May 20, 2021 • 39 mins
Kelly Valentine Hendry’s expertise as a casting director was the perfect fit for Shondaland’s vision. Whether it’s in finding chemistry between the ensemble or casting the Queen herself, bringing the scripts to life on stage is no easy feat. Kelly shares her process through casting calls all the way to the final scene.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You never know when you come on to something whether
or not it's going to be super successful. But what
you do know, when you look at something, you think,
do you know what? That would be really fun to cast?
And that clearly was how I felt about Bridgeton. Welcome
back to Bridgeton the official podcast. I'm Gabby Collins and
(00:20):
I'm your guy. Behind the scenes at shondaland so Okay.
The last two episodes we heard from four phenomenal actresses.
We heard about how they developed their characters, their friendships,
and their thoughts about some of the really big themes
throughout Bridgeton. These women and the entire Bridgetin ensemble brought
(00:41):
all of this to their craft and gave us characters
that we love, recognize and salute. Magical. Right, there's a
special component to how this magic happens, and it happens
long before anyone steps into a dress or emerges with
our beat bass and powdered wig. I'm talking about casting.
(01:02):
Kelly Valentine Henry is Bridgeton's casting director. In this episode,
Kelly is going to take us back to the genesis
of the show and how she decided who to intrust
with the witty quips and cutting glances that Chris Van
Deusen and the Bridgeton writer's room built into the script.
Let's jump right into our conversation, Kelly Valentine Henry, welcome.
(01:28):
Why don't you tell listeners who you are? And I
don't know? Tell us about something really interesting about yourself,
a fun fact. I'm Kelly Valentine Henry, and I'm the
casting director of Bridgeton season one, then life. I am Kelly,
wife to Julia, mother to Boot and Skipper, who are
a dog and a cat. And I'm Skulfish and I
(01:51):
actually share the birthday with Shonda Remes. So how does
the woman who shares a birthday with Shonda Rhimes and
is also Boot and Skipper's mom get to be involved
with casting Bridgeton. Maybe my attachment to Bridgeton is a
story about you never know who you're speaking to. Because
I got a phone call from my agent saying they
(02:12):
want to meet you for this new show at Netflix
called Bridgeton. That's like, what do you mean they want
to meet me? Like? Who wants to meet me? Is like, well,
Shondaland wants to meet you. I said, well, do they
know who I am? That? Yes? They've asked to meet you.
So apparently somebody who I had worked was previously at
a different company. They must have suggested that I would
be good for this job. I don't know who it
(02:34):
was exactly, and I don't know when it happened, but
before I knew it, I was on a call with
Shondaland and I had a wonderful meeting with them all
and they offered me the job. It was a very
easy process, and the whole time I was thinking, no
one else, just are you sure it's me you want?
So I was very delighted. So I always obviously nice
(02:54):
or gave someone good information one day and it transpired
into casting Bridgeton. So I'm not going to argue with
that be nice to people. Kelly has a really good
advice here, y'all. You know, be nice and you might
end up working at Chandeland. But in all seriousness, Chandeland
is a house of creative giants. So I thought it
(03:18):
would be really interesting to just know what Kelly's very
first step was. I was on the way to the
theater actually, and I knew I had a meeting on Bridgeton,
so I went past Waterston's and Shaft Reavenue and went
into the huge, big bookshops there. It's very famous bookshop.
I didn't know which section to luke in, and I
was like, have you got Julia Quinn Bridgeton series? And
(03:39):
I was in the historical section and I was over
here in the literary section, and then a nice lady
directed me towards the slightly fastel pinky colored section of romance,
which I had never been in, and there it was.
There was Bridgeton. So I purchased myself the Duke and
I and also worked to the theater. I think I
put it in my bag and then I did open
(04:01):
it up. Oh lordy racy m. So what did you
think after you read the books and the script? Was
it an immediate like, yes, this is the show that
I'm going to be working on next Well, when you
have Netflix and then you have Shonderland, you don't not
(04:22):
pay attention to that. You know that these are powerhouses
coming together and you want to be part of that,
and every job is a challenge these different ways. So
Kelly says she doesn't really gravitate towards romance like so
many people on this show have said. You know, there
was something about Bridgerton though, that just made them say, yes,
(04:45):
this is a playground that I wish to play in.
Here's what Kelly thought. You join a project and you
think my job is to make people believe that they're
watching something new and something fresh. Maybe they have seen
these actors before, but never in this genre. And I
thought that was always our biggest task. And I love
doing ensembles. So if you look at my credits you'll
(05:07):
see that. You know, we do quite often, you know
these usually crime. Britain is obsessed with dodgy dark raally
crime when I've done quite a few of them. And
I love creating worlds that are clearly fictional that we
have to move. They're real, so when you shut your
door at night or you turn off the television, the
viewer needs to believe that these people belong in the
(05:29):
world together. And yes, it's mostly fictional, and it could
be in a village in Rodgerch you know, it could
be my Scandinavian like Last Kingdom villages you know from
way back in satur Days, or it can be in
your co regency romance. And when you start casting, I
don't think about characters singularly. It's always in an ensemble,
(05:53):
and what is that style of the ensemble and where
do they sit in the entire World's very clear about
Bridget and there's more than two worlds of three, four
or five worlds, you know, And it's not just class,
it's style. It's there's so many different worlds and to
make them all sick within the same world is a
(06:13):
fascinating challenge, and you're like, whoa, who is this world?
What is this world? So? How do I knit all
of these worlds together? It's really difficult and also why
I love my job. I love Kelly's draft too. How
fun right, But it's a lot of work. There are
a lot of elements to taken into account, and so
I was wondering what elements really helped her to get it,
(06:36):
what elements helped her lock in and really understand Crispin
do sim here this is going to be crazy too.
But when I first read the script, there was a
very small bit in a scene where I was like,
there's bridges and it is a scene where Daphne hasn't
at our suitors. It's got a bit dry, as it were.
For all death and Humboldt is their servants and they're
(06:58):
all in their family room together. Someone comes in and
announces that Humboldt is coming or Humbolt's got a message.
And one point when they got Humblest coming, Humblest mesa Humbolt, Humbolt,
Humbolt Humbolt. I know it sounds weird to you, but
that was the scene then where I got Bridges and
understood it. I understood the humor and the pace of it,
and I saw them all sitting there doing humble, humble, humble, humble,
(07:21):
And that's the moment that I worked out Bridgton. I
saw the pace and the humor and the script in
that one scene, and I also saw the warmth of
the family and I was like, that's what Bridgton is.
Every character and Bridges could look into the camera and wink,
(07:42):
do you understand? So you know the way that Phoebe
does in Fleabag, like every single character and Bridgeson could
wink into the camera though, and you must feel that
they're having fun, but then you school the carpet from
under their feet, and then the drama comes in. Then
the point is that scene Humboldt is Coming is my
memorable scene from Bridgetson. When I read the script it's
(08:06):
a style thing. Phoebie waller Bridge's taste and what she
does it's quite similar to what Emerald Frenelle is doing.
