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OMG! A 3-Hour Version Of Red, White & Royal Blue Exists & Fans Want To See It
A petition for its release has been created.
We hope you’re sitting down because we must inform you that a three-hour version of Red, White & Royal Blue exists.
Hyperventilating in gay!
Speaking with US Magazine, director Matthew López revealed its existence, saying that while the final run time was just 121 minutes, the original cut was three whole glorious hours long.
The film is based on the novel by Casey McQuinson and follows the enemies-turned-frenemies-turned-lovers journey of Alex (Taylor Zakhar Perez), son of America’s first female president (Uma Thurman), and Britain’s Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine).
“I have a very, very different job than Casey McQuiston did as the author of the novel,” López, who co-wrote the script with Ted Malawer, told Us.”This is no slight to Casey whom I adore and who’s been very integral in the making of this movie. You have the limitations of budget, time, space when you’re making a movie, and time being the most pressing one. What I’ve been saying to people is like, ‘Well, take the number of hours the audiobook lasts and subtract it by two, and that’s what was left out of the movie.’”
It was López’s job as the co-writer of the screenplay to adapt a much longer novel down into the runtime of a film, which sounds challenging but he said was ultimately easier than it would appear. “Why I say it wasn’t hard [to cut down] is that I quickly realized putting this movie together that, unlike the book, this movie was about Alex and Henry first,” he explained. “And first, middle, and last, everything, every decision that I made as the director of this film had to flow into, is it right for Alex and is it right for Henry? And is it right for them as a couple?”
This is why when he saw the original cut, he knew exactly what to do. “Everything that wasn’t Alex and Henry had to go,” López recalled. “I [felt], like, you’re taking me away from what I care most about, which is Alex and Henry in the movie. So my job as the filmmaker is to deliver Alex and Henry safely on to the end of the film. There’s about less than 20 seconds of the movie in which either one of them doesn’t appear.”
Makes sense, but still who wouldn’t want even more RW&RB? The fans are certainly clamoring for it online.
Hey if Warrior Nunfans could pull off a full revival, then why couldn't they also get a director's cut of Red, White & Royal Blue release? Talk about a happy ending!
Rachel Shatto, Editor in Chief of PRIDE.com, is an SF Bay Area-based writer, podcaster, and former editor of Curve magazine, where she honed her passion for writing about social justice and sex (and their frequent intersection). Her work has appeared on Dread Central, Elite Daily, Tecca, and Joystiq. She's a GALECA member and she podcasts regularly about horror on the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network. She can’t live without cats, vintage style, video games, drag queens, or the Oxford comma.
Rachel Shatto, Editor in Chief of PRIDE.com, is an SF Bay Area-based writer, podcaster, and former editor of Curve magazine, where she honed her passion for writing about social justice and sex (and their frequent intersection). Her work has appeared on Dread Central, Elite Daily, Tecca, and Joystiq. She's a GALECA member and she podcasts regularly about horror on the Zombie Grrlz Horror Podcast Network. She can’t live without cats, vintage style, video games, drag queens, or the Oxford comma.
