Guilty pleasures
By NewsPress Now
Gillian Anderson, Rufus Sewell recreate a royal media disaster in ‘Scoop’
LONDON | As the past few weeks have shown, British royalty and the media can be an explosive mix.
The absence of the Princess of Wales after abdominal surgery in January sparked uncontrolled online speculation that was first heightened by the release of a manipulated photo, then eased by a video statement from Kate disclosing that she is being treated for cancer.
It’s a reminder that when palace privacy meets public curiosity and the public interest, things can get messy.
For more evidence, watch “Scoop,” a behind-the-scenes Netflix drama about a disastrous interview Prince Andrew gave in 2019 in response to allegations of sexual misconduct. Released on Friday (April 5), it stars Rufus Sewell as Andrew and Gillian Anderson as journalist Emily Maitlis, who grilled the prince for the BBC’s “Newsnight” program.
For more evidence, watch “Scoop,” a behind-the-scenes Netflix drama about a disastrous interview Prince Andrew gave in 2019 in response to allegations of sexual misconduct. Released on Friday (April 5), it stars Rufus Sewell as Andrew and Gillian Anderson as journalist Emily Maitlis, who grilled the prince for the BBC’s “Newsnight” program.
The feature-length drama is a return to royal themes for “The X-Files” and “Sex Education” star Anderson, who played a leading role in series four of “The Crown,” albeit as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, not as a member of the House of Windsor. Anderson says the “complex” relationship between royalty and media needs reassessment.
“Whether that’s (Prince) Harry and his cases against the tabloids and all of the truths around that that have come to the fore, or other aspects that are becoming more public knowledge, it probably needs a proper rethink,” Anderson told The Associated Press.
Prince Andrew agreed to be interviewed to address reports about his friendship with financier Jeffrey Epstein – found dead in a New York prison in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges — and allegations by a woman that she’d had sex with Andrew when she was 17 and being trafficked by Epstein.
“Scoop” is based on a book by Sam McAlister, the tenacious producer who secured the interview. As played by Billie Piper, she promises the palace: “An hour of television can change everything.”
That proved grimly true for Andrew.
Under Maitlis’ gentle but determined probing, the prince denied all allegations, failed to show empathy for the exploited young women and said Epstein had “conducted himself in a manner unbecoming,” which struck many viewers as an understatement.
He claimed he couldn’t have been at a nightclub with his accuser on an alleged date because he was at a suburban Pizza Express restaurant with his daughter Princess Beatrice. He couldn’t have been sweating on the dancefloor because an “overdose of adrenaline’’ during his time as a helicopter pilot in the 1982 Falklands War had left him unable to perspire.
McAlister recalled the “extraordinary” experience of being in the room as the interview was recorded inside Buckingham Palace.
“As a journalist, and an ex-lawyer, I knew profoundly that he was doing something that would change the course of his life and the course of life of everyone in the royal family,” she said at the show’s London premiere.
Andrew initially thought the interview had been a great success, even giving Maitlis a tour of Buckingham Palace after it was recorded.
But he “stepped back” from public duties days after it was broadcast, and has not returned. In 2022 he reached an out-of-court settlement with his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, paying her an unspecified sum without admitting guilt.
Sewell, who spent up to four hours a day being transformed into the prince with makeup and prosthetics, said he tried to find “all of the contradictions” in Andrew. He saw a man whose self-image was forged through a lifetime of deference from those around him, and who played up to his tabloid image as a “naughty scamp” – “Randy Andy” in his bachelor youth, “Air Miles Andy” in his role as a British trade emissary.
Sewell said he felt Andrew’s self-image was “dependent on the other party acquiescing to the idea that he is the prince.”
“In order to maintain the idea of himself, he needs someone to play along,” said the British actor, recently seen as a mischief-making ambassadorial spouse in “The Diplomat” on Netflix.
“And the interview is the process by which this fish finds himself out of his bowl, gulping for air — because Emily Maitlis does not even need to be rude or aggressive, she just needs to not agree to her side of that contract. And suddenly he is a creature that cannot get the oxygen.”
