‘Red, White & Royal’ Filmmakers Join the Variety Streaming Room

Five months passed between the audition and the callback for “Red, White & Royal Blue” star Taylor Zakhar Perez, but it took just a few days to secure his role as Alex Claremont-Diaz when he met with producer Sarah Schechter and co-writer spoke. director and executive producer Matthew Lopez.

“I was at my cousin’s wedding and David Rapaport called me and said, ‘Hey, Sarah Schechter wants to talk to you about this project.’ And I said, ‘Oh, I auditioned for that so long ago.’ He said, ‘Yes, they’re trying to find their Alex. They want to talk to you,” Perez recalled. “I had a good conversation with Sarah. I had a good conversation with Matthijs. Then I flew back two days later and had the camera read out together with Nick [Galitzine] on Zoom… the next day they said, ‘Can you go to London in four days?’

As part of the Variety Streaming Room presented by Prime Video, Perez, Schechter and Lopez joined senior TV editor Emily Longeretta to discuss how they adapted Casey McQuiston’s 2019 novel for the big screen.

“Red, White & Royal Blue” follows the first son of the United States (Perez) and the Duke of Cambridge (Galitzine), who are forced to pose as friends after an argument between them makes international headlines. Initially resentful, the pair build a genuine bond, which eventually culminates in romance.

Director Lopez first discovered the novel after his agent recommended he turn it into a musical. But after reading it, Lopez knew it had to be made into a feature film and started working aggressively as a director.

“I actually bothered myself with Sarah Schechter, which really set the tone of our whole relationship, I think. I actually shamelessly lobbied for the job,” Lopez joked. “I loved the book from the moment I started reading it. I loved the characters. I loved Casey’s writing. I loved everything. I just knew I couldn’t sleep until I had to make the movie.

Schechter heard about “Red, White & Royal Blue” “long before” it was published in 2019. One of her executives, Mike McGrath, was the first to tell her about the book, but he was tired of emailing the synopsis because of its R-rated content.

“He came into my office and said, ‘I read this book. I’m a little nervous about emailing you about it because it’s kind of gross,” Schechter said. “Then I read it, Greg [Berlanti] read it. We all fell in love with it. There were several parties pursuing Casey for the rights because it was so clearly going to be a fantastic film if done right. We were very lucky. We partnered with Amazon and Casey ended up trusting us, which was incredible. We are eternally grateful to them for that. Amazon was also so supportive and really understood immediately what it could be.”

Although thousands of fans had high expectations for the film, Perez knew he had the script and the novel, which he called the “Bible” and “the second Bible,” to lead him to success. He also took the preparation for “Red, White, & Royal Blue” very seriously, diligently studying the source material to discover how he would play Alex.

“I reread the book and tried so hard to find those little specific things that Alex would do, which personally as an actor is so nice because it gives you all those extra little details to think about and just makes you to concentrate,” Perez explained. . “But it also gives the fans that [satisfaction]. It’s tempting because you’re like, ‘Oh my god, I understand. I knew Alex would do that. I knew Henry would do that. That’s so Alex. ”

Watch the full conversation above.