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May 30, 2024 51 mins

Episode three: Forces of Nature features a ball, a hot air balloon festival, two love triangles, and a steamy dream. There’s a lot going on! Host Gabi Collins is here to discuss it all. She’s joined by director of episodes three and four, Andrew Ahn, who talks about bringing these elaborate group scenes and juicy storylines to life. Then, she talks to Sam Phillips, the actor who plays the new eligible bachelor on the scene, Lord Debling. 

Binge part one of Bridgerton Season 3 on Netflix now to better enjoy all the tea with us every week! 

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bridgerton The Official Podcast is a production of Shondaland in
partnership with iHeartRadio. Welcome to Bridgerton the Official Podcast, your
exclusive peak behind the curtain of Shondaland's Bridgerton series. I'm
your host, Gabrielle Collins. Today we're talking about episode three,

(00:22):
Forces of Nature. I'm thrilled to welcome too talented artists
who are new to the bridger Verse and first time
guests on the podcast. We're talking to Andrew Ahn, director
of episodes three and four, and Lord Debling himself, the
Dashing Sam Phillips. If you haven't watched the episode yet,

(00:43):
stop what you're doing head over to Netflix catch up.
The first four episodes of Bridgerton's Season three are out
now and Part two drops on June thirteenth. But before
we get all the juicy behind the scenes tea from
my guests, let's recap Episode three. Things are heating up

(01:05):
for Colin, who is finally starting to reckon with his
feelings for Penelope after a fiery dream awakens his affections.
They then share an intimate moment in the Sweet Stall
at the special Hawkins Balloon Day Festival, where Colin gazes
longingly upon Penelope as she licks her fingers in slow motion,

(01:25):
but Penelope's attention is elsewhere as she continues her burgeoning
courtship with Lord Deviling. Well done being a.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Fool for stepping away from the herd, even though you
were becoming a target.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Just like him.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
He's dead, true, but at least got to come to the.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Party rather dull one. If I'm honest.

Speaker 3 (01:53):
Figuring me, I should not have said that.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
I do not apologize. In fact, I find your frankness
immensely refreshing.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
Tensions rise when Cressida decides to pursue the eligible environmentalist
as well, with the help of Eloise. Meanwhile, Benedict may
have met his match with Lady Tilly Arnold, Francesca finds
quiet with a handsome stranger, and Lady Violet Bridgeton discovers
Lord Marcus Anderson is Lady Dan Burry's brother. But nothing,

(02:26):
nothing hurt our hearts more in this episode than witnessing
Penelope and her new man, Lord Depling dancing to a
rendition of Billie Eilish's Happier than Ever, while a shocked
Colin cannot look away, knowing he missed his chance. This
episode is chock full of big set pieces, a dream sequence,

(02:48):
a ball and lots of story progression for all of
our characters. A lot is going on. So I have
to talk to the mastermind and who made it all
come together. I sat down with director Andrew on He
had all the details about orchestrating the extravagant Hawkins balloon day,

(03:08):
the weeping Willow Tree scene with Penn and Colin, and
much more. Hi Andrew, Welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 4 (03:20):
Hi, thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
Okay, so we're talking about episode three today, Forces of Nature.
Talk to us about your first encounter with the scripts.
What intuitively for you really struck you or did you
want to really draw upon.

Speaker 4 (03:42):
Yeah, you know, for for episode three, I was just
so excited to kind of dive in. You know, I've
never directed on this show before, and so it was
just really exciting to get ready to shoot these scenes
and to imagine these places and these characters. I'll say

(04:06):
I was most nervous about the hot.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Air balloon sequence.

Speaker 4 (04:13):
I was like, Oh, this is really this is a
really big sequence. Like it was this page after page,
and you know, I was like, how are we going
to pull this off? And you know, when I first
read it, I hadn't had any meetings with you know,
the production team, you know, with the production designer or
VFX yet, and so it was all just a little overwhelming.

(04:37):
But I had a lot of trust in you know,
the the kind of machine that is Bridgerton, and I
was like, well, like, let's see what they've got ready
for me. But you know, I think what I was
really excited by was the emotional story. You know, like

(04:58):
as a director, some times those physical challenges like the
hot air balloon scene, like the logistical challenges that can
be overwhelming. But it's the emotional storyline that I can
really you know, like plug myself into and know that
I can tell that story really really well. And so,

(05:21):
you know, I think for me, it was just exciting
to see you know, Penn and Colin, who you know,
audiences have known for you know, two seasons before this,
to see them grow and blossom in this way. I
really wanted to show, you know, show them as the

(05:42):
romantic leads of the season, as you know, heroes, as beautiful, inspiring,
messed up people like that to me was you know,
they're going through a lot, and they're messing up, they're
you know, it's really funny to see the stumbles like
that's so endearing and vulnerable.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, we're going to take a few steps back and
go back to the beginning. Colin is having a fiery
dream about Penelope. Tell me about directing that scene and
your conversations with Colin.

