piper would lead the cast in Scoop alongside Rufus.
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The film is based on Sam McAllister's memoir, Scoops: Behind The Scenes of the BBC's Most Shocking Interviews.
Scoop will launch on Netflix on April 5
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