Taylor Zakhar Perez has been on our man crush list long before his appearance in Amazon Prime’s Red, White & Royal Blue (RWRB), which only solidified our bona fide love for him.
Fortunately, RWRB has signed on for a sequel to the Casey McQuinston-based novel of the same name, which brings us more joy than we’re willing to admit.
Okay, actually, we’ll admit it — we’re really excited about this one! Especially if we get a little more skin out of Zakhar Perez in the next movie.
When it comes to nudity, Zakhar Perez recently discussed his comfortability with it on film with Men’s Health, saying, “I was not comfortable in my skin growing up. I always had these long eyelashes and everyone was always like, ‘Oh, he’s so pretty.’ And as a young man, that’s not what you want to hear.”
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He chose to get himself in shape once we moved to Los Angeles 14 years ago and does his best to work out for five days a week “so I know my body is always ready.”
With characters like his role in Shane from Minx, he said, “It’s prosthetic and partial nudity. I thought the role was just hysterical. And he was such a dumb-dumb.”
Then he said words that are music to our ears: “If it’s not gratuitous nudity, I’m down for it. If it makes sense, and it’s authentic, and true to the character and the scene given circumstances, then I’m 100% in.”
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We are, too, my friend. We are, too.
Elsewhere in the article, Zakhar Perez also mentioned how “rude” he thought it was that his RWRB co-star Nicholas Galitzine was questioned about his sexuality in British GQ. In a world full of queerbaiting and the ever-growing debate on whether or not straight men should take gay roles, Galitzine said, “I identify as a straight man, but I have been a part of some incredible queer stories. I felt a sense of uncertainty sometimes about whether I’m taking up someone’s space, and perhaps guilt.”
Zakhar Perez weighed in, saying, “Cate Blanchett said something, ‘We must fight to the death to suspend disbelief.’ And that just always stuck with me, because if you’re watching a film and there’s nothing outside the room that matters, the actors are doing their jobs.”
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When it came to Galitzine in particular, he said, “Nicholas was just asked the other day about his sexuality, and I just find it so rude. It’s unprofessional and no one’s business. That’s someone’s personal life.”
He tied it into their RWRB project, saying, “I’m so grateful to be part of a project where, yes, it is a love story, but again, it’s not the sole focus. These people have robust, full lives. They’re educated. Alex is in law school. Henry is crazy smart and he’s a prince, and his sense of duty is unparalleled. The less people focus on sexuality and see what these people are capable of, that’s when we’ve created real change.”
Amen to that.
Needless to say, we’re on the Zakhar Perez train and we can’t wait to keep on riding it throughout the rest of his career.