After months of casting for the film adaptation of Casey McQuiston’s rom-com Red, White & Royal Blue, it only took a few minutes in a chemistry read for producer Sarah Schechter and co-writer/director Matthew López to know they’d found the perfect leads in Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine. “I think there was a period in which we despaired of ever finding the right — even, forget just individual — you had to cast a duo here,” López said during a panel for Deadline’s Contenders TV: The Nominees. “That chemistry read was, I think I was texting out of camera range on Zoom to Sarah, like, ‘This is them.
We found them.'” In addition to a great reading of the scene, López remembers the pair improvising and playing together in a way that, “I remember thinking like, ‘Man, if they can improvise successfully as a team on Zoom, I can’t wait to get in a room with them and start actually working on it.'” RELATED: Deadline’s Contenders TV: The Nominees – Full Coverage Red, White & Royal Blue follows Perez as Alex Claremont-Diaz, the first son of the United States, and Galitzine as British Prince Henry — who, as they fall in love, must keep their relationship a secret due to the public nature of their personas.
Schechter and Perez joined López for this conversation ahead of the 76th Emmy Awards, where Red, White & Royal Blue is competing for Outstanding Television Movie.
After premiering one year ago, the film saw a level of success that nearly matched that of the bestselling novel on which its based, becoming one of Prime Video‘s three most-watched romantic comedies of all time. RELATED: Emmy Nominations Analysis: Fresh Blood Livens Up The Race For TV Gold “I think the book is so beloved, and the fans of the book are so
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