How many of you immediately stopped breathing when the Duke of Hastings first appeared on screen?
And how many of you watched, with jealousy, as the duke ravaged Daphne on a ladder at the library and wished it was you instead? Now imagine that being the very first scene you shoot on your new show?
Yup. That was the first scene that Regé-Jean Page and Phoebe Dynevor shot together on the set of Bridgerton.
It was Phoebe’s first scene as Daphne and we are certain that it set in motion what was going to be a very sex-heavy vibe between the two characters. Jonathan Bailey, who plays Anthony, also revealed his first day on set included Anthony and Siena having sex against a tree.
But that’s not all. Did you know they choreographed their sex scenes like one would an action sequence? Or that they had dance rehearsals to help find the chemistry that Daphne and Simon needed to be believable? After being cast, they both started "six weeks of prep" before filming even began to help them get into character. They had dance lessons, writing lessons, costume fittings, horse riding lessons, etiquette classes, and Phoebe had piano lessons.
Did you know that Mr McSteamy, the Duke of Hastings, played by @regejean on @Netflix’s hit show “Bridgerton”, is half Zimbabwean?
— IOL Lifestyle (@IOL_Lifestyle) January 13, 2021
Video: @TheChadAnthony1 /@AfriNewsAgency#AfricaRise #Netflix #bridgertonnetflix #Bridgerton pic.twitter.com/kdfkBYSq1H
If you want all the juicy Behind The Scenes goss about the show of the summer, then dive in.
They Made 7500 Costumes
It’s enough to drive Madame de la Croix mad. But yes. They made close to 7 500 costumes for the cast of Bridgerton. Costume designer, Ellen Mirojnick, who won an Emmy for her work on Behind the Candelabra in 2016, worked with 238 costumers and seamstresses to create the costumes. Because they were re-imagining the classic Regency look in an entirely new way, Mirojnick needed to use modern fabrics and techniques. Daphne alone had 104 dresses and everything was handmade couture style. The costumes were more luxurious and more sumptuous and they introduced a modern colour palette.
The Locations Look Familiar, No?
Bridgerton uses a number of locations from various other period productions. They used Hatfield House, where The Favourite, Enola Holmes, and also Wilton House, which has been used in The Crown. The series’s prime location is Bath, which has already served as a backdrop to 2004’s Vanity Fair, 2008’s The Duchess, and the BBC’s Sherlock in 2015. They used Lancaster House to shoot the scene where Daphne and Simon urge Queen Charlotte to allow them to get married. They only had a limited time with the location as Queen Elizabeth II needed to use it. Creator Chris van Dussen confirmed this with a tweet: “We had very limited time to shoot this scene before Her Majesty (the real one) needed the space” @ Lancaster House, London
Rege-Jean Page took several knocks as Simon
Page has revealed that one of the great challenges of playing Simon was the constant physical and mental training he put himself through. “There were lots of early mornings, lots of boxing training, Rocky montages, taking a run before the sun was up and doing an hour of boxing training, hopping on a horse and falling off a horse and trying to keep the horse in control ... oh, the horse drama. And smooshing thousands of words into my head each week.”
Queen Charlotte Never Repeated A Wig
I mean, which Queen would even want to repeat a wig? In the show, Queen Charlotte has a wig that is perfectly co-ordinated with her gowns. Bridgerton’s head hair and makeup designer, Marc Pilcher, took inspiration from official portraiture and historical images from England's Regency era for the wigs. Our favourite wig has to be the outrageously larger than life afro Queen Charlotte wears in the third episode, where she introduces Prince Friedrich to Daphne. That wig was inspired by Beyoncé Knowles character on Austin Powers – Foxy Cleopatra.
