Red, White & Royal Blue Director on the Story Behind That Viral Rehearsal Photo of Alex and Henry

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from the book Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston and the Prime Video film adaption.

Even Matthew López was surprised by what he unleashed on June 27, 2022, when he posted a rehearsal photo from the set of his new Prime Video film, Red, White & Royal Blue.

In the Instagram photo, he captured his two leads, Nicholas Galitzine and Taylor Zakhar Perez, huddled together in the middle of a tight circle of chairs. The trio had been rehearsing a pivotal moment that comes early in the film when their characters Prince Henry (Galitzine) and Alex Claremont-Diaz (Perez), the First Son of the United States, get shoved into a broom closet by the Secret Service amid a potential security threat.

The rehearsal was an early chance for the two actors to play on the chemistry López already recognized between them. Still, as their director, he kept making the space smaller and smaller to get them cozy with one another.

"At one point, Nick was like, 'Mate, it's not gonna be this small,'" López says laughing, acknowledging Galitzine was right when they actually filmed the scene. "But it was a great challenge for them to work out together and we got a great picture out of it."

The photo immediately sent a shockwave through the fanbase of author Casey McQuiston's beloved New York Times bestselling book, on which the film is based.

"Honestly, I didn't know the moment I took that photo what that would do in the world," López says. "But I think some part of me, without realizing it, knew I needed to communicate to the fans that they don't need to worry. I wanted to tell them, 'I've got your back. This movie is being made by a fan. I am one of you.'"

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It was a smart move because adapting a beloved book and pleasing its diehard fans is no easy feat. But Red, White & Royal Blue isn't just any book. McQuiston's novel tells the enemies-to-lovers story of Alex, the son of the first female President of the United States, and Prince Henry, the spare heir to the British throne. After realizing they aren't each other's mortal enemy, Alex and Henry begin an all-encompassing romance that could either sever or fortify the special relationship between their two countries.

For López, a Tony-winning playwright who is making his directorial debut, Red, White & Royal Blue begins and ends with the Alex and Henry he captured in that candid photo.

"They are the reason I fell in love with the book, they are the reason I wanted to tell this story," he says. "Everything in the book that we love obviously couldn't fit into the movie, but what is most important in this two-hour movie is the journey Alex and Henry take as individuals and as a couple. That became the very clear mandate for this film."

Even with Alex and Henry at its heart, the film, which is now streaming on Prime Video, was always going to have to streamline the book to make it to the screen. For instance, Alex's sister and confidante June is not part of the movie, and his parents (played by Uma Thurman and Clifton Collins Jr.) are not divorced. On Henry's side of the pond, his grandmother in the book, the Queen of England, has been replaced by his grandfather, King James III, in the movie (played by Stephen Fry). His mother Charlotte, the Princess of Wales, is never seen in the movie, whereas in the book she plays a pivotal role in the climactic royal standoff.

The changes, while noticeable for fans of the book, opened the door for López to work with Galitzine, Perez, and McQuiston to make the movie his own. Similar to Alex, whose father is Latine, López is from a Puerto Rican family. It was a connection he leaned on in making the film.

"When I talked to Casey about it over the course of creating this film, they really gave me the encouragement to make my movie, not their book as a movie," he says. "What I hope people will see is a movie that is clearly based on the novel, Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. But just as the novel is Casey's very personal story, the movie is my very personal story."

López also identifies as queer, an identity Alex comes to terms with through the film. That shared perspective is something López relied on to authentically film Alex and Henry's relationship, making sure nothing is lost in translation from book to screen.

That is most intimately seen in one of López's biggest changes to the book — the first time Alex and Henry make love, as Henry describes it. The scene in the book unfolds after a drunken night of karaoke with their friends. In the film, it happens on a quiet night in Paris, where the film, its couple, and the audience can luxuriate in every tender and frankly spoken moment.

"That scene was so important to me because it is a real life-changing event for these two characters," López says. "For Alex, it is the first time he had sex with a man. And for Henry, Nick and I decided together that this is the first time he had sex with someone he really cared about. For the two of them, they are having a new experience and I wanted to show that. I wanted to make sure that it was unambiguous to the audience what they were doing and that it was a queer filmmaker making this scene."

As much as it is a transformative experience for Alex and Henry, López also wants the time and care put into that moment and their entire relationship to have a similar impact on the audience.

"The thing I hope people take away from that scene most of all is coming to understand those two characters more than when the scene started," he says.

The film might look a little different than the book, but López doesn't stray too far from the benchmarks of McQuiston's love story. Despite the odds against them and the ocean between them, Alex and Henry still fall madly in love and they still have to navigate the politics and duty of their families. Alex's mother still wins re-election, Henry still stands up to royal tradition, and they still manage to make some history.

The journey to get to those moments, through López's perspective, is what he is excited for Red, White & Royal Blue fans — and new viewers — to see. But considering the rapturous embrace the film has been given even before its premiere, would López ever revisit Alex and Henry's love story? After all, McQuiston's recent collector's edition features a new chapter from Henry's perspective that spans nearly seven years of their life together after the events of the book and the movie.

The mere mention of that chapter arches López's eyebrow and sends a smile across his face.

"Let's get this thing open first," he says with a laugh. "Then I would need to talk to Casey, and both Taylor and Nick would need to be game. But if we are so lucky as to have people want more, then we would be fools not to at least have a conversation."

Red, White & Royal Blue is now streaming on Prime Video.