Prime Video’s romantic comedy “Red, White & Royal Blue” is nominated for an Emmy for Best Television Movie, which the co-writer, director and executive producer call a “very nice icing on an already wonderful gift.” Matthew Lopez. “It’s just so nice that people thought so much of this film that they nominated it, and in a way it feels a bit like ‘the little engine that made it.’ So I’m very happy.” We spoke to López for our “Making of ‘Red, White & Royal Blue'” panel along with the producer Sarah Schechter and actors Taylor Zakhar Perez. Watch our exclusive video interview above.
“Red, White & Royal Blue” is the story of Alex Claremont-Diaz (Perez), the son of the President of the United States, and Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) of the United Kingdom. They start out as rivals, but an embarrassing international incident forces them to do damage control together, and they gradually fall in love. Lopez appreciated that queerness is “inextricably linked” to the story. “I grew up when queer stories were first being told in Hollywood. I remember ‘My Own Private Idaho’ when that movie came out. I remember ‘Philadelphia’ when that movie came out. I was there in college when ‘Will and Grace’ came out. So it feels like from my childhood into adulthood, into my creative life, I’ve witnessed that evolution and ultimately participated in it.”
López and Schechter thank the producer of “Royal Blue” Greg Berlanti as one of the industry pioneers of this development. “When I think back to Greg fighting for a same-sex kiss in ‘Dawson’s Creek’ and how far the world has come and how Greg has moved it forward, I find that very inspiring,” Schechter recalls. “I just think that everyone deserves to see themselves in stories. And I think that’s good storytelling too, because these are fresher stories that haven’t been told as much.” Likewise, Perez finds the film “a positive portrayal of queer love at its highest level. And seeing the President of the United States and the King of England accept their queerness and their love and their relationship just has a trickle-down effect. … With this film, you feel optimism, positivity, excitement for their future.”
Speaking of the future: There is a sequel to “Royal Blue” in the works. “I feel like I spend every day with Taylor because I write Alex, I write Henry and Ellen (Claremont, played by Uma Thurman). And so it’s like hanging out with old friends,” says López. He is writing the upcoming film with Casey McQuistonwho wrote the novel the first film was based on, and they “can just send them on a new adventure that hasn’t been there before.” But the filmmaker has been largely cut off from the outside world during the process. “So, yeah, sorry, Taylor, I haven’t texted in a while. I’ve just been with you every day.”
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