Gillian Anderson Looks Like A Totally Different Person In First Look From Netflix Movie

Gillian Anderson in Scoop embodies real-life journalist Emily Maitlis, the reporter that interviewed Prince Andrew about Jeffrey Epstein, starting the Royal's fall from grace.

By Robert Scucci | Updated

Gillian Anderson in Scoop

It’s always amazing to see how actors and actresses transform their looks while preparing for a role. We’ve seen Christian Bale lose weight, get ripped, lose muscle, fill out, and slim up seemingly without effort, and we’re now getting a look at Gillian Anderson’s transformation as she prepares for her role portraying Emily Maitlis in Scoop, which is slated for release on Netflix sometime in 2024. A Digitalspy article shows pictures of her new look, and Anderson’s resemblance to Maitlis is striking.

While Gillian Anderson isn’t doing an extreme body makeover like Bale, pictures of the X-Files actress show that she’s sporting a layered hairstyle that’s synonymous with the broadcaster she’s portraying. This look is far from the actress’s look when she played Agent Scully in X-Files, when she rocked a distinctly red-shaded bob. The production shot that can be seen in the Digitalspy piece shows her dressed in character, running in the park, and she even looks to have the movements down.

Scoop is said to be an accurate account of Maitlis’s interview with Prince Andrew regarding his association with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and the events leading up to the interview in great detail. Gillian Anderson will be front and center as the film’s star, but there’s so much more to it than her role as Emily Maitlis. The film will focus on the women journalists who single-handedly broke through Buckingham Palace to get the “scoop of the decade” that led to Prince Andrew’s fall from grace and subsequent disappearance from the public eye.

Gillian Anderson in Scoop

We have high hopes for Scoop based on Gillian Anderson’s preparation for the role alone. In addition to Anderson’s talent, we’re going to see a powerhouse performance from Rufus Sewell (The Man in the High Castle) in his portrayal of Prince Andrew, and the film will be directed by Philip Martin, known for his contribution to the very successful Netflix series, The Crown. While The Crown has received some critical knocks for creating fictionalized stories about real people, Scoop will be a much more healthy dose of realism involving the Prince Andrew controversies the film will be based on.

Gillian Anderson has been actively acting since 1992 and has a long and decorated career to show for it. While she’s most known for her breakout role as FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in The X-Files, she’s not a one-trick pony and has kept busy since the show finished its run in 2002. In fact, she shows her true dramatic range in the film adaptation of author Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth, which follows affluent socialite Lily Bart, and her fall from grace. It’s funny how full circle everything is, considering Anderson’s role in House of Mirth represented a character’s downfall, and now she’s portraying the journalist involved in Prince Andrew’s downfall.

Scoop is currently in production but will not be released until 2024. While we don’t have the exact release date yet, you can let Netflix notify you when they come closer to putting the film out for streaming. Until then, be on the lookout for more production photos as Scoop continues developing into the story we’re all dying to hear.