And there's a crossover there because they write together and
there's this female strong and feminist message with really bright
images and some cool soundtracks. And it's women who are like,
I've got a story to tell, you know, women who
have worked so hard for so long to be able
(08:27):
to tell those stories. They didn't just come out and
over and go, hey, I've got a story. They've worked
their asses off until now to get to being having
a voice. So there's a style, and then you could
take Ken Loach style, you know that kind of you know,
it's proper storytelling. It's dark, it's very earthy, and so
there's a style. Then you might have a Bridgeton style
like you know, this just gorgeous, sugar culted, but yet
(08:50):
very classy, like you want more of tapping into what
everyone wants. It's a respectful storytelling. It's being made to
see yourself, being allowed to be happy. It's not apologizing
for who you are. It's going in a lot. I
love these colors. I don't care. I think Ellen didn't
into you where she said, never did I think is
(09:10):
that too much? You know? Or maybe she did think
that is that too much? She's like, Now, if bagels
go for when you are in this business and whether
you're gosh, it would be applied to anything that you
(09:30):
find interesting. So whether that's art or dance or music,
anything creative. You can see styles. And when you're looking
at styles all the time, you've become used to them,
and then you may be looking for a new style.
But maybe that's not required at this moment in time
when you're casting. So do you want to steal from
other styles? Do you want to try and take people
(09:51):
from all the different styles of casting or types of shows?
Or is that a mess? Do you create your own?
Like I said? And sometimes actors fall naturally into to
those styles, and sometimes you take actors who have never
done those types of things and give them like you
cast them against tight as we would call it. So
it takes a little while for myself as a casting
(10:11):
director to quite get there of where we want to
go with that. And that's why it's so crucial to
have a brilliant, open narrative with your showrunners, your executives,
your directors, The people that I answer to, the people
whose vision that you're trying to help create. I believe
in being quite honest about my opinions. I think that
(10:32):
I hope that's why people employ me, and I felt
that on Bridget and especially you had a very safe
platform for constructive kind of ideas. You know, how about this,
I don't know if this is right, but this is different.
I'd like this for this. What do you think? And
then if anybody else on the creative side we're saying, well,
we like these ideas. Then sometimes casting directors can get
(10:53):
quite kind of a It's not my idea, therefore I'm
not going to agree with it, and I don't work
like that. I believe that casting is incredibly collaborative because
you and I that we have our lens. I have
a lens of the world. As a Scottish female of
a certain age, from a middle class background. I see
the world through a certain way, and no one sees
(11:15):
the world through my lens apart from me, and you'll
be exactly the same. So, when you're trying to create
a world that appeals to as many people as possible,
how can an individual dictate that? So it's in my
best interest to listen to my assistant Lyon who's Indian,
to my associate co who is from and I don't
(11:39):
think he would mind me saying that. And we're working
class background who has gone through different user builder. You know,
he's being an actor. I listen to him. You know,
I have my other associate and cassing director who's from
the North of England, and I have another assistant associate
who's been a bit from a bit more privileged background.
They all have their lenses and a top of that,
you've got everyone that you're working with, So I have
(12:00):
you listen to people. If you don't listen to people
in our job, hope you do the best job for everybody.
A brilliant open narrative between the showrunners and the creatives
and casting. That's powerful. There's no individual lens. The lens
(12:21):
at Shondaland is unified. What comes out on the other end.
It's a reality of many ideas. It isn't just one
person's direction. It's messy, it's from all sorts of backgrounds.
It's classy chaos, but it isn't noisy. There's a oneness.
(12:48):
When we come back from the break, we'll learn how
Kelly Valentine Henry tapped into this oneness, taking the singular
beauty of Julia Quinn's novels and the spank of Chris
van Dusen's script and putting that into her casting choices.
Stick around, Welcome back. You're listening to bridgeton the official podcast.
(13:15):
I'm Gabby Collins and I'm talking with Kelly Valentine Hendry,
Bridgerton's casting director. Kelly and I are talking about her
really cool job. Let's hear from her on some of
her favorite scenes and characters to cast. I think Polly Walker,
that woman is. I'm sorry, she is perfectly cast. No
(13:37):
one could do her as well as Polly Walker. Lady
Featherington could be viewed as a very ugly character, a
very stupid character, a very dislikable character, all of the negatives,
and at the end of the day, actually you felt
sorry for her. And if you feel sympathy for a character,
then we've won. But it's true, you know, they say
(13:59):
to be she's not a hero. Maybe she is in
her own way. You know, you have to fall from
a great height to become a hero, which she does,
and she does it so beautifully in such hideous fabric.
She is beautiful fabric, but it's pretty hideous. It is
really magnificent if one can. She has a wonderful scene
(14:19):
where she breaks down, and Polly did that for her
audition and she was wonderful. And I think Polly Walker
should win awards for Porsche Featherington. Okay, so Porsche was
one of Kelly's favorite characters to cast. Let's talk about
some of her favorite scenes. Earlier in the podcast, she
told us that one of her absolute favorite scenes was
(14:43):
the scene in which the Duke and Dapanee barely touch
hands while they're looking at those paintings. I know you
know which one I'm talking about. She's got a few
others though, the other scenes I loved doing in the
castings Violet Bridget and Ruth Gamil is possibly one of
the most beautiful and kind and giving actresses. So she's
perfect for Violet, and she's very funny, and I hope
(15:06):
that she's very proud of what she's done with it.
But there's a wonderful scene with her and Anthony where
she comes to him and tells him what's well if
you are the man of the house. Wonderful scenesn't it.
I love thinking about the contrast between Lady Featherington and
Violet Bridgerton, and it made me think about how Kelly
(15:26):
was able to pick actors and actresses that could tap
into those subtleties really make them shine through in a
way that is not in your face, but you know
what's happening. I asked her to tell me more about
her approach and her philosophy behind the decisions that she makes.
We're very lucky with the cast that we have. They
(15:47):
are all of them very accomplished across the boards. A
lot of them are wonderful singers, a lot of them
are incredibly strong dramatic actors, a lot of them are comedians,
and then they all seem to have that skill each
and everything go one of them. They're all really nice people.
They're good people. And again when I talk about ensembles,
that's one of our big things in our at KVH.
(16:08):
And to be clear, KVH is my company, Kelly Valentine Henry,
So we're KVH castling, Yeah, and we have a no
asshole policy. We try to anyway I'm getting through the
net here and there, but we keep an eye on
that and all of these actors really are. So we
have this breadth of experience, and we have brand new
actors too, so we have a lot of I don't
want to say discoveries. I think that's you can't claim
(16:30):
the discovery. I don't think you know, these actors have
worked really hard, They've been to drama school. They deserve
to be there. You haven't discovered them. It's you know
your your paths across at the right time. You know,
it's important to say that. And I know a lot
of people say I discovered them, But did she? Or
did their agent or did their mom? Or did they
discover themselves? Quite frankly, well, I think Daphney did, didn't she?
(16:53):
Episode three four? Oh my gosh, Kelly? Okay? So beside
guides making sure you weren't inviting any assholes into the production,
I know that's the Chanda Land way. How did you
make sure that the cast would come across the screen
as family? How did you find that chemistry trying to
(17:16):
cast actors individually across the world. To have chemistry with
each other, you have to trust yourself. And we know
a lot of the actors remember chemistry, A lot of
it is a big bat accidental win. If I'm honest,
(17:37):
you just don't know who's going to get on together.
And honestly, I've cast shows and movies where the reviewers
have panned the chemistry. They have no chemistry. I'm like,
do you know they're married now? And I think a
lot of people are involved with that chemistry. You've got
the two actors, obviously, you have your intimacy coaches that
if they can get actors to a place where they're comfortable,
(17:58):
maybe the trust comes across on screen, and maybe that
trust is perceived as chemistry. You know, the music, the lights,
like all of the people who know what they're doing
come together to make that feel like chemistry. And I
think it's a lot of departments all working at once.
I think it is to do with trust, I really do.
I think chemistry has a lot to do with trust.
