Royal Red, White, & Blue Takes The Cake For Cutest Rom-Com Of The Summer
The first trailer for Amazon's romantic comedy "Red, White & Royal Blue" is finally here, and fans of Casey McQuiston's book just got their first real glimpse at the most adorable rom-com of this summer.
Based on McQuiston's beloved novel, "Red, White & Royal Blue" presents a fascinating situation: what if a fictional First Son of the United States and younger Prince of England fell in love? On-screen, the First Son, Alex Claremont-Diaz and Prince Henry, played by Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine, are total nemeses at first, forced to behave themselves at a royal wedding where Alex is serving as a representative of the United States. Natrually, the two cause an international incident when their squabbling upends a royal wedding cake, so they go on a charm offensive of sorts, trying to prove to the world that they're actually the best of friends.
This goes too well... to the point where the two completely fall for each other, carrying on a transatlantic affair that causes serious turmoil in both the British monarchy and the United States government. Alex and Henry really love each other, but they're also stuck as public figures while they try and come to terms with their relationship and their identites, making for a fascinating, lovely story complete with a well-deserved happy ending for the couple.
The first trailer for Red, White, and Royal Blue shows off the chemistry between its stars
What the first trailer really manages to showcase is the chemistry between Perez and Galitzine, which is crackling even in just the few minutes we get to see. In McQuiston's book, the relationship between the two is as passionate as it is deeply emotional, and according to Galitzine, it was easy for the two actors to form this kind of bond on set. "We have the same sense of humor," the actor told Entertainment Weekly. "We're both idiots in some way. We speak the same language as people. It was a different chemistry. Finding the levity and the light in each other, finding a sense of play in the scenes. Because you want them to have that banter that back and forth, that zippy dialogue."
Fans also get their first looks at the rest of the cast — with perhaps the biggest name in the fray, Uma Thurman, getting a huge spotlight in the trailer as Texas-born President Ellen Claremont. Alongside Thurman, Stephen Fry plays Henry's grandfather, the King of England, while Sarah Shahi plays top White House aide Zahra Bankston, Rachel Hilson plays Alex's best friend Nora Holleran, and Ellie Bamber plays Henry's sister, Princess Beatrice.
The real-life story of the royals was definitely considered for Red, White & Royal Blue
For Bamber and Galitzine, they certainly were aware that they could turn to some real-life stories to play Bea and Henry — considering that Henry is very clearly based on Prince Harry, who recently left the royal family in an official capacity over his own relationship with and marriage to Meghan Markle. For Galitzine, it was important to him that he mark a clear difference between the very fictional Henry and the very real Harry, despite that both men are caught between their loves and their country. "Inevitably, a lot of people drew comparisons with Prince Harry," Galitzine admits. "I tried to stay away from that because it's entirely its own thing. Henry is complicated in a different way and dealing with different issues. [They share] the concept of someone who was born into the public eye, but the responsibilities that he carries for his family and the pressures that come with that are entirely unique." Henry does eventually fight fiercely for Alex, and since the book was written before Harry and Meghan left the monarchy, they might now have even more similarities than ever.
Bamber, on the other hand, found studying the real-life royals to be helpful. "Just having seen the royal family on the TV here and there meant I could tap into certain things, the physicality — how they carry themselves and the way they talk," the actress told EW. "Seeing how much press attention they've consistently had really helped me get into Bea's head and to understand her past a bit more."
Director Matthew Lopez says the movie is pretty true to Casey McQuiston's novel
So the biggest questions fans probably want answered remains this: how faithful is the adaptation of "Red, White & Royal Blue" to its source material? Fans went wild for McQuiston's book when it came out in 2019, and the love story between Prince Henry and Alex is near and dear to so many fans' hearts. Luckily, Matthew Lopez, the movie's director, says the core of their story is there, even if some small changes were made.
"[The biggest challenge was] quite simply how to delivery Casey's story in a way that honored the novel but that didn't result in a three-hour film," Lopez told EW. "There are a lot of wonderful scenes and characters in the book that didn't make it into the film because they didn't fit. I don't regret any of those decisions but, as a fan of the book, they weren't easy to make."
Still, what drew Lopez to the project is the very essence of the story, which is why it's so well-loved: the fact that, despite diplomatic hurdles, Alex and Henry's story is one of joy, love, and happiness. "[I found] in the book something I had rarely seen on screen: a love story between two young men that is hopeful, funny, and deeply romantic," Lopez said, making it clear that he was the perfect choice to direct this highly anticipated project.
"Red, White & Royal Blue" hits Amazon Video on August 11, 2023.