When Anne Hathaway announced last year that “The Princess Diaries” was returning for a third installment, two thoughts crossed my mind.
First, I felt a wave of nostalgia for the original 2001 movie; a piece of cinema (yes, cinema) that was nearly omni-present during my childhood with its early 2000s boppy soundtrack and unironic girl power and Dame Julie Andrews. The second notion was: Bring back Michael Moscovitz in ‘Princess Diaries 3,’ you cowards.
As it turns out, my wish might actually come true.
Yesterday, PEOPLE reported that Jewish actor Robert Schwartzman is in “early” talks about the possibility of joining “The Princess Diaries 3.”
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“For me, I’m just in standing-by mode waiting to see what the filmmakers want to do with this next chapter,” the 42-year-old actor and musician offered. “If they want to bring Michael back to be a part of the journey of the characters, I’m obviously happy to support the efforts of the filmmakers, but certainly it’s very, very exciting for me to always hear fans say, ‘I need Michael back. I want Michael back.’”
Still, Schwartzman also shared that he would need the film to be “the right story and the right circumstances” for him to sign on.
To which I say: Get on it, filmmakers!
@girlsonfilm69
Michael Moscovitz was every girl’s first crush after watching this movie. ❤️ #robertschwartzman #theprincessdiaries #michaelmoscovitz #fyp
♬ original sound – Djo
For those uninitiated to the world of “The Princess Diaries” (or those who just want to reminisce), Michael is Princess Mia’s love interest in the book series and original movie. “He fixes cars, he plays guitar and he can sing,” a teen girl observes in the movie. “He’s so HOT,” she pines, as Michael performs with his band, jamming on a keyboard with M&Ms scattered across the keys. The teen girl is not wrong.
Michael is the platonic ideal of the boy-next-door. He’s smart, sensitive and artistic. He sports a Beatles-esque lettuce moptop which often sweeps across his dreamy eyes, and somehow manages to look good in their school uniform khakis. He genuinely cares for Mia, as opposed to the evil Josh Bryant (Josh Richter in the book) who only likes Mia once her royal lineage becomes public. “Why me?” Michael asks Mia in one of the final scenes of the movie. “Because you saw me when I was invisible,” she replies.
In the book series, Michael is Mia’s true love. They end up together, getting married in “The Princess Diaries, Volume XI: Royal Wedding” and Mia even becomes pregnant with twins! But the movies take a different approach. Michael is completely absent from “The Princess Diaries 2: A Royal Engagement,” and Mia begins a relationship with Genovian Lord Nicholas Devereaux (after breaking an engagement with Duke Andrew Jacoby). And don’t get me wrong, Lord Nicholas is hot. But he’s no Michael!
It’s not the only major difference between the novels and the movies. “Not only are Lilly and Michael Moscovitz openly Jewish in the book, but it is a recurring theme,” Kate Hennessey wrote in Hey Alma in 2022. In the books, Mia recounts spending Passovers with the Moscovitz family, eating leftover Rosh Hashanah macaroons in their kitchen and how Michael wears a tux he got for a cousin’s bar mitzvah to a dance at their school. According to them, these Jewish details give the Moscovitz family specificity, especially entrenched in the book’s New York City setting. (The first movie moves the locale to San Francisco.) But none of these details make it to the movie.
So why not fix that in the third movie?! Give the people what they want, “Princess Diaries 3,” and bring back Michael Moscovitz. And then give me what I want, and make him Jewish, too!