(18:21):
I think of people that I work with and I
may completely disagree with them, but I trust them and
I trust that our opinions can be dealt with in
an adult manner, And if you can talk about things,
then we have chemistry in a certain way. If you
think about it, you marry people who are polar opposites,
(18:42):
but we trust each other. Our ability to discuss and
deal with our differences in a trustworthy manner is what
makes us a team. Hey, listeners, if you remember, intimacy
coordinator Lizzie Talbot and episode two and three director Tom
Erica hit on some of this trust between actors. So
(19:02):
if you apply that to sexual chemistry on screen, then
maybe an element mostly is trust. Trusting the actor to
give you the space to say where you're comfortable, Trusting
the actor to give you the space to be equal
in the scene. Anyone who an actor listening to this
one than what I'm talking about. You know, one actor
(19:23):
can dominate a scene. They can take away your paces
and your pauses, and that's trust, right. If you trust
your partner in a scene to give you that space
to be who you are, then does that give you chemistry?
Let's take a quick break, stick around, welcome back. Let's
(19:50):
round up our conversation with casting director Kelly Valentine Henry.
The Featherington's and the Bridgetons had to be polar opposites
yet again, we're talking about ensemble. Earlier believed that they
live in the same exist in the same world. We
don't want to laugh at the Featheringtons, but we want
to sympathize with them, so they cannot just be a joke.
They can't be pantomime. And somebody at some point said
(20:13):
that the Bridgetons were Chanelle or Wedgewood. It was one
of the two, and the Featheringtons were Satchee, and that
is actually how their costumes are done. Also, clearly there's
classy and there's loud and actually, to be fair, bold
choices like so what Worsha of Featherington thinks that these
gowns are amazing and let's just go with her? Who cares?
(20:34):
So you've got distinction there. And actually that comes about
class and about wealth and money and about the class
system that exists in the UK. And in the UK
I spend my life explaining it to Americans. Oh yeah,
but they're the wrong class. They wouldn't do that in
this class and it's a ridiculous, and don't I don't
agree with it. It's ridiculous and it's another one of
(20:55):
our stupid British kind of weird things that we do.
So you have to recognize it in our shows. And
I know we're fiction, but you know, there's lots of
historical inaccuracies, but there's lots of historical accuracies in Bridgeton
and classes in there. Now the Featherington's and the Bridgetons,
for that reason live in different places, and that does
obviously come out in the storyline. You know, obviously the
(21:17):
Featheringtons are struggling for money. He has gambled. There's still
aristocracy though there's still lords, but they're struggling. There needed
to be a distinction. And one of the ways which
I think that we did very well with the distinction
is that you may have picked up on it, but
the Featheringtons tend to be a little bit funnier. Yes,
the Bridgetons are funny, and I love it when the
(21:38):
family get together and they are very playful, and the
Featherington's have more laugh out loud moments. And you'll notice
that the actors that have been chosen, and we didn't
do it on purpose, it's just is the way it
kind of worked out. They're from comedy backgrounds. Since Missus
(22:00):
Valley had some trouble at Modis this morning, Madam de
la Quite, it's refusing to give her any of the
dresses until the last few months bills are paid well.
The young ladies have plenty of dresses perhaps it is
possible for them to wear them all again. So we've
all seen wonderful and Nicola Cochlin, who plays Penelope, you
(22:21):
know Dairy Girls, She's hilarious and yet she rains it
in and Bridgeton, she's dramatic, but she has big bones
in comedy. Obviously. You see what Bessie and Harry at
do is the two sisters. They're hilarious. They are very
funny actresses. Ben Miller, who plays Lord Featherington Ben Miller
in this country. Yes, he very good at his drama,
(22:43):
but his background is comedy. His comedy shows that he
wrote himself are hilarious. He's a very, very comedic performer.
Polly has crossed over quite a lot, but you can
tell that she's a very comedic actress. And we tended
to cast, like I said, more comic leaning actors into
the Featherington household. The Bridgetons are funny also, but they
(23:04):
tend to lie a little bit more in drama. And
the beauty of the crossover is the Penelloise crossover where
you have Claudia and Nicola. I had to ask Kelly
about this dynamic duo. Now, Claudia Jesse, we can all
(23:26):
agree is one of the standouts in the show as
Eloise and the two of them are their crossover kind
of girlmants that they have across the street. The two
of them are very similar in their style of acting.
They take script and they have fun with it. They
bring their remark to it. They are very comfortable and
very aware of their skill with script, and they are
(23:51):
free to play with it, but within the constraints of
what obviously Chris has written. And that's why those two work.
And we want to talk about chemistry. There's chemistry. Those
two fantastic chemistry. And like I said, I think they
know what to do with each other. They know where
each other's skills are. They know that they could play
off each other. So the casting of those two coming
together I think is actually really important, just as important
(24:13):
as Reggae and Phoebe in a way. If you look
at all the characters, they always have a little there's
double acts all over the place. You've got Lady Featherington,
yet Sienna and Anthony, or Sienna and Madame Delacroix. Yeah, Kelly,
I seem to keep coming back around to how your
casting choices really serve the ensemble and the double acts
(24:34):
that we keep seeing throughout the show. You also mentioned
being close to the actors in general, like, were many
of these actors are actresses folks you've worked with before.
I did laugh about the fact that fellow casting directors
were watching bridget In. Obviously they started episode one and
episode two, and I get texts going, hahak else some
(24:56):
old favorites popping up, and they were like, oh, and
there is Catherine doing a French accent question mark, and
I thought, wait till you see the rest of it.
There's the reason why she's doing a French accent. You
know she will be exposed that you might find another
terrorist mat you're liking across town. Madame Delacois. That reminds
(25:18):
me you have such a unique accent. And yet I've
never asked where in France or from my matter, Francais
was over he shouldn't speak up and paveltonmo jama hippaculo
or de bonton entocncy. I believe Madame Delacroix will be
somewhat more amenable to our requests now, Lady Featherington crepon
(25:53):
and in speaking of casting Catherine Drisdale as Madame Delacroix
and her realm within bridget and the Little Deiste. Kelly
told me how she also approached thinking of Bridgerton in
that it is a bunch of little worlds. Even though
we feel like we are in the world of Bridgerton,
like any environment, there's an underbelly. There's you know, the
(26:16):
top of the hill, the balls, the marriage market, the
unmarrying type, widows without want, women with pants at the
artist's party, getting it in. All of them coexist and
yet are decidedly different. Kelly's casting choices help make that
a reality for us as we watch. Well, they've done
(26:37):
very cleverly with the other world that's going on behind
the doors. So any of the homosexual activities were shown
behind doors, but in a very positive way, in a
very open way, but also equally reminding us all how
dangerous it was to be part of that world. And
you can't tell stories and use and go into these
(26:59):
worlds and not mind everyone about how high the stakes are.
So at some point he does remind Benedict. At some
point he says, you know, I put my life in
danger every day, and it's true just to be in
a room with someone who you burn to be with
but you can't. You know. It's the reason why Benedict
does go after Madame Delacoa eventually, because he's kind of
(27:19):
shamed into realizing, you know, if you really believe in something,
you want to talk about romance, romance is not what
you're doing this fake peacocking and promenading in this stiff
button shirts, pretending that's not romance. But you've been told
it's romance all of these years. Break the rules and
(27:41):
you will find what the truth is. All of our
characters are doing that. Simon tells Daphane about sex for
the first time. Really, they're breaking the rules, and it's
the first time she finds herself. You know, Eloise is
dying for it, and poor her stuck in the constraints
(28:01):
of what ifs and questions and no one answering, and
going round and round in Little Girls stories until I'm
sure her season when she gets to discover who she
is properly this world, the painters and the dancers, and
Madame Delacoa, the modiste who has to pretend to be
(28:25):
someone else to get business to make herself feel exotic
when actually she's already exotic because she is a woman
who makes her own money, who lives by her own rules.