The show’s recreation of the infamous interview is remarkably tense, even for viewers who have seen the real thing.
“We prepared completely separately and, and there was no rehearsal,” Anderson said. “So when we came together to shoot the interview, it was on our first day of work together and we started the day sitting across from each other in those chairs and the cameras rolled. And so there was tension in and of itself.”
“Scoop” is the first of two TV dramas based on the interview. Amazon’s rival miniseries “A Very Royal Scandal” is due later this year, with Michael Sheen as Andrew and Ruth Wilson as Maitlis.
Anderson is proud that “Scoop” is a story with “four strong female leads in the ensemble.” The cast also includes Keeley Hawes as Andrew’s private secretary Amanda Thirsk and Romola Garai as “Newsnight” boss Esme Wren.
As for what the palace can learn from it, she said: “If this tells us anything, it would be that the royal family should never do an interview at all.”
“But actually,” she added, “I think what is amazing and what stands out is the importance of independent journalism, to hold authority to account and to at least attempt to get some semblance of the truth.”
Japan’s royal family makes formal debut on Instagram
TOKYO | Japan’s imperial family made an Instagram debut with a barrage of posts on Monday, hoping to shake off their reclusive image and reach out to younger people on social media.
The Imperial Household Agency, a government agency in charge of the family’s affairs, posted 60 photos and five videos showing Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako’s public appearances over the past three months.
The agency said they wanted the public to have a better understanding of the family’s official duties and that Instagram was chosen because of its popularity among youth.
By Monday evening, their verified account Kunaicho_jp had more than 270,000 followers.
The first photo published was of the imperial couple sitting on a sofa with their 22-year-old daughter Princess Aiko, all smiling as they marked New Year’s Day. Other postings also included the Imperial couple’s meetings with foreign dignitaries, including Brunei Crown Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah his wife.
A video of Naruhito addressing well-wishers during his Feb. 23 birthday celebrations garnered over 21,000 views in less than a day.
So far, the images are limited to the family’s official duties and do not include private or candid moments. The agency said it was considering adding activities of other royal members.
“It’s nice we get to see a bit of their activities because we hardly know what they are doing,” said Koki Yoneura, a 21-year-old student. “It’s good that they seem to be a bit closer to us.”
Yukino Yoshiura, also a student, said she was excited to see more posts about Princess Aiko. “Aiko-sama is close to our age and just graduated from university, so I’m very happy to be able to see her images,” she said while calling the princess with the respectful honorific “sama.”
However, both said they didn’t plan on following the royal family’s Instagram account.
The Japanese imperial family’s social media debut comes 15 years after Britain’s royal family joined X, formerly Twitter, in 2009.
“I actually assumed they already had one. So I am surprised it’s just now that they are making one,” said Daniela Kuthy, an American student. She said the content seemed “very PR-clean,” but that wasn’t necessarily a negative thing.
Naruhito’s father, Emperor Emeritus Akihito — who abdicated the throne in 2019 — and his wife were popular during their time. But currently, the royal family’s fans largely belong to older generations.
Palace officials had been considering using social media to get more people interested in the family and their activities. Last year, the agency set up a team of experts to study the effects of using social media on the imperial family.
The agency had become cautious after the Emperor’s niece Mako Komuro and her commoner husband faced a severe backlash on social media and in tabloids following concerns over her mother-in-law’s financial situation, causing her marriage to be delayed. She also declined to receive a dowry as the public did not fully celebrate her union.
The former princess said, at the time, she suffered psychological trauma because of the media bashing, including those online.
Experts say social media could help bring the royal family closer to the people and give the agency the ability to control the narrative and respond to disinformation, but concerns over how the world’s oldest monarchy can be friendly without losing its nobility or avoid blowups remain.
The account doesn’t follow anyone nor interact with the public. Users can’t comment on posts and can only press the “like” button.
Those who want to send messages to the imperial family have to use the official website.
WWE kicks, punches, slams marketing efforts into high gear
This year’s WrestleMania is just days away, but the WWE’s marketing campaign for its biggest premium live event of the year was kicked into overdrive months ago.
