Even if you’re not a regular reader of romance novels, chances are you’ve heard of Casey McQuiston’s Red, White & Royal Blue, the across-the-pond LGBTQ rom-com that had audiences swooning when it hit shelves in 2019 and went on to become a New York Times best-seller.
Now, Red, White & Royal Blue has us swooning all over again with the official casting announcement for its film adaptation, with hunky actors Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine stepping into the lead roles.
Perez will star as Alex Claremont-Diaz, the charismatic “First Son” of the White House, making the most of his time in the public eye now that his mother is President. Galitzine steps into the role of U.K. royal Prince Henry, Alex’s longtime rival. Their feud takes an unexpected turn when their families stage a truce between them, and sparks begin to fly.
For those unfamiliar with the actors, we went ahead and assembled some Instagram photos that prove why we should all be very, very excited for Red, White & Royal Blue to hit Prime Video streaming some time in the near future. Just look at the material!
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Taylor Zakhar Perez
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This Chicago-born actor is definitely a name on the rise. He’s perhaps best known as the handsome Marco Valentin Peña in Netflix rom-coms The Kissing Booth 2 and 3, winning the hearts of viewers everywhere even if (spoiler!) Marco didn’t end up getting the girl. He’s also had roles in everything from iCarly to Scandal to—most notably—HBO Max’s titillating “lady magazine” series Minx where he’s shown a lot of skin.
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Nicholas Galitzine
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English actor Galitzine has also been making waves in the past few years. Red, White & Royal Blue might be his splashiest role yet, but he also played a prince in last year’s musical update of Cinderella starring Camila Cabello. He also starred in 2020’s The Craft: Legacy—which featured a particularly memorable coming out scene for his character—and the (aptly titled) gay British drama Handsome Devil.
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Red, White & Royal Blue will be the feature directorial debut of Tony Award-winning playwright Matthew López (The Inheritance), and it will also star Clifton Collins Jr. (Westworld), Sarah Shahi (Sex/Life), and legendary, gay comedian Stephen Fry. Production is set to begin this month in the U.K.
linedrive
Looking forward to this. Love the book!
JTinToronto
Galitzine looks like a good call for Prince Henry, Perez is too queenie looking to be Alex.
FDS
I thought Galitzine was very handsome and did a good job on Handsome Devil, but I wish they had considered hiring someone openly gay like Jannik Schümann as Prince Henry who while he (if he were hired) has an accent, he could easily work with a dialect coach. If not him, I’m sure there are plenty of twenty year old young openly gay attractive actors who could have been cast.
Justice
It’s very dangerous to insist on that. The upshot of only gay actors play gay parts, is that someone is going to suggest that gay actors shouldn’t play straight parts.