#red white and royal blue film interview

[dani-dabbles]

Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine for Teen Vogue

[bedifferentstrange]

more gifs of Nicholas Galitzine and Taylor Zakhar Perez ❤️

[justarandomgirly]

[v-tired-queer]

"Describe Red, White & Royal Blue in 30 seconds"

[mothmanmalewife]

ok thoughts on the rwrb movie real quick even tho no one asked:

it's been a hot minute since I read the book, but the movie kept a lot of the stuff I remember loving about the book

I will definitely be rereading the book in the coming weeks

was it just me or were the visuals like. weirdly off? especially in the first 45 minutes or so? I don't know how to describe it but the lighting felt like a stock photo and picking characters out of a crowd was like a Where's Waldo

in spite of my complaints the visuals did stop bugging me around halfway through the film. towards the end there were some pretty nice shots (I'm not really a film guy tho, my analysis of shot composition is not deep)

some of the character introductions were. bad. I didn't like them. president Clairemont stands out as being exceptionally stilted in her first scene (although she did feel more like a person as the story progressed)

[thequeereview]

Exclusive Interview: director Matthew López on Red, White & Royal Blue "it's really important to me that my first film has a Latin lead at its centre"

If the number of views for the trailer is anything to go by (7.2 million and counting), the anticipation is high for the film adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s bestselling novel Red, White & Royal Blue, which premieres globally on Prime Video on Friday, August 11th. Fortunately for playwright Matthew López, who makes his feauture writing and directing debut with the project, he hadn’t quite grasped…

[daffodilsonaprettystring]

Adding on to more Red White and Royal Blue bullshit: The reason I am now SO set on believing this movie will be good is because of an interview I read with the director, Matthew Lopez. I trust this man IMPLICITLY for three reason and here they are:

One: he’s one of us. He’s a fan. He’s a HUGE fan, and he’s a QUEER fan, which is so important on so many levels.

Two: He TOOK HIS GODDAMN TIME editing and re-editing and going over and SLAVING OVER this goddamn movie. THEY FINISHED FILMING ALMOST A YEAR AGO. THIS MAN NAS PUT IN THR WORK. Taylor and Nicholas poured their souls into the acting and Matthew poured his soul into the cutting and piecing together. THIS MOVIE WILL BE A LABOUR OF LOVE FIGHT ME.

Three: I’ve said it, but let me elaborate: Matthew is LITERALLY us, a fan, a HUGE fan. According to that interview, he read the book and immediately knew he HAD to be the one to direct the movie, and that if he wasn’t he would cry. Can you count the number of times you’ve read a book and thought “damn I wish they’d make this a movie” AND THEN HE GOES AND SAYS WELP IF THEY WONT I WILL.

HES LIVIN TH DREAM

He’s bringing all our dreams to life as well fight me

This movie will be amazing FIGHT ME

ok I’m done now

TLDR: My faith in the red white and royal blue movie has been restored and also shot thru the roof and I need august to come yesterday

[rwrbmovie]

Variety: Stephen Fry on Reprising the King in ‘Red, White & Royal Blue 2’ and Why Prince William and Harry Are ‘Very Gay-Friendly’

You played King James in “Red, White & Royal Blue.” I always tell younger people that it still astonishes me that something like this could get made.

It’s wonderful — shout out to [director and co-writer] Matthew López, who’s an extraordinary talent — and indeed that I would ever play Oscar Wilde in a film. That was an extraordinary idea. My little self would say, “No, this is fantasy. Fantasy is dangerous. The hope is what kills.” But part of me wants to fly back through time and just sort of rest on the shoulder of my young unhappy self and say, “It’s going to be all right. Don’t worry.”

When you’re on a set of something like “Red, White & Royal Blue,” do you think, “I am making the most mainstream queer story. As mainstream as queer could get.”

Yeah. We have reason sometimes to doubt the sense of the younger generation in some respects. And there’s that typical old fart behavior of myself. But I’m so impressed by their willingness and openness to play those roles, those two boys [Nicholas Galitzine and Taylor Zakhar Perez]. They were terrific at it. That’s the openness that I really treasure because I can remember when Rupert Graves and James Wilby were in “Maurice.” They were brilliant in the E.M. Forster adaptation, but I can remember how the business looked down on them and said, “But they’re both straight and doing that. That must be so embarrassing for them. How could they. Oh, gosh! How would they prepare for that?”

Will you play the king again in the “Red, White & Royal Blue” sequel?

Matthew’s become a friend and he’s told me he’s doing it. I’m hoping that he hasn’t left me out. We need the king. You’ve got to have the king.

