Rachel Weisz has said she “felt terribly for Prince Andrew” while watching Amazon’s drama of his Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis.
The Oscar-winning actress, 54, also praised Michael Sheen’s portrayal of the disgraced royal in A Very Royal Scandal, which premiered on Thursday.
She said: ‘What I love most about the show is the empathy with which Prince Andrew is portrayed, and the pathos and humanity of this character, which is something the writer and Michael Sheen had to invent.
“It was an act of imagination. I was watching the drama and I felt very bad, I felt terribly bad for Prince Andrew.”
She was speaking at the Cliveden Literary Festival while chatting to Maitlis, 54, whom she described as her “oldest friend”.
Rachel Weisz has said she “felt terribly for Prince Andrew” while watching Amazon’s drama of his Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis.
The Oscar-winning actress, 54, also praised Michael Sheen’s portrayal of the disgraced royal in A Very Royal Scandal, which premiered on Thursday.
The former Newsnight presenter, who acted as executive producer on the Amazon series, confessed that she turned to her Hollywood actress friend for advice.
She said: ‘I was calling Rachel and saying, ‘Help, this is your world and I don’t know how to deal with this.’
‘First of all, I went to Rachel and said, ‘What should I do? How much of myself should I give? Should I open my freezer and let them see the vodka?’
Ms Weisz, who starred in The Mummy and The Favourite, revealed she “felt incredible anxiety” about her friend letting the production team into her life.
The actress said: “Em is a very private person and I suddenly became worried that your life was going to be invaded in that way and I felt very protective. I tried to give you some advice.”
In the new series, Maitlis is played by Ruth Wilson, and is seen arguing with her husband at home, making breakfast for her children and drinking vodka from her freezer.
Maitlis even gave Wilson his own jacket and bag to wear on set.
Ms Weisz added: ‘We’ve watched each other in our respective worlds.
‘My world is fiction. Your world is not. It’s about finding the truth.’
She said: ‘What I love most about the show is the empathy with which Prince Andrew is portrayed, and the pathos and humanity of this character, which is something the writer and Michael Sheen had to come up with.’
She was speaking at the Cliveden Literary Festival while chatting to Maitlis, 54, whom she described as her “oldest friend”.
The former Newsnight presenter, who acted as executive producer on the Amazon series, confessed that she turned to her Hollywood actress friend for advice.
The former Newsnight presenter, who acted as executive producer on the Amazon series, confessed that she turned to her Hollywood actress friend for advice.
Emily reflected on her historic interview with Prince Andrew in 2019 when she appeared on Wednesday’s Good Morning Britain (a scene from A Very Royal Scandal is shown)
“I wanted you to have the feeling that, although the facts needed to be investigated, some of you should remain private. So I felt in favor of that.”
The presenter also revealed that as a child she had “tried to lure Rachel into a possible career in news” but failed.
Ms. Weisz was joined at the event by her husband Daniel Craig.
The 56-year-old actor looked a far cry from the slicked-back hair and tuxedo of his James Bond days.
Instead, she opted for a straight hair look, pairing stonewashed denim jeans with a leather jacket.
Emily reflected on her landmark interview with Prince Andrew in 2019 when she appeared on Wednesday’s Good Morning Britain.
In GMB Emily recounted her experience during the interview and candidly said that rewatching the series reminded her of the stress of taking on the challenge.
She said, “When I watch the drama I get palpitations, it reminds me of when I thought ‘Will I remember to ask the right questions? Will I be able to do this?'”
She added of her reaction to Prince Andrew’s attitude: “I realised from the beginning that he would be sincere in his answers. We never assumed guilt and it was an hour of his own words.
“No matter what he said, it was always going to go down in history. We knew we only had one chance to hear from the Prince. It was a public record document, in any case.
‘We were building a picture of what really happened and it was quite forensic.’
When asked by presenter Richard Madeley what she thought of the Prince after the interview, she replied carefully: “I thought he had tried very hard to remember his lines…”
‘He wanted us to shoot additional scenes, he wanted to expand on the Pizza Express footage and things like that. As a journalist, I was in a quandary about whether or not to add the material he wanted at the end.
Ruth (left) plays journalist Emily
Actor Michael Sheen (left) plays the Duke of York (right) in the new production
“But he was happy with the interview, he gave us a tour of the Palace after the interview and even invited us back.”
He added of the potential damage the interview could have caused: “I’m worried about the consequences.”
“His family suffered consequences. I worry for him as much as anyone who has suffered a fall in status, but I do not regret the interview.”
To counter her point, he added: “But nothing has been concluded yet for Epstein’s victims.”