Speaker 4 (06:21):
It was fun because, you know, we wanted the audience
to maybe get the sense that this is not real life.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
You know.

Speaker 4 (06:32):
I think we wanted to kind of play that razor's
edge of like romantic and sexy, but still have it
be you know, grounded in the world. And so we
you know, we really leaned on the kind of atmosphere

(06:53):
of the space. It's such a beautiful location. We had
to contend with some bats. That's the thing that you
have in London that I didn't know about bats. Yeah,
you have to you have to let the bats be Like,
you can't shoot while the bats are out, you know,
because they are protected species. But yeah, we we had

(07:16):
to wait until it got dark enough, and and then
we really wanted to play up you know that this
is a little bit of a fantasy, you know, something
that you know, one of our characters is imagining, dreaming
up and I think the you know, the kind of

(07:36):
fake out is that I think audiences expect that to
be Penn's fantasy and Pen's dream, but it's actually Collins.
And that's such a great way to open the episode.
And I think, you know, it really shows you like
where like Colin's head is at in a really cool way.

(07:59):
But yeah, directing, you know, Luke and Nicola like they
know each other so well, and they really understood the
kind of trajectory of these characters. You know, they've been preparing,
they've been mentally preparing for.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
A while, and so it was really you.

Speaker 4 (08:20):
Know about creating a safe, you know, comfortable environment for
them where they could really show that kind of fiery
desire that I think, you know, allows audiences to really,
you know, get a sneak peek of you know, what's
about to happen in the future.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
Yes, in the dream sequence. But I was wondering, I
was wondering if having that dream. I'm wondering if this
conversation came up, like if having that dream tipped him
over at the edge and made him like, oh, heck no,

(09:02):
I gotta go get the girl, you know, or if
if it had just been a secret that he had
been living with and this was not the first time
he had that dream or a dream like that.

Speaker 4 (09:14):
Yeah, you know, I think with Luke it was really
tapping into that part of your subconscious where you know
what you want and you're gonna go get it.

Speaker 2 (09:29):
And I think.

Speaker 4 (09:32):
Thinking about the whole season, you know this this really
is a turning point for him. You know, I don't
think that he's ever seen Penelope this way. And so
there's something about that that kiss that happened that's really
you know, more intimate and chase like allowing that in

(09:57):
this dream to become something more passionate. It's wish fulfillment,
you know that you might not have known you like
even wanted. And so you know, talking to Luke it
was about like finding that kind of yeah, like unleashing

(10:19):
this kind of force of nature in you, right, like
this beast like this is you like holding you know,
the person you want right And and similarly for for Nicola,
you know, I think it's really you know, cute that

(10:41):
she's kind of coy and confused at the beginning of
this and you know, maybe can't believe that it's happening. Yeah,
like the vibe that we were going for was Yeah,
it's like this, this should feel a bit like, you know,
a romance novel cover. You know, that's the feeling we want.

(11:02):
You know, It's such a great way to open the episode.
It's like you've you've seen the cover. Now let's open
the book.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
We'll be right back after the break. We're back with
more bridgeton the official podcast. So there's another notable moment

(11:36):
between these two characters, Penelope and Colin under a weeping
willow tree.

Speaker 3 (11:45):
We cannot continue our lessons?

Speaker 4 (11:48):
Oh, I agree? Good?

Speaker 2 (11:54):
Oh, just so I'm clear, what is your reasoning exactly?
Is it because of what happened between us?

Speaker 3 (11:59):
No? No, but I show you nothing of the time
will ever happen again, of course, And I apologize. I
apologize for asking, did not apologize?

Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yes? Yes?

Speaker 1 (12:17):
Is that a real weeping willow tree? Did you all
build that is? Did you find that it is gorgeous? I?

Speaker 4 (12:25):
I love that weeping willow sequence.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
You know, we.

Speaker 4 (12:31):
Had gotten the scripts and knew that we needed to
find a semi private area for this conversation to happen.
And you know, we had a really wonderful locations team
who showed us around, you know, a couple of properties
and we saw this weeping willow and our production designer

(12:55):
Alison Gartshore like saw this tree and was like, what
do you think? And you know, we got under it
and I was like, it's so romantic, beautiful, and so
we we shot part of that on location and then
we did shoot part of it in the stages just
to have a little bit more control and comfort. But

(13:16):
it was, you know, something that you know, we we
really wanted to embrace the nature right as a kind
of theme, and and there was something just really perfect
about that spot.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
Was it written in also that they would be like
a way to have this conversation.

