• Director Matthew Lopez felt enormous pressure to get the cake scene right into the frame. Red, white and royal blue as it is the opening scene that sets the tone for the entire film.
  • Filming the cake scene was incredibly difficult, taking three days to complete. It featured hundreds of extras, choreography, dialogue, and a vision that had to be executed flawlessly.
  • Despite the difficulties, the director and crew filmed the cake scene in just one take. They decided to throw a real cake in the faces of the actors instead of using styrofoam and latex copies, saving time and achieving the desired effect.

Sometimes you can get your cake and eat it, but only after you crash right into it. Nearly two years after Prime Video’s initial announcement Red, white and royal blue officially released. Based Casey McQuistondebut bestselling novel Red, white and royal blue follows Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zahar Perez) and Prince Henry (Nikolai Golitsyn), two 20-year-old rivals forced to pretend they are friends and soon become romantically involved. The book is full of memorable moments, including that legendary cake scene, which, of course, made it onto the screen. During an interview with Collider’s Christina Radishdirector Matthew Lopez described how he and the film’s team adapted the scene.

For Lopez, the cake scene was the one he felt the most to adapt properly. One of his reasons was that he wanted to provide Red, white and royal blue there was a solid opening scene that said “you always have to get your start right. If you mess up the beginning of any movie, you’re dead.” On top of that, Lopez realized how iconic the scene in the book itself is, as it is the provocative incident that drives the rest of the story forward. Lopez revealed a bit more about how technically the cake scene was one of the toughest scenes, as it took three days to shoot.

“It was hundreds of extras, it was a cake, it was a vision, it was a choreography in space, and it was a lot of dialogue. It was three days when I just clenched my teeth. I can’t tell you what I am. I had fun these three days. I knew I had to do things right, in different ways. But I had a great team, I had Nick and Taylor, and we got through those days. When people watch the movie, you don’t see all the real effort that goes into filming that scene.”

Image via Prime Video

How the Red, White and Royal Blue Team Decorated the Cake Stage

Lopez goes on to describe how he and his crew approached the scene, revealing that they used styrofoam and latex cake for most of the scene. Because the cake is mostly decorative for most of the scene, Lopez didn’t want the cake to “melt or go rancid,” especially considering he would be away for two days of filming. However, the stunning moment of the scene is the Alex and Henry cake disaster, in which Alex bumps into Henry and both of them crash into a very expensive (£75,000 to be exact) cake. Before Perez and Golitsyn were covered in cake, Lopez noted that the cake was “so light that our production designer lay down on the floor and had his team drop it on her head, just to show everyone it was safe.” Soon it was the turn of Golitsyn and Peres - and it took only one take to get it right.

“In the end, we had to put the boys on the floor and throw them in their faces. Me and my production designer were the ones who threw it in their faces off-screen. We got it perfect on the first take and we watched. I just figured that even though we had a few costumes and a plan to shower them and do their hair and makeup, every time I did that, I was missing out. less than 90 minutes. This. Let’s move on. We actually got it in one take.”

Red, white and royal blue now streaming on Prime Video. Watch the trailer below: