"Harry & Meghan: The Royal Love Story" ('18) / "Becoming Royal" ('19)- Lifetime Movie


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I figured the half sibs would come out looking bad in this movie. The ex husband took a hit for his TV show. Good luck trying to sue for libel; they would have to prove what was shown in the movie is not true.
 
We here, us the real royal watchers know the story.....have no idea what that was.....:bang::bang:
 
I thought the way the halfsies were addressed in the movie actually shows Meghan's restraint towards these people. She didn't defend them at all but she also didn't denigrate them either. She even demonstrated being "pushy". :lol:

Charles also was kind of a misplayed character. At first I though that character was the butler. Camilla though was well portrayed as being the down to earth person she is.

Harry as a frog was hilarious. :D
 
Cringe inducing.
 
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Actually I don't think that is how they are portraying Charles and Kate at all. I think, imo that they are portraying them as concerned for Harry and the institution. They were not being nasty or anything, just honest.

The characters weren't nasty but they just didn't ring true. In response to William assuring Harry that the family has evolved, Kate responded with something about commoners and people who have been divorced--completely ignoring that commoner Kate is in a "club" with Sophie, Fergie, Mark Phillips, Tim Lawrence and Camilla. Moreover, three of the four people in Charles generation are divorced--along with the Queen's late sister--and Charles is married to a divorced woman.

I also didn't like the discussion about Kate's fertility being a contribution to the nation. Kate seems to truly love being a mother and she would have had children regardless of whom she married.

Kate and Charles may have had concerns but not about Meghan's divorce or middle-class background. I would have liked to see the movie portray the more likely stresses in Harry and Meghan's relationship. Bicoastal romances are hard. Meghan must have been more concerned about the impact on her citizenship and her devotion to politics (and Charles would not have objected to Meghan's political activism before the engagement). There may have been conversations about whether she would have been willing to tone it down if she did get engaged.

Instead of simply focusing on the supposed intolerance of Britain's upper crust, what about whether Meghan's family and friends would have been concerned about her living in a fishbowl.

Obviously, Diana's death deeply affected Harry, but he must have seen some horrible things in Afghanistan, which also must have had a large impact on his life. The movie only focused on his forced termination of his tour.

On the positive side, the actress did a good job. What I like about Meghan is that she seems warm and empathetic and the actress caught that. I not only liked the way Meghan's mom was portrayed, but also how her father encouraged her to be her own woman (even as a girl).

I watched it but it could have been a lot better.
 
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Just starting my recording! I'll go back through and read the threads once I'm done. But my first thought is that they found an actor for Harry, who has a remarkable vocal similarity.
 
I had a thorough laugh reading your comments while watching. Will I die of secondhand embarrassment when I watch?
 
From what I hear (and I didn't watch it) the writers were not fans of Kate/William.


LaRae
 
:previous: They were intended to be a bit of comic relief (according to exec producer) but the tone often fell flat in the 1st half. W&K and especially Kate were much more supportive in the 2nd half.

M. Payton yes royal watchers know the timeline and broad strokes but the only people who know the real story are H&M.
 
Ugh the only channel I get it on doesn't air it until Saturday after the wedding. I don't get why they are waiting. Would make more sense to air before but no. :sad:
 
The actress playing Kate looks and sounds like her. A few times I was like "holy crap it is her"!
 
I heard many say "At least it was better than that awful William and Kate movie." :lol::lol:
 
I caught it on YouTube where it was posted for about five minutes yeasterday. It's not due to be seen in Australia for several days (strangely.) Some of it was plainly ridiculous, the lion, some of Charles's comments, but IMO it was saved by the good acting of the leads playing Harry, Meghan and Kate. I'd give it a 7/10.
 
I Some of it was plainly ridiculous, the lion,

My husband and I laughed out loud at the bits with the lion(s). I think we were supposed to think it was 2 different lions but they looked the same to me.
 
But I loved seeing the "real thing" at the end. They are so amazing together.

Yes! That was the best part for me. *insert all the heart emojis*

I heard many say "At least it was better than that awful William and Kate movie." :lol::lol:

It's true!! lol But I give most of the credit to the actors playing Harry and Meghan. They both did a good job and had excellent chemistry. They saved an otherwise ridiculous movie.
 
I didn't have issues with the general storylines, but some of the lines, my god! :lol:
 
Days late but I finally get the movie on a channel I get on tv and watching.

I must say so far the casting is great. The Harry and Meghan (adult) actually look and sound a lot like them. Much better then either movie done of Will and Kate (one of the will/kate was positively horrible casting, neither great). Not fan of the William and Charles, but Kate seems a great match.