Speaker 4 (13:38):
Yeah, so it was written in the script that you know,
they were kind of hidden in kind of foliage, but
it wasn't specified that it was a willow, and so
you know, when we had scattered other locations, it was
kind of you know hedges or you know, bushes, But
there was something about the the willow tree that you know,

(14:04):
I think the kind of movement of it, you know,
seeing the leaves kind of rustle, it just had a
kind of magical quality and also kind of mimicked the
kind of energy of the scene. I love that scene because.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
They're so cute.

Speaker 4 (14:23):
It's the first time they're seeing each other after the kiss,
you know, and it's been a little while they hadn't
they kind of stayed away, And I love the kind
of anxious energy, you know that they know that they
can't go back to just who they were before, and
so there's a lot of this kind of testing and questioning,

(14:47):
you know. And I remember telling Luke and Nicola it's like,
you know, this is this is such a a great
rom com moment, you know, like like I told Nicola,
you know, at the for one take like give it
your best Julia Robert Sandra Bullock. And for Luke, I

(15:08):
was like, give me your best Hugh Grant and they
really tapped into it in a really great way. And so, yeah,
like that that location, like their performances, it just added
up to something really, you know, I think a real
memorable moment in the episode.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
I heard that the balloon sequence that Hawkins Balloon Day
was shot over a week? Was it really a week?

Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (15:38):
How? How?

Speaker 3 (15:41):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (15:42):
We shot that hotter balloon sequence I think over the
course of six days.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
You know.

Speaker 4 (15:50):
It was just so much to shoot and such a
big set piece. You know, we had stunts. We had
so many different stalls for you know, little conversations, so
many characters. You know, the whole time was there and

(16:12):
so it was, you know, something that we had to
take chunk by chunk, and so, you know, I think
that this is something that I'm used to as a filmmaker,
and you know, I think the actors you know, are
are used to. This is maybe a slightly bigger, you know,

(16:34):
more elaborate kind.

Speaker 2 (16:36):
Of situation that I'm used to.

Speaker 4 (16:39):
But at the end of the day, it's about and
how do I keep us focused on the story. How
do I you know, help the actors you know, find
this moment that we were in maybe a day ago,
two days ago that we're coming back to to finish filming.
But yeah, we we shot it in a location Paines

(17:02):
Hill Park, and we talked about how it was very painful,
you know, like it just was like so many meetings,
We went to that location so many times. The first
time we scouted the location, it had been a pretty
dry summer and so the grass was like brown and dead,

(17:25):
and so we were concerned about you know Pen's line
about how green the grass is.

Speaker 3 (17:34):
Much prefer the natural well to be unnatural one. There
is nothing I love more than grass.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
What about grass? Do you so love? Miss Featherington?

Speaker 1 (17:50):
It's so.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
Green, it is quite green.

Speaker 4 (18:01):
Everything was stressing us out. But when that happens to me,
the fix is, okay, how can we just prepare as
much as possible? And so you know that hotter balloon sequence,
we storyboarded that, you know, shot for shot, and you know,
we had three cameras, we had stunt doubles, you know, ultimately,

(18:25):
actually I think everybody did their own stunts for that scene.
But it was a thing where we were super prepared,
and you know, I think that allows the sequence to
really soar and sing and be exciting and you know,
a good kind of you know, a good moment like

(18:49):
for Colin to show off his his heroism.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
Gosh, I wish I could be a birdie in the
room at when having those meetings. I mean, like movie
magic is movie magic, right, But there is just something
for me, the magic is in that collaboration before the thing.
What were some of the harder conversations you had to

(19:15):
have or things you had to let go.

Speaker 4 (19:17):
Of, something that the production design team needed to know
kind of as soon as possible was what's the layout
of you know this fair, Like how are we gonna
have all these different spaces? You know, where is the.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
Actual balloon going to be?

Speaker 4 (19:36):
You know, we needed to let them know as soon
as possible so that they could make those plans, and
there was a lot of back and forth. We probably
had six like balloon meetings, you know, that's what we
called them, just balloon meetings.

Speaker 1 (19:49):
And it was an actual balloon.

Speaker 4 (19:51):
So we had the basket and then there was a
fabric that you see get unrolled at the beginning of
the episode that was made, and then anytime that balloon
was inflated was a VFX shot, and so you know,
that was something that we worked very closely with our

(20:15):
VFX team and our supervisor just so that like we
could make sure that the VFX could look as good
as possible with what we were shooting. You know, on location.
It was a really complicated.

