Nicholas’ delivery was beautiful. When he finished the story, his face was full of resignation while he said the seemingly hopeful sentence, “ the prince’s heart beats freely once again.”
It was heartbreaking.
This scene added on the reasons that triggered Alex to try to confess his love later and I really feel sorry for him now more than before. I think in this scene he heard Henry saying “ I love you” in the most romantic way. Also he heard so much hurt and loneliness it’s as Henry was crying for help. And Alex desperately wanted to help him, telling him he was loved, and so deeply.
But that’s not what Henry wanted to tell him. Alex asked if it’s true that he couldn’t let anyone fall in love with. Henry’s answer was: yes, he couldn’t let anyone take off his armour despite how deeply in love he was with Alex and how happy he was to because of it. Alex lay back on the brick with a relaxed smile after hearing the peasant part because he thought that was what Henry wanted to tell him — a happy ending fairytale. The camera focused on Henry alone after that so I think Alex completely missed just how torn and devastated Henry was when he uttered the final part of the story.
Henry was right in the Kensington Palace scene. He did tell Alex over and over, with words, stories or actions, how in love he was with Alex. He also did tell Alex why that didn’t make it possible for them being together, forever. Alex never linked the two things together though. He didn’t understand why that could be the case. He must be so confused when Henry left, thinking that he read the wrong message, that Henry didn’t love him back.
So like, kinda can't stop thinking about the deleted scene from Paris after seeing Nicholas straddle Laurie in Mary and George. How supposedly Nicholas and Taylor had a similar scene 🫠🫠🫠 and how it was so much more vulnerable than what we got in the movie, how it was painfully intimate (phrased by @krissielee) 🫠 yeah I'm once again in agony thinking about what we missed 😭
matthewlopez: One of my favorite moments in Casey McQuiston’s novel is when Henry explains himself to Alex in an email, using the literary tradition of a fairy tale. I wanted to get that idea into the movie and so I wrote this scene inspired by that moment in the book. I ended up cutting it as we didn’t ultimately learn anything we didn’t already know/intuit and because the three and a half minutes the scene runs was ultimately hindering our momentum. It was a painful but necessary cut and I’m happy to finally share the scene with you all. The speech ran over a page and half in the shooting script and Nick performed it beautifully in a single extended take that we then got coverage on for the end. For those of you who know the film (and there are a few of you), it was intended to go after the scene between Alex and Oscar in the kitchen and before the scene on the raft. I hope you enjoy!
Alright I went from obsessively wondering about one deleted scene to obsessively wondering about another deleted scene. Namely. this time, the extended Polo scene.
To start with I do really like what we got! It was really fun and quick and horny and it worked really, really well, both in atmosphere and pacing.
I remember in an interview (forgot which one) Matthew said the polo scene was originally six minutes then with the new editing idea which is what we ended up getting, it was cut down to like two and half minutes, which means we have three and half minutes worth of a deleted scene
I'm guessing what happened was the actual polo match -> conversation and introduction to Bea -> hooking up in the tack room, with that being said:
Alex was practically drooling over watching Henry riding on horseback playing polo (the asshole (jk I love you) even posted a photo of Henry on horseback from the match on his IG close friends stories) how did they go from wanting to make out and eat each other to having a conversation in public (as seen from the montage during the speech)
What the hell were the two of them talking about????
I want the scene with Pez I wanna know what they talked about and I wanna see more friendship. Oh and is this when Pez figures it out? Since in the scene where Zahra finds them Henry says Percy knows
I also really want the scene with Bea. They're obviously close that's explicitly stated in the movie, plus Henry posted a photo of them two from that day on his IG (yes I know it's marketing but right now I'm treating them as real sue me) and I recently learned that Nick and Eliie have been friends for a couple of years by now? I really, really, want more sibling scenes. (especially as someone who relates to Henry and has a sister that I'm very close to) Also Alex and Bea like each other so I really want to know how their proper introduction and this conversation went. On top of that, Henry told Bea about Alex but Alex didn't know that until Zahra busted them and asked, did he tell her here? After all, Bea knew definitively that Henry's gay, and she pulled Nora aside during the wedding, is she wing-womaning? I WANT TO KNOW
In the book it was just Henry and Alex so it was relatively easy to get away and sneak into the tack room. In the movie apparently, they met face-to-face in public and Alex had a whole introduction to the two closest people to Henry. However the fuck did they go from that to hooking up in the tack room without suspicion?
As awesome, hilarious (I can never hear a bagpipe the same way again) and fitting as the quick cut, it was flashes between the match and the hook up. What was the original edit of the tack room supposed to be???? What does the full hook-up footage look like???? Was it longer??? Was there dialogue??? I WANT TO KNOW
I swear if Prime doesn't release the deleted scenes I'm gonna over-analyse everything in every deleted scene and drive myself to insanity in the best way possible.
SO PRIME PLEASE FUCKING RELEASE ALL OF THEM
(probably not all at once because the promise of something new being released in the future is like, my one motivation to fucking live right now I have fucking problems, but like, PLEASE PROMISE YOU'LL RELEASE THEM PRIME)