I ended up watching one episode of AppleTV+’s The Reluctant Traveler. I’ve never watched the show before, and I’m probably not going to start. The whole feel of the “Prince William episode” was awkward. Many are putting the blame squarely on William’s shoulders, but I’ll admit something: William would not have come across quite as badly as he did if Eugene Levy knew how to interview people. That was the fundamental problem – Levy’s job isn’t “journalist” or “celebrity interviewer” or “professional conversationalist.” He was just trying to take a tour of Windsor Castle when all of this got thrown onto him. Levy’s stilted discomfort added to William’s dullness, awkwardness and rizzlessness. The show’s editors left in all of those awkward pauses, they left in the lack of segues, they left in William’s habit of making some awful comment about how he doesn’t know anything about history, laughing at himself and then glancing quickly over to Levy, who was never laughing. It looked like William was just performing a series of rehearsed monologues while Levy blinked and tried to spy the exit. Hilariously, Levy has been giving interviews in the wake of this episode, and the only thing people are asking HIM is “why didn’t you ask William about Harry and Meghan??”
Eugene Levy is explaining why he steered clear of asking Prince William about his estranged brother Prince Harry and sister-in-law Meghan Markle during their much-talked-about sit-down at Windsor Castle. The Canadian actor and comedian, 78, joined the Prince of Wales, 43, for the Oct. 3 episode of The Reluctant Traveler on Apple TV+. Speaking to ITV News in an interview released Oct. 2, Levy said he was not told to avoid the topic of Harry and Meghan — but chose not to bring them up.
“Were you ever told you couldn’t ask questions, for example, about Harry and Meghan? Did you find that was just something you didn’t want to go near?” the reporter asked.
Levy replied, “I was not told I couldn’t ask anything, but it wasn’t really, you know, up to me, to get into that. I had no interest in asking him about that, because it was, you know, very delicate issue and certainly not up to me to get into it.”
“I think there were other things, you know, I could lead the conversation to that might be interesting for him and interesting for the world to hear, but that was something I wasn’t necessarily interested in getting into,” Levy continued.
“I was not told I couldn’t ask anything.” First of all, I don’t believe that. I think somewhere, someone at the palace sent some AppleTV producer an email saying “tell Levy to avoid Sussex questions.” These are the same f–king people who were micromanaging Meghan’s necklaces and Suits scripts after all – it’s simply not believable that they would send big dummy Peggington in there with his rehearsed speeches and expect him to field questions about Harry and Meghan on the fly. Second of all, that’s the reason why Willy gave this “interview” to Levy – because he’s not a professional journalist, because of course there were no follow-up questions, because of course Eugene Levy was told that certain topics were off-limits and he adhered to those rules. Meanwhile, in an interview with Town & Country, Levy claimed that he genuinely didn’t know that he would be meeting William until he got to England and he was already filming there.
Eugene Levy wasn’t planning to interview Prince William when he went to Windsor Castle. The veteran actor didn’t even know he was going to meet the future King until he was in the UK to film an episode for season three of his Apple TV+ series, The Reluctant Traveler With Eugene Levy. “The only thing I knew was when I was on lens filming the episode and found out I got an invitation from him to come to Windsor Castle,” Levy tells Town & Country. “I didn’t know he was gonna be on the show.” Even then, Levy thought it was only going to be a tour around the castle at best. He didn’t realize he was about to spend the better part of the day in conversation with Prince William.
Levy tells T&C he was pleased that the Prince felt comfortable enough to speak about those [personal] issues with him. But he admits there’s one lingering question he still wishes he had asked. “I was sorry I didn’t get a chance to ask him why he picked this show for an interview quite this extensive. I wish I had asked him that,” Levy says. “There must have been something about [this show] or about me that made him feel that this could possibly be a very good vehicle for him to do it. It appears he was familiar with who I am because of American Pie, but there must have been something else.”
“Even then, Levy thought it was only going to be a tour around the castle at best. He didn’t realize he was about to spend the better part of the day in conversation with Prince William.” You can really feel that within the episode too, that Levy was completely unprepared to spend that much time with a prince who had nothing else to do. William had no meetings, no events, no school run, no kid’s football practice. It came across that way too, that William simply has a lot of time on his hands and he refuses to fill his time with meaningful work or tasks or even hobbies. Anyway… there are already a lot of thinkpieces and KP clean-ups on this, so this week should be pretty fun.
Screencaps & promotional images courtesy of AppleTV+.
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