TORONTO 鈥� For Murray Fraser, nailing the role of Prince Harry for a Canadian-shot TV movie about him and Meghan Markle came down to one thing.
鈥淒yeing my hair ginger,鈥� the brunette Scottish star said in a recent phone interview.
鈥淟ooking in the mirror every day at my ginger hair was enough. The hair was not too bad [to maintain] but it was the beard that kept having to get dyed 鈥� every few days, pretty much.鈥�
Tedious tasks aside, Fraser and co-star Parisa Fitz-Henley were excited to delve into the serious side of the engaged duo for Lifetime鈥檚 Harry & Meghan: A Royal Romance, which makes its Canadian debut Saturday at 8 p.m. on W Network 鈥� the same day as the actual wedding.
A trailer for the movie shows the two discussing the 鈥渢rolls and death threats鈥� that Markle faced over the fact that she鈥檚 American, divorced and biracial.
鈥淚t was a hopeful script and it dealt with reality 鈥� and that meant a lot to me,鈥� said Fitz-Henley, a native of Jamaica who plays Reva Connors on Netflix鈥檚 Luke Cage and Jessica Jones.
鈥淭he producers and writers and director have all spoken about feeling like the world needed Harry and Meghan鈥檚 real-life story at this point in time, and that also people could really potentially benefit from this portrayal of their lives as well.
鈥淭hey really wanted to focus on the warmth, the togetherness and the resilience through the challenges they had to face.鈥�
Laura Mitchell of Vancouver plays Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, in the movie. Shooting mostly took place in Vancouver, which stood in for England and Toronto. Simi Valley, California, was the backdrop for Botswana, where their romance blossomed.
Fraser said the story looks at the background of Harry and Markle and features their families 鈥� including their parents and the Queen.
Fitz-Henley said co-writer Scarlett Lacey was determined to get the details right, given her father is a historical adviser on the series The Crown.
鈥淓verybody did their best to be as close to real events as possible,鈥� Fitz-Henley said.
鈥淥f course, no one knows what private moments are like, so any of that was people connecting dots or trusting their artistic voice to fill that in.鈥�
Fraser and Fitz-Henley watched videos of the duo and read interviews with them as part of their research.
Fraser, who has a thick Scottish accent, affected Harry鈥檚 English pronunciation both on and off-screen for the duration of filming in order to nail it.
But he also wanted to put his own spin on him.
鈥淔rom Day 1 when I auditioned, I made it clear that I didn鈥檛 want to have that pressure of trying to be a mimic or trying to be a copycat of Harry,鈥� Fraser said.
Fitz-Henley said she鈥檚 never met Markle but has some friends in common with her.
Asked if Markle knows about the movie, she said: 鈥淚 think she鈥檚 aware of it.
鈥淏ut I鈥檝e asked myself, 鈥榃eeks out from my wedding, would I be paying attention to stuff like this?鈥� We know from their own words that they had to learn to really shut out so many things, good and bad, in order to focus on their lives.
鈥淪o I think they鈥檙e aware of it but I don鈥檛 think they鈥檙e paying close attention.鈥�
Fitz-Henley feels the couple could be a 鈥渞eally effective team.鈥�
鈥淏oth of them are really outside-the-box thinkers, it seems, and both of them seem to be quite brave and willing to take risks 鈥� and the world that we live in right now needs those qualities to address the issues that are at hand,鈥� she said.
鈥淚 think bringing in someone who comes from a completely different culture, and by that I mean American culture who has a biracial experience, who has experience as an artist, I think it鈥檚 a great addition to this family.
鈥淎nywhere where you can increase diversity you increase strength and perspective, and the fact that they鈥檙e [getting married] I think bodes well for the future of everything that the family does.鈥�
