10 questions with Blue Jackets defenseman David Savard

David Savard has been a model of consistency since arriving with the Blue Jackets. 

A fourth-round pick of the team in 2009, Savard made his debut during the 2011-12 season and is now in his eighth year with the Blue Jackets with nearly 500 games played for the franchise. In that span, he's totaled 38 goals and 105 assists along with a plus-43 mark and 272 penalty minutes. In addition, he's played at least 65 games for six straight seasons and is on pace to top 80 games for the third time this year.

Originally a high-scoring blue liner during his junior and minor league days, Savard has become a below-the-hashmarks shutdown defenseman who still has a bit of scoring touch to him.

The longtime Blue Jacket recently spent time with BlueJackets.com as the subject of this edition of 10 Questions.

1. You're a native of St. Hyacinthe, Quebec, so it could just be as simple as being from Canada, but how did you get into hockey? 

Savard: "It's my family. My dad played hockey at university back in the day. He's a big hockey fan. And I had two older brothers, so the day I was born I was already at the rink basically. My older brothers were playing already. I grew up around it and fell in love with it. I was always playing outside. It was just nonstop, playing downstairs and stuff like that with my brothers. I've been around hockey my entire life. 

2. Is there an idol or someone you patterned yourself or your game after? 

Savard: "Obviously being a Habs fan growing up, they were pretty big. Patrick Roy was huge when I was a young kid. I had a poster of him in my bedroom. After he retired, I was always a Montreal fan, so it was great." 

3. Did you ever take after Roy and play goalie then? 

Savard: "No, but maybe that's why I was a defenseman, trying to block shots every once in a while. I wish I played goalie. I think it would be awesome. After I retire, I'll get my goalie equipment." 

4. A year ago, Pierre-Luc Dubois lived with you when he was a rookie. Do you miss having him around this year? 

Savard: "Yeah. Obviously it's a little bit different this year, but it was a lot of fun last year when he was with us. He comes around quite a bit. He comes and wants to see the kids and stuff. It's fun to see him. Whenever he has a chance to stop by and when he's around the house, he always stops by, calls and comes for dinner. It's a little different, and last year was more busy having always around and you're talking all the time. Now it's more he comes over for dinner or he'll come in the afternoon and play with the kids, so it's fun." 

5. Your beard has become a trademark throughout the course of your career. How did that begin? 

Savard: "I shaved it off last year, but before that, it was basically my draft and I'm not saying I was lazy, but I'm not a big fan of shaving so I let it grow until it was too long. Now I just trim it. I like having a beard. I feel naked without one, so I'm just used to it now." 

6. At Cannon Ball you went all in and dressed up in the '80s theme, and on the team's train trip recently from Montreal to Ottawa, you dressed up and wore the old-style hat and suspenders. Do you like to lean into that kind of stuff? Some guys are too reserved to do that. 

Savard: "Yeah, I kind of like dressing up. I think it makes it fun. I'm a huge fan of Halloween, so as soon as I get the chance to put something together makes it fun. My wife (Valerie) is really into it too. She has lists of costumes we can do one day. She's the one doing most of the work every time we go somewhere. At the Cannon Ball, she ordered everything, so she's doing all the things. Credit to her, obviously, but I think it's fun. Dubois jumped in too this year when we talked about dressing up, so it was fun." 

7. Tell us about your 1967 Camaro SS. 

Savard: "It was a dream of mine to get an old car. I looked for a long time, and I finally chose a Camaro. It's awesome in the summertime, obviously. It was in storage for the last few months, but I've always dreamed of having one. My grandpa used to switch cars every year and my dad was always talking about it. I just wanted to treat myself to a nice car." 

Watch: Youtube Video

8. In today's NHL, there's a lot of player movement, but you and a number of guys here have been a part of this organization since you've been drafted. What's it like to be one of those guys? 

Savard: "It's great. The fact that you don't have to move around is awesome, especially now that I have a family. We love the city, and obviously when I had a chance to stay long term, I jumped on it. I thought it was awesome. I've been here since I was drafted, and they've treated me so well. As soon as I had the chance to stay here for a long time, I wanted to stay and set up a home in Columbus as a family. We've been so lucky to be here for a long time." 

9. This is a question we ask every time. Even though you're a professional athlete, is there something athletic you're terrible at? 

Savard: "I'm actually not really good at basketball. I really can't make a basket. I'm terrible at it. I was decent at soccer; not great, but I was OK. I've never played baseball, so I don't know. Maybe I'm terrible, it's hard to say. If I have to pick between them, probably basketball. I can dribble, so I'm not that bad, but I just can't shoot." 

10. What's your favorite part of game day? Is there something you have to do for it to be a real game day, so to speak? A lot of guys say the pregame nap. 

Savard: "I do nap, but sometimes I don't. I kind of grew out of it. I don't know if it's the kids. I'm usually busy all day, so I don't nap as much. I think the biggest thing would be the soccer game. It kind of gets you going. It's a good warmup. We're having fun out there playing soccer, and as soon as the soccer game is over, it's game time."

The Red, White & Royal Blue Movie Is the Romance of the Summer—Here's Everything You Need to Know

“I’m a huge rom-com fan, but I’m also like, How can I do this differently?” Red, White & Royal Blue author Casey McQuiston told Glamour in 2019 about their debut novel. “I’m a queer person. So the first subversion was thinking, What if this is a queer kid and he has to deal with what that means for his position in the world?”

And so a charming romance about the first son of the United States falling for a British prince was born. It became the viral hit of the year, mostly through word of mouth, before landing on the New York Times bestseller list and sealing a film deal with Amazon Studios.

This summer that film adaptation will drop on Prime Video with Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine starring as Alex Claremont-Diaz and Prince Henry, respectively. Tony-winning playwright Matthew López cowrote the film with Ted Malawer and also makes his directorial debut with the project.

“I never imagined I’d read a book with a queer Latine character at the center—a character who is smart and passionate and flawed and hopeful,” López tells Glamour. “I think having this book in my life when I was younger might have made it a little easier. I knew immediately that I wanted to bring it to the screen.”

Says Galitzine, “We were all aware that we wanted to make one a classic rom-com but with a sort of new spin. Matthew's a very sensitive, very feeling person, and we obviously wanted to inject our movie with that kind of emotionality. He had a great balance in being able to facilitate both lightness and emotion within his work.”

Here's everything else you need to know about the Red, White & Royal Blue movie, including an exclusive first look.

Here's the official description, per Prime Video, “Alex Claremont-Diaz (Taylor Zakhar Perez), the son of the president of the United States (Uma Thurman), and Britain’s Prince Henry (Nicholas Galitzine) have a lot in common: stunning good looks, undeniable charisma, international popularity…and a total disdain for each other. Separated by an ocean, their long-running feud hasn’t really been an issue, until a disastrous—and very public—altercation at a royal event becomes tabloid fodder, driving a potential wedge in US-British relations at the worst possible time. Going into damage-control mode, their families and handlers force the two rivals into a staged ‘truce.’ But as Alex and Henry’s icy relationship unexpectedly begins to thaw into a tentative friendship, the friction that existed between them sparks something deeper than they ever expected. Based on Casey McQuiston’s critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller, Red, White & Royal Blue marks the feature film writing and directing debut of Tony Award–winning playwright Matthew López (The Inheritance).”

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Fans of McQuiston's novel will be pleased to know that, with a few exceptions, the movie largely follows the book's enemies-to-friends-to-lovers tale. And the tone and spirit that made everyone fall in love with the book are certainly still there. “Casey has been an incredible source of support for me throughout the making of this film,” López says. “I respect them for being appropriately protecting of the novel and am grateful to them for also giving me space to tell my own version of their story. Obviously, when translating a nearly 500-page book to the screen, there are things you have to lose and things you will need to change. It is an adaptation, not a recitation. I like to think that, as a fan of the novel, I was able to find the balance of serving Casey’s story while also serving the needs of the movie.”

For López, the most important element to maintain from the book was Alex and Henry’s individual personalities as well as their shared story together. “If there was one lesson I kept learning over and over while making this film, it’s that if it’s not about Alex or Henry, it doesn’t belong in the film,” he says.

Glamour has the exclusive first photos from the film. If the chemistry between Zakhar Perez and Galitzine looks this good in a still image, just imagine how much it sizzles in the actual movie.

