April 14, 2022 • 38 mins
Luke Newton and Luke Thompson (Colin and Benedict Bridgerton) join host Gabrielle Collins as they talk on-set antics, and dissect their sibling dynamics and differing quests to self-discovery in Episode 2 “Off to the Races.” Plus, the Viscount himself, Jonathan Bailey, takes us into Anthony’s internal world and behind the scenes of fencing in the rain.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bridgerton The Official Podcast is a partnership between Shondaland Audio
and iHeartRadio. Welcome to Bridgerton the Official Podcast, your exclusive
peak behind the curtain of Shondaland's Bridgerton series, and before
we meet our guests this week, here's a brief recap
of episode two O two, Off to the Races. This
(00:20):
episode kicks off with a duenas Charma's long list of suitors,
including Anthony, as he tries to win over both Aduena
and Kate. During Anthony's not so Talented Talent show performance,
he professes his true intentions towards Duena. Joining host Gabrielle
Collins this week on her deep dive into episode two
O two are Luke Newton and Luke Thompson, who play
Colin and Benedict Bridgerton. Plus we'll hear a bit from
(00:43):
the Viscount himself, Jonathan Bailey, Luke Newton and Luke Thompson.
Luke Thompson and Luke Newton, Welcome to Bridgeton the Official Podcast.
Thank you, hey, thanks for having us very much. What
have you been up to the both of you? That's
a big, big question, isn't it so? At the moment,
I'm sort of, you know, shuttling forth, doing a bit
(01:04):
more you know, a dr a bit more pressed here
and there, you know, and it's it's so different then
when this came around the first time, a we didn't
know what it was going to be, but also we
released it when we were all in lockdown, so we don't.
You know, it's so different now and everything is sort
of picking up now, so it's exciting. Last January was
the worst January on record, right, I mean, never has
(01:24):
it dragged more, but this one was just it just
feels so different and it's lovely to have something to
work towards. Yeah, we've kind of got somewhere to try
and match up to with last year. So it's like,
I'm so excited for everyone to see it now. Knowing
what the fans are going to love and what scenes
they're going to be obsessed with, that's really exciting. I mean,
(01:45):
since we're talking about it, what was it like to
just return to the world of Bridgerton, Just what was
your first encounter with season two script? Like, what was
really cool this year? Which at the time felt kind
of difficult as an actor, but looking back, actually made
the experience really enjoyable is that we had scripts, like
(02:07):
they came as we were shooting, so we didn't know
necessarily how the show was going to end, which made
everything much more exciting. Actually, looking back now, when I
watch a scene, I'm like, oh my god, I had
no idea that this was going to happen to my
character at the end, or this was going to happen
in general. So that was really exciting just to get
like a little like basically spoon fed. It was really
really nice. If you have all the script before, you
(02:29):
can spend a lot of time and you don't do
it consciously necessarily, but sort of explaining your way through
the arc of the story. Whereas genuinely there are times
this year where Benedict's track took a turn that I
hadn't really you know that I was sort of like
billing and enjoying, but I then suddenly it will take
another turn that you really hadn't expected, and so you
have whereas I think if you knew that that's where
it was going, you'd sort of be playing it at
(02:50):
playing that idea a little bit in the earlier scenes,
but genuinely to sort of like tread through it and
not quite know where it was going to go is
quite helpful really as an actor, I think, and then
for someone to see that, I think that would be
really interesting to watch because it makes it makes it
much less predictable. You're just kind of like on the
edge seat waiting to see where Benedict goes next. And
(03:13):
also that's that's like life, isn't it Like in life
you never know what we don't know what we're going
to be doing next month. Really, Yeah, So it's it's
it's quite useful to sort of do that. But like
when in terms of actually coming back to the set,
I found it really eerie. I think this is right,
Like the first a scene we had was a family scene,
(03:35):
and the family scenes are sort of a bit of
a staple really for us, Like they're they're they're so
fun and so well written and so witty and it's
just us all together usually sort of like doing something
and that in that that same room. Yeah, And so
just coming back in after well was it a year
or a year and a half not a year off
essentially was bizarre because it was like we'd never been away.
(03:58):
But it was also it also felt like it had
been ten years or it was all like a dream.
It was very strange because it doesn't usually happen like that,
you know, where there's this real break and it was
a long break and we you know, we didn't know
when we were going to start back again, and you
know obviously earlier on there were it was it was
a bit more sort of you know, there were more
rules and all of that, and so it was it
was strange but also really moving because it was so moving.
(04:20):
How how quickly we just jumped back into that dynamic
having not been able to see each other for a year. Yeah,
right to jump back into you know, all of us
as actors and as characters, like getting back into that
dynamic was just incredible because you felt like it had
never gone away. I think it was my first big scene,
which was and I was with you and Johnny and
(04:42):
we arrived and I had some line about Egyptian camel
jockeys or something that's not ended up in it, and
it was because I remember being so nervous, and I
remember saying to the boys, oh my god, like I
purposely thought, right, come back to this show exactly how
we did last year, and just hit the ground running
and we feel safe here. It's a safe environment. But
(05:04):
it was such a massive day. We were at the races,
there was hundreds of supporting artists, most of the cast
were there, and I just had to come out with
this line, and each time I just remember and my
voice was like in a weird placement and everything. It
was just like really freaking me out. But I was like,
that's that's not going to make it in. So that's
(05:27):
great because we do so much arriving. Yes, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Those scenes are often quite hard because you know, it's
just like these little bits and we're all sort of
spread out when we have these little conversations here and there,
and they're quite sort of strange because they're quite short,
but they're very important and they need to be right,
and it's very difficult to sort of like calibrate them.
It's much easier if you have, like, you know, a
(05:48):
long two hander or three hander, but when it's like
there's a little bits like that, it's quite quite scary.
And of course last year we just blended into the background,
so if we walked in with a load of people,
they didn't know who who. But now all the supporting
artists knew that we were Bridgeton, So if we walked
in it was like as much as it was scripted
that all eyes were on us anyway, so we were
(06:08):
like it was even more sort of overwhelming, but it
was a great feeling At the same time. We talk
about costumes a lot in terms of what female characters
are women are wearing in the show. Tell me about
your custom experiences, anything that was difficult or surprising, or
(06:29):
anything about your costumes that really felt to personify your character. Rather,
I'll jump straight in and say, the days that we
don't wear jackets are a real dream like and it
sounds so silly, but honestly, well, one, yeah, it's really
hot majority of the time, particularly like in the studio
it gets really hot. I think maybe it's because my
(06:49):
character isn't normally allowed to so when I feel like
I can, it feels like I'm like rebelling a little bit.
Whereas Anthony's always just in his sleeves rolled up, and
you know, Benedicts being the art one, he gets to
where these sort of like the different different neck tie waistcoats. Yeah, absolutely,
whereas like Colin is always quite done up in his jacket.
(07:10):
So if there's a day like like when we have
the essentially the Bachelor drinks before before the wedding, we
got to be in shirts and have drinks and that
was that was a nice mote for me in terms
of costume wise, Yeah, there is something really cool. I
love going into my fittings. Actually it feels like a
dress up day and like seeing like you get totally
(07:31):
dressed up. It's not just like you go in to
try one jacket or one waistcoat, Like you get head
to toe in your costume and there's all of your costumes,
so you walk in and essentially see your character's wardrobe,
which is like genuinely feels like magic. I think. Yeah,
the magic is always in the detail as well, like
the sort of small refinements that are going on. Like
one of my favorite things from my costume is something
(07:54):
that Safety, our costume designer, came up with, which is
this sort of like Benedict ties tie. It's so it's
such a great little detail, but like only one it's
now only one sided, so there's a bow on one
side and then a little dash the other side. So
it's slightly less formal, slightly less symmetrical, just slightly more
like a skew. It's really cool, and it's little details
(08:16):
like that where you think, yeah, that's absolutely what Benedict
would do, because I think one of the fun things
about this show is that is to re explore that
period of history and marry it with something more modern
in the sense that you know, when you wear clothes today,
you wear them in your own way, you have your
hair a certain way, and if you want it slightly
you know, messy or slightly slightly askew. Our relationship to
(08:38):
close it is probably quite similar to how their relationship
to clothes used to be. But it's just we have
this idea that because it's historical drama, everything was just
very you know, prim and proper, and actually no, we
tell the story of who we are through our clothes
and they did as well, you know, and so like
it's little details like that that that you hone in
on them that you just sort of do you fall
in love with them. What I find really interesting is
(09:00):
that if I accidentally went into one of your fittings,
which could happen with us both being called Luke, that
I would know immediately that it's your costumes, and I'd know,
like you can just see from the rail just like
and you'd be furious so weird. Did you have to
get like slathered in makeup, getting like your I have
been in the sun, I've been to Greece and I
(09:24):
have this tan. Yeah. So because we talked about the
idea of whether I was going to be like how
I was going to be tanned, whether it's going to
be like a spray tan and I would have to
have it every couple of weeks or something, Oh my goodness.
