Billie Piper wasn’t initially convinced by Rufus Sewell playing Prince Andrew in their upcoming movie Scoop because of his good looks.

The British actress admitted on the Table Manners podcast on Wednesday that she was sceptical about her co-star’s casting because of his appearance, but he “nailed” his portrayal of the royal with the help of extensive hair and make-up work.

“When they told me he was being cast, I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know if this is going to be good,'” she admitted. “He looks like he’s cut from gold, he’s just the most chiselled person. He’s beautiful, and so playing Andrew felt like quite a leap but he nailed it.”

Revealing how much work was involved in Sewell’s transformation, the Doctor Who star shared, “Oh my God, everything, prosthetics, the body suit, the teeth, it was probably four hours worth of work everyday.”

In the Netflix drama, Piper plays Sam McAlister, the BBC Newsnight producer who helped secure an interview with Andrew about his friendship with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and allegations of sexual abuse. Gillian Anderson plays journalist Emily Maitlis, who conducted the bombshell interview in late 2019.

The 41-year-old praised her co-stars for taking on the responsibility of playing such recognisable public figures.

“They both (nailed it), it’s not easy playing people that we’ve sort of forensically looked at our entire lives,” she gushed. “I didn’t have that responsibility because Sam wasn’t so public-facing, which meant that I could sort of make her my own.”

Scoop, based on McAlister’s book Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews, will be released on Netflix on Friday.

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