Speaker 1 (20:32):
Setup.

Speaker 2 (20:33):
We had to have.

Speaker 4 (20:35):
A giant crane that would be able to lift and
then move the basket around as if it were attached
to a balloon. And so that was you know, like
once the crane is there, it like wouldn't move, you know,
and we had to learn okay, like what direction can

(20:56):
the crane move? We had to learn about different cranes
to see if we wanted, you know, one crane over another.
So it was just so many different pieces. And then
for me, I think, you know, the the most important
thing when you're doing anything involving a stunt is just
the safety of you know, your cast and crew, and

(21:18):
so you know, wanting to make sure that you know,
everybody felt really safe and that even though we had
this like big basket moving around, that there were all
the safety measures so that the actors could you know,
like feel like they could act, you know, they could
be in the scene. And so, you know, a lot
of different things were challenging, but you know, seeing the

(21:42):
final product that's just like it's it's very gratifying. It
was a lot of hard work, but yeah, I love
what it says about again forces of nature, like like
what we can't control, you know that it's out of
our hands in some ways, you know how we feel

(22:05):
and and so it's it's you know, really showing you
the kind of you know, uh, the the instincts, the feelings,
the heart, the guts. You know that each of these
characters have mm hmmm.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
The Hawkins Innovation ball is so special because you do
see a lot of these sparks happening in the room.
Can you tell us a little bit about how the
backdrop of of the ball inspired some of that if
at all.

Speaker 4 (22:46):
Yeah, you know, the locations team and you know, the
production design team found that incredible location. It's so beautiful
and you know, has a kind of kind of harsher
you know, more kind of modern esthetic, but still the

(23:08):
right you know, kind of general era. You know, it
really inspired the costuming. You know, there's a little bit
more fun and play in the costuming. That was really
cool to see. You know, John Glazier, our costume designer,
you know, wanted to show how these characters could have

(23:31):
fun for a night and and then you know that, yeah,
that spark just kind of seeing it happen all around
the room. I love the dance between Benedict and and
Lady Arnold, you know, such a fun, cheeky number. If

(23:53):
you look, you can see that Lady Arnold actually turns
Benedict around so that he's in the you know, female
position and she kind of takes the lead. And I
think that that's so sexy and really fun, and you know,
really shows her kind of dominance. It was initially choreographed

(24:14):
by our wonderful choreographer Jack Murphy too. I think it
was promiscuous, uh Nellie fritado and uh Jack called it
because it's a it's it's the dance is it is
a kind of tango and he called it his Nellie
for tango and I couldn't stop laughing. But you know,

(24:39):
like it's just such a kind of sexy, like you know,
full physical getting to know each other dance scene, you know.
And and so I think a great way to really show,
you know, what what could happen with Benedict and and
Lady Arnold.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (24:56):
I love Sam Phillips as Lord Devling. You know, I
always said, you know, kind of through the process that
we need to make sure that he seems like a
good fit actually for Penn, you know, because the better

(25:18):
the you know, kind of rival love interests, the more
exciting the season. You know, like he's super charming and
offers so much to Pen, Like it's not going to
be the kind of romance of her life that I
think she's dreaming of. But you know, boy is he cute?

Speaker 2 (25:38):
You know, And so like I.

Speaker 4 (25:41):
Kept saying like we need to really show that, like
like I want some people, uh in the audience to
be like team Pebbling, you know, like that should be
a thing.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yeah. I was sittering on that side a little bit,
a little bit, just a little bit, yes.

Speaker 4 (25:56):
But I do think that for Collin and you know,
Lord Dobling is an obstacle to get what he wants,
you know. And when we shot that scene at the
very end of the episode where Lord Dobling and Penn
dance for Luke's close up of Colin watching them, we

(26:19):
had the whole room there, you know, so that you know,
Luke could see the whole you know, scene unfold in
front of him, and then we started to take you know,
people away, and so you know, now there were no
you know, uh just bystanders watching and it was just

(26:41):
the dancers, and it was everybody on the dance floor.
And then for the very end, we got rid of
all the dancers except for Nicola and Sam and so
it was just them two dancing. And so you know,
that's what Luke was reacting to, is just seeing them
and you know, like how hard is it to see

(27:04):
the person that you love, you know, potentially get taken
away by this random this random Lord, you know. But yeah,
like I think there's so much about that moment of
having to not just clear the obstacles of other people

(27:26):
of society what's proper, but also for Colin, like clear
the obstacle of yourself. You know that you have to
get out of your own way, you know, to get
what you want. And you know he's still figuring things out.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
Andrew, thank you so much for episode three and for
all the nuggets you left for us. Thank you so
much for your time today.