I thought someone pointed out when I mentioned Markus was rumored to introduce Meghan, that it was Misha. But in this movie it was Violet who did.

Some of the lines are corny. But I must say much better so far then either of the Cambridge movies in acting as well. At least the Camilla Luddington Cambridge one was half way descent, the other was horrid.
 
:previous: I don't remember how the movie handled how they were introduced. This movie was of course rushed to production. So they were going on news reports that came out after the engagement interview in which the real Harry & Meghan revealed that it was a female mutual friend whom they wouldn't name, who had introduced them.

In fact, Violet Westenholz, in an article I read was quoted as discreetly saying, "Others were involved," so she did not take full credit. But clearly it can't be confirmed that Violet admitted anything. Misha Nonoo has also been extremely discreet and noncommittal. It may have been Misha who introduced Violet to Meghan. Misha is a very loyal and close friend of Meghan's and she was formerly married to a school friend of Harry's and William's. I believe that Meghan met Misha through Markus Anderson. And she may have met Markus through Jessica Mulroney. That's all unconfirmed speculation. I also personally feel/ speculate that Misha and Violet collaborated on getting Meghan and Harry to meet.

For the movie, at least they knew it wasn't Markus who did the matchmaking, since M&H had mentioned a female friend. In the beginning, tabloids had suspected Markus Anderson, but he'd only arranged the location where they met: Soho House. None of that was particularly dramatized in the movie. There was no mention or depiction of Markus at all. He's an extremely close, loyal and discreet friend of Meghan's. From what I've read and seen on Meghan's former Instagram, Markus is like an older brother to Meghan. But there was no time nor need to depict him in the movie.

I've been meaning to comment on the movie. But it was rather underwhelming for me when I saw it. I expected it to be a bit corny and inaccurate. I do agree that the acting was pretty good from the leads. The actress who played Kate was very physically similar, but Kate and William I do not think are that close to the way they were depicted. William does have a dry sense of humor, but he's probably a lot more loose and fun-loving privately than how he was characterized in the film. I doubt Kate is the way she was depicted in private either. Kate strikes me as being very proper and guarded in public, but she also seems to have a cheeky sense of humor and a delightful graciousness which was not captured by this characterization.

The lead actors were very close in facial resemblance to M&H. However, the actress (Parisa Fitz-Henley) who portrayed Meghan is taller than Meghan. In fact, I think they had to do a bit of sleight-of-hand in the film since Murray Fraser (who played Harry) is rather slim of build and about as tall as Parisa, whereas Harry is much taller than Meghan. Fraser does have a good facial resemblance to Harry (they died his brown hair red), and his voice is spot-on in depicting the way Harry sounds. But Fraser obviously is good at voice training because his real speaking voice is heavily Scottish. While the real Harry is tall and slim, he has a larger overall frame than the actor Murray Fraser.
 
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I liked some of the scenes and dialogue. I understand how they have to dramatize events without really knowing the accuracy, so they tend to heavily stray or overly dramatize and get things very wrong more often than not. And this is especially the case due to the rushed nature of the production -- in order to release it just ahead of the royal wedding.

Where the movie went way wrong and over-the-top is depicting Meghan as being somehow overwrought and upset about Harry releasing the 'back-off my girlfriend' statement to the press. In reality, I'm quite sure Meghan knew in advance about the press release. Harry surely would not have done this without letting her know what he was planning (even if she didn't see it in writing beforehand). Harry, of course, also had to get prior approval from his father and the Queen because the press release was unprecedented. William was consulted too in reality. I think the movie did show something about Harry discussing with Prince Charles and with Kate & William what he wanted to do.

Probably Harry's family in reality was a bit cautious about the relationship at first due to not wanting Harry to be hurt, or being wary of his tendency to impulsiveness. But Harry knew what he was doing and knew what he wanted, and he was determined, and he truly had found the right woman to marry this time.

The movie went way wrong though in having the actress Parisa break down crying and get angry about the press release. That is not Meghan in any way, shape, or form. First of all, Meghan is a very strong and confident female who I doubt is phased by a strong man wanting to protect her. Apparently, the filmmakers wanted to show that she was an independent woman who would not like a man to take control of the situation. But inaccurately, that scene showed Meghan as being an overly emotional, insecure female. Wrong characterization.

