Go deep inside the story behind Taylor Zakhar Perez’s hairy butt & nude scene in ‘Red, White & Royal Blue’
When we call for a greater diversity of representation on screen, that includes more hirsute heinies!
Despite all the hubbub around the missionary position in Red, White & Royal Blue—yes, straights, we gays do it, too!—the charming queer rom-com is actually pretty tame when it comes to sex and nudity.
Oh, sure, there’s talk of hard-ons and allusions to blowjobs (remember Alex and Henry’s first hook-up scene when the movie inconspicuously cuts to a shot of the highly phallic Washington Monument?), but outside of the aforementioned face-to-face bottoming moment, the movie’s rather chaste considering its R-rating.
However, we do get a couple fleeting glimpses of bare bum, with Taylor Zakhar Perez’s Alex showing off his plump posterior when White House Chief Of Staff Zahra (Sarah Shahi) hilariously stumbles in on the First Son and Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) after another night together.
Look, we don’t know why we’re reminding you—we’re sure you remember. The tush was tush-ing! But it happens just before the scene below:
Once you get past that perfect curvature of those cheeks, you may notice something we don’t often see in movies, gay or otherwise: *ss hair! Yes, Zakhar Perez went au naturale and showed off his hirsute heinie, a small but notable decision that queer viewers are commending—and otter-lovers are particularly pleased with.
But it almost didn’t happen—Zakhar Perez apparently debated shaving before his big rump reveal in the film. It took Red, White & Royal Blue writer/director Matthew López stepping in to encourage him to let the hair stay.
Everybody say: Thank you, Matthew López!
This juicy bit of behind-the-scenes goodness comes from SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show, where López chats with EW‘s Patrick Gomez all about bringing his star’s hot bods to the screen and his embrace of “the reality of body hair.”
Much like the very deliberate conversations that were had about Alex and Henry’s “moment of insertion,” the filmmaker reveals they had a talk about whether or not to go full smooth-booty.
“I go into Taylor’s trailer,” López shares, “we’ve been making this movie for like, five, six weeks at this point—and [hair & makeup designer Karen Hartley] looks at Taylor and says, ‘Alright, tell him what you told me.’ And he goes, ‘I don’t know if I should shave or not.’ I’m like, ‘Your face?’ and he goes, ‘No, babe.'”
Hm… what could he be talking about then?
“I’m like, ‘Alright, well, what do you want to do about it?,'” the director continues. “He goes, ‘Just look, okay?’ So, I had my hair and makeup person there as the chaperone—because I didn’t want my career to end before it began, and Taylor, like, lowers his pants and he’s like, ‘Look at my ass,’ and I’m like, ‘You’re fine, you look great!'”
Oh, to be a fly on the wall of that trailer!
It’s a hilarious anecdote—one López clearly took great joy in sharing—but, seriously, it is nice to see a big, shiny, LGBTQ+ film that doesn’t just pretend all queer men are born with naturally smooth bottoms, you know?
And it was all by design, speaking to the importance of having queer filmmakers like López around to depict queer stories and lives. It shouldn’t be surprising to see hair on an *ss in a movie, but it is!
“Look, I do understand—it’s called Hollywood,” López continues. “What I don’t personally understand is why we can’t change that definition of what is beautiful. And, hardly anybody’s going to argue that these two young men aren’t beautiful, but a body, itself, as it is naturally is a gorgeous thing.”
“So, yeah, I told Taylor: ‘Please, bring your hairy butt to set!'”
Amen to that! When we talk about a need for a greater diversity of representation on screen, we’re of course including representation for butts on all points along the smooth-to-furry spectrum.
And Taylor, by all means: Bring your hairy butt wherever you’d like!
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