Speaker 4 (27:52):
Thank you so much. It's really great chatting with you.

Speaker 1 (27:56):
We'll be back after the break to talk with actor
Sam Phillips, a man whose character has found himself in
more than one love triangle this season. This season's most
eligible bachelor is, of course, Colin Bridgerton, but there's another

(28:20):
dashing gentlemen who was eager to take a wife this year,
Lord Devling. Much like the birds he so adores, he
literally swooped in to win Penelope's heart, and today he
has joined us to discuss his time in the tun.

Speaker 2 (28:37):
Hi Sam, Hi Caprill, how are you doing.

Speaker 1 (28:41):
I'm doing well. Thank you, Welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
Thank you for having me yeah, thanks.

Speaker 1 (28:46):
For joining us. Where are you joining us from? Where
are you? So?

Speaker 2 (28:50):
I am in my flat down in Brighton? So by
the sea?

Speaker 1 (28:55):
Okay, okay, yeah, so.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
You might hear it. You might hear the odd sea
go in the background. That's not me, that will be
a squawking seagull.

Speaker 1 (29:04):
Good ambiance. Do you were you watching Bridgerton before you
even put yourself out or were invited to an audition
or whatever have you for Bridgerton? Were you loky a fan?

Speaker 2 (29:18):
I was like aware of Bridgeton? I I was. I
had a friend who had auditioned to play Anthony, so
that was my first experience of hearing about it. That
was sort of way back when I want to say,
like five years ago or something. And then yeah, then
he was sort of telling me this, you know, this

(29:39):
this new, crazy, amazing Shondaland show and it sadly didn't
work out for him getting that part, but he that's
that was like my first introduction to Bridgeton. And then
we were in la actually and we bumped into reggae
while we were out there and he was like, Oh,
I've just landed this this part in the show called Bridgeton.

(30:00):
And then from there on out. I was just like
hearing bridgeton bridgeston. Then it came out and I was like, Wow,
this is a big show. This is a crazy big show.
And yeah, I candidly wasn't like watching all of it,
but I when I found out I got the part,
I started doing my dutifully doing my research and I

(30:21):
really started to fall in love with the characters and
the costumes and the visuals. I'm my god, it's you know,
it's beautiful.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
I love how you just casually bumped into reggae, like
no big deal, just say buddy, hey.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
It was a the grove. We were just like bumped
into it and it's like, yeah, I just got this part.
We're like, oh that's cool.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
Well what is that? What is that experience for you? Like,
did you have to like tape an audition?

Speaker 2 (30:47):
Yeah, okay, exactly. That So sort of slightly funny story
with that is that I was I think I was
up for a couple of other things and I had
these auditions has come through and they were quite it
was quite a lot to learn. For one of them, specifically,
it's like ten pages and I was my head was
in that. And I also had a friend coming down

(31:09):
to visit me from London. Came down to Brighton and
it was I think it was like April time, and
we were going out that evening and I and I
had to put this other thing on tape, and then
we went out, we started having a glass of wine.
It was all very nice, and then suddenly got this
audition through for Bridgeton and it was like, we will

(31:31):
need this tomorrow morning though, so I was like, oh, okay,
I need to get home and record this, you know,
and do the self tape. And I was already like
a little bit tipsy. But there was something kind of
cool in the fact I'm not promoting getting drunk and

(31:51):
doing self tapes. That's That's not what I'm doing. But
there was something quite cool in the fact that it
came in so quickly. I had to record it the
next for the next morning, and I didn't get in
my head a lot about it. You know. I was
given two scenes to read. There's this character at the
time it was called Lord Deblin, but the scenes were

(32:14):
slightly different to the ones that have ended up in
the show. And I liked the description. It was really
exciting and I was thought, oh, yeah, well, I'm going
to give this a go. But I didn't overthink it.
I think there was a secret in that. And I
did one tape and then I didn't here for two months,
and then I got a call saying you got the gig.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
I could imagine the casting director saying, like, you embodied
the Lord. I've just when when I first saw you
and heard you, Actually it was when you were looking
at the poor deer heads on the wall. Yeah, called
their heads like this. This person is truly embodying this character.

(32:59):
He's so different from anyone else that we encounter in
that world, from among the men. And I just wonder
if if you felt a connection to them at all,
Like do you feel like Lord Debling is a little
bit of you in there?

