Netflix dropped the trailer for “Scoop” on Monday because apparently the story of a single “Newsnight” interview is more important than the actual story of a British royal’s incredibly close friendship with a convicted sex offender.
Starring Gillian Anderson, Keeley Hawes, Billie Piper and Rufus Sewell, the story of “Scoop” follows the behind-the-scenes story of how Prince Andrew ended up doing a “Newsnight” interview about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the trailer description points out. The film is based on the book “Scoops: Behind The Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews,” which tells the story of how “Newsnight” producer Sam McAlister (Piper) secured the notorious sit-down with Prince Andrew, Netflix said.
I don’t really know how to explain how boring this premise sounds. Are we really expected to care about how a group of journalists did their job and interviewed Prince Andrew about his alleged sexual relationships with teenage girls, and his apparent inability to sweat at one point in his life?
Surely the real story Netflix should be focusing on is how and why it took so long for the British press to bother interviewing Prince Andrew about his alleged behavior?
It is a truth universally acknowledged within the British public that, since at the time of my birth (the 1990s), Prince Andrew has always been a creepy, definitely sweaty weirdo who serves absolutely no purpose to the crown, nor to the British public.
Therefore, the movie’s tagline “one interview can change everything” is just ultra bollocks. It didn’t change anything — it was just a cringe viral moment, something the BBC isn’t really used to unless they’re the subject of the cringe. (RELATED: King Charles Is Finally Done With His Epstein-Linked Brother, And The British Should Be Dancing In The Streets)
But then again we are talking about an archipelago currently being run by an unelected Prime Minister. So, should it really surprise me that Netflix would make such a potentially self-indulgent, meaningless film about a bunch of people who do the absolute minimum their job requires, which makes them more important than Epstein’s alleged victims? Probably not.
I’m going to watch “Scoops” when it drops on the American Netflix because I hope it really proves my current mindset wrong.