For Sydney Morton and Jordan Dean, portrayingMeghan MarkleandPrince Harryin Lifetime’sHarry & Meghan: Escaping the Palacewas the same old song and dance.
As it turns out, the actors didn’t have to work too hard to cultivate the affectionate chemistry for which Harry and Meghan are famous — as costars in the Broadway musicalAmerican Psycho, Morton and Dean had known each other for more than five years before taking on the royal roles.
“We had a great rapport going into it, which I think really served us well when dealing withheavy materialthat deals withpretty serious subjects,” Dean tells PEOPLE about making the movie, which offers afictional interpretation of the fraught periodin 2019 and 2020 when the real Duke and Duchess of Sussex enduredmonths of “private suffering"that ultimately led them tostep away from their official duties.
Prince Harry (Jordan Dean) and Meghan Markle (Sydney Morton) in Lifetime’s Harry & Meghan: Escaping the Palace.Lifetime
Morton adds that filming during COVID lockdown in Vancouver meant she and Dean, “really only knew the people [we were] working with. Thankfully, like Jordan said, we already knew each other and had a comfort there, so we spent most of our time with one another and other cast members.”
Says Dean, “We always tried to find a lightness on set and off.”
Lifetime
And though filming wrapped months ago, the costars' friendship will keep fun and carry on at least through the movie’s debut on Labor Day in America.
“We’ve thrown around the idea [of], what if Jordan brought his girlfriend and I brought my husband and we went and rented a cool place upstate?” Morton revealed about the New York City-based actors' potential premiere night plans.
As fans wonder exactly which dramatic flashpoints of Harry and Meghan’s past few years will make the cut, Morton instead points to the more intimate moments inEscaping the Palace.
“I think that we have some really lovely moments that show the levity and the sense of humor that the two of them have,” she tells PEOPLE. “I think it’s the more romantic, at-home [scenes when] they’re not in front of the camera, they’re not having to be the royals — I think those moments are going to be sweet and memorable to people. It is a drama, but there is that throughline of romance.”
Dean agrees, “I found some of those moments that go behind the scenes equally as interesting as an actor and hopefully [they will be] for people watching to get a glimpse of this interpretation. … I think it’ll be a new way of viewing them as a couple.”
Morton also teases, “There are some interesting parallels, I think, that we draw between Meghan’s experience and some ofPrincess Diana’s experience, so I think that will be also memorable.”
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source: people.com