But then it was it was much easier to just
like sort of tan my face, neck and hand before
before each day. But yeah, it didn't it meant, you know,
(09:47):
extra time in the chair. But then on those cold
winter days when you're getting tanned up. I actually quite
liked it in the end because I started to look
really pale in the winter. So I was like, yeah,
make me look healthy and make me look like I've
been somewhere nice for for a period of time. So yeah,
it was nice. It was it was the combo of
the tan with the weird like David Brent got that
(10:09):
I wasn't the fan of. So that's um although you know,
and actually that was my suggestion. The goatee was like
I'd read in the script that there was like weird
facial hair, and I'd sent a couple of pictures. I'd
sent a picture of like Justin Bieber and Harry Styles
with a little bit of a thing, and I was
thinking that was It's awful when things like that are
your fault, isn't it. Yeah exactly. Yeah. You feel like
(10:30):
you've laying You've made her own bed. Yeah yeah, And
I was like, this is my fault. I know it is,
so I'm going to keep it, but I think I
only have it for I think it's two episodes. That's
so fitting for Colin. Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah, you know, it's
so funny. I spoke with Nicola and she said, you know,
we don't do pranks like we're at work, and this
(10:51):
time around she was like, are you talking to either
Luke Thompson or Luke Newton. I'm like, yeah, I she said,
asked them about pranks. So I think one of my
favorite things recently that it was Actually it was more
of the game that developed between us and the makeup team.
So Laura and Jenny who do our makeup, and they
(11:13):
developed a taste for it, and one of the best
things that happened that I watched was Laura basically was
giving Luca haircut. Yeah, but she used one of the
sort of clip on side burns, like a big tuft
of hair and sort of slipped it into her hand
and then made it look like she just like cut
off a huge chunk of it, and they filmed my reaction,
(11:37):
and luckily I was a saint about it. Did I think?
I even said, like, if it's at the back of
my head, I can't see it, so I wouldn't even know.
Don't worry about it. But I probably would have gone
home and didn't really upset that I had a ball
patch on the back of my head. To be accommodating
at the moment, It's fine, it's fine. I don't want
to be a diva. How did they distinguish the two
(12:02):
of you on set? Like do they call you by
your last names? Do you have nicknames? It's still not
very clear, is it. I think there's some some things developing,
and I think I tend to be referred to as
Lukey t and you tend to be referred to as
Lukey Nukes, which is not infantalizing at all. We're serious people. Yeah,
(12:26):
just before a really serious scene when I'm doing when
I'm doing serious traumatic scenes, I want to be called Luke,
Luke Thompson, your full name, mister Thompson. Set please. So
that's broadly what happens. I think that's starting to stick.
I think that's starting to do the round. Yeah. I
(12:47):
think it's the easiest way to differentiate. And actually, I
think on really big days, it's just call us call
our character names. Like when there's one hundred cast members plus,
it's just easy to go call us by our character names.
It can be the two Luke's and we're good at
That happened a lot last year. This year we had
we didn't have moments like in the Balls together where
we would sit in the corner and watch everyone have fun. Yeah,
(13:12):
that makes sense though, to call you by your character's name,
that makes sense. Yeah, I don't mind that. I think
some people don't. But I'm happy with that, not on
this job. After the break, Luke Newton and Luke Thompson
break down their brotherly fencing match and explore what it
means to be a member of the Bridgerton family. Welcome back.
(13:42):
I feel like we got to see more of your
characters together. Being like brothers, almost like counseling Jonathan Bailey's
character Anthony in some parts. One of my favorite scenes
is I think you all are fencing. Yes, I was
afraid that you'd hurt each other. We did. No training
(14:04):
would have prepared us for very very wet grass and
the very slippery shoes. Um god, Yeah, you know, And
it's it's always a moment, you know, when you feel
so you feel so sensible anyway, like surrounded by film
crew in their cities and you're in these sort of
like floppy shirts and swords. You know, you don't it's
(14:25):
not like it's not like you don't feel you know,
you feel great anyway, and you know you don't feel
sort of slightly ridiculous. But then to fall as well,
just the real blast. Yeah. Yeah, there was a bit
of slipping. I think we all had a bit of
a slip, didn't we. Yeah, I mean we we all
trained for it separately, didn't we. Because of the rules
at the time, we couldn't. But yeah, we had two
different fencing coaches and they were amazing. We had some
(14:49):
really good sessions to those guys. It was the night
before that we were shooting that we were allowed to
be together and go through the routine, and we'd all
learn we'd learned our individual sort of fights, but Johnny
he had to fight both of us at different times
in the scene, so we'd all learned different things. And
then I think we just came together the night before
and kind of said, kind of worked out what was
(15:11):
going to work for us on the day with the
story wow, and which kind of kept it quite like
fresh and you could say, yeah, you could say it,
you could you can say that, yeah fresh. It kept
us like on our toes as it were, so yeah,
and I feel like the very tight trousers were the
final twist. Yeah, we were that we really weren't ready for. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
(15:37):
It was brilliant that we all us brothers get irrationally
excited about the prospects of a scene that's just the
three of us. We you sort of get tip bits,
so you go for sort of costume fittings, and suddenly
we were being fitted for rowing outfits, which was a
bit of an indicagous to what might be coming up
in the episodes. And then suddenly the production coordinator will
(15:58):
call and say, you know, we're gonna think we think
about setting up with a rowing instructor, so you sort
of can put the pieces together and so yeah, so
I think initially we were going to be on the river,
and then that changed a few weeks into prep and
then suddenly we were learning how to fence, and the
actually fencing itself was great. We really sort of came
up with the routines ourselves and it was real, you know,
(16:21):
when you're learning something in the body, and it's a
real sort of personality test, and true to form, all
of us as a threesome really worked well together. You know,
Luke Newton's very patient and happy, and then Luke Thompson's
very sort of like sturdy, calm, but like precise, and
(16:41):
I'm sort of quite hot headed and saying things like yes, yeah, yeah,
I mean I can understand what you're saying, but actually
I just think we should see did you just tell
me what to do? Regardless of which young lady I
chosen to pursue, there would have always been some obstinate
father or metal some aunt in to the picture. I
shall certainly not let some sister espressly want younger than
me keep me from getting what it is I want.
(17:02):
Who you watch? Do you mean is this still a
friendly match or do we need to find some armor. Yeah,
we loved it, and the actual filming of it was great.
It was hilarious because it was quite a rainy day.
Did they're telling you that it was kind of chewy
on the ground, like slippy little blimseils split the crotch
of my trousers and I went, this is so embarrassing.
(17:24):
There's a halfway doing the splits. So, yeah, that was
a that was a highlight of the whole shoe. I
think there's a lot of like sibling sisterly brotherly friendship,
lee love happening, and a lot of the moments I
saw with you on screen really captured exactly that one.
Which is really interesting about brothers and sibling relationships that
(17:45):
you really can say what you feel and you don't
have to necessarily worry that you're going to really offend
anyone because you know you're bound for life. So that's
why their relationships and actually all the Britishes and sibling
relationships are really amazing and important. Is that you know
that's and that's what I think we're not seeing. That's
why that's there really is because it gets it gives
(18:07):
a chance to really allow Anthony to show us watching
what he's really feeling, and also the frustration and the
sort of aggression he has towards this confused feeling of
competition he has with Kate Charmer that he hasn't yet
worked out. And there's something brilliant about I think, you know,
(18:28):
Colin is always there. It's a partive or you know,
either living the skill or or just partaking. And Benedict
has definitely a worldiness to him, and he seems too
much like definitely I think, seems to have a sense
that something's afoot or something's still. Waters are running quite
deep in Anthony and he can see that. A very
(18:51):
sibling like moment was Carlin slipping the mysterious hallucinag sorry
little don't like I don't know, you do it. You
can do it every day every week. That was such
a symboling moment. It seems like that. I think that
(19:13):
make bridget and particularly special because you take something again
that people think is a modern thing that would happen
in all modern dramas, and then you put it in
a regency context. And actually probably it was more like that,
you know, like obviously there were you know, there were
there were drugs around then and like people were playing
around with all of that, like obviously it was there.
So I just I mean also just because it's a
(19:35):
scene with Luke, and it seems with Luke a very
fun and easy and like we just get on with it,
don't we. But it was it was a really fun day. Yeah.
That was one of those scenes that everyone messaged me
about when they first read it, like, and I hadn't
read them at this point, and I was I was
out or something, and Pete and also I'm just a
really slow reader anyway, So I was probably on like
(19:55):
episode one and everyone was texting me being like the
scene when the scene when you get hired together, and
I I was like, what what does I need to
get to this story through pages? I remember when we
filmed the scene when you first tech try it and
the tea, and we haven't worked out like the quantity
of blue powder that you were going to put in yet.
So there was that bit when you like shoved it
all in and did it and then it went all
(20:16):
down your tie. That was a rehearsal you do that again,
and then I think there was like a check we
had to change get a new tie in or get
that cleaned or something, because it was because it was
really blue as well. It wasn't just like a water stain,
is it. It was like, yeah, I don't know what
it was. I don't know what they gave me, but no,
it was. That was such a fun day. And also
(20:37):
the scene that's directly after that, when we're at the
dinner table and Benedict's sort of enjoying the lights around
him and just enjoying this feeling was almost my favorite
day on set, if it weren't for the bad smelling food. Yeah,
it's it's exceptionally well have you noticed the twinkle of
(21:01):
the candles? It is as if we sit among the stars.
What wrong? I was just telling Benedict how brilliant the
stars were in Greece, honestly seeing Luke's because he just
changed it up every single time, and there's there's moments
when I'm laughing at him as if I'm calling and
it's just me because I could not control myself. It
(21:24):
was so brilliant. And even when I watched it the
other day, I was in hysterics just that Luke's reaction,
like it was just brilliant. So yeah, honestly, it was
such a great day. But the food did really smell.
I mean, I know they wanted it to look accurate,
but it had been setting out. Yeah it smell. Yeah,
it sort of smelled worse as because the room was
quite hot, and so it just got worked. You know,
(21:46):
the smell kind of got worse it went on, But
that sort of helped in a way. You know, like
you know, if you want to look like sweaty and
a bit nauseous, then just they just locked you in
the room and it wor no acting requests. I think.
Also another thing with those kind of scenes is, you know,
so much about acting anyway is about sort of playing together,
and so when you're both in that state, like it's
(22:09):
it's so rare to get the opportunity to really just
actually sort of to feel like kind of anything goes,
you know, and obviously it's not. It's a bit of
a balance that you don't want to go too far
and I'm sure, well I did go too far and
it got cut. It's the short answer. But you know,
but like you are sort of like working out where
the balance is. But to have the freedom together as
well at that scene to just sort of like, you know,
(22:31):
just relate to each other in that fun way. It's
just yeah, it's just hilarious. But we kept being told
just put it back a little bit, just a little
less high. The other thing that's really difficult is that,
in a strange kind of way, when you've been doing
it for two or three hours, I don't know if
you felt this leak, but you kind of feel high
after what you really are, So you do start feeling
(22:52):
getting the giggles. Yeah, especially with the fake wine as well.
With the fake wine, you know, strange grape ruice they
give us. Yeah, yeah, you're very used to that now. Yeah,
I'm actually ordering a bottle so I'm missing. We'll be
right back. Welcome back. Let's pick up right where we
(23:17):
left off. One of my favorite moments from the show
is when Colin tells Penelope that he didn't find another
woman or love, he found himself essentially. I loved that
so much and I was like, look at Colin Bridgerton
growing up. But as we see the show go on,
it's kind of like, did Colin Bridgerton actually mature at ar?
(23:40):
What do you think? Well, that's it. It's kind of
I was thinking about it recently. How looking back watching it,
it's like it's hard to know when he's actually being
honest and what he's what's what he's convinced himself is true,
and what is actually true. And I think that's one
of those moments where he wants to come back and
have had this amazing time away and sort of had
(24:02):
a bit of a revelation while he's traveling, but ultimately
he's realized that he's made mistakes or didn't deal with
things how he should have last season and kind of
wants to make amends. He's quite a sensitive soul, really,
so he's not He's not one to just drop something
that that he feels guilty about and just move on
with his life and enjoy his time. He's kind of
(24:23):
like and I was kind of frustrated for him that
he went away and didn't just explore and enjoy himself
as much as he could. There's obviously a reference in
episode one when Anthony says Collins extended his tour and
then the next sort of the next couple of days
he arrived. So he even cuts his It's not really
it's not like out there for people to see, but
he cuts his his travels sure because of how he's
(24:44):
feeling towards Marina and the situation that happened previously, So
I think it's really hard to tell what he's what
he actually feels, and what he's convincing himself he's felt.
So I think he definitely had a bit of time
on its own, and I was kind of gutted for
him that he hadn't had this like revelation moment while
he was there, But at the same time, like's it
(25:06):
was really nice to see him come back and have
some sort of drive and like ambition to for something
else other than just escapism. He wants, he wants to
find some other purpose in his life, and I think
if he hadn't had that yet, so maybe that's what
he found there. Maybe that's he found that that wasn't
the deal and end all he needs something to focus
on at home. There are loads of lovely moments I
(25:27):
think like that in this season, but also show I
think it's the writing is very clever at having characters
go off and you think it's going to be a
certain thing and you think it's good and then it's
just not or it doesn't quite work out, or like
you know, or you know, you think that something's the
answer and it's not. And I feel like that's very
touching because it's very true to life. I think the
(25:49):
idea again that you know, yeah, you go traveling and
find yourself and everything would be amazing, and then actually, no,
it's more complicated than that, because you're still yourself and
you know, and it's it's more difficult than that. I
think there's lots of moments like that for a lot
of characters. I often wonder about Benedict and like, is
he also convincing himself and trying to make a thing
(26:10):
be what it's not with his artistic pursuits? What do
you think? I think the struggle with any sort of
creative pursuit like that is that you sort of have
to balance yourself out by that, I mean, and I
can empathize with this as an actor, that you can
spend early on particularly lots of time thinking like am
I the worst actor in the world or the best
(26:31):
actor in the world, and you know, sort of like
constantly being like am I amazing? Or my terrible? What
am I? Actually? I found? Anyway? And I think that's
part of Benedicts Jenny. Actually it's not necessarily about the
art in itself. It's about well, it's more about his
relationship to it. It's more about what it's about expression,
And so to express yourself you have to sort of
only use yourself as your own measure and you know,
(26:54):
just just really focus on what you want to do
and try and not really worry about how good or
bad you are, but actually just you know, it's just
expressing yourself. Like it's as simple and as complicated as that.
But I think so I think for Benedict that his
journey this season, for me anyway, looking back at it now,
does seem to be about like because he spent you know,
he swings, I think, very quickly from one you know,
(27:17):
being sort of really kind of quite a bit high
on himself to being like, oh my god, no, I
mean it's just all terrible and I'm the worst, and like,
you know, so it's only interesting. That's only interesting, I
guess in terms of how what it reveals about Benedict
is that I think he doesn't quite he hasn't quite
arranged in inwardly who he is somehow. Yeah, I always
(27:38):
felt like Benedict was like on this quest for something,
but doesn't know what he's questing, so to say after
you know, yeah, no, no, that's right. And that's what
makes him so fun to play, because it's great to
have it. He's the sort of character that's so opened
that he could go very in very many directions, and
(27:58):
that's very yeah, fun to play because you don't have
to be sure. Historically he's the second son, right exactly, Yeah,
so you just have a little more to play with there. Actually,
the Benedict and Colin both have that freedom that I
think Anthony doesn't have. And I just realized for the
first time with seeing all of the like brotherly scenes,
(28:21):
that maybe Anthony's a little sheltered in comparison to Benedict
and Colin. Is that a fair assessment. I haven't seen
Anthony gone a grand tour. He's unable to, but that's
there's partly just his familial position that he feels he
has to, as we in fact teaze him on it,
(28:41):
you know, do his duty. But actually I think there
is also something inwardly a Bountthony. I think part of
the joy of the series is finding out sort of
more about that reason by going back into the family
history and what happened to the father and all that.
I'm just in terms of explaining why why I'm is
the way he is, but also how that event shapes
(29:02):
all the children. Of course it does, but in very
different ways because they're all different characters, and so Anthony,
for as sure, I think it is that sense of
I don't think he's the sort of person that feels
he can let go, you know, like we see him
in the end of season one saying it's not about love.
I just need to find someone who's going to do
the job and that's it and that will be fine
for me, thank you. And part of his journey, I
(29:23):
think is about opening up, which is so hard when
something so horrendous has happened, when and so disorientating has
happened when everyone was younger. I think we also see
as the series goes on that there is some resentment
towards the other siblings because we were at a younger
age when we experienced what happens, and he feels like
(29:44):
there's a lack of understanding, particularly for say Colin and younger.
I mean Benedicts would have been he is closer in
age to Anthony, so would have still experienced the loss
in a really traumatic way. But I think he there's
a lack of empathy because he doesn't think that it
affected them as it did him, which which as you
(30:05):
see it, it hasn't actually affected the rest as it
has affected him. There's a really lovely scene that I
saw between Phoebe and Johnny, Daphne and Anthony, and it's
it's about it basically just says that in two or
three lines how she will never understand what he went through,
and it's it's a really beautiful moment, but it kind
(30:26):
of sums up his feeling towards us and maybe why
he snaps at his siblings from time to time. Yeah,
I think it's great. I think also it reflects that
Anthony has the perceived he's got the perceived sort of
status in that he is the firstborn, he will inherit
(30:47):
the house, you will have to move in with his
Viscountess and take over and look after his youngest siblings,
and in terms of society he is seen as the
dominant and primary air But of course, as we know
loving the British and stories is that he's the one
(31:08):
person who's there for can't live his life and he
hasn't been able to explore his own identity, and there's
so much confusion and complication with that, especially because the
way he inherited his title was so traumatic, losing his father,
and I think that is something that's quite lightly touched on,
especially with his friendship with Benedict or his brotherly relationship
with him. Without going into too much, I think it's
(31:28):
so palpable that actually Benedict is in search of a
meaning and a role. Anthony's role is the one thing
that he wants to you know, so the two of
them are almost exact opposites. I think what Benedict is
is that in a strange way. And that's not to
be sort of glib about privilege, because it is what
it is, but it can be quite immobilizing because if
(31:51):
you can do lots of things, then what do you
do that That can be paralyzing and also the guilt
of privilege and also be paralyzing if you want to
sort of try and find yourself and find out who
you are. Some of the moments where Benedict is the
most selfish in this series for me, is when he
is on that a little bit high on himself and
(32:11):
he's just having a lovely time and he's enjoying just
sort of needling Anthony and pushing him and teasing him
when actually when actually what Anthony needs is someone to
help him and to talk. But there's something about the
fact that, you know, the paradynamic, the fact that he's
the older brother, Benedict is the younger brother that they
just never quite meet. They're constantly sort of missing each
(32:32):
other in a really brilliant way, like writing wise, and
so that, Yeah, I think that's where it's. It's selfishness
as in it's I guess it sort of ties into
what I was saying earlier about like, you know, it's
so difficult when things are going well, or you feel
like you're sort of flowing, or you feel like you're
find to stay sort of tuned into everyone else around you.
There's this one scene in the beginning of episode two
(32:53):
where you're getting a shave. Oh yeah, and it's this
small moment. But I don't know what it is about
that moment. It just I just really I think it's
just seeing you without all of the stuff happening. It's
just like this quiet moment, does Misdya return your affection?
Not yet? She would have done if it were not
(33:13):
for their sister. She's rather thorny, I take it. Indeed,
it's a lovely line, and I keep bastardizing it, and
I'm sorry, Julia Quinn again, I am gonna. I don't
remember exactly what it is, but it's something along the
lines of Benedict the Bridget and who wished he was
a little less of Bridget and a little more himself.
And I just think it's such a lovely, you know,
(33:34):
encapsulation of his character, because I think he does want
to escape that the family. He loves them obviously dearly.
But part of his struggle is that he has to
sort of be selfish, to try and sort of block
everyone out to make space for himself. But then that,
in turn, that is a selfish thing to do, because
then you don't make yourself available to you know, he's
not available to Anthony, it's not available to Eloise much
(33:57):
this he's not really available to Colin either, and because
and again, that just feels very you know, siblings growing
up or you know, like in their in their twenties,
you know, like just trying to sort of figure themselves out.
And so then I think being selfish in a strange
kind of way is one of the sort of ingredients
to growing up, isn't it, because you have to sort
of you have to, right, you can't because you can't
(34:19):
stay in a you know, in a dynamic like that way.
We're just part of the family. I'm excited to see
what people have to say about those small moments like
that too. Just yeah, agreed. So yeah, there were a
lot of small, beautiful moments that were just yeah, they
were a beautiful small and beautiful And I'm excited to
see people tweet and instagram you and all that other stuff.
(34:41):
Oh yeah, at you about your Penelope situation and friends
zoning her. I'm gonna be in trouble for that one.
Is there anything either of you would like to say
about your overall experience or just anything too fans directly
that you would want to say. But I feel like
after the year we've had, I think it feels so
(35:02):
lovely to be part of something so such an escape
and so positive and bringing like a little bit of
fantasy and romance to people at a time when you
know it's been a bit tough, and so to be
part of that, to feel part of that huge effort
and it is such a huge group effort, you know.
And one of the things I've realized I missed so
(35:24):
much being on set is just walking through set and
everyone's doing their job. I know that sounds like a
bizarre thing to get excited about, but everyone, you know,
everyone's doing their little bit, and you know, and actors
are doing the same, just like their little bit, and
this huge puzzle and that then we're just going to
sort of launch this thing and there's nothing like it.
And and also it's you know, people watching it a
(35:44):
part of it as well, and it's just magical to
to have the opportunity to do that. It's very humbling
for a start, and it's also just there. There's no
feeling like it, to sort of share this huge, fantastical
thing with people. It's it's it's the best. In a
weird way. I still want to say thank thank you.
(36:05):
I know that sounds weird. I'm not exactly sure who
I'm saying thank you too, but I do just feel
very thankful. I feel very thankful. I always think back
to November when we wrapped and how exhausted everyone was.
It had been a really long time and we were,
you know, dealing with complications of COVID and testing and
(36:25):
to actually to finish in November, and I think it
was only three weeks later myself and Luke had a
conversation and we sort of said, how are you doing,
and both of us were like, I could go back now,
I could go back and do it again. So like,
it just is a testament to how much we love
being there, enjoy working on this show. But like you
(36:46):
likely said, it is a thank you. It's a thank
you that people are watching it and people are enjoying
it because it means we get to do it all
over again and get to dive back into the world
of Bridgeton. So yeah, I'm already excited to go back,
but at the same time even more excited for everyone
to see what everyone has made this past yea thank
you so much for joining Bridgeton the official podcast. Thank
(37:07):
you for giving me so many laughs today. Are you wonderful?
Thank you for joining us on this deep dive into
the world of Bridgerton. We'll be back next week with
more from behind the scenes of Bridgerton, featuring director Alex
pill Bridgerton novel series author Julia Quinn, and Ruth Gemmel,
who plays Lady Violet Bridgerton. If you're enjoying this show,
(37:28):
please subscribe, share with your friends, rate, or leave us
a review. And if you haven't finished binging Bridgerton on Netflix,
please go do that so you can enjoy all of
the juicy spoilers with us. Bridgerton. The Official Podcast is
executive produced by Sandy Bailey, Lauren Holman, Tyler Klang, and
Gabrielle Collins. Our producer and editor is Vince to Johnny Bridgerton.
