Prince Andrew laughing as he discussed Prince William's military career was a "shocking" moment that inspired Michael Sheen to believe he could star as the royal in a new drama.
The Welsh actor is set to depict Andrew's career-ending interview with BBC's Newsnight about the Jeffrey Epstein allegations in the upcoming Amazon Prime Video three-part series A Very Royal Scandal.
Sheen has now said the moment he realized he could depict the prince came when rewatching an old interview, which appears to be a conversation the prince had with Sky News in 2010.
Sheen told People: "In the research, when I'm looking at all the footage and interviews, I'm waiting for something to kind of jump up and grab me.
"In every character that I've played, eventually something just kind of catches you and you go, 'Oh.' And sometimes it takes a little while before you realize that you've already found that moment and you go back to it. But there's always something."
"He says, 'I should have said you should be in the Navy,' and then he laughs," Sheen continued, "and the laugh he does is so startling. It was sort of extraordinary. I'd never seen that before—it was an exposed moment in a way. And that really stuck with me."
Andrew was asked about his own time serving in the Royal Navy during the Falklands War in the 1980s and Prince Harry's time serving in Afghanistan, as he had completed his first tour in Helmand Province several years earlier.
The clip, beginning around the three-minute mark, can be seen below.
The interviewer suggested Prince William wanted to serve on the front line himself but was prevented from doing so because of his role as a future king.
Prince Andrew said: "I think that the fact that Harry was able to go to Afghanistan, for however short a period—the effort that had to be made to get him there required a huge amount of cooperation, particularly from the media.
"But to put the same conditions into, for William, is a lot more difficult, a lot more difficult.
"I have eminent sympathy for him. I mean, when I say that they hadn't come to me for advice—the simple piece of advice was usually to join the Navy."
Andrew then erupted into emphatic laughter for a moment before the interview moved on.
"For the royal family, who are usually so controlled," Sheen said, "trying to keep things very much under the surface, it was a moment of startling, shocking emotion—even if it was just a laugh. But there was something about it that I thought was quite telling, so that stayed with me."
Jack Royston is Newsweek's chief royal correspondent, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
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