Four weddings, one funeral… and a car crash interview? Emily Maitlis in race to enlist ‘close friend’ Hugh Grant as the Duke Of York for her dramatisation of notorious Newsnight fiasco
The repercussions from Prince Andrew’s car-crash Newsnight interview continue.
Interviewer Emily Maitlis and her former friend, interview-fixer Sam McAlister are locked in a rivalrous race to the screen with their versions of events.
And in a new twist, it seems that actor Hugh Grant is the common object of their passions.
Sources say that Grant, 61, and Maitlis, 51, are ‘old friends’ and it is thought that informal approaches have been made about Grant playing the Duke of York.
Hot property: Emily Maitlis is said to be keen on enlisting close friend Hugh Grant to play Prince Andrew in a dramatised series depicting his notorious car crash interview in 2019
Representatives for former Newsnight presenter Maitlis deny that Grant has been shown a script — yet.
But others connected to the project say there is already a connection between the A-list actor and the A-list interviewer, not hurt by Maitlis’s choice of the production company Blueprint to make her three-part TV show about the interview.
Blueprint also made A Very British Scandal, in which Grant played Liberal MP Jeremy Thorpe.
Competition: Maitlis and her former friend, interview-fixer Sam McAlister (pictured) are locked in a rivalrous race to the screen with their versions of events
It was announced last month that Sam McAlister’s book Scoops had been optioned and is being made into a film called Scoop, written by Peter Moffat.
It was speculated that Grant was on the wishlist to play the Duke of York. Asked if he was involved, Grant said on Twitter: ‘No, I’m not. Never heard of it.’
However, a month later, it seems that he is considering taking on the role in a rival project.
Error of judgement: The infamous interview (pictured) was widely judged to be a disaster for Prince Andrew
Maitlis’s work is in the development stage. Her team say it will be a three-part TV show, to go out on a ‘major streaming service’, and will have a ‘Bafta-winning writer’.
Prince Andrew discussed his friendship with the late convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein in the 2019 Newsnight interview.
A source tells me: ‘Sam and Emily are two very alpha females. They were mutually supportive until the moment when all this happened. They are now no longer in contact with each other.’
Neither Maitlis nor McAlister were available for comment yesterday.
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