(37:56):
The Official Podcast is a production of Shondaland Audio in
partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Chondaland Audio, visit
the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you subscribe to your favorite shows.
Bridgerton The Official Podcast is a partnership between Shondaland Audio
and iHeartRadio. Welcome to Bridgerton the Official Podcast, your exclusive
peak behind the curtain of Shondaland's Bridgerton series, and before
we meet our guests this week, here's a brief recap
of episode two O two, Off to the Races. This
(00:20):
episode kicks off with a duenas Charma's long list of suitors,
including Anthony, as he tries to win over both Aduena
and Kate. During Anthony's not so Talented Talent show performance,
he professes his true intentions towards Duena. Joining host Gabrielle
Collins this week on her deep dive into episode two
O two are Luke Newton and Luke Thompson, who play
Colin and Benedict Bridgerton. Plus we'll hear a bit from
(00:43):
the Viscount himself, Jonathan Bailey, Luke Newton and Luke Thompson.
Luke Thompson and Luke Newton, Welcome to Bridgeton the Official Podcast.
Thank you, hey, thanks for having us very much. What
have you been up to the both of you? That's
a big, big question, isn't it so? At the moment,
I'm sort of, you know, shuttling forth, doing a bit
(01:04):
more you know, a dr a bit more pressed here
and there, you know, and it's it's so different then
when this came around the first time, a we didn't
know what it was going to be, but also we
released it when we were all in lockdown, so we don't.
You know, it's so different now and everything is sort
of picking up now, so it's exciting. Last January was
the worst January on record, right, I mean, never has
(01:24):
it dragged more, but this one was just it just
feels so different and it's lovely to have something to
work towards. Yeah, we've kind of got somewhere to try
and match up to with last year. So it's like,
I'm so excited for everyone to see it now. Knowing
what the fans are going to love and what scenes
they're going to be obsessed with, that's really exciting. I mean,
(01:45):
since we're talking about it, what was it like to
just return to the world of Bridgerton, Just what was
your first encounter with season two script? Like, what was
really cool this year? Which at the time felt kind
of difficult as an actor, but looking back, actually made
the experience really enjoyable is that we had scripts, like
(02:07):
they came as we were shooting, so we didn't know
necessarily how the show was going to end, which made
everything much more exciting. Actually, looking back now, when I
watch a scene, I'm like, oh my god, I had
no idea that this was going to happen to my
character at the end, or this was going to happen
in general. So that was really exciting just to get
like a little like basically spoon fed. It was really
really nice. If you have all the script before, you
(02:29):
can spend a lot of time and you don't do
it consciously necessarily, but sort of explaining your way through
the arc of the story. Whereas genuinely there are times
this year where Benedict's track took a turn that I
hadn't really you know that I was sort of like
billing and enjoying, but I then suddenly it will take
another turn that you really hadn't expected, and so you
have whereas I think if you knew that that's where
it was going, you'd sort of be playing it at
(02:50):
playing that idea a little bit in the earlier scenes,
but genuinely to sort of like tread through it and
not quite know where it was going to go is
quite helpful really as an actor, I think, and then
for someone to see that, I think that would be
really interesting to watch because it makes it makes it
much less predictable. You're just kind of like on the
edge seat waiting to see where Benedict goes next. And
(03:13):
also that's that's like life, isn't it Like in life
you never know what we don't know what we're going
to be doing next month. Really, Yeah, So it's it's
it's quite useful to sort of do that. But like
when in terms of actually coming back to the set,
I found it really eerie. I think this is right,
Like the first a scene we had was a family scene,
(03:35):
and the family scenes are sort of a bit of
a staple really for us, Like they're they're they're so
fun and so well written and so witty and it's
just us all together usually sort of like doing something
and that in that that same room. Yeah, And so
just coming back in after well was it a year
or a year and a half not a year off
essentially was bizarre because it was like we'd never been away.
(03:58):
But it was also it also felt like it had
been ten years or it was all like a dream.
It was very strange because it doesn't usually happen like that,
you know, where there's this real break and it was
a long break and we you know, we didn't know
when we were going to start back again, and you
know obviously earlier on there were it was it was
a bit more sort of you know, there were more
rules and all of that, and so it was it
was strange but also really moving because it was so moving.
(04:20):
How how quickly we just jumped back into that dynamic
having not been able to see each other for a year. Yeah,
right to jump back into you know, all of us
as actors and as characters, like getting back into that
dynamic was just incredible because you felt like it had
never gone away. I think it was my first big scene,
which was and I was with you and Johnny and
(04:42):
we arrived and I had some line about Egyptian camel
jockeys or something that's not ended up in it, and
it was because I remember being so nervous, and I
remember saying to the boys, oh my god, like I
purposely thought, right, come back to this show exactly how
we did last year, and just hit the ground running
and we feel safe here. It's a safe environment. But
(05:04):
it was such a massive day. We were at the races,
there was hundreds of supporting artists, most of the cast
were there, and I just had to come out with
this line, and each time I just remember and my
voice was like in a weird placement and everything. It
was just like really freaking me out. But I was like,
that's that's not going to make it in. So that's
(05:27):
great because we do so much arriving. Yes, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Those scenes are often quite hard because you know, it's
just like these little bits and we're all sort of
spread out when we have these little conversations here and there,
and they're quite sort of strange because they're quite short,
but they're very important and they need to be right,
and it's very difficult to sort of like calibrate them.
It's much easier if you have, like, you know, a
(05:48):
long two hander or three hander, but when it's like
there's a little bits like that, it's quite quite scary.
And of course last year we just blended into the background,
so if we walked in with a load of people,
they didn't know who who. But now all the supporting
artists knew that we were Bridgeton, So if we walked
in it was like as much as it was scripted
that all eyes were on us anyway, so we were
(06:08):
like it was even more sort of overwhelming, but it
was a great feeling At the same time. We talk
about costumes a lot in terms of what female characters
are women are wearing in the show. Tell me about
your custom experiences, anything that was difficult or surprising, or
(06:29):
anything about your costumes that really felt to personify your character. Rather,
I'll jump straight in and say, the days that we
don't wear jackets are a real dream like and it
sounds so silly, but honestly, well, one, yeah, it's really
hot majority of the time, particularly like in the studio
it gets really hot. I think maybe it's because my
(06:49):
character isn't normally allowed to so when I feel like
I can, it feels like I'm like rebelling a little bit.
Whereas Anthony's always just in his sleeves rolled up, and
you know, Benedicts being the art one, he gets to
where these sort of like the different different neck tie waistcoats. Yeah, absolutely,
whereas like Colin is always quite done up in his jacket.
(07:10):
So if there's a day like like when we have
the essentially the Bachelor drinks before before the wedding, we
got to be in shirts and have drinks and that
was that was a nice mote for me in terms
of costume wise, Yeah, there is something really cool. I
love going into my fittings. Actually it feels like a
dress up day and like seeing like you get totally
(07:31):
dressed up. It's not just like you go in to
try one jacket or one waistcoat, Like you get head
to toe in your costume and there's all of your costumes,
so you walk in and essentially see your character's wardrobe,
which is like genuinely feels like magic. I think. Yeah,
the magic is always in the detail as well, like
the sort of small refinements that are going on. Like
one of my favorite things from my costume is something
(07:54):
that Safety, our costume designer, came up with, which is
this sort of like Benedict ties tie. It's so it's
such a great little detail, but like only one it's
now only one sided, so there's a bow on one
side and then a little dash the other side. So
it's slightly less formal, slightly less symmetrical, just slightly more
like a skew. It's really cool, and it's little details
(08:16):
like that where you think, yeah, that's absolutely what Benedict
would do, because I think one of the fun things
about this show is that is to re explore that
period of history and marry it with something more modern
in the sense that you know, when you wear clothes today,
you wear them in your own way, you have your
hair a certain way, and if you want it slightly
you know, messy or slightly slightly askew. Our relationship to
(08:38):
close it is probably quite similar to how their relationship
to clothes used to be. But it's just we have
this idea that because it's historical drama, everything was just
very you know, prim and proper, and actually no, we
tell the story of who we are through our clothes
and they did as well, you know, and so like
it's little details like that that that you hone in
on them that you just sort of do you fall
in love with them. What I find really interesting is
(09:00):
that if I accidentally went into one of your fittings,
which could happen with us both being called Luke, that
I would know immediately that it's your costumes, and I'd know,
like you can just see from the rail just like
and you'd be furious so weird. Did you have to
get like slathered in makeup, getting like your I have
been in the sun, I've been to Greece and I
(09:24):
have this tan. Yeah. So because we talked about the
idea of whether I was going to be like how
I was going to be tanned, whether it's going to
be like a spray tan and I would have to
have it every couple of weeks or something, Oh my goodness.
