"I said no initially": Gillian Anderson on why she was hesitant to play Emily Maitlis in Netflix's Scoop

Scoop actress Gillian Anderson recently mentioned that she initially did not want to play the role of Emily Maitlis in the Netflix film. Maitlis is a British journalist and the interviewer who was involved in the 2019 interview of Prince Andrew.

Speaking on April 3 during a Q&A session at a screening event, Anderson stated:

"I said no initially."

She further explained that playing a role of such a personality is quite difficult, given the fact that Maitlis herself is a 'formidable' woman.

The official description of Scoop reads:

“Emily Maitlis’ professional and personal journey as a Newsnight journalist, leading up to her acclaimed interview with Prince Andrew.”

Scoop, starring Gillian Anderson, Billie Piper, Rufus Sewell, Romola Garai, and many more, was released on Netflix on April 5, 2024.

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The X-Files star Gillian Anderson opens up about her initial hesitation about playing the role of Emily Maitlis

At a recent screening event, Gillian Anderson talked about her role in Scoop. In the movie, Anderson is playing the role of famous British journalist Emily Maitlis. She talked about how she did not want to do the role. Anderson said,

"It felt Emily Maitlis is known very well in the U.K. She's been on our screens and in our ears and podcasts for a long time, and she's kind of known as a superwoman about town."

She further added:

"There's a comment or an off-the-cuff comment in the film about how she swims and she jogs and she interviews world leaders and all that. And all of that is very true, and she is quite a formidable presence, and I know lots of people who know her."

In the April 3 interview with Today's Savannah Guthrie, she talked about the same incident and then stated that she changed her mind because she wanted to take up the "challenge." Another reason that she cited at the screening event, for changing her mind was when director Philip Martin and writer Peter Moffat gave their different perspectives on the matter during a Zoom call. She added,

"(I) explained to them why I wasn't going to do it. And they both looked at me and said, 'That's exactly why you have to do it.' Actually, I kind of knew it as it was coming out of their mouths. I kind of thought, 'Yeah, you're right. Yeah.'"

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Anderson talks about how she felt like playing a known person's character is a 'bad idea'

Gillian Anderson said that she believes that playing the character of a living person is quite different from playing one who has passed away.

She recalled playing the character of Margaret Thatcher in The Crown. She said,

"I played a few people who are no longer living already, and the prospect of not only playing somebody who was living but living in my neighborhood seemed like a really bad idea. So I said, 'No, thank you'."

Scoop is based on the infamous 2019 interview of Prince Andrew about his acquaintance and friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted s*x offender. Scoop director Philip Martin, who was one of the executive producers of The Crown, told Netflix,

"I want to put the audience inside the breathtaking sequence of events that led to the interview with Prince Andrew."

Excitement about Scoop increased among fans even more, when Gillian Anderson posted a photo on Instagram giving a sneak peek into BTS with co-star Rufus Sewell. In the comment section, fans have praised the well-done realistic transformation of Sewell to make him look like Prince Andrew. Anderson and Sewell leading in the film were announced as early as February 2023.