Rufus Sewell: "People Thought I Was Cast Wrong For Prince Andrew"
Rufus Sewell is putting in an incredible performance as Prince Andrew in Netflix's brand new drama, Scoop. He looks unrecognisable and told us what he thought about the role, the transformation and how he thinks Andrew would feel watching it back. Report by Jonesl. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Transcript
00:00 I don't recognise you! Can you believe that your face... that's you?
00:05 Can you believe that I just look and go "that's me"? That's the weird thing is that after
00:10 a while, you know, I'd look in the mirror and go "there I am". It's just what happens.
00:15 And that was what was great about the makeup is you couldn't feel it and if people didn't
00:20 know me, they wouldn't think I had makeup on and that was really helpful.
00:24 It's interesting because you sign up for it but how do you know... were you like "well
00:27 how are you going to make me look like you"? Was that your first reaction?
00:30 You've just got to take a leap. I mean I did ask, I'd say "what's your plan for the physicality
00:36 of it?" because, you know, and I like... and I've always, ever since I left drama school
00:43 and did my first few roles, I really wanted to get back to the kind of roles that allowed
00:46 me to transform because that was always when I was most comfortable. And the thing I love
00:51 most about when I was cast for this is everyone thinking I was wrong for it. I thought "great!
00:55 That's a really good start". It's when they think I'm right for it, I start to worry.
01:00 I'll show you.
01:01 Yeah, exactly. I'm crap, I'll show you. But it was really fabulous to have the process
01:09 of the makeup and everything to help me get there but when I first read it, I had an instinct
01:14 about it and then I said yes and then I suddenly couldn't remember what my instincts had been
01:19 like. I did have an instinct about it and then it came back.
01:22 And what does your family think about it? Have they seen you as this?
01:25 Not yet.
01:26 Are you excited about them seeing you?
01:28 I don't know. I mean, you know what family's like. Yeah, I mean, I'm looking forward to
01:34 it. I wonder what they have to say.
01:35 And have you ever met anyone that hasn't sweared?
01:37 No, I have not.
01:39 And just finally, what do you think he'll think if he saw this, Prince Andrew?
01:45 I don't know. I have no idea. I mean, as far as I'm concerned, the biggest challenge for
01:52 me was not to be tempted by the fear of being criticised by one camp or the other. Are you
01:57 trying to make him look worse than he is? Are you condemning him? Are you trying to
02:01 defend him and make him look better? To ignore all of that noise and that includes what he
02:05 would think watching it and just plot all that out and just try to tell it the way you
02:08 see it.
02:09 It'd be good to watch him watch it like that.
02:10 So I've put that out of my head.
02:11 And have you ever taken anything from set? Like, you know, the spoons from Buckingham
02:17 Palace. Have you ever took something from your office?
02:19 Oh, I'll steal anything that's not locked down. There wasn't anything worth nicking
02:22 on this.
02:23 Thank you so much. Congratulations, Rufus.