How Michael Sheen became Prince Andrew for 'Very Royal Scandal'
Acclaimed actor Michael Sheen, who is set to play Prince Andrew in the upcoming Amazon Prime Video series A Very Royal Scandal, has opened up about the challenges of portraying the controversial royal figure. The series is based on the infamous 2019 BBC interview with Prince Andrew about his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Sheen stars opposite Ruth Wilson, who plays British journalist Emily Maitlis.
'I wear a wig and I've got some teeth...'
Detailing the dramatic changes he made for his role, the Welsh actor told BBC that he utilized a wig and false teeth to embody Prince Andrew. Sheen explained, "It helps with a character if you look very different when you play that character because of the act of taking that stuff off and de-rigging, as we call it." "I wear a wig and I've got some teeth that I put in, that's it...I try to use what I've got."
Sheen discussed the challenges of not meeting the person
"I've tried to stay as true to the version of Prince Andrew that I have been able to research and see," Sheen further added. "Obviously there are huge restrictions on that because unless you can meet the person and spend time with them and get behind the public profile, it's very hard to know what they're really like and what's really making them tick." Sheen has previously brought his unique interpretation to real-life figures like David Frost in Frost/Nixon.
'It's a hall of mirrors with Prince Andrew'
Earlier, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sheen admitted that playing any real-life character is "daunting," but portraying a member of the royal family is even more challenging due to the controlled information that is available. "One of the big challenges with playing Prince Andrew compared to a lot of the people I've played is it's a hall of mirrors with Prince Andrew," he said.
'I will never tell anyone what those choices are'
Sheen further explained the complexity of portraying a royal, stating that there's "a mystery at the heart" of who Andrew is and "what he did or didn't do." He said, "So given that I don't know, I did still have to make certain choices myself, just so I could play something specific in the scenes. Now, I will never tell anyone what those choices are because they have no bearing on the reality of it one way or the other."