She has more power and more control than any of
the Bridgetons, even Violets. She has more freedom than the Queen.
(28:47):
She has more freedom than Lady Danbury to a point,
and therefore we should celebrate her as a character. What
was it like when you finally got to see the
final product December twenty fifth, you turn on Netflix? What
are you thinking? When you work on a show this big,
(29:11):
you have an expectation that the finished article is going
to be quite incredible. And I can honestly say, hand
on heart, I was not prepared for what Bridgeston ended
up looking like. When I saw Ellen's costumes, I knew
they were pretty amazing because we've been talking about it
from day one. I mean, Ellen has started making costumes
before I'd even started casting people. Poor Ellen. And when
(29:32):
you see the finished article and you can see every
single one of those diamonds sparkling on the cast, you
get this double wave of emotion. One is like, oh
my god, the cast look incredible. But secondly you kind
of get into the head of the actor and go,
I wonder how they feel. They must feel incredible in that.
And if you're doing your job and you're feel incredible,
then you're going to do a good job. One would
(29:53):
assume I am in awe of what the costume department
had done. I am in awe of Chris and his score.
It is beautiful. I mean I've listened to movie scores
since I was a little kid, and I still to
this day listened to like Dances with Wolves and you know,
all the old classics. I still listen to the Jurassic
Park music, so I get that. Yeah, anything John Williams,
(30:18):
so Chris Bower's soundtrack, and I'm not even talking about
his modern adaptations, but just everything that he has done
is mind blowingly different to anything I've ever heard before
when it had just has the maturity of a Hollywood
movie with the sas of twenty twenty and twenty twenty one.
(30:39):
So I'm in all of him. I am in awe
of the hundreds of people, if not thousands, I mean
it has to be thousands of people that have put
it together. We went on set once and it was
the very final episode where they were shooting the pastings
Ball and they had one last evening together. I didn't
(31:02):
get to see the Rainking that we went there for
the rain, but the rain never came. We were behind
and there's only so long that one can stand and watch.
But when you were behind the flats, you know the
walls your house or your set has the structure behind
when you don't trip over them when you're running around
(31:22):
as a stage manager as I used to be. And
we were all there in the darkness and those big hangars,
and you have this beautiful set behind the flats and
there's hundred thousands of us all standing there watching monitors
or creeping about, and hair and makeup and actors and
extras eating sandwiches with plastic over their wigs, and people
(31:43):
learning lines, double checking lines, you know, caterers. You have
the production offs like a ten minute walk away. Then
you would turn a corner and hit, oh my goodness,
you're in the Bridgeton living room. I know I'm in
the Featherington staircase. And you look around and you think
the love and craft and intelligence and years of training
(32:05):
that has all come together for this is unbelievable, and
just to be part of it is a real thrill.
So yeah, I think all departments we all made each
other look pretty good. I particularly like the accountancy department,
who pay my wages? All right, guys? So, as you know,
(32:35):
we spoke with gold Adua, Claudia and Nicola, so I
had to ask Kelly about casting those wonderful ladies starting
with Queen Charlotte. So when the casting of Queen Charlotte
came to us, obviously there was discussions about the fact
that historically there is documentation saying that Queen Charlotte was
(33:00):
black or mixed race. But as far as I was concerned,
we were one hundred percent They're heading towards casting an
actress of color, which was very exciting in that in
historical dramas, especially in the UK, that was and has
never been done on the stage, yes, but on television no.
(33:21):
And we didn't really think too much further about it.
After that. It was like, fantastic, she potentially was mixed
race or black. Fantastic, let's go for that. And we
never looked back and we auditioned to actresses. Golder was
clearly Queen Charlotte from the minute that she walked into
that room. How could you not pass Golda as Queen Charlotte.
(33:43):
She's fabulous. There is no one more fabulous than Golda,
and the wonderful thing about Golda is the ease in
which she discovered her Queen Charlotte. Now, sometimes when you
read actresses you get a similar performance. You know, people
who attack it in the same way, and you see
the same kind of read again and again. Golda was Golda.
(34:08):
Her Queen Charlotte was unique. There was never another Queen Charlotte,
and there never will be another Queen Charlotte. I think
gold has done it. She'd give her the crown again.
And that goes to show how important it is as
actors to put yourself on the line and audition for things. Sometimes,
because I don't think we would have ever have seen
(34:28):
it like that, could us to Golda for what she
did and put herself on the line and came in
and gave us what she felt was her version, and
just so happened. We thought the same. So the casting
of Lady Dambray was obviously going to be hugely important
because she is the massive matriarch of the whole piece
in a way, and I could tell very quickly Lady
(34:50):
Danbrey was the Maggie Smith of Downtown. She has the lines,
she has the put downs, but she has the status
and people should be scared of Lady Danbury as much
as you love her, and I think that going into
it when you're like, who could that actor be? And
Lady Danbury is of a certain age also, so we're
already starting to narrow down the type of actors that
(35:12):
would be looking at. Now. Lady Danbury was always going
to be a black actress, no question, so there is
no color blind casting going on there. Lady Danbury is
the queen of fabulousness and how beautiful by the way
did Adua Luke in her outfits stunning, and we in
the UK are very like Adua Ando is one of
(35:35):
our big theater grand damned and not only is she
a leading actress, but she's been in the forefront of
women playing male roles, especially in Shakespeare, so we already
know who she is here and what she stands for.
So when the role came up, it was like, well,
there's a few actors who are kind of what we
would call a no brainer here, and we checked her availability.
(35:58):
She was available, and it was like would she read yes,
she would get her in asap like this lady is
not available very often and she's lovely and we've met
quite a few times Her first question was It was like, now, Kelly,
tell me, why am I here? And she meant as
a black woman, as a black actress, why am I here?
(36:18):
Are you serious? Am I seriously going to get this part?
And I could have given her a speech, but I
didn't need to. I was like, you can be lady Danbury.
That's how we see her. And that was the end
of that, and she did her audition and I'm glad
everyone else agreed. So it was as simple as that.
But I loved that she asked the question because the
question needed to be asked, and I'm glad she asked it.
(36:39):
It just is can you imagine anyone say the words
you have interned like that? No, fierce queen, loyal boss?
Before we go, The casting of the show is actually
one of the areas that gets the most attention and press.
(37:00):
So how did you feel about the response to the
cast once it was received? On a very simple level,
I think that the fact that we have talking points
and articles questioning our casting choices, and specifically I mean
(37:21):
actors of color in rules where most people haven't seen before. Now,
if that engages a debate, I think that's a great thing.
And I'm very willing to hear a negative comment about that,
because maybe it brings it to the table that I
can have a discussion in a context that I believe
that people can understand, So we don't have to be
(37:43):
educating with a documentary about the history of Black Lives matter.
This is in a context I think maybe some people
can understand. And if one person can understand that, well,
are you upset by our choice of casting for Lady Danbury?
And if I can talk through that with someone and
very clear and simple terms, which let's face it, it
(38:03):
is simple, it doesn't matter. And if that person can
understand when we finish that conversation that why are you
angry about that? If they can ask themselves, actually, why
am I angry about that? Then maybe that one person
ends up being a better person, and the next time
a show does it, maybe they'll be less questions. And
if we're part of that, then I think we've done
(38:25):
really well and we're certainly not the end of it.
