Casey McQuiston interview: ‘Red, White and Royal Blue’ author/producer

“I’ve always dreamed of writing a book and having it adapted to a movie,” states Casey McQuiston, who got their wish when their 2019 novel “Red, White and Royal Blue” got the feature film treatment. “It’s my debut novel. I’m like the new kid on the block, and suddenly I’m talking to Berlanti Studios. And I really clicked with Berlanti, and then I really clicked with the Amazon team,” and before too long the film premiered on Amazon Prime Video in 2023. “It was just beyond anything I ever could have imagined.” Above, watch our exclusive video interview with McQuiston, who is also an executive producer of the film.

“Red, White and Royal Blue” is an enemies-to-lovers romance about Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez) and Prince Henry of England (Nicholas Galitzine), who dislike each other until an embarrassing public fiasco forces them to do damage control and real sparks fly. The novel “had this sort of cheekiness, but also was really sincere and really earnest and really joyful and really celebratory. I really wanted that to be carried through in the movie,” McQuiston says. Also, “I didn’t want either of them to have any type of shame or resentment towards themselves for being queer. It was really important to me that the stakes of their lives and their inner conflict is much more based on the circumstances that they’re in.”

For McQuiston, “I think every character that I write has such a huge place in my heart because I spend so much time with them, from the time that I start drafting, and the time I start developing the characters, all the way through putting the book out, going on tour. I mean, when I go on a book tour, it’s me and it’s them, and we are in this together.” They, Alex and Henry will be in it together a while longer as the studio and filmmakers are officially moving forward with a sequel. “I mean, there’s just nothing like writing romance. I feel incredibly lucky to get to do that as my job.”