History, huh? The movie adaptation for "Red White and Royal Blue," a queer romance written by Casey McQuiston, has found its British prince and first son.
Taylor Zakhar Perez ("The Kissing Booth" series) will play Alex Claremont-Diaz and Nicholas Galitzine ("Cinderella") will play Prince Henry, across the pond.
"Red White and Royal Blue" was a veritable sensation when it was published in 2017. The queer romance follows the long-distance, high-stakes connection between a prince of England and the son of the first woman president of the U.S. Longtime rivals, Alex and Henry find there is something more to their friction than just disdain. Think enemies-to-lovers, but royal — and queer.
The movie adaptation was announced in 2021, with Matthew López ("The Inheritance") writing the script and making his directorial film debut.
The cast also includes Uma Thurman, Clifton Collins Jr., Stephen Fry and Sarah Shahi, as well as Rachel Hilson, Ellie Bamber, Aneesh Sheth, Polo Morin, Ahmed Elhaj and Akshay Khanna.
Here's what to know about the leads of the highly anticipated movie, which will premiere on Amazon Prime Video.
Taylor Zakhar Perez
Taylor Zakhar Perez, who is about 30, was cast to play Alex Claremont-Perez, the 21-year-old son of the first woman president, Ellen Claremont, and Senator Oscar Diaz.
Perez was previously in the racy HBO Max comedy "Minx," in which he appears the cover model of an erotic magazine.
He was also in "The Kissing Booth 2" and "The Kissing Booth 3," YA novel adaptations on Netflix. Zakhar Perez played Marco, another prong of the love triangle.
Zakhar Perez was born in Chicago, and told the Chicago Tribune he has five sisters and two brothers. And he's open to hobbies outside of acting. “I’m trying to figure out composting. I’m trying to figure out a garden and chickens," he told VMan.
Nicholas Galitzine
Nicholas Galitzine went from playing Prince Robert in Prime Video's "Cinderella" opposite Camila Cabello to playing another, more modern take on the Prince Charming archetype. Perhaps it's fitting that the actor has played so many royals: Galitzine is descended from a noble house of Imperial Russia.
Galitzine's "Red White and Royal Blue" character, Prince Henry, hides his personality beneath a cool exterior.
“I was fascinated by a Prince Charming who uses his bland persona to hide how complex and dark and more than that he is,” McQuiston told Refinery29.
The 27-year-old actor was in the Netflix thriller "Chambers" opposite Uma Thurman, and will be in the Netflix romance "Purple Hearts" in 2022.
Born in the U.K., Galitzine described himself as being "sports crazy" before pursuing acting. After injuries began to rack up, Galitzine told WWD, "I slowly started to fall out of love with it. And life has this really funny way of, I think, opening one door when another closes."