And with that we'll drop the mic. Right there, Kelly
has spoken and it is sprinkled with Shonda Land. Okay,
(38:48):
I'm hoping that this conversation soothed your curiosities about what's
going on with casting? You guys are hungry. I see
you on Twitter. But we have to leave something to
the imagination, right. I suppose we can show you a
little ankle. And I'm sure you've heard recent news. If
you haven't, just google Queen Charlotte Shondaland and Jess Brownell,
(39:08):
one of my co hosts, and just dine on that.
Just celebrate that for a little bit until next time,
Dear hearts, I'm going to raise a glass to my
co host Jess Brownell and Shonda Rhymes and the Shondaland
family and Bridgerton. The Official Podcast is executive produced by
Lauren Homan, Sandy Bailey, Holly Fry and me Gabrielle Collins.
Our producer is Chris Van Duson, and our editor is
(39:32):
Vincent de Johnny Bridgerton. The Official Podcast is a production
of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
from Shondaland Audio, visit the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you
subscribe to your favorite shows.
You never know when you come on to something whether
or not it's going to be super successful. But what
you do know, when you look at something, you think,
do you know what? That would be really fun to cast?
And that clearly was how I felt about Bridgeton. Welcome
back to Bridgeton the official podcast. I'm Gabby Collins and
(00:20):
I'm your guy. Behind the scenes at shondaland so Okay.
The last two episodes we heard from four phenomenal actresses.
We heard about how they developed their characters, their friendships,
and their thoughts about some of the really big themes
throughout Bridgeton. These women and the entire Bridgetin ensemble brought
(00:41):
all of this to their craft and gave us characters
that we love, recognize and salute. Magical. Right, there's a
special component to how this magic happens, and it happens
long before anyone steps into a dress or emerges with
our beat bass and powdered wig. I'm talking about casting.
(01:02):
Kelly Valentine Henry is Bridgeton's casting director. In this episode,
Kelly is going to take us back to the genesis
of the show and how she decided who to intrust
with the witty quips and cutting glances that Chris Van
Deusen and the Bridgeton writer's room built into the script.
Let's jump right into our conversation, Kelly Valentine Henry, welcome.
(01:28):
Why don't you tell listeners who you are? And I
don't know? Tell us about something really interesting about yourself,
a fun fact. I'm Kelly Valentine Henry, and I'm the
casting director of Bridgeton season one, then life. I am Kelly,
wife to Julia, mother to Boot and Skipper, who are
a dog and a cat. And I'm Skulfish and I
(01:51):
actually share the birthday with Shonda Remes. So how does
the woman who shares a birthday with Shonda Rhimes and
is also Boot and Skipper's mom get to be involved
with casting Bridgeton. Maybe my attachment to Bridgeton is a
story about you never know who you're speaking to. Because
I got a phone call from my agent saying they
(02:12):
want to meet you for this new show at Netflix
called Bridgeton. That's like, what do you mean they want
to meet me? Like? Who wants to meet me? Is like, well,
Shondaland wants to meet you. I said, well, do they
know who I am? That? Yes? They've asked to meet you.
So apparently somebody who I had worked was previously at
a different company. They must have suggested that I would
be good for this job. I don't know who it
(02:34):
was exactly, and I don't know when it happened, but
before I knew it, I was on a call with
Shondaland and I had a wonderful meeting with them all
and they offered me the job. It was a very
easy process, and the whole time I was thinking, no
one else, just are you sure it's me you want?
So I was very delighted. So I always obviously nice
(02:54):
or gave someone good information one day and it transpired
into casting Bridgeton. So I'm not going to argue with
that be nice to people. Kelly has a really good
advice here, y'all. You know, be nice and you might
end up working at Chandeland. But in all seriousness, Chandeland
is a house of creative giants. So I thought it
(03:18):
would be really interesting to just know what Kelly's very
first step was. I was on the way to the
theater actually, and I knew I had a meeting on Bridgeton,
so I went past Waterston's and Shaft Reavenue and went
into the huge, big bookshops there. It's very famous bookshop.
I didn't know which section to luke in, and I
was like, have you got Julia Quinn Bridgeton series? And
(03:39):
I was in the historical section and I was over
here in the literary section, and then a nice lady
directed me towards the slightly fastel pinky colored section of romance,
which I had never been in, and there it was.
There was Bridgeton. So I purchased myself the Duke and
I and also worked to the theater. I think I
put it in my bag and then I did open
(04:01):
it up. Oh lordy racy m. So what did you
think after you read the books and the script? Was
it an immediate like, yes, this is the show that
I'm going to be working on next Well, when you
have Netflix and then you have Shonderland, you don't not
(04:22):
pay attention to that. You know that these are powerhouses
coming together and you want to be part of that,
and every job is a challenge these different ways. So
Kelly says she doesn't really gravitate towards romance like so
many people on this show have said. You know, there
was something about Bridgerton though, that just made them say, yes,
(04:45):
this is a playground that I wish to play in.
Here's what Kelly thought. You join a project and you
think my job is to make people believe that they're
watching something new and something fresh. Maybe they have seen
these actors before, but never in this genre. And I
thought that was always our biggest task. And I love
doing ensembles. So if you look at my credits you'll
(05:07):
see that. You know, we do quite often, you know
these usually crime. Britain is obsessed with dodgy dark raally
crime when I've done quite a few of them. And
I love creating worlds that are clearly fictional that we
have to move. They're real, so when you shut your
door at night or you turn off the television, the
viewer needs to believe that these people belong in the
(05:29):
world together. And yes, it's mostly fictional, and it could
be in a village in Rodgerch you know, it could
be my Scandinavian like Last Kingdom villages you know from
way back in satur Days, or it can be in
your co regency romance. And when you start casting, I
don't think about characters singularly. It's always in an ensemble,
(05:53):
and what is that style of the ensemble and where
do they sit in the entire World's very clear about
Bridget and there's more than two worlds of three, four
or five worlds, you know, And it's not just class,
it's style. It's there's so many different worlds and to
make them all sick within the same world is a
(06:13):
fascinating challenge, and you're like, whoa, who is this world?
What is this world? So? How do I knit all
of these worlds together? It's really difficult and also why
I love my job. I love Kelly's draft too. How
fun right, But it's a lot of work. There are
a lot of elements to taken into account, and so
I was wondering what elements really helped her to get it,
(06:36):
what elements helped her lock in and really understand Crispin
do sim here this is going to be crazy too.
But when I first read the script, there was a
very small bit in a scene where I was like,
there's bridges and it is a scene where Daphne hasn't
at our suitors. It's got a bit dry, as it were.
For all death and Humboldt is their servants and they're
(06:58):
all in their family room together. Someone comes in and
announces that Humboldt is coming or Humbolt's got a message.
And one point when they got Humblest coming, Humblest mesa Humbolt, Humbolt,
Humbolt Humbolt. I know it sounds weird to you, but
that was the scene then where I got Bridges and
understood it. I understood the humor and the pace of it,
and I saw them all sitting there doing humble, humble, humble, humble,
(07:21):
And that's the moment that I worked out Bridgton. I
saw the pace and the humor and the script in
that one scene, and I also saw the warmth of
the family and I was like, that's what Bridgton is.