But then it was it was much easier to just
like sort of tan my face, neck and hand before
before each day. But yeah, it didn't it meant, you know,
(09:47):
extra time in the chair. But then on those cold
winter days when you're getting tanned up. I actually quite
liked it in the end because I started to look
really pale in the winter. So I was like, yeah,
make me look healthy and make me look like I've
been somewhere nice for for a period of time. So yeah,
it was nice. It was it was the combo of
the tan with the weird like David Brent got that
(10:09):
I wasn't the fan of. So that's um although you know,
and actually that was my suggestion. The goatee was like
I'd read in the script that there was like weird
facial hair, and I'd sent a couple of pictures. I'd
sent a picture of like Justin Bieber and Harry Styles
with a little bit of a thing, and I was
thinking that was It's awful when things like that are
your fault, isn't it. Yeah exactly. Yeah. You feel like
(10:30):
you've laying You've made her own bed. Yeah yeah, And
I was like, this is my fault. I know it is,
so I'm going to keep it, but I think I
only have it for I think it's two episodes. That's
so fitting for Colin. Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah, you know, it's
so funny. I spoke with Nicola and she said, you know,
we don't do pranks like we're at work, and this
(10:51):
time around she was like, are you talking to either
Luke Thompson or Luke Newton. I'm like, yeah, I she said,
asked them about pranks. So I think one of my
favorite things recently that it was Actually it was more
of the game that developed between us and the makeup team.
So Laura and Jenny who do our makeup, and they
(11:13):
developed a taste for it, and one of the best
things that happened that I watched was Laura basically was
giving Luca haircut. Yeah, but she used one of the
sort of clip on side burns, like a big tuft
of hair and sort of slipped it into her hand
and then made it look like she just like cut
off a huge chunk of it, and they filmed my reaction,
(11:37):
and luckily I was a saint about it. Did I think?
I even said, like, if it's at the back of
my head, I can't see it, so I wouldn't even know.
Don't worry about it. But I probably would have gone
home and didn't really upset that I had a ball
patch on the back of my head. To be accommodating
at the moment, It's fine, it's fine. I don't want
to be a diva. How did they distinguish the two
(12:02):
of you on set? Like do they call you by
your last names? Do you have nicknames? It's still not
very clear, is it. I think there's some some things developing,
and I think I tend to be referred to as
Lukey t and you tend to be referred to as
Lukey Nukes, which is not infantalizing at all. We're serious people. Yeah,
(12:26):
just before a really serious scene when I'm doing when
I'm doing serious traumatic scenes, I want to be called Luke,
Luke Thompson, your full name, mister Thompson. Set please. So
that's broadly what happens. I think that's starting to stick.
I think that's starting to do the round. Yeah. I
(12:47):
think it's the easiest way to differentiate. And actually, I
think on really big days, it's just call us call
our character names. Like when there's one hundred cast members plus,
it's just easy to go call us by our character names.
It can be the two Luke's and we're good at
That happened a lot last year. This year we had
we didn't have moments like in the Balls together where
we would sit in the corner and watch everyone have fun. Yeah,
(13:12):
that makes sense though, to call you by your character's name,
that makes sense. Yeah, I don't mind that. I think
some people don't. But I'm happy with that, not on
this job. After the break, Luke Newton and Luke Thompson
break down their brotherly fencing match and explore what it
means to be a member of the Bridgerton family. Welcome back.
(13:42):
I feel like we got to see more of your
characters together. Being like brothers, almost like counseling Jonathan Bailey's
character Anthony in some parts. One of my favorite scenes
is I think you all are fencing. Yes, I was
afraid that you'd hurt each other. We did. No training
(14:04):
would have prepared us for very very wet grass and
the very slippery shoes. Um god, Yeah, you know, And
it's it's always a moment, you know, when you feel
so you feel so sensible anyway, like surrounded by film
crew in their cities and you're in these sort of
like floppy shirts and swords. You know, you don't it's
(14:25):
not like it's not like you don't feel you know,
you feel great anyway, and you know you don't feel
sort of slightly ridiculous. But then to fall as well,
just the real blast. Yeah. Yeah, there was a bit
of slipping. I think we all had a bit of
a slip, didn't we. Yeah, I mean we we all
trained for it separately, didn't we. Because of the rules
at the time, we couldn't. But yeah, we had two
different fencing coaches and they were amazing. We had some
(14:49):
really good sessions to those guys. It was the night
before that we were shooting that we were allowed to
be together and go through the routine, and we'd all
learn we'd learned our individual sort of fights, but Johnny
he had to fight both of us at different times
in the scene, so we'd all learned different things. And
then I think we just came together the night before
and kind of said, kind of worked out what was
(15:11):
going to work for us on the day with the
story wow, and which kind of kept it quite like
fresh and you could say, yeah, you could say it,
you could you can say that, yeah fresh. It kept
us like on our toes as it were, so yeah,
and I feel like the very tight trousers were the
final twist. Yeah, we were that we really weren't ready for. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
(15:37):
It was brilliant that we all us brothers get irrationally
excited about the prospects of a scene that's just the
three of us. We you sort of get tip bits,
so you go for sort of costume fittings, and suddenly
we were being fitted for rowing outfits, which was a
bit of an indicagous to what might be coming up
in the episodes. And then suddenly the production coordinator will
(15:58):
call and say, you know, we're gonna think we think
about setting up with a rowing instructor, so you sort
of can put the pieces together and so yeah, so
I think initially we were going to be on the river,
and then that changed a few weeks into prep and
then suddenly we were learning how to fence, and the
actually fencing itself was great. We really sort of came
up with the routines ourselves and it was real, you know,
(16:21):
when you're learning something in the body, and it's a
real sort of personality test, and true to form, all
of us as a threesome really worked well together. You know,
Luke Newton's very patient and happy, and then Luke Thompson's
very sort of like sturdy, calm, but like precise, and
(16:41):
I'm sort of quite hot headed and saying things like yes, yeah, yeah,
I mean I can understand what you're saying, but actually
I just think we should see did you just tell
me what to do? Regardless of which young lady I
chosen to pursue, there would have always been some obstinate
father or metal some aunt in to the picture. I
shall certainly not let some sister espressly want younger than
me keep me from getting what it is I want.
(17:02):
Who you watch? Do you mean is this still a
friendly match or do we need to find some armor. Yeah,
we loved it, and the actual filming of it was great.
It was hilarious because it was quite a rainy day.
Did they're telling you that it was kind of chewy
on the ground, like slippy little blimseils split the crotch
of my trousers and I went, this is so embarrassing.
(17:24):
There's a halfway doing the splits. So, yeah, that was
a that was a highlight of the whole shoe. I
think there's a lot of like sibling sisterly brotherly friendship,
lee love happening, and a lot of the moments I
saw with you on screen really captured exactly that one.
Which is really interesting about brothers and sibling relationships that
(17:45):
you really can say what you feel and you don't
have to necessarily worry that you're going to really offend
anyone because you know you're bound for life. So that's
why their relationships and actually all the Britishes and sibling
relationships are really amazing and important. Is that you know
that's and that's what I think we're not seeing. That's
why that's there really is because it gets it gives
(18:07):
a chance to really allow Anthony to show us watching
what he's really feeling, and also the frustration and the
sort of aggression he has towards this confused feeling of
competition he has with Kate Charmer that he hasn't yet
worked out. And there's something brilliant about I think, you know,
(18:28):
Colin is always there. It's a partive or you know,
either living the skill or or just partaking. And Benedict
has definitely a worldiness to him, and he seems too
much like definitely I think, seems to have a sense
that something's afoot or something's still. Waters are running quite
deep in Anthony and he can see that. A very
(18:51):
sibling like moment was Carlin slipping the mysterious hallucinag sorry
little don't like I don't know, you do it. You
can do it every day every week. That was such
a symboling moment. It seems like that. I think that
(19:13):
make bridget and particularly special because you take something again
that people think is a modern thing that would happen
in all modern dramas, and then you put it in
a regency context. And actually probably it was more like that,
you know, like obviously there were you know, there were
there were drugs around then and like people were playing
around with all of that, like obviously it was there.