🔗 full interview

[dancermk]

I’m a little disappointed to see so much discourse, fandom competitiveness, and plain arguing going around at the moment in regards to queer film/TV. People complaining about too much sex, not enough sex, too cheesy, made for the hets, too happy, too sad, too realistic, too unrealistic, and a million other petty issues. I, for one, am a queer person in my 50s and I grew up with practically zero representation! Yes, we want to continue onwards and upwards with quality and varied shows BUT let’s be HAPPY we now have representation! Like, actual shows where the central characters are queer, not just a side character who gets f*cking murdered! There is room for all different types of representation - so enjoy the types you like, and let others enjoy what they like.

And on a side note: progress is progress and film/tv is a business that has to turn a profit! If some queer content is made to appeal to the straight community, and will also act as a means of reducing homophobia and increasing understanding, then that’s a good thing. That means in the future more and more content will include queer stories and representation. If only 10% (ish) of the population is the maximum target audience then shows won’t keep getting made!

There is a huge backlash all over the world right now - a “push back” by conservatives and religious groups that want to wind back the clock, and specifically the last decade of advances.

So stick together queers and LGBTQIA+ allies.

I’m super happy knowing I don’t have to wait years between content anymore. And I’ve loved all different types of shows over the last 5 years, for lots of different reasons!

Interview with the Vampire - is giving me the toxic, passionate gothic love affair I’ve always wanted. And addressing interracial relationships.

Heartstopper - is filling me up with pure joy and hopefulness for the future.

Shameless - gave me Ian and Mickey - unique, anti stereotypical gays with a tragic yet ultimately beautiful love story spanning 11 years

Lone Star 911 - is giving me TK and Carlos whose sexuality barely factors into the storyline! Yay!

Looking - gave me an authentic queer experience and an intoxicating love triangle.

Red, white and Royal Blue - gave me a sweet, cute romcom that allowed reality to be sidelined. Fun escapism!

Young Royals - had me captivated by first love and intense angst.

Fire Island - an underrated romcom that made me laugh so hard I cried.

Sex education - shoved the realities of sex in our faces and provided me with laughter and drama and a range of queer identities.

Gentlemen Jack -gave me historical lesbians with spectacular wit, and feminine power.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg- because there’s SO SO SO many more shows I could mention! Don’t at me because I didn’t mention YOUR favourite. This is my point! There is SO much great content it would take all day for me to include everything. This is just a sample - and that’s f*cking brilliant!!

So maybe we could all start posting/tweeting etc about what WE DO LIKE / LOVE / MAKES US FEEL LOVED AND SEEN and put down the device if we’ve got nothing nice to say.

Sending everyone a love filled week! 💜

[yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere]

I LOVE THEM SO MUCH♥ #RWRBMovie

♥

Taylor and Nicholas pictures together-twt thread: https://twitter.com/castlekates/status/1700959663204831625?s=20

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ACD post:

FIRSTPRINCE EDITS POST:

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THIS interview about grab-and-kiss filming: https://yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere.tumblr.com/post/729333681897046016/the-delicate-art-of-the-grab-and-kiss

+ https://watermarkonline.com/2023/09/07/first-time-director-matthew-lopez-scores-worldwide-hit-with-red-white-royal-blue/

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. https://www.tumblr.com/yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere/730271147075207168?source=share

. https://www.tumblr.com/yourartmatters-itswhatgotmehere/730271268903043072?source=share

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THESE. SO FUNNY♥

♥

[enjoyprettythings]

great interview with nick where he shares about:

the delicacy of identifying as straight and playing queer roles (he touches on this topic twice)

how much rehearsal and consideration went into his intimate scenes with taylor in rwrb, and their collaboration process with matthew lopez

working with the intimacy coordinator, robbie, on rwrb and then again on mary and george (where george sleeps with 14 different characters!)

hurting his ankle on set, and being glad for some rest after carrying the lead role on such a large project (he filmed 100 out of 109 days on mary and george)

the costuming choices on idea of you and how they wanted to create a new character (not harry styles)

how catchy the music is in the idea of you

how incredible it was to work with and learn from anne hathaway and julianne moore, who both brought different skill sets to the job

and so much more <3

[dani-dabbles]

Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine for Teen Vogue

[bedifferentstrange]

"Hello there, my name is Nicholas Galitzine." "and I'm Taylor Zakhar Perez..."

[shelbbswrites]

Am I reading every interview with Matthew López that drops? YES.

This one? With Observer? It may be my favorite yet.

López dives into his connection to the book, the story, and Alex Claremont Diaz.

He talks about the merit of romantic comedies and how the staples in the genre are built to last. He discusses how he made Red, White & Royal Blue with the intent of it standing the test of time with the rom-com greats.

He brings up how important it was to him to have this film represent gay sex — it was in his OG pitch! Like:

"It was really important to me as well in a mainstream love story. We talked about this as a rom-com and there other times we talked about it as a love story. As a love story, it was really important to me that the audience understand that these two young men are deeply connected—emotionally, intellectually and physically. Their physical connection is a huge part of what binds them. It would have been absolutely the decision I would make if it was a man and a woman. So I was going apply the same storytelling and requirements on my queer film that I think anybody would on a on a heterosexual film."