Every character and Bridges could look into the camera and wink,
(07:42):
do you understand? So you know the way that Phoebe
does in Fleabag, like every single character and Bridgeson could
wink into the camera though, and you must feel that
they're having fun, but then you school the carpet from
under their feet, and then the drama comes in. Then
the point is that scene Humboldt is Coming is my
memorable scene from Bridgetson. When I read the script it's
(08:06):
a style thing. Phoebie waller Bridge's taste and what she
does it's quite similar to what Emerald Frenelle is doing.
And there's a crossover there because they write together and
there's this female strong and feminist message with really bright
images and some cool soundtracks. And it's women who are like,
I've got a story to tell, you know, women who
have worked so hard for so long to be able
(08:27):
to tell those stories. They didn't just come out and
over and go, hey, I've got a story. They've worked
their asses off until now to get to being having
a voice. So there's a style, and then you could
take Ken Loach style, you know that kind of you know,
it's proper storytelling. It's dark, it's very earthy, and so
there's a style. Then you might have a Bridgeton style
like you know, this just gorgeous, sugar culted, but yet
(08:50):
very classy, like you want more of tapping into what
everyone wants. It's a respectful storytelling. It's being made to
see yourself, being allowed to be happy. It's not apologizing
for who you are. It's going in a lot. I
love these colors. I don't care. I think Ellen didn't
into you where she said, never did I think is
(09:10):
that too much? You know? Or maybe she did think
that is that too much? She's like, Now, if bagels
go for when you are in this business and whether
you're gosh, it would be applied to anything that you
(09:30):
find interesting. So whether that's art or dance or music,
anything creative. You can see styles. And when you're looking
at styles all the time, you've become used to them,
and then you may be looking for a new style.
But maybe that's not required at this moment in time
when you're casting. So do you want to steal from
other styles? Do you want to try and take people
(09:51):
from all the different styles of casting or types of shows?
Or is that a mess? Do you create your own?
Like I said? And sometimes actors fall naturally into to
those styles, and sometimes you take actors who have never
done those types of things and give them like you
cast them against tight as we would call it. So
it takes a little while for myself as a casting
(10:11):
director to quite get there of where we want to
go with that. And that's why it's so crucial to
have a brilliant, open narrative with your showrunners, your executives,
your directors, The people that I answer to, the people
whose vision that you're trying to help create. I believe
in being quite honest about my opinions. I think that
(10:32):
I hope that's why people employ me, and I felt
that on Bridget and especially you had a very safe
platform for constructive kind of ideas. You know, how about this,
I don't know if this is right, but this is different.
I'd like this for this. What do you think? And
then if anybody else on the creative side we're saying, well,
we like these ideas. Then sometimes casting directors can get
(10:53):
quite kind of a It's not my idea, therefore I'm
not going to agree with it, and I don't work
like that. I believe that casting is incredibly collaborative because
you and I that we have our lens. I have
a lens of the world. As a Scottish female of
a certain age, from a middle class background. I see
the world through a certain way, and no one sees
(11:15):
the world through my lens apart from me, and you'll
be exactly the same. So, when you're trying to create
a world that appeals to as many people as possible,
how can an individual dictate that? So it's in my
best interest to listen to my assistant Lyon who's Indian,
to my associate co who is from and I don't
(11:39):
think he would mind me saying that. And we're working
class background who has gone through different user builder. You know,
he's being an actor. I listen to him. You know,
I have my other associate and cassing director who's from
the North of England, and I have another assistant associate
who's been a bit from a bit more privileged background.
They all have their lenses and a top of that,
you've got everyone that you're working with, So I have
(12:00):
you listen to people. If you don't listen to people
in our job, hope you do the best job for everybody.
A brilliant open narrative between the showrunners and the creatives
and casting. That's powerful. There's no individual lens. The lens
(12:21):
at Shondaland is unified. What comes out on the other end.
It's a reality of many ideas. It isn't just one
person's direction. It's messy, it's from all sorts of backgrounds.
It's classy chaos, but it isn't noisy. There's a oneness.
(12:48):
When we come back from the break, we'll learn how
Kelly Valentine Henry tapped into this oneness, taking the singular
beauty of Julia Quinn's novels and the spank of Chris
van Dusen's script and putting that into her casting choices.
Stick around, Welcome back. You're listening to bridgeton the official podcast.
(13:15):
I'm Gabby Collins and I'm talking with Kelly Valentine Hendry,
Bridgerton's casting director. Kelly and I are talking about her
really cool job. Let's hear from her on some of
her favorite scenes and characters to cast. I think Polly Walker,
that woman is. I'm sorry, she is perfectly cast. No
(13:37):
one could do her as well as Polly Walker. Lady
Featherington could be viewed as a very ugly character, a
very stupid character, a very dislikable character, all of the negatives,
and at the end of the day, actually you felt
sorry for her. And if you feel sympathy for a character,
then we've won. But it's true, you know, they say
(13:59):
to be she's not a hero. Maybe she is in
her own way. You know, you have to fall from
a great height to become a hero, which she does,
and she does it so beautifully in such hideous fabric.
She is beautiful fabric, but it's pretty hideous. It is
really magnificent if one can. She has a wonderful scene
(14:19):
where she breaks down, and Polly did that for her
audition and she was wonderful. And I think Polly Walker
should win awards for Porsche Featherington. Okay, so Porsche was
one of Kelly's favorite characters to cast. Let's talk about
some of her favorite scenes. Earlier in the podcast, she
told us that one of her absolute favorite scenes was
(14:43):
the scene in which the Duke and Dapanee barely touch
hands while they're looking at those paintings. I know you
know which one I'm talking about. She's got a few
others though, the other scenes I loved doing in the
castings Violet Bridget and Ruth Gamil is possibly one of
the most beautiful and kind and giving actresses. So she's
perfect for Violet, and she's very funny, and I hope
(15:06):
that she's very proud of what she's done with it.
But there's a wonderful scene with her and Anthony where
she comes to him and tells him what's well if
you are the man of the house. Wonderful scenesn't it.
I love thinking about the contrast between Lady Featherington and
Violet Bridgerton, and it made me think about how Kelly
(15:26):
was able to pick actors and actresses that could tap
into those subtleties really make them shine through in a
way that is not in your face, but you know
what's happening. I asked her to tell me more about
her approach and her philosophy behind the decisions that she makes.
We're very lucky with the cast that we have. They
(15:47):
are all of them very accomplished across the boards. A
lot of them are wonderful singers, a lot of them
are incredibly strong dramatic actors, a lot of them are comedians,
and then they all seem to have that skill each
and everything go one of them. They're all really nice people.
They're good people. And again when I talk about ensembles,
that's one of our big things in our at KVH.
(16:08):
And to be clear, KVH is my company, Kelly Valentine Henry,
So we're KVH castling, Yeah, and we have a no
asshole policy. We try to anyway I'm getting through the
net here and there, but we keep an eye on
that and all of these actors really are. So we
have this breadth of experience, and we have brand new
actors too, so we have a lot of I don't
want to say discoveries. I think that's you can't claim
(16:30):
the discovery. I don't think you know, these actors have
worked really hard, They've been to drama school. They deserve
to be there. You haven't discovered them. It's you know
your your paths across at the right time. You know,
it's important to say that. And I know a lot
of people say I discovered them, But did she? Or
did their agent or did their mom? Or did they
discover themselves? Quite frankly, well, I think Daphney did, didn't she?
(16:53):
Episode three four? Oh my gosh, Kelly? Okay? So beside
guides making sure you weren't inviting any assholes into the production,
I know that's the Chanda Land way. How did you
make sure that the cast would come across the screen
as family? How did you find that chemistry trying to
(17:16):
cast actors individually across the world. To have chemistry with
each other, you have to trust yourself. And we know
a lot of the actors remember chemistry, A lot of
it is a big bat accidental win. If I'm honest,
(17:37):
you just don't know who's going to get on together.