So I just I mean also just because it's a
(19:35):
scene with Luke, and it seems with Luke a very
fun and easy and like we just get on with it,
don't we. But it was it was a really fun day. Yeah.
That was one of those scenes that everyone messaged me
about when they first read it, like, and I hadn't
read them at this point, and I was I was
out or something, and Pete and also I'm just a
really slow reader anyway, So I was probably on like
(19:55):
episode one and everyone was texting me being like the
scene when the scene when you get hired together, and
I I was like, what what does I need to
get to this story through pages? I remember when we
filmed the scene when you first tech try it and
the tea, and we haven't worked out like the quantity
of blue powder that you were going to put in yet.
So there was that bit when you like shoved it
all in and did it and then it went all
(20:16):
down your tie. That was a rehearsal you do that again,
and then I think there was like a check we
had to change get a new tie in or get
that cleaned or something, because it was because it was
really blue as well. It wasn't just like a water stain,
is it. It was like, yeah, I don't know what
it was. I don't know what they gave me, but no,
it was. That was such a fun day. And also
(20:37):
the scene that's directly after that, when we're at the
dinner table and Benedict's sort of enjoying the lights around
him and just enjoying this feeling was almost my favorite
day on set, if it weren't for the bad smelling food. Yeah,
it's it's exceptionally well have you noticed the twinkle of
(21:01):
the candles? It is as if we sit among the stars.
What wrong? I was just telling Benedict how brilliant the
stars were in Greece, honestly seeing Luke's because he just
changed it up every single time, and there's there's moments
when I'm laughing at him as if I'm calling and
it's just me because I could not control myself. It
(21:24):
was so brilliant. And even when I watched it the
other day, I was in hysterics just that Luke's reaction,
like it was just brilliant. So yeah, honestly, it was
such a great day. But the food did really smell.
I mean, I know they wanted it to look accurate,
but it had been setting out. Yeah it smell. Yeah,
it sort of smelled worse as because the room was
quite hot, and so it just got worked. You know,
(21:46):
the smell kind of got worse it went on, But
that sort of helped in a way. You know, like
you know, if you want to look like sweaty and
a bit nauseous, then just they just locked you in
the room and it wor no acting requests. I think.
Also another thing with those kind of scenes is, you know,
so much about acting anyway is about sort of playing together,
and so when you're both in that state, like it's
(22:09):
it's so rare to get the opportunity to really just
actually sort of to feel like kind of anything goes,
you know, and obviously it's not. It's a bit of
a balance that you don't want to go too far
and I'm sure, well I did go too far and
it got cut. It's the short answer. But you know,
but like you are sort of like working out where
the balance is. But to have the freedom together as
well at that scene to just sort of like, you know,
(22:31):
just relate to each other in that fun way. It's
just yeah, it's just hilarious. But we kept being told
just put it back a little bit, just a little
less high. The other thing that's really difficult is that,
in a strange kind of way, when you've been doing
it for two or three hours, I don't know if
you felt this leak, but you kind of feel high
after what you really are, So you do start feeling
(22:52):
getting the giggles. Yeah, especially with the fake wine as well.
With the fake wine, you know, strange grape ruice they
give us. Yeah, yeah, you're very used to that now. Yeah,
I'm actually ordering a bottle so I'm missing. We'll be
right back. Welcome back. Let's pick up right where we
(23:17):
left off. One of my favorite moments from the show
is when Colin tells Penelope that he didn't find another
woman or love, he found himself essentially. I loved that
so much and I was like, look at Colin Bridgerton
growing up. But as we see the show go on,
it's kind of like, did Colin Bridgerton actually mature at ar?
(23:40):
What do you think? Well, that's it. It's kind of
I was thinking about it recently. How looking back watching it,
it's like it's hard to know when he's actually being
honest and what he's what's what he's convinced himself is true,
and what is actually true. And I think that's one
of those moments where he wants to come back and
have had this amazing time away and sort of had
(24:02):
a bit of a revelation while he's traveling, but ultimately
he's realized that he's made mistakes or didn't deal with
things how he should have last season and kind of
wants to make amends. He's quite a sensitive soul, really,
so he's not He's not one to just drop something
that that he feels guilty about and just move on
with his life and enjoy his time. He's kind of
(24:23):
like and I was kind of frustrated for him that
he went away and didn't just explore and enjoy himself
as much as he could. There's obviously a reference in
episode one when Anthony says Collins extended his tour and
then the next sort of the next couple of days
he arrived. So he even cuts his It's not really
it's not like out there for people to see, but
he cuts his his travels sure because of how he's
(24:44):
feeling towards Marina and the situation that happened previously, So
I think it's really hard to tell what he's what
he actually feels, and what he's convincing himself he's felt.
So I think he definitely had a bit of time
on its own, and I was kind of gutted for
him that he hadn't had this like revelation moment while
he was there, But at the same time, like's it
(25:06):
was really nice to see him come back and have
some sort of drive and like ambition to for something
else other than just escapism. He wants, he wants to
find some other purpose in his life, and I think
if he hadn't had that yet, so maybe that's what
he found there. Maybe that's he found that that wasn't
the deal and end all he needs something to focus
on at home. There are loads of lovely moments I
(25:27):
think like that in this season, but also show I
think it's the writing is very clever at having characters
go off and you think it's going to be a
certain thing and you think it's good and then it's
just not or it doesn't quite work out, or like
you know, or you know, you think that something's the
answer and it's not. And I feel like that's very
touching because it's very true to life. I think the
(25:49):
idea again that you know, yeah, you go traveling and
find yourself and everything would be amazing, and then actually, no,
it's more complicated than that, because you're still yourself and
you know, and it's it's more difficult than that. I
think there's lots of moments like that for a lot
of characters. I often wonder about Benedict and like, is
he also convincing himself and trying to make a thing
(26:10):
be what it's not with his artistic pursuits? What do
you think? I think the struggle with any sort of
creative pursuit like that is that you sort of have
to balance yourself out by that, I mean, and I
can empathize with this as an actor, that you can
spend early on particularly lots of time thinking like am
I the worst actor in the world or the best
(26:31):
actor in the world, and you know, sort of like
constantly being like am I amazing? Or my terrible? What
am I? Actually? I found? Anyway? And I think that's
part of Benedicts Jenny. Actually it's not necessarily about the
art in itself. It's about well, it's more about his
relationship to it. It's more about what it's about expression,
And so to express yourself you have to sort of
only use yourself as your own measure and you know,
(26:54):
just just really focus on what you want to do
and try and not really worry about how good or
bad you are, but actually just you know, it's just
expressing yourself. Like it's as simple and as complicated as that.
But I think so I think for Benedict that his
journey this season, for me anyway, looking back at it now,
does seem to be about like because he spent you know,
he swings, I think, very quickly from one you know,
(27:17):
being sort of really kind of quite a bit high
on himself to being like, oh my god, no, I
mean it's just all terrible and I'm the worst, and like,
you know, so it's only interesting. That's only interesting, I
guess in terms of how what it reveals about Benedict
is that I think he doesn't quite he hasn't quite
arranged in inwardly who he is somehow. Yeah, I always
(27:38):
felt like Benedict was like on this quest for something,
but doesn't know what he's questing, so to say after
you know, yeah, no, no, that's right. And that's what
makes him so fun to play, because it's great to
have it. He's the sort of character that's so opened
that he could go very in very many directions, and
(27:58):
that's very yeah, fun to play because you don't have
to be sure. Historically he's the second son, right exactly, Yeah,
so you just have a little more to play with there. Actually,
the Benedict and Colin both have that freedom that I
think Anthony doesn't have. And I just realized for the
first time with seeing all of the like brotherly scenes,
(28:21):
that maybe Anthony's a little sheltered in comparison to Benedict
and Colin. Is that a fair assessment. I haven't seen
Anthony gone a grand tour. He's unable to, but that's
there's partly just his familial position that he feels he
has to, as we in fact teaze him on it,
(28:41):
you know, do his duty. But actually I think there
is also something inwardly a Bountthony. I think part of
the joy of the series is finding out sort of
more about that reason by going back into the family
history and what happened to the father and all that.
