Actress Gillian Anderson is giving fans a behind-the-scenes look at how Rufus Sewell transformed into embattled royal Prince Andrew for the Netflix film Scoop.
On Friday, the X-Files star shared a series of workplace selfies with Sewell on Instagram, showing the actor going through the various phases of makeup and prosthetic work to make him look just like the Duke of York.
"Just a straightforward shooting week," Anderson wrote in the caption. "(and!) Scoop is out on Netflix today!"
The film details the bombshell 2019 BBC interview with Prince Andrew regarding his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died inside a Manhattan jail in August 2019.
In addition to discussing his relationship with Epstein, Maitlis asked Prince Andrew about allegations sexually assaulted a minor, Virginia Guiffre, when she was 17.
Prince Andrew denied Giuffre's allegations, and in 2022, Prince Andrew settled with Giuffree out of court, paying an undisclosed financial settlement and officially ending the civil case levied against him.
After the contentious interview with Newsnight's Emily Maitlis aired, the late Queen Elizabeth stripped Prince Andrew of his military titles and patronages and the Duke of York ultimately stepped away from public life as a royal.
According to USA Today, Sewell said that in order to accurately portray the Duke of York, he needed “a large prosthetic bottom” for a scene in which Prince Andrew bares his behind while climbing out of the bath.
“It’s not that I’m ashamed of my own,” Sewell told Radio Times. “I get it out whenever I get the chance—but this bum was specially shipped in.”
The star also said transforming into the royal meant he had to perfect the "Windsor clenched jaw"—a process that was no small, or quit, endeavor.
Sewell said he also became "obsessed" with watching the notorious interview as well as footage of Prince Andrew from his younger years, when he his playboy antics earned him the nickname "Randy Andy."
In an exclusive interview with People, BBC producer Sam McAlister opened up about the process of securing the 2019 interview with Prince Andrew, including a surprising moment she described as the "curveball of curveballs."
That meeting was just extraordinary, because obviously, you prep so much for a meeting of this importance, in Buckingham Palace, negotiating for an interview that was now the most sought-after conversation in journalism. And there was a real curveball moment," McAlister told the publication.
"We had been going to meet Prince Andrew and his chief of staff, Amanda Thirsk—played by Keeley Hawes in our movie—and then curveball of curveballs, he brought someone with him," McAlister continued. "Now, I'm thinking it's going to be a lawyer or a comms person and things are going to be over. But in fact, it was his daughter, Princess Beatrice."
Scoop is now streaming on Netflix.