And honestly, I've cast shows and movies where the reviewers
have panned the chemistry. They have no chemistry. I'm like,
do you know they're married now? And I think a
lot of people are involved with that chemistry. You've got
the two actors, obviously, you have your intimacy coaches that
if they can get actors to a place where they're comfortable,
(17:58):
maybe the trust comes across on screen, and maybe that
trust is perceived as chemistry. You know, the music, the lights,
like all of the people who know what they're doing
come together to make that feel like chemistry. And I
think it's a lot of departments all working at once.
I think it is to do with trust, I really do.
I think chemistry has a lot to do with trust.
(18:21):
I think of people that I work with and I
may completely disagree with them, but I trust them and
I trust that our opinions can be dealt with in
an adult manner, And if you can talk about things,
then we have chemistry in a certain way. If you
think about it, you marry people who are polar opposites,
(18:42):
but we trust each other. Our ability to discuss and
deal with our differences in a trustworthy manner is what
makes us a team. Hey, listeners, if you remember, intimacy
coordinator Lizzie Talbot and episode two and three director Tom
Erica hit on some of this trust between actors. So
(19:02):
if you apply that to sexual chemistry on screen, then
maybe an element mostly is trust. Trusting the actor to
give you the space to say where you're comfortable, Trusting
the actor to give you the space to be equal
in the scene. Anyone who an actor listening to this
one than what I'm talking about. You know, one actor
(19:23):
can dominate a scene. They can take away your paces
and your pauses, and that's trust, right. If you trust
your partner in a scene to give you that space
to be who you are, then does that give you chemistry?
Let's take a quick break, stick around, welcome back. Let's
(19:50):
round up our conversation with casting director Kelly Valentine Henry.
The Featherington's and the Bridgetons had to be polar opposites
yet again, we're talking about ensemble. Earlier believed that they
live in the same exist in the same world. We
don't want to laugh at the Featheringtons, but we want
to sympathize with them, so they cannot just be a joke.
They can't be pantomime. And somebody at some point said
(20:13):
that the Bridgetons were Chanelle or Wedgewood. It was one
of the two, and the Featheringtons were Satchee, and that
is actually how their costumes are done. Also, clearly there's
classy and there's loud and actually, to be fair, bold
choices like so what Worsha of Featherington thinks that these
gowns are amazing and let's just go with her? Who cares?
(20:34):
So you've got distinction there. And actually that comes about
class and about wealth and money and about the class
system that exists in the UK. And in the UK
I spend my life explaining it to Americans. Oh yeah,
but they're the wrong class. They wouldn't do that in
this class and it's a ridiculous, and don't I don't
agree with it. It's ridiculous and it's another one of
(20:55):
our stupid British kind of weird things that we do.
So you have to recognize it in our shows. And
I know we're fiction, but you know, there's lots of
historical inaccuracies, but there's lots of historical accuracies in Bridgeton
and classes in there. Now the Featherington's and the Bridgetons,
for that reason live in different places, and that does
obviously come out in the storyline. You know, obviously the
(21:17):
Featheringtons are struggling for money. He has gambled. There's still
aristocracy though there's still lords, but they're struggling. There needed
to be a distinction. And one of the ways which
I think that we did very well with the distinction
is that you may have picked up on it, but
the Featheringtons tend to be a little bit funnier. Yes,
the Bridgetons are funny, and I love it when the
(21:38):
family get together and they are very playful, and the
Featherington's have more laugh out loud moments. And you'll notice
that the actors that have been chosen, and we didn't
do it on purpose, it's just is the way it
kind of worked out. They're from comedy backgrounds. Since Missus
(22:00):
Valley had some trouble at Modis this morning, Madam de
la Quite, it's refusing to give her any of the
dresses until the last few months bills are paid well.
The young ladies have plenty of dresses perhaps it is
possible for them to wear them all again. So we've
all seen wonderful and Nicola Cochlin, who plays Penelope, you
(22:21):
know Dairy Girls, She's hilarious and yet she rains it
in and Bridgeton, she's dramatic, but she has big bones
in comedy. Obviously. You see what Bessie and Harry at
do is the two sisters. They're hilarious. They are very
funny actresses. Ben Miller, who plays Lord Featherington Ben Miller
in this country. Yes, he very good at his drama,
(22:43):
but his background is comedy. His comedy shows that he
wrote himself are hilarious. He's a very, very comedic performer.
Polly has crossed over quite a lot, but you can
tell that she's a very comedic actress. And we tended
to cast, like I said, more comic leaning actors into
the Featherington household. The Bridgetons are funny also, but they
(23:04):
tend to lie a little bit more in drama. And
the beauty of the crossover is the Penelloise crossover where
you have Claudia and Nicola. I had to ask Kelly
about this dynamic duo. Now, Claudia Jesse, we can all
(23:26):
agree is one of the standouts in the show as
Eloise and the two of them are their crossover kind
of girlmants that they have across the street. The two
of them are very similar in their style of acting.
They take script and they have fun with it. They
bring their remark to it. They are very comfortable and
very aware of their skill with script, and they are
(23:51):
free to play with it, but within the constraints of
what obviously Chris has written. And that's why those two work.
And we want to talk about chemistry. There's chemistry. Those
two fantastic chemistry. And like I said, I think they
know what to do with each other. They know where
each other's skills are. They know that they could play
off each other. So the casting of those two coming
together I think is actually really important, just as important
(24:13):
as Reggae and Phoebe in a way. If you look
at all the characters, they always have a little there's
double acts all over the place. You've got Lady Featherington,
yet Sienna and Anthony, or Sienna and Madame Delacroix. Yeah, Kelly,
I seem to keep coming back around to how your
casting choices really serve the ensemble and the double acts
(24:34):
that we keep seeing throughout the show. You also mentioned
being close to the actors in general, like, were many
of these actors are actresses folks you've worked with before.
I did laugh about the fact that fellow casting directors
were watching bridget In. Obviously they started episode one and
episode two, and I get texts going, hahak else some
(24:56):
old favorites popping up, and they were like, oh, and
there is Catherine doing a French accent question mark, and
I thought, wait till you see the rest of it.
There's the reason why she's doing a French accent. You
know she will be exposed that you might find another
terrorist mat you're liking across town. Madame Delacois. That reminds
(25:18):
me you have such a unique accent. And yet I've
never asked where in France or from my matter, Francais
was over he shouldn't speak up and paveltonmo jama hippaculo
or de bonton entocncy. I believe Madame Delacroix will be
somewhat more amenable to our requests now, Lady Featherington crepon
(25:53):
and in speaking of casting Catherine Drisdale as Madame Delacroix
and her realm within bridget and the Little Deiste. Kelly
told me how she also approached thinking of Bridgerton in
that it is a bunch of little worlds. Even though
we feel like we are in the world of Bridgerton,
like any environment, there's an underbelly. There's you know, the
(26:16):
top of the hill, the balls, the marriage market, the
unmarrying type, widows without want, women with pants at the
artist's party, getting it in. All of them coexist and
yet are decidedly different. Kelly's casting choices help make that
a reality for us as we watch. Well, they've done
(26:37):
very cleverly with the other world that's going on behind
the doors. So any of the homosexual activities were shown
behind doors, but in a very positive way, in a
very open way, but also equally reminding us all how
dangerous it was to be part of that world. And
you can't tell stories and use and go into these
(26:59):
worlds and not mind everyone about how high the stakes are.