I'm just in terms of explaining why why I'm is
the way he is, but also how that event shapes
(29:02):
all the children. Of course it does, but in very
different ways because they're all different characters, and so Anthony,
for as sure, I think it is that sense of
I don't think he's the sort of person that feels
he can let go, you know, like we see him
in the end of season one saying it's not about love.
I just need to find someone who's going to do
the job and that's it and that will be fine
for me, thank you. And part of his journey, I
(29:23):
think is about opening up, which is so hard when
something so horrendous has happened, when and so disorientating has
happened when everyone was younger. I think we also see
as the series goes on that there is some resentment
towards the other siblings because we were at a younger
age when we experienced what happens, and he feels like
(29:44):
there's a lack of understanding, particularly for say Colin and younger.
I mean Benedicts would have been he is closer in
age to Anthony, so would have still experienced the loss
in a really traumatic way. But I think he there's
a lack of empathy because he doesn't think that it
affected them as it did him, which which as you
(30:05):
see it, it hasn't actually affected the rest as it
has affected him. There's a really lovely scene that I
saw between Phoebe and Johnny, Daphne and Anthony, and it's
it's about it basically just says that in two or
three lines how she will never understand what he went through,
and it's it's a really beautiful moment, but it kind
(30:26):
of sums up his feeling towards us and maybe why
he snaps at his siblings from time to time. Yeah,
I think it's great. I think also it reflects that
Anthony has the perceived he's got the perceived sort of
status in that he is the firstborn, he will inherit
(30:47):
the house, you will have to move in with his
Viscountess and take over and look after his youngest siblings,
and in terms of society he is seen as the
dominant and primary air But of course, as we know
loving the British and stories is that he's the one
(31:08):
person who's there for can't live his life and he
hasn't been able to explore his own identity, and there's
so much confusion and complication with that, especially because the
way he inherited his title was so traumatic, losing his father,
and I think that is something that's quite lightly touched on,
especially with his friendship with Benedict or his brotherly relationship
with him. Without going into too much, I think it's
(31:28):
so palpable that actually Benedict is in search of a
meaning and a role. Anthony's role is the one thing
that he wants to you know, so the two of
them are almost exact opposites. I think what Benedict is
is that in a strange way. And that's not to
be sort of glib about privilege, because it is what
it is, but it can be quite immobilizing because if
(31:51):
you can do lots of things, then what do you
do that That can be paralyzing and also the guilt
of privilege and also be paralyzing if you want to
sort of try and find yourself and find out who
you are. Some of the moments where Benedict is the
most selfish in this series for me, is when he
is on that a little bit high on himself and
(32:11):
he's just having a lovely time and he's enjoying just
sort of needling Anthony and pushing him and teasing him
when actually when actually what Anthony needs is someone to
help him and to talk. But there's something about the
fact that, you know, the paradynamic, the fact that he's
the older brother, Benedict is the younger brother that they
just never quite meet. They're constantly sort of missing each
(32:32):
other in a really brilliant way, like writing wise, and
so that, Yeah, I think that's where it's. It's selfishness
as in it's I guess it sort of ties into
what I was saying earlier about like, you know, it's
so difficult when things are going well, or you feel
like you're sort of flowing, or you feel like you're
find to stay sort of tuned into everyone else around you.
There's this one scene in the beginning of episode two
(32:53):
where you're getting a shave. Oh yeah, and it's this
small moment. But I don't know what it is about
that moment. It just I just really I think it's
just seeing you without all of the stuff happening. It's
just like this quiet moment, does Misdya return your affection?
Not yet? She would have done if it were not
(33:13):
for their sister. She's rather thorny, I take it. Indeed,
it's a lovely line, and I keep bastardizing it, and
I'm sorry, Julia Quinn again, I am gonna. I don't
remember exactly what it is, but it's something along the
lines of Benedict the Bridget and who wished he was
a little less of Bridget and a little more himself.
And I just think it's such a lovely, you know,
(33:34):
encapsulation of his character, because I think he does want
to escape that the family. He loves them obviously dearly.
But part of his struggle is that he has to
sort of be selfish, to try and sort of block
everyone out to make space for himself. But then that,
in turn, that is a selfish thing to do, because
then you don't make yourself available to you know, he's
not available to Anthony, it's not available to Eloise much
(33:57):
this he's not really available to Colin either, and because
and again, that just feels very you know, siblings growing
up or you know, like in their in their twenties,
you know, like just trying to sort of figure themselves out.
And so then I think being selfish in a strange
kind of way is one of the sort of ingredients
to growing up, isn't it, because you have to sort
of you have to, right, you can't because you can't
(34:19):
stay in a you know, in a dynamic like that way.
We're just part of the family. I'm excited to see
what people have to say about those small moments like
that too. Just yeah, agreed. So yeah, there were a
lot of small, beautiful moments that were just yeah, they
were a beautiful small and beautiful And I'm excited to
see people tweet and instagram you and all that other stuff.
(34:41):
Oh yeah, at you about your Penelope situation and friends
zoning her. I'm gonna be in trouble for that one.
Is there anything either of you would like to say
about your overall experience or just anything too fans directly
that you would want to say. But I feel like
after the year we've had, I think it feels so
(35:02):
lovely to be part of something so such an escape
and so positive and bringing like a little bit of
fantasy and romance to people at a time when you
know it's been a bit tough, and so to be
part of that, to feel part of that huge effort
and it is such a huge group effort, you know.
And one of the things I've realized I missed so
(35:24):
much being on set is just walking through set and
everyone's doing their job. I know that sounds like a
bizarre thing to get excited about, but everyone, you know,
everyone's doing their little bit, and you know, and actors
are doing the same, just like their little bit, and
this huge puzzle and that then we're just going to
sort of launch this thing and there's nothing like it.
And and also it's you know, people watching it a
(35:44):
part of it as well, and it's just magical to
to have the opportunity to do that. It's very humbling
for a start, and it's also just there. There's no
feeling like it, to sort of share this huge, fantastical
thing with people. It's it's it's the best. In a
weird way. I still want to say thank thank you.
(36:05):
I know that sounds weird. I'm not exactly sure who
I'm saying thank you too, but I do just feel
very thankful. I feel very thankful. I always think back
to November when we wrapped and how exhausted everyone was.
It had been a really long time and we were,
you know, dealing with complications of COVID and testing and
(36:25):
to actually to finish in November, and I think it
was only three weeks later myself and Luke had a
conversation and we sort of said, how are you doing,
and both of us were like, I could go back now,
I could go back and do it again. So like,
it just is a testament to how much we love
being there, enjoy working on this show. But like you
(36:46):
likely said, it is a thank you. It's a thank
you that people are watching it and people are enjoying
it because it means we get to do it all
over again and get to dive back into the world
of Bridgeton. So yeah, I'm already excited to go back,
but at the same time even more excited for everyone
to see what everyone has made this past yea thank
you so much for joining Bridgeton the official podcast. Thank
(37:07):
you for giving me so many laughs today. Are you wonderful?
Thank you for joining us on this deep dive into
the world of Bridgerton. We'll be back next week with
more from behind the scenes of Bridgerton, featuring director Alex
pill Bridgerton novel series author Julia Quinn, and Ruth Gemmel,
who plays Lady Violet Bridgerton. If you're enjoying this show,
(37:28):
please subscribe, share with your friends, rate, or leave us
a review. And if you haven't finished binging Bridgerton on Netflix,
please go do that so you can enjoy all of
the juicy spoilers with us. Bridgerton. The Official Podcast is
executive produced by Sandy Bailey, Lauren Holman, Tyler Klang, and
Gabrielle Collins. Our producer and editor is Vince to Johnny Bridgerton.
(37:56):
The Official Podcast is a production of Shondaland Audio in
partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from Chondaland Audio, visit
the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you subscribe to your favorite shows.
Host
Gabrielle Collins
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