Yahoo Lifestyle Exclusive: Scoop's Rufus Sewell on "uncanny" Prince Andrew transformation
Scoop star Rufus Sewell has opened up about his "uncanny" transformation into Prince Andrew.
The actor plays the Duke of York in the new Netflix film, which also stars the likes of Billie Piper, Keeley Hawes and Gillian Anderson.
Scoop follows the making of Prince Andrew’s infamous 2019 Newsnight interview, where he spoke to journalist Emily Maitlis about his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Related: Billie Piper remembers "goosebumpy" filming of Prince Andrew's interview for Scoop
Sewell is almost unrecognisable on screen as Prince Andrew, and in an exclusive chat with Digital Spy, he spoke about what it was like to undergo this dramatic transformation.
"When we did the first make-up, it was about four hours," he said. "It was a very interesting thing watching slowly, layer by layer, bits of yourself recede and something else comes through. And they use bits of you, and bits of the other person, until it becomes a strange mix.
"After four hours, it still looks like your face, but the idea of your own face has changed. Slowly, bit by bit, any of the things that felt weird on my face, came away."
Sewell also recalled an amusing interaction he had with an extra on set, which proved how impressive his transformation was.
Related: Netflix shares new look at Gillian Anderson in Prince Andrew movie Scoop
He said: "They let me go off on my own for a little while, and I did this thing where I went and did photos with extras of me with various potent takes. And this bloke sitting next to me, he was supposed to be an Arab leader, and he said: ‘How long have you been in the game, I don’t think we’ve worked together before!’
"And I said: ‘Ah, a few years, but I didn’t look like this obviously’. And he said: ‘How do you mean?’. And I said: ‘Well, this isn’t my face’. And he said: ‘What do you mean it’s not your face?!’. It’s make-up!"
He continued that he found the interaction "extraordinary", noting: "It meant I passed the kind of uncanny valley test, people didn’t think I was Andrew. Once I told them who I was playing, they said: ‘Oh that makes sense’. But they didn’t for a second not take me as a real person."
Scoop will arrive on Netflix on April 5.
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