Plus, an update on The Devil Wears Prada musical.
What made you want to write a royal romance novel?
PAUL RUDNICK:I had the idea and the title years ago.
Astrid Stawiarz/WireImage; Berkley
I did think about a screenplay or about a play, but they never felt quite right.
Suddenly, things fell into place.
One of the few things I’ve learned over my career is to let the material dictate the form.
This made the most sense as a book.
How did you devise the character of Edgar specifically?
Was he inspired by any real royals?
People will be looking to him for either perfect behavior or political behavior or any possible mistake.
He was someone I could find for real sympathy for, despite his being so wealthy and handsome.
Are you much of a romance reader?
Were there any particular texts, be they books or films, that inspired you?
I’m pretty much a hopeless and devoted romantic in every possible form.
I readRed, White & Royal Blue, which I thought was absolutely terrific.
I became aware that there was this whole genre of LGBTQ royal romance.
It’s a tradition I was proud to join.
I think it’s about time.
They still haven’t made their leap into their first gay or LGBTQ prince or princess.
Even though most Disney princes usually seem pretty gay.
How important do you think it is to have more rom-coms and happily-ever-afters for the LGTBQ community in storytelling?
No worse, no better.
We deserve representation, not just in the boardroom or on the ballot, but on the romance shelf.
So often minority representation is about suffering, or about a kind of impossible valor.
Certainly, I see that reflected in the gay people I know everywhere.
You’re known for your wickedly sharp sense of humor, which comes out in the book.
The royals haven’t really been much source for laughs lately so how did you find humor in that?
Part of what fascinated me is that the royals are almost forbidden from having a sense of humor.
They don’t give a lot of interviews or a lot of access.
Which allowed me to let my imagination run free.
Everybody needs humor as a way of maintaining your sanity.
Plus, comedy often really benefits from social structures, from a sense of protocol and manners.
The royal family is comedy ground zero in a lot of juicy ways.
Could you tell me a bit more about that?
When I met my partner of many years, it was something that bonded us very quickly.
We both loved IHOP, and we have visited IHOPs in almost every state in the union.
I have never been disappointed by an IHOP meal.
Also, when I was a child, I had such a crush on the syrup caddy.
When can Carter get his own HTGV show?
I feel like they need an event architect series.
If they are not the perfect pair of flippers, I don’t know who is.
They could flip palaces.
It would be a way of raising money for worthy causes.
But yeah, I think Carter and Edgar would be the Chip and Joanna Gaines of Buckingham Palace.
You are currently co-writing the book forThe Devil Wears Pradamusical.
Can you tell me more about your approach to that and where it’s at?
It’s scheduled to have a tryout in Chicago next summer.
Elton John is doing the score and Shaina Taub is doing the lyrics.
I love the material.
So, it will get here pretty soon.
Would you ever want to turnPlaying the Palaceinto a musical, or even a straight stage play?
That sense of just deliriously heightened reality, that joy that’s only accessible through singing and dancing.
I thought, “Can I ever infuse other forms with that level of pure celebration?”
So, I could certainly seePlaying the Palaceon stage.