I seriously want to copy and paste every single quote and write about how much I love them, but I'd much rather you click the link and give it a read yourself. We can always chat here!

[pippin-katz]

I understand being upset that Mary & George is about filthy sex vs. RWRB but also... As a queer person, straight people have shows like GoT which are mostly filthy hetero sex so we can have the same.

People had sex for power throughout history, that's just how it is. And George was mentioned in the RWRB novel by Henry specifically so to have Nick portray him in this show is pretty cool.

You misunderstand me.

I have absolutely no qualms about Mary & George being the show that it is. I have no problem with it being raunchy and sex-filled. I'm entirely for variety of content and genres for all groups of people.

What I was pointing out is that this show is truly getting attention. There's interviewers, articles, social media posts, etc. that are all buzzing about it. It's not just a niche group of book fans that are anxiously awaiting the adaptation. There is a lot of hype, and one of the first things everyone mentions when discussing this show is the sex.

That's all completely fine, but I can't help but feel like this excitement and anticipation would not have applied to Red, White & Royal Blue, even if it had gotten the promo it should've.

People love getting excited/flustered/teasing/curious over sex on the screen, particularly if it's dirty and/or kinky. "Sex sells" is a saying for a reason.

It hurts to finally get a movie like Red, White & Royal Blue, that is beautiful, hopeful, funny, happy, and unapologetically queer, without it being the center plot point, and know deep down that it would never get as much praise or attention as something like Mary & George would.

The painful truth is that for the general masses, gay relationships boil down to sex. It's what they think of first. It's what some of them only think about. When a ship/pairing is proposed, what's one of the very first questions asked or teased about?

"Who's the top and who's the bottom?"

It is treated as something that they are expected to share based on how casually it's asked. You would never ask that question to a heterosexual couple even though those terms can be applied to them too. It's all they want to talk about, and yet they're also oblivious and ignorant. I mean, for fuck's sake, at least 75% of the viewing population of RWRB, even those who would consider themselves dedicated allies, did not know that men could have missionary sex. All they picture when they think of gay sex is rough, back-to-chest sex where they aren't facing each other. It did not even occur to them as a possibility that men could have gentle, face-to-face sex.

Loving sex is rarely depicted between queer couples on the screen, which is what made Red, White & Royal Blue so different and important.

The film is also not centered around their sexualities. They are contributing factors to the plot, but they are not the focus the way it is in movies like Love, Simon. Taylor recently quoted Matthew with this phrase: "It is not a gay love story; it's just a love story."

Henry and Alex's relationship is depicted no differently than any heterosexual romcom couple. If you switched one of them to a woman, you could play the plot out the exact same way; all you would change would be the scrutiny based on their sexualities, which can be substituted for class differences, race, or literally anything else that the public could hold against them.

And to clarify again, there is nothing wrong with showing the other side of this. I have no problem with it whatsoever!

It is just disappointing and frustrating to see how fast and easily the media flock to a show like Mary & George because it's so "outrageous" and "sexy", while Red, White & Royal Blue has practically been brushed off only six months following its release after it dominated the worldwide charts for several weeks.

I know what people will say: "Oh, the window for promo has passed!" "Oh, they're still talking about it a bit!" "Oh, it's because of the strike!"

Yes, it was, but I cannot shake the feeling that even if it hadn't happened, Red, White & Royal Blue would have still gotten the short end of the stick compared to something like Mary & George, or The Idea Of You that's coming out later. I'm pushed more towards that mindset after RWRB lost the SAG award the other night even though it was easily the best one on that list.

RWRB is treated as inferior and has already suffered from homophobic Hollywood standards multiple times, but I almost guarantee you that M&G will receive mountains of praise and awards, despite being way more explicit than RWRB is.

That is what I have a problem with.

[bigassbowlingballhead]

@bigassbowlingballhead @emmynomrwrb Found the article where TZP was talking about his decision to keep some things in life private.

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2023/08/11482689/amazon-red-white-royal-blue-taylor-zakhar-perez-alex-interview

"...He's navigating the intense machine of social media fame where every comment or picture is scrutinized, which can be upending. Contrary to his onscreen character, Zakhar Perez has more control of his give and take with fame. "Since I did my first film for Netflix [The Kissing Booth 2], I realized that for my mental health, I knew I had to have a public presence, but that didn't mean I always had to engage with the public," he says. 

On social media, he shares posts of his movie sets, photoshoots with luxury brands like Prada, advocacy for fashion sustainability, outings in nature, and work events across the globe, but these details don't amount to his totality. "You have to keep things for yourself, your sanity, your family, your dog, just little things that you can come home to and just be like, This is mine. You must be very selective and conscious about that, or else this entertainment industry can just run your life," he adds..."

this is also echoed in his actors on actors