Speaker 2 (33:16):
Or absolutely? Yeah? Yeah, I did like the wild Sam, Yeah,
and I just love That's that's it. I just love
getting out in the wilderness. And that's that's me. Next question, No,
I'm joking, And so it was so yeah, I do.
I really the connections I had with Debas was I

(33:39):
think that there is there's an element of he kind
of goes against the grain a bit. I found that
fascinating that he's a bit of an outsider in society,
and I'm probably gonna make myself sound cooler than I
am be like I'm an outsider too in society, but
I mean more that, like I feel that sometimes I
feel a bit like I'm on the outside looking in,

(34:00):
and I really connected with that, Like he is someone
who is I mean joking aside. I do love like nature,
I love being outside, like my favorite place, it's my
zen place. And he's so passionate about nature and animals
and being an independent spirit, and I really connected with that.

(34:25):
That was what I found. Yeah, I found a bit
of myself in that.

Speaker 1 (34:31):
What does Lord Debling see in Penelope that may be
the viewer over the last few years hasn't seen in Penelope?
And do you think do you think Lord Debling added
value to that roundness of her character?

Speaker 2 (34:47):
Yeah, I absolutely do think that Lord Debling lets her
see a side of her self that maybe she's discovering
but hasn't fully seen yet. I think it's our storyline
and the fact that Colin, you know, Colin had rejected her,

(35:09):
and that she was thinking, well, this isn't going to
happen with Sweetsweek, Colin. So I'm going to step into
my power and find what makes me happy and think
about an alternative future that isn't Colin because perhaps, no,
I can't speak for Nicola, but like you know, perhaps

(35:30):
that's the story, is that she was always that was
who she thought she was going to end up with.
But maybe there is a I'd hope that there is
a possibility now that she's thinking about an alternative future
with somebody else, and I think that maybe she entertains
that for a while. Yeah, And I think what Lord
Devlin does is or what he can offer, is like

(35:53):
to allow her to step into her power, maybe in
a slightly different way than Colin would. I couldn't speak
for Colin, and I loved it. Colin, you know, Doubling
and Colin I'm sure would get the good mates if
there wasn't a woman in the middle of it. That
probably divided us. But yeah, I think, yeah, he wants

(36:18):
her to step into her power, That's what I want
to say. And I think that it feels like at
the beginning of this season, she's really starting that journey,
and I think meeting Doubling, you know, escalates that journey.

Speaker 3 (36:37):
I am afraid I have not been honest with you.

Speaker 2 (36:41):
Pardon me, but.

Speaker 3 (36:44):
Grass I do not love it. I do not hate it,
but I much prefer being indoors.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
I think.

Speaker 3 (36:55):
The person I was earlier today I was pretending to
be someone I am not, and I do not wish
to do that anymore. The person that I am someone
who enjoys society and gossip, even if I do occasionally
hide it a sire. I'm someone who enjoys a good
book more than exploring the natural world, someone who does

(37:17):
enjoy watching birds, but specifically from the window sill, And
someone who is over explaining themselves at the moment.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
How many use are there? Exactly where do you hire them?

Speaker 1 (37:30):
All?

Speaker 3 (37:33):
Does not bother you that I don't wish to spend
my time exploring the whiles of nature.

Speaker 2 (37:38):
Heavens know, if I only ever talked about nature, my
dinner party invitations would cease altogether. I do not wish
to court someone exactly like myself. I want to be
with someone who knows who they are and embraces their
own peculiarity as I do, because I believe if you

(38:00):
do as well.

Speaker 1 (38:06):
I mean approaching Lord, debling and being like actually, I
the whole grass thing. Sorry that was I don't know
what I was thinking. That's that moment for me. Yeah, yeah,
where I see Lord Devlin kind of like oh okay,
this is the girl.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
Yeah, because he's a bit stand offish, I think in
that initial encounter, like he's there, but he's sort of
still looking around, you know, he's still and maybe that
you know, the way that I thought about it is
maybe there is a little bit of a defensiveness to
him that he doesn't he you know, he isn't instantly
like you can penetrate me and know who exactly where

(38:47):
I am. That there are insecurities and walls there, but like, yeah,
he definitely you said it, like she sparks that interest
in him.