I think the press release was very romantic (as the Kate character indicated in the film). And in reality, I think Meghan felt very comforted, protected, reassured and pleased by Harry's actions. He surely told her what he was going to do in advance. They stayed in contact with each other throughout their courtship, as they said in the engagement interview. The filmmakers apparently used the press release incident as some kind of dramatic device to show conflict in the relationship. They went down the wrong road in that respect, but they resolved it fairly quickly.

Another thing I take exception too, is Parisa as Meghan quipping at one point about wondering if the relationship was just a 'fling.' Come on! It was NOT Meghan who ever thought the relationship was a fling. That description in reality came from a dismissive royal reporter, and certainly NOT Meghan herself. Meghan might have been a bit unsure how it would all turn out in the beginning when she didn't really know Harry but did know who he was. She was of course curious and excited about meeting him, but I doubt that she was overly anxious about meeting him, or dared to have any preconceived over-expectations. She was used to being around famous people and influential movers-and-shakers.

I think the movie accurately portrayed Meghan during the first meeting as not being intimidated by Harry's princely status. I thought the scenes of their romantic stay in Africa were well executed. In reality, we know that M&H bonded immediately over common interests in humanitarian efforts and they were definitely physically attracted to each other. And then they had a second date, and then Harry kept texting Meghan about getting together for 5 days in Africa. Was she hesitant to accept at first, or just wary of accepting too easily? Maybe she was excited but unsure how things would work out. Once she did decide to meet him in Africa, I think Harry made a concerted effort to bare his feelings to her about wanting to get to know her and that he would make sure their privacy was protected. That must be the point when they committed to making a long distance relationship work.
 
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The other interesting scene in the movie is when during their first meeting, the Meghan character spoke of sharing custody of her dogs with her former boyfriend.

Well, I don't know if the 'shared custody' characterization is accurate, but it's clear from his Instagram that Meghan's former boyfriend Cory Vitiello helped out with her dogs and took care of them when she was away and when she worked long hours at the studio. Cory probably kept his own private pad, but he also lived in with Meghan during their two-year relationship. It's clear that Cory formed a close attachment with Bogart and Guy. I even saw friends of Cory's commenting on his Instagram in 2017, that they missed seeing Guy.

I miss seeing pictures of Guy, and of Bogart too. :sad:
 
Not sure if this is the best place to discuss this or not but Lifetime are making a sequel to Harry & Meghan- A Royal Romance.

The sequel has the working title of Harry & Meghan- Becoming Royal. As per lifetime the sequel “continues the love story of newlyweds Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, pulling back the curtain to reveal the untold joys and challenges of life inside the royal family during their pivotal first year of marriage,”

Production is due to start in Vancouver this month with filming expected to be finished by the end of March. Due to availability issues the two original leads will not be reprising their roles. The movie is slated to air this spring.
 
Seems this time they are trying to time it out with the birth of Baby Sussex. Not surprised they made a sequel as the 1st one did very well.
 
"Harry & Meghan: Becoming Royal", the sequel to the 2018 movie "Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance" filming is underway in Vancouver, and the movie will premiere on Monday, 27 May

https://people.com/royals/meghan-markle-prince-harry-lifetime-movie-becoming-royal-first-look/

Filming has wrapped. They are probably working on re-shoots and editing now for the May release date. I know very little about the movie industry, but perhaps someone can enlighten us on what happens after filming wraps.
 
This new Harry...ain't it.
 
IMO the actor in the first movie was a better fit as Harry. I did see the first movie but doubt that I'll be watching this. I'd rather see the real couple and not a lot of sentimental imaginings by scriptwriters, and I can't see the point really, in filmmakers having a second go at their relationship. Maybe they're going to make a series, lol?
 
I noticed in the casting Meghan's family is not mentioned. I wonder how the film will deal with the Markles if at all. If they do it would have to deal with the paparazzi scheme of Dad and Sam before the wedding; the summer of nasty interviews by Dad; Sam on the fixated persons list (and supposedly removed); Jr arrested for DUI again and now facing eviction from his house and Dad's releasing Meghan's letter in response to the People story. In short the Markles are not going to look good in this. But if they want fame and fortune the Markles are going to have to accept not everyone will ignore some inconvenient truths especially if well documented.
 
Most likely, this movie will not include any mention of Meghan's family scuffles at all. That area alone could make up an entire mini series all by itself. I really don't expect this sequel to do very well at all. Its not something I'm looking forward to watching.

But then again, American screenwriters tend to want to take liberties and make things interesting. Tonight, catching up on one of my shows, This Is Us, they wrote Baby Sussex into the script only they called him/her "Baby Markle".

But seriously, I think they'll have plenty of material to work with to make a two hour movie without throwing the garbage into the mix.
 
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