This is idiotic, but who knows, this might actually happen. According to the Daily Mail, Hollywood producers are fielding ideas for how to turn this Prince Andrew situation into a movie or “another season of The Crown.” The idea of turning this into some kind of The Crown: A Very Special Degenerate Episode is not going to happen. Peter Morgan would never, especially since he did too much to whitewash King Charles and Queen Elizabeth II. Now, I could see some enterprising producer trying to make this into a stand-alone series:
Hollywood is racing to make a film about the downfall of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor with Netflix, Amazon and Disney all in the race to turn the former prince’s misfortune into a cinematic payday. A source at Disney Studios told the Daily Mail: ‘We have been bombarded with screenwriters wanting to bring this story to us. The race is on in Hollywood to be the first studio to bring out an Andrew film.’
The disgraced former prince has not been charged with any crimes but is ‘under investigation’ on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He was taken into custody early in the morning of Thursday February 19 and released later that day. The scenes of his arrest and release – captured, hollow-eyed and mouth agape in the flash of a Reuters photographer’s lens – were seen around the world. And Hollywood has taken note.
Now the Daily Mail has learned that Netflix is considering a one-off special of The Crown after last week’s dramatic arrest. The streaming service, which aired six seasons of its critically acclaimed show about the royal family, is in advanced talks with the show’s creator for a limited series about the former prince’s spectacular downfall.
Last night a source told Daily Mail: ‘The events of last week are historic and unprecedented. There have been discussions for some time with Left Bank Pictures, which owns the rights to The Crown, for a series of one-off specials about royal scandals and dramas. The Crown as a series has ended but the name will live on. There have been advanced talks about doing a limited series, under The Crown banner, about the Andrew saga which is as dramatic, if not more dramatic, than anything shown in the original series which included episodes on the abdication and the death of Diana.’
Screenwriter Jeremy Brock wrote Amazon MGM Studio’s 2024 three-part drama A Very Royal Scandal starring Michael Sheen and Ruth Wilson with BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis as executive producer.
The way The Crown portrayed Diana’s death and the entirety of the 1990s is a huge reason why The Crown team should NOT touch this story with a ten-foot pole. They can’t handle it, especially since so much of it has to do with QEII and then Charles bending over backwards to protect Andrew and cover up his crimes.
Now, I watched one of the projects about Andrew’s 2019 Newsnight interview – I watched Scoop, where Rufus Sewell played Andrew and the story bizarrely centered on a Newsnight producer. They also made a miniseries, A Very Royal Scandal, which was told more through Emily Maitlis’s perspective (it was based on Maitlis’s book and she was the EP). I would actually argue that both of those projects were kind of terrible because they made the whole British royal/media ecosystem look like a total f–king clownshow. Besides that, they simply shouldn’t make a movie about this because the STORY ISN’T OVER. Y’all don’t even have a third act yet! No one knows if Andrew is going to be charged or put on trial. No one knows if Andrew’s crimes will lead to Charles’s abdication. No one knows how much more will come out. No one has even seen Andrew’s trade envoy records yet!! Please just settle down and be patient.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, cover courtesy of the Sun. Screencaps courtesy of BBC Newsnight.