So at some point he does remind Benedict. At some
point he says, you know, I put my life in
danger every day, and it's true just to be in
a room with someone who you burn to be with
but you can't. You know. It's the reason why Benedict
does go after Madame Delacoa eventually, because he's kind of
(27:19):
shamed into realizing, you know, if you really believe in something,
you want to talk about romance, romance is not what
you're doing this fake peacocking and promenading in this stiff
button shirts, pretending that's not romance. But you've been told
it's romance all of these years. Break the rules and
(27:41):
you will find what the truth is. All of our
characters are doing that. Simon tells Daphane about sex for
the first time. Really, they're breaking the rules, and it's
the first time she finds herself. You know, Eloise is
dying for it, and poor her stuck in the constraints
(28:01):
of what ifs and questions and no one answering, and
going round and round in Little Girls stories until I'm
sure her season when she gets to discover who she
is properly this world, the painters and the dancers, and
Madame Delacoa, the modiste who has to pretend to be
(28:25):
someone else to get business to make herself feel exotic
when actually she's already exotic because she is a woman
who makes her own money, who lives by her own rules.
She has more power and more control than any of
the Bridgetons, even Violets. She has more freedom than the Queen.
(28:47):
She has more freedom than Lady Danbury to a point,
and therefore we should celebrate her as a character. What
was it like when you finally got to see the
final product December twenty fifth, you turn on Netflix? What
are you thinking? When you work on a show this big,
(29:11):
you have an expectation that the finished article is going
to be quite incredible. And I can honestly say, hand
on heart, I was not prepared for what Bridgeston ended
up looking like. When I saw Ellen's costumes, I knew
they were pretty amazing because we've been talking about it
from day one. I mean, Ellen has started making costumes
before I'd even started casting people. Poor Ellen. And when
(29:32):
you see the finished article and you can see every
single one of those diamonds sparkling on the cast, you
get this double wave of emotion. One is like, oh
my god, the cast look incredible. But secondly you kind
of get into the head of the actor and go,
I wonder how they feel. They must feel incredible in that.
And if you're doing your job and you're feel incredible,
then you're going to do a good job. One would
(29:53):
assume I am in awe of what the costume department
had done. I am in awe of Chris and his score.
It is beautiful. I mean I've listened to movie scores
since I was a little kid, and I still to
this day listened to like Dances with Wolves and you know,
all the old classics. I still listen to the Jurassic
Park music, so I get that. Yeah, anything John Williams,
(30:18):
so Chris Bower's soundtrack, and I'm not even talking about
his modern adaptations, but just everything that he has done
is mind blowingly different to anything I've ever heard before
when it had just has the maturity of a Hollywood
movie with the sas of twenty twenty and twenty twenty one.
(30:39):
So I'm in all of him. I am in awe
of the hundreds of people, if not thousands, I mean
it has to be thousands of people that have put
it together. We went on set once and it was
the very final episode where they were shooting the pastings
Ball and they had one last evening together. I didn't
(31:02):
get to see the Rainking that we went there for
the rain, but the rain never came. We were behind
and there's only so long that one can stand and watch.
But when you were behind the flats, you know the
walls your house or your set has the structure behind
when you don't trip over them when you're running around
(31:22):
as a stage manager as I used to be. And
we were all there in the darkness and those big hangars,
and you have this beautiful set behind the flats and
there's hundred thousands of us all standing there watching monitors
or creeping about, and hair and makeup and actors and
extras eating sandwiches with plastic over their wigs, and people
(31:43):
learning lines, double checking lines, you know, caterers. You have
the production offs like a ten minute walk away. Then
you would turn a corner and hit, oh my goodness,
you're in the Bridgeton living room. I know I'm in
the Featherington staircase. And you look around and you think
the love and craft and intelligence and years of training
(32:05):
that has all come together for this is unbelievable, and
just to be part of it is a real thrill.
So yeah, I think all departments we all made each
other look pretty good. I particularly like the accountancy department,
who pay my wages? All right, guys? So, as you know,
(32:35):
we spoke with gold Adua, Claudia and Nicola, so I
had to ask Kelly about casting those wonderful ladies starting
with Queen Charlotte. So when the casting of Queen Charlotte
came to us, obviously there was discussions about the fact
that historically there is documentation saying that Queen Charlotte was
(33:00):
black or mixed race. But as far as I was concerned,
we were one hundred percent They're heading towards casting an
actress of color, which was very exciting in that in
historical dramas, especially in the UK, that was and has
never been done on the stage, yes, but on television no.
(33:21):
And we didn't really think too much further about it.
After that. It was like, fantastic, she potentially was mixed
race or black. Fantastic, let's go for that. And we
never looked back and we auditioned to actresses. Golder was
clearly Queen Charlotte from the minute that she walked into
that room. How could you not pass Golda as Queen Charlotte.
(33:43):
She's fabulous. There is no one more fabulous than Golda,
and the wonderful thing about Golda is the ease in
which she discovered her Queen Charlotte. Now, sometimes when you
read actresses you get a similar performance. You know, people
who attack it in the same way, and you see
the same kind of read again and again. Golda was Golda.
(34:08):
Her Queen Charlotte was unique. There was never another Queen Charlotte,
and there never will be another Queen Charlotte. I think
gold has done it. She'd give her the crown again.
And that goes to show how important it is as
actors to put yourself on the line and audition for things. Sometimes,
because I don't think we would have ever have seen
(34:28):
it like that, could us to Golda for what she
did and put herself on the line and came in
and gave us what she felt was her version, and
just so happened. We thought the same. So the casting
of Lady Dambray was obviously going to be hugely important
because she is the massive matriarch of the whole piece
in a way, and I could tell very quickly Lady
(34:50):
Danbrey was the Maggie Smith of Downtown. She has the lines,
she has the put downs, but she has the status
and people should be scared of Lady Danbury as much
as you love her, and I think that going into
it when you're like, who could that actor be? And
Lady Danbury is of a certain age also, so we're
already starting to narrow down the type of actors that
(35:12):
would be looking at. Now. Lady Danbury was always going
to be a black actress, no question, so there is
no color blind casting going on there. Lady Danbury is
the queen of fabulousness and how beautiful by the way
did Adua Luke in her outfits stunning, and we in
the UK are very like Adua Ando is one of
(35:35):
our big theater grand damned and not only is she
a leading actress, but she's been in the forefront of
women playing male roles, especially in Shakespeare, so we already
know who she is here and what she stands for.
So when the role came up, it was like, well,
there's a few actors who are kind of what we
would call a no brainer here, and we checked her availability.
(35:58):
She was available, and it was like would she read yes,
she would get her in asap like this lady is
not available very often and she's lovely and we've met
quite a few times Her first question was It was like, now, Kelly,
tell me, why am I here? And she meant as
a black woman, as a black actress, why am I here?
(36:18):
Are you serious? Am I seriously going to get this part?
And I could have given her a speech, but I
didn't need to. I was like, you can be lady Danbury.
That's how we see her. And that was the end
of that, and she did her audition and I'm glad
everyone else agreed. So it was as simple as that.
But I loved that she asked the question because the
question needed to be asked, and I'm glad she asked it.
(36:39):
It just is can you imagine anyone say the words
you have interned like that? No, fierce queen, loyal boss?
Before we go, The casting of the show is actually
one of the areas that gets the most attention and press.
(37:00):
So how did you feel about the response to the
cast once it was received? On a very simple level,