‘Red, White & Royal Blue’ Is the Rom-Com of the Summer

While the movie is, as López describes, “an adaptation, not a recitation,” McQuiston was available to the actors. “I remember Casey coming in on a really fun day,” says Galitzine. “It was a scene where Taylor and I were bickering in that sort of Alex/Henry banter way that we do, and it gave us time to talk to Casey and understand the influences that went into the book. We obviously have a lot of fan service, and I hope they love my interpretation of Henry.”

Who’s in the cast?

As shared previously, the film’s romantic leads are Taylor Zakhar Perez as Alex Claremont-Diaz, son of the U.S. president, and Nicholas Galitzine as Britain’s Prince Henry.

Also starring in the film is Uma Thurman as President Ellen Claremont, the first female POTUS. Rounding out the cast are Clifton Collins Jr., Sarah Shahi, Rachel Hilson, Stephen Fry, Ellie Bamber, Thomas Flynn, Malcolm Atobrah, Akshay Khanna, Sharon D. Clarke, Aneesh Sheth, and Juan Castano.

When does it come out?

Red, White & Royal Blue will be available for streaming on Prime Video on August 11.

Okay, but what about the romance?

Red, White & Royal Blue, the book, is—I’m not sure how to put this any other way—famously horny. For the movie adaptation, intimacy coordinator Robbie Taylor Hunt was enlisted to ensure that physical intimacy between Henry and Alex was told in the best and safest way possible.

“He was incredible,” Zakhar Perez says of working with Taylor Hunt. “In London there are these brand of mints called Smints, and we called him the Smint Lord because we would always come up to him and ask for a mint or Listerine strip. I didn’t want my breath to be offensive to Nick as soon as we get on set and have to be intimate with each other…”

He continues, “A great thing about having rehearsals is that we’d have an hour a day set aside to be with Robbie. It was just like a dance. I grew up in theatre, and Nick’s done musicals. We’re both very musical people. So Robbie found it easiest to talk to us in musical terms—there’s a musicality to intimacy. There’d be lots of counting. Like, ‘1, 2, 3, 4, grab. 2, 3, 4, squeeze.’ That’s what was going through my mind as we did it, to get it in your body. Once your body remembers it, you can let it go. The muscle memory is so strong. Then it’s just about getting your mind in the game.”

Adds Galitzine, “It’s a very vulnerable and trusting space. Taylor and I had to rely on each other because we really wanted to tell that story honestly and feel that we weren’t hindered by any of our own boundaries that we were setting up. It becomes a sort of wonderful choreography that all serves to facilitate these two young men who fell in love with each other. Robbie was really helpful in educating me in the physical language of the character.”

What else are the cast and creators saying?

Zakhar Perez tells Glamour he knew the movie “could be something special” as he read the book—a feeling that only amplified after seeing the script. “The core of Alex [from the book] is still in the film,” he says. “He’s just so ambitious, loyal, charismatic, and smart. That intelligence was one of my fears about playing Alex—he’s not playing at it or trying to be smart. That’s just how he was raised, how he was educated. I’m not saying I’m not smart, but whew. His brain never stops.”