In February, three days before the Super Bowl, with all eyes on Las Vegas, WWE tried to snatch some of the NFL’s spotlight for itself.
The sports entertainment company held a press conference in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena, just down the road from the stadium where the Super Bowl was being played, to promote WrestleMania XL, a two day event in Philadelphia that begins Saturday. It plugged appearances by top stars including Cody Rhodes and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who recently became a board member for WWE’s parent company, TKO Group. The free event, which was live streamed on Peacock, was a bid to grab the attention of the thousands of football fans in town, and potential viewers nationwide.
Thousands showed up for the event which didn’t include any wrestling, but The Rock did slap Rhodes across the face, garnering 15.7 million views across all of WWE’s social media platforms in less than 12 hours. More than 4.7 million people watched the event live, making it the most-viewed outside the ring event in WWE history, according to the company. The press conference had more than 100 million views in less than 12 hours.
WWE released its WrestleMania XL video on the day of the Super Bowl. That video has amassed more than 5 million views and counting on WWE’s account on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Jason Cielsak, president, Pacific Rim, at brand experience firm Siegel+Gale, says that the way the WWE crafts its WrestleMania messaging makes fans eager for an event where many of the storylines that have been evolving over the year are resolved in the ring.
“It is a master class in marketing steeped heavily in storytelling and drama that many of the major sports leagues and even television writers could learn from,” Cielsak said.
The Rock’s participation in WrestleMania XL, given his longstanding ties to WWE and his movie star status, is a considerable asset.
“The benefits to WWE are numerous and help position the organization as a credible entertainment entity, luring “future Rocks” seeking global stardom,” Cielsak said.
WWE has also been using its professional relationship with two of the company’s biggest social media personalities, Logan Paul and Pat McAfee, to promote WrestleMania XL. Paul, WWE’s current United States champion, a co-founder of Prime beverage company, podcaster and YouTuber, uploaded a video on X with his reaction to the WrestleMania XL press conference. Paul currently has 23.5 million subscribers on YouTube and 6.8 million followers on X.
McAfee, who rejoined WWE’s Raw commentary team and co-hosted the WrestleMania XL press conference, recently interviewed The Rock on his self-titled television show on ESPN. A clip of the video posted to McAfee’s X account has more than 3 million views.
The promotional buildup to WrestleMania benefits not only the company, but also localities where the event is being held. Last year, WrestleMania 39, which was held at SoFi Stadium, generated $215 million for the Los Angeles region, according to a study done by Applied Analysis. WWE said that broke its prior record from a year earlier, when WrestleMania 38 had a $206.5 million economic impact for the Dallas/Arlington region.
WWE says that since 2016, WrestleMania has generated more than $1.2 billion in cumulative economic impact for the cities that have hosted the event.
Shares of TKO Group Holdings, Inc., based in based in Stamford, Connecticut, are up almost 7% this year.
James Patterson launches true crime series on Fox Nation
NEW YORK | James Patterson is launching a true crime series on the streaming service FOX Nation. “Unsolved With James Patterson,” hosted by the million-selling author, premieres Monday and will air in three segments.
According to FOX Nation, Patterson’s series will include a trio of unsolved homicide cases: the death of a Louisiana schoolteacher who became increasingly unstable and locked down in her home with guns and cameras before being found with a shotgun wound to the head; a Utah student who joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and soon after disappeared; and an altruistic San Francisco resident who disappeared and was later found dismembered.
“I was totally gripped by these cases,” Patterson said in a statement. “The fact that they are real-life stories — and that we may help bring justice to the victims and their families — is very special.”
The series will include interviews with friends, relatives and law enforcement officials.
Patterson, whose books have sold more than 400 million copies, has written numerous thrillers, along with nonfiction books about the Kennedys and John Lennon, among others. Last week, Fox Nation announced it had reached a deal with Martin Scorsese to host, narrate and produce an eight-part religious docudrama called “Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints.”
—From AP reports
