"It was almost as if everybody stood at attention when he walked in."
The new Prime Video romcom Red, White & Royal Blue features a number of prominent actors in supporting roles – from Uma Thurman as the first female president of the United States to Sex/Life's Sarah Shahi as her deputy chief of staff.
But perhaps the most memorable supporting turn in the film comes from Stephen Fry, who makes a brief but pivotal appearance as a fictional king of England towards the end of the movie.
Ahead of the film's release, RadioTimes.com spoke exclusively to director Matthew López about the film – and we took the opportunity to ask how Fry came to land his royal role.
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“I wish I could give you a very long story about it," López replied. "I wanted Stephen Fry to play the king – I thought let's just take someone like Stephen Fry, and they can play the heavy and play the baddie who is a homophobe and unsupportive and unloving of the gay couple.
"And I sent it to Steven and I was like, 'I don't know if this is something you'd be interested in but I'd really love you to do it.' And within two days, he said yes. He was so on board for it."
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López added that he had "tremendous fun" with Fry on the set of the film – explaining that it wasn't so hard to imagine Fry as a real monarch.
"It's funny because he walked on set, and he's six foot six or something like that, and he's in this double-breasted suit – and it was almost as if everybody just sort of like stood at attention when he walked in.
"Because we could just feel him becoming the king, this fictional king of England.”
Red, White & Royal Blue will be released on Prime Video on Friday 11th August 2023. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on.
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Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
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