Nicholas Galitzine stars as Prince Henry with Taylor Zakhar Perez as Alex Claremont-Diaz in Prime Video’s Red, White & Royal Blue. “We did this scene fairly early on,” says Galitzine of the infamous cake-falling incident that kicks off the events of the story. “It was a lot of fun to film because we just had several members of the cast hitting us in the face with cake, which I'm sure they probably would've enjoyed to do at the end of the process after we irritated them for three months [laughs].”

Galitzine as Prince Henry, Malcolm Atobrah as Percy Okonjo (a friend of Henry's), Rachel Hilson as Nora Holleran (the VP’s granddaughter), and Zakhar Perez as Alex Claremont-Diaz. “They were a dream come true,” López says of working with Zakhar Perez and Galitzine. “Taylor and Nick have an astonishing chemistry together. You could see it from their first audition together. They genuinely liked and trusted each other from the start. And individually they each take these characters and make them their own. I cannot imagine any other actor playing these roles, and I haven’t from the moment I first met them.”

Uma Thurman stars as President Ellen Claremont in Red, White & Royal Blue. “I love working with actors that are at her level because it makes you level up as an actor yourself,” says Zakhar Perez, who plays her son Alex Claremont-Diaz. “There's no slacking, no overthinking. She was such a strong scene partner, such a giving scene partner, that it challenged me, threw curveballs at me, and really made me listen and be present.”

Ellie Bamber as Princess Bea, sister to Galitzine's Prince Henry. “When I read the script, I thought it was a very interesting, very topical character,” Galitzine says of his character. “Henry felt like an emotional, sensitive, guarded person, and I find people like that very interesting to play.”

“Nick and I hit it off right away,” says Zakhar Perez. "We had our chemistry read on Zoom, and then we went straight into rehearsals on day one. We didn't even have a lunch or a ‘Hi, nice to meet you.’ We just had to trust each other.”

Adds Galitzine, “Taylor and I have this level of insincerity with each other. We have this public [banter] with each other, but privately we're really, really close mates. That's kind of Alex and Henry in a lot of ways, negging each other and pushing each other's buttons. Taylor and I spoke the same language, had the same humor. You need to have a partner in crime to embody these roles, and I think it's so palpable when costars don't have the chemistry [that we do.]”

Sarah Shahi as Zahra Bankston. Says Zakhar Perez, “She is so much fun. I would want her as my scene partner forever. We just have such a good time together. She's so funny, and I think our dynamic and timing works really well together. I want another movie with Sarah, and I don't care what it is.”

“My absolutely favorite scene to film was the night we shot inside the Victoria and Albert Museum,” says López of the scene depicted here. “We arrived at 10 p.m. and filmed until sunrise. To have access to that museum at night without any other people around made you feel what Henry and Alex must have been feeling the night they go there together. What made it so special is that, for one of the first times in the shoot, it was just me, Taylor, and Nick working. No other actors, no background players. It’s a magical scene in the book, and it was a magical night for all of us.”

The film—rated R, by the way—is López's directorial debut. And the screenplay was adapted from Casey McQuiston's novel by López and Ted Malawer (Halston), with López, Casey McQuiston, Michael Riley Mcgrath (My Policeman), and Michael S. Constable (Persuasian) serving as executive producers. Greg Berlanti (You; Love, Simon) and Sarah Schechter (Riverdale, The Flash) also produced.

While the movie is, as López describes, “an adaptation, not a recitation,” McQuiston was available to the actors. “I remember Casey coming in on a really fun day,” says Galitzine. “It was a scene where Taylor and I were bickering in that sort of Alex-Henry banter way that we do, and it gave us time to talk to Casey and understand the influences that went into the book. We obviously have a lot of fan service, and I hope they love my interpretation of Henry.”

As shared previously, the film's romantic leads are Taylor Zakhar Perez as Alex Claremont-Diaz, son of the US president, and Nicholas Galitzine as Britain's Prince Henry.

Also starring in the film is Uma Thurman as President Ellen Claremont, the first female POTUS. Rounding out the cast are Clifton Collins Jr., Sarah Shahi, Rachel Hilson, Stephen Fry, Ellie Bamber, Thomas Flynn, Malcolm Atobrah, Akshay Khanna, Sharon D. Clarke, Aneesh Sheth, and Juan Castano.

