‘Red, White and Royal Blue’ won the hearts of book lovers thanks to its steamy content and heartbreaking romantic moments – and now the director of the upcoming film adaptation has revealed how he worked to incorporate those same elements into the film.
Speaking exclusively to , Matthew López explained that in order to portray the burgeoning gay romance on screen – especially when it came to sex scenes – he knew he had to “show all facets of their mutual attraction”.
In fact, the Tony Award-winning playwright reveled in the opportunity to bring the popular ‘enemies to lovers’ story about a British prince who falls in love with the US President’s son to Prime Video.
In the Amazon film, fictional Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) and first son, Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez), cause an “international incident” after a public argument and are forced to pretend to be friends to the world press.
From enemies to lovers, ‘Red, White and Royal Blue’ director Matthew López has spoken about the care he took in bringing the film’s heated scenes to the big screen
Dream Team: The Tony-winning playwright (R) with Nicholas Galitzine (L) who plays Prince Henry and Taylor Zakhar Perez (C) who plays Alex Claremont-Diaz
But the closer they get to each other, the more they realize that maybe they aren’t all that different.
Addressing the issue of finding the perfect balance between lust and romance, Matthew explained, “I think Casey Mcquiston does a great job of really allowing you to understand their mutual attraction holistically.”
“That it’s intellectual, that it’s emotional, that it’s pheromones and it’s also like they’re really into each other.” “I knew I had to show all facets of their attraction to each other in the film.”
He continued, “The other thing is that they fall in love too.” It’s not just about hookups. It might start out as a date, but it quickly turns into a love affair.
“When we show them how to make love for the first time, they already fall in love. Thinking about it from that perspective, I realized that ultimately this scene needed to be emotional and centered around the characters.”
This was clearly a prevailing goal when it came to intimate scenes, as he added: “I wanted it to look beautiful and I wanted it to feel sexy and it was also important to me as a gay man that this film be in doesn’t work in any way.” shy away from portraying gay sex and portraying it honestly and accurately.
“I think sometimes if you’ve seen movies in the past that are about two men having sex and it’s just that A) it’s not physically possible and B) it seems like it will hurt.” So I was really longing for better.’
Due to the nudity and sex scenes in the film, the film was rated R, meaning that in the US, persons under the age of 17 must be accompanied by an adult to view it.
Intimate: Matthew’s goal with the sex scenes was to “make them look beautiful and I wanted them to feel sexy”.
The screenwriter added, “It was also important to me, as a gay man, that this film in no way shy away from portraying gay sex and portraying it honestly and accurately.”
Matthew was surprised by the rating, telling People, “I wonder if if it had been a man and a woman we would still have gotten an R.”
In fact, Matthew didn’t raise eyebrows when he set about filming the sex scenes — instead, he asked the film’s intimacy coordinator, Robbie Taylor Hunt, to help convey the emotion of the moment.
He told : “When I spoke to Robbie I said I really want to do a sex scene that’s emotional and really about the characters.” But that someone he’s having sex with in that way, that reads accurate and real and true.’
“So that was our goal: we wanted to do something that was both sexy and precise and true.”
Matthew asked the film’s intimacy coordinator to help convey the deeper emotions of the sex scenes
“But it also gives the audience a deeper understanding of who these characters are and what’s happening in their emotional lives at that moment.”
The screenwriter was thrilled to be able to create a romantic comedy starring bisexual and gay lovers that genuinely appeals to a queer audience and entertains all other viewers.
“There used to be an element of queer storytelling too, but for a straight audience.” Or if it wasn’t a straight audience, then they didn’t know who the audience was because they couldn’t bring themselves to say: “We actually do these things for a queer audience.” Or they’d say, “We don’t do that.” “I don’t want to put straight audiences off directly.”
“I think insincerity ultimately turns audiences off. And what turns audiences off is simply untruth.”
He continued, “I think what you see in a lot of queer content and queer storytelling today is sincerity and honesty and it’s about our lives, about the way we have sex, about the way we are fall in love.” “It’s made for a queer audience, but it’s not made exclusively for a queer audience.”
Hard Work: Due to the novel’s worldwide popularity, Matthew admitted that he was pressured by fans to capture the books’ magic right down to the last scene
“Red, White & Royal Blue” tells the story of a British prince who falls in love with the US President’s son
Matthew then quipped, “Nobody ever sold me as straight comedy. No one ever said, “Hey you gay boy, you should watch this straight comedy because it’s really good.” And we think you might like it, even if it’s about straight people.” I have this movie seen because I was told he was good, and he was, and I loved him.”
Due to the novel’s worldwide popularity, Matthew admitted that he was pressured by fans to capture the books’ magic right down to the last scene.
However, with a running time of less than two hours, the director had to make some changes in order to present the entire love story.
Matthew told he’s always focused on making sure Alex and Henry’s love are front and center.
He began, “Perhaps as the filmmaker of this, my only responsibility was with Alex and Henry and their journey through the story.” I knew I had to tell this story in the two hours I had.
“Red, White & Royal Blue”, based on the bestselling book by Casey McQuiston, will start streaming on Amazon Prime Video on August 11th
“With that very clear and simple brief, it actually became very, very clear what went into the film and what didn’t.
“If it helped me understand Alex, if it helped me understand Henry, it helped me understand the couple, then it belonged.”
Matthew continued, “If it sort of took my mind off them, it didn’t belong in the movie.” There’s about 14 seconds of the movie where one or the other doesn’t appear. That’s all, so the film really is everything.
“I knew if I could do that, I could take this movie on a journey very similar to the book.” And I can finish the movie and evoke the same feeling that Casey evoked in his readers at the end of the book.”
Red, White & Royal Blue stars Uma Thurman as President Ellen Claremont and Alex’s mother, Stephen Fry as King and Henry’s grandfather, and Sex/Life’s Sarah Shahi as Presidential Advisor Zahra.
“Red, White & Royal Blue” is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video starting August 11