![]() ![]() ![]() But I also think it’s no bad thing to follow Simon and Daphne’s journey to a place where sex is joyous – it was actually incredibly important to us. “I could speak very loftily about how intimacy is a meeting of minds and how it enables the other to grow in humanity and vulnerability. It’s very unprudish about the fact that romance involves physical attraction, and that involves physical encounter,” says Page of the many sex scenes he shares with Dynevor. “There isn’t a puritan sense of shame about sex in the show. Following a rather elaborate plan to pretend to fall in love to avoid societal pressures, the couple fall actually, madly (and rather carnally) in love. The object of his desire is Daphne (Phoebe Dynevor), the second daughter of the eponymous Bridgerton family to debut in society who is – as a young woman in possession of a good fortune – in want of a husband. “Simon expresses more with a wine glass than he does with words,” he adds. “On pretty much the first day we went straight into an etiquette and body language session where we learned how to bow properly, who was above who in status and how to react to someone higher or lower than you in society.” “Endless” dance rehearsals and stunning costumes – “it’s like the best game of make believe of all time” – all helped Page get into the mindset of his brooding Duke. “There’s such a theatrical culture in the UK, and that’s what this felt like,” he says. ![]() Phoebe Dynevor and Regé-Jean Page play Bridgerton’s leading couple (Photo: Liam Daniel/Netflix) One of the most exciting things about Simon is that his most difficult moments aren’t necessarily in big, showy blow ups.” Most of Page’s acting was funnelled into Simon’s body language rather than dialogue, he says, explaining that the in-depth preparation the cast undertook before filming helped him find the root of his character. “Characters are a lot more interesting when they’re under pressure,” he says. Page, 30, describes Simon as a “complex” man. Page plays Simon Basset, an aloof, distanced Duke who finds himself the object of desire among London’s young debutantes when he returns to the city after his father’s death. It’s Gossip Girl as written by Jane Austen, complete with an anonymous gossipmonger known only as Lady Whistledown. “The idea of Prince Charming is wonderful, so long as you can figure out what’s actually charming to us now,” he says.īridgerton is a heady mix, melding the trappings of a traditional Regency era drama – ballgowns, societal hierarchy and convoluted speech – with the excitement of a modern salacious serial full of rumours, lies and lots of sex. “But that person on screen isn’t me.” Casting directors may not agree – not only does he play the romantic lead in Netflix’s new period drama Bridgerton, he was also Prince Charming in the BBC’s starry Christmas Eve pantomime, Cinderella – but the actor is far more concerned with how his characters portray masculinity as we understand it in 2020. “It’s a huge compliment to know that people trust me with characters that they want an audience to fall in love with,” he says. Regé-Jean Page isn’t interested in being a heartthrob. ![]()
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