Red, White & Royal Blue will be available for streaming on Prime Video on August 11.

Red, White & Royal Blue the book is—I'm not sure how to put this any other way—famously horny. For the movie adaptation, intimacy coordinator Robbie Taylor Hunt was enlisted to ensure that physical intimacy between Henry and Alex was told in the best and safest way possible.

“He was incredible,” Zakhar Perez says of working with Taylor Hunt. “In London there are these brand of mints called Smints, and we called him the Smint Lord because we would always come up to him and ask for a mint or Listerine strip. I didn't want my breath to be offensive to Nick as soon as we get on set and have to be intimate with each other….”

He continues, “A great thing about having rehearsals is that we'd have an hour a day set aside to be with Robbie. It was just like a dance. I grew up in theater, and Nick's done musicals. We're both very musical people. So Robbie found it easiest to talk to us in musical terms—there's a musicality to intimacy. There'd be lots of counting. Like, ‘1, 2, 3, 4, grab. 2, 3, 4, squeeze.’ That's what was going through my mind as we did it, to get it in your body. Once your body remembers it, you can let it go. The muscle memory is so strong. Then it's just about getting your mind in the game.”

Adds Galitzine, “It's a very vulnerable and trusting space. Taylor and I had to rely on each other because we really wanted to tell that story honestly and feel that we weren't hindered by any of our own boundaries that we were setting up. It becomes a sort of wonderful choreography that all serves to facilitate these two young men who fell in love with each other. Robbie was really helpful in educating me in the physical language of the character.”

Zakhar Perez tells Glamour he knew the movie “could be something special” as he read the book—a feeling that only amplified after seeing the script. “The core of Alex [from the book] is still in the film,” he says. “He's just so ambitious, loyal, charismatic, and smart. That intelligence was one of my fears about playing Alex—he's not playing at it or trying to be smart. That's just how he was raised, how he was educated. I'm not saying I'm not smart, but whew. His brain never stops.”

He continues, “With Alex, there's such a growing-up process. He's like a man-child in a way. He's really impulsive and stubborn, and he's insecure with his parents. His dad's a congressman and his mom's the president. He feels the weight of the high expectations placed on him due to his position, and he struggles with feelings of inadequacy. You see how hard it is for him to balance his personal and professional life. He's had sexual experiences with guys in the past, but he doesn't lead with it. I think it's not even top of mind. He's kissing girls at a New Year's party. And then Henry comes and kind of forces him to grow up and go, ‘Oh, I'm really into this.’ It turns into love, and his identity and family and relationships become even more important. I love that about Alex. Because who knows? If there's an alternative universe, who knows what would have happened if he didn't meet Henry? What if he didn't find a purpose or a higher path for himself other than just being a powerful politician?”

For López, the most challenging scene was the wedding scene that opens the film. “We shot it over the course of three days,” the director says. “It was a huge scene with hundreds of extras in a grand ballroom and huge dresses and a seven-foot high wedding cake and stunts and lots and lots of frosting. It was also fairly early in the shooting schedule so I was still a fairly unpracticed director at the time. I wasn’t unpracticed at the end of it.”

Galitzine, meanwhile, says his most rewarding time on set came during the film's emotional climax, when Alex and Henry must decide if—and how—they're going to move forward in their relationship. “It's the emotional height of the movie in a lot of ways, and sometimes as an actor, you can very much get in your head about that,” he says. “But Taylor really was just so emotionally present that it helped me. We got to a vulnerable, beautiful space. Those kinds of moments are where you drift into a level of truth and sincerity that feels very real. That's what we're always aiming for.”

He continues, “It's a really heartwarming story. Not a lot of films like this are made, and I hope it's important for the LGBTQ+ community because there needs to be more films like this. I hope it resonates with everyone. I've been really touched to hear how widespread the book became and affected many people from many different backgrounds. I hope our movie can do the same because a lot of love went into it.”

Anna Moeslein is the deputy editor at Glamour. Follow her on Instagram @annamoeslein.

Originally Appeared on Glamour