The Big Picture

Director Matthew López carefully laid the groundwork for the intimate scenes in Red, White & Royal Blue to ensure they looked beautiful, felt tender, and operated on a clear physical logic. López and the team, including the actors, intimacy coordinator, and director of photography, had lengthy conversations about all aspects of the sex scenes, including how the actors would touch each other and how it would be portrayed on camera. The approach to sex and intimate moments in the film is one of the standout elements, reflecting the importance of capturing the wonder, newness, fear, and excitement experienced by the characters.

Just like the novel that inspired it, Red, White & Royal Blue doesn’t shy away from letting viewers get to know its protagonists Alex (Taylor Zakhar Perez) and Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) in the biblical sense. In order to let us fully grasp the passion that both boys share, director Matthew López told Collider that he thought long and hard about how he would approach Alex and Henry’s intimacy. During the interview, López revealed to Christina Radish that what we see on screen – and we do see a lot – is the result of months of careful preparation that involved a lot more people than the two actors that we see going at it. López explained that there were two things he wanted to come across from all the sex scenes, but especially from the one in which Alex and Henry “make love” for the first time:

“I wanted it to look beautiful. I wanted it to feel tender. I wanted it to be sexy. I also wanted it to operate on a physical logic that leaves no doubt in the audience’s mind, what precisely is happening, at any one moment in the scene. But the most important thing to me is that we captured in their faces, the wonder and the newness, and perhaps the fear, the trepidation, and the excitement. By the end, we ended up framing much of that scene on their faces and their shoulders because I just wanted to let those actors play the scene on their faces. But it took weeks and weeks and weeks of conversation and rehearsals.”

Not Even Royals Can Rush Intimacy
In order to achieve that, López reveals that Zakhar Perez, Galitzine, intimacy coordinator Robbie Taylor, director of photography Stephen Goldblatt and himself had to have lengthy conversations about all aspects of their scene. It’s safe to say that such conversations centered around how the actors would touch each other, how it looked on camera, and, most importantly, how all of that effectively communicated “two characters having a life-changing experience.”

Red, White & Royal Blue’s approach to sex and intimate moments is one of the elements that make it stand out. López also talked to Collider about adapting the “secret” ingredient from the Casey McQuiston novel that couldn’t be left out, as well as the iconic cake scene that opens the movie.

You can stream Red, White & Royal Blue on Prime Video now.