Speaker 1 (38:56):
Well, that makes me wonder kind of what it was
like on set and what kind of direction you got
with Andrew on especially like the love triangle of it all.
And really I'm just like that defensiveness makes me wonder
what what what you and Andrew thought of as far
as like your character's past experiences, have you been burned

(39:20):
or let down in love? And then of course the love.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
Triangle, Yeah, two love triangles. Yeah, it's a busy, it's
a busy season. Well, the first thing is Andrew is
just incredible, like I'm so pleased that I got Andrew
for the bulk of my stuff on on that block,

(39:45):
because what he does is he just gives you. He's
so thoughtful, you know, like you'll he'll discuss the character,
he'll discuss the take, he'll we'll talk about choices. He'll
really give you that freedom, and then he just comes
in and plants these little seeds, you know, if he
feels like he wants something different, he just makes suggestions

(40:09):
that are you know, really in line with your character
and there once and it's it's just it was such
a joy. I can't tell you gabriell able to work
with Andrew. He was incredible. Yeah, in terms of how
we saw debling, or how I saw debbling was he
has been burnt, Like he did love somebody in the

(40:31):
past and she hurt him. And I think that that
is something I wanted for myself to know that, like, yeah,
that he maybe has been more tentative, you know, meeting
meeting the next person because he he doesn't want to

(40:51):
put himself out there.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
Yeah, and like so pragmatic about it, just so kind
of like this is this is why this could work,
you know.

Speaker 2 (41:00):
Yeah, it's very pragmatic.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
Yeah, I was wondering if you were part of any
table reads and how that was as well, those conversations.
I'm just trying to imagine, like where you were and
how that was, what that was like.

Speaker 2 (41:15):
What was great was while we were doing Block one,
because Debling's introduced in the first episode, while we were
doing that and Tricia was directing that, Andrew came in
just to have a conversation with me and Nikola during
that time on the hottest, sweatiest summer in London, it

(41:36):
was crazy and we were doing a ball at the
time and refilming a ball and he came in and
he just had a conversation with us and said, it'd
be great to rehearse with you both you you, Nicola
and Luke. So maybe we could do that in a
couple of weeks and we'll just go to part of
the set. So we just found I think we were

(41:58):
in the Featherington's house in the in the in the
living room. We just ended up plotting the scene and
blocking it out and having a discussion about our relationship
Debbling and pen and also what that meant for Colin

(42:19):
and Penelope, and we sort of just I guess it
was done, and we talk about it and then we
get it on its feet and then we block it
and we I think we focused on like three scenes
to to really focus on, and then we we got
to talk about our characters. It was really good fun.
And then we went off to a dance rehearsal me
and nick to dance with Jack Murphy for two hours,
you know, so me and Nicola were really like, you know,

(42:42):
we got to have a lot of time together finding
out about each other and you know, catching up and
becoming pals while learning about you know, our characters as well.
It was really fun. Ye. One thing I want to
say about the balls scenes, I don't think I can
mentioned the ball scenes without mentioning Jack Murphy, who's our

(43:03):
choreographer on Bridgeton and I know you know him, I
know you've interviewed him. He's just again just so lucky
to be in the presence of people like him, And
what was wonderful, I mean, along with Nicole who was
helping him, who's the most wonderful dancer. Like, the two

(43:25):
of them together just made me and Nicola, I can't
speak for Nicola, but made me feel so relaxed and
I'm not the most confident period dancer, you know, I
did it at a drama school, but it had been
a long time, and they just choreographed it in a

(43:45):
way that made me I didn't need to think about
the moves. I could just think about the lines and
concentrate on the performance. I hope, I hope that comes across.
It does good. So that was. Yeah, it was just
the joy of working with Jack and Nicole on those

(44:06):
At the rehearsals when we got to be in the
big ballrooms, you know, when everything stripped back and it's
just four walls, and we got to really practice there.
And then to then come to the day and you've
got the whole set his dress beautifully and all the
crew and cast are there, and I just it just
took away the nerves that I was, you know, feeling,

(44:31):
because I knew we had a great team in our corner.
And then the other thing to say is like we
got to just dance these beautiful dances and it was
just so romantic. It was just so romantic. So I'm
just to be part of that and get to dance.
I've always wanted to do that. I've never got to
do that on screen, So to do a beautiful period

(44:55):
dance was magical.

Speaker 1 (45:00):
Were you listening to any music at the time or
was it you could hear a pin drop?

Speaker 2 (45:06):
We were, we were listening, that's a good question. What
they did was they fed the track in and we
would listen to it while we were dancing, but we
had headphones in that they then take out in post
in post production, so they would color. We would have
these headphones in that you could hear the music so

(45:27):
you can keep in time with it, and then in
the edit they just paint them out, which you know,
just shows what an amazing show, big budget show, Bridgeton is.

Speaker 1 (45:37):
Goodness. Yeah, seeing you and Nicola dance, Yeah, it's almost
like you're you're not dancing, You're just one and really
having these this really deep conversation. So yeah, that was
very captivating.

Speaker 2 (45:53):
Good I'm glad, I'm glad.

Speaker 1 (45:55):
Yeah. There are a lot of takes of Colin like
looking from afar. You know, he's not necessarily in the conversation,
but he's he's all up in your kool aid anyway.

Speaker 2 (46:10):
So I think it was interesting because there were times
where I think he was part of the conversation in
the rehearsals and times where you know that was just
for me and Nikola, and there was something quite enjoyable
about him not being and in those moments where he
might be stood across the room looking It's quite helpful,

(46:31):
isn't it for the for the story? So and you
know there was there was a lot of good banter
between me and Luke about you know, just being arch
rivals in the show, and it was quite amusing and
lots of funny memes were passed on the group. And yeah,
so so that all that all just made it much

(46:51):
more fun.

Speaker 1 (46:52):
Yeah, so was the big Balloon scene fun, the Big
Balloon festival. So a lot of moving parts. What was
it like any memories?

Speaker 2 (47:03):
Yeah, I mean that that there was. I don't know
if the blueper Reel will be released. I hope it
will at some point, But there is an hilarious load
of shots where I look like I'm well rugby tackling Nicola,
and then I've got look looks like I got her,
like in a sweet headlock, when I'm supposed to be
looking romantic and saving the day, I just look like

(47:26):
I'm doing a wrestling move on her, which just looks
really unromantic, should we say so? I think we were.
We were at that park for a week and we
had it was a big old stunt and we had
we we were practicing in a completely different location with
the balloon, and the boys had to obviously jump in

(47:48):
like you know, the Lukes and Martins and everyone had
to kind of jump in and do their stunts, which
was really fun. And we had a big on a
big hydraulic you know thing. It was a it was
a big old thing. But as an actor, it's such
a joy just to be on a set that big
doing you know, the kick ass stunts that you wanted

(48:09):
to do since you were a kid.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
Yeah, with all that time you got to spend with Nicola,
and she's such a she's so bright. Did you discover
that you had anything in common that you were able
to really kind of use and pour into your characters.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
No, we had nothing in common and it was a disaster,
and yeah, we'll never speak again. No, we did. We had.
I discovered that Nikola is just she takes care of
people like I felt so taken care of by her.
She was really kind and friendly, and I was a

(48:51):
bit overwhelmed when we started. I tried to pretend like
I wasn't, but I was. And she made me feel
really comfortable. And I was really lucky to play opposite
and have most of my scenes opposite her because she
was We just shared a really wicked, fun sense of
humor together. If you can bring that to you know
when you have doing those long days and you know,

(49:13):
like sixteen hour days sometimes night shoots, and yeah, it
was it was something that broke the ice with us
very quickly, and like I mentioned before, because we got
some rehearsal time and we did dance rehearsals. It was
all really helpful for the you know, for our two

(49:34):
characters to kind of set the relationship. And I think
we had good chemistry. So it was we got a
real we got time to really discover that together, and
I'm really grateful for that. She was great. And then
you know, at the end when I wrapped, I made

(49:55):
her a T shirt with Team pebbling on and yeah,
and I just left her a really nice card just
to thank her for being so gracious and and so
helpful for my journey on the show.

Speaker 1 (50:12):
Well, Sam, it has been a pleasure talking with you.
I didn't hear any seagulls.

Speaker 2 (50:19):
No, they've been very well behaved, which is extraordinary.

Speaker 1 (50:24):
But it's been really wonderful to talk with you today.

Speaker 2 (50:28):
Thank you so much. It's such a pleasure to talk
to you. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (50:35):
Thank you for listening to this episode of Bridgerton the
Official Podcast. Join me next week to go behind the scenes.
On episode four, I'll be joined by choreographer Jack Murphy
and Luke Newton, the actor playing the eligible bachelor, Colin Bridgerton.
If you're enjoying this show, please subscribe, share with your friends, rate,

(50:57):
or leave us a review. Bridgerton the Official Podcast is
produced by Shondaland Audio and Wonder Media Network. This show
is executive produced by Sandy Bailey, Alex Alsha, Lauren Homan,
Jenny Kaplan, and Emily Rudder. Our producers are Sarah Schleid,
Edie Allard, and Carmen Borca Carrio. This episode is edited

(51:19):
by Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder. Our associate producers are
Lauren Williams and Akia mcnight and I Am your Host
Gabrielle Collins. If you haven't finished binging Bridgerton, please head
to Netflix so you can enjoy these spoilers with us
each week. For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, visit the

(51:39):
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
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Host

Gabrielle Collins

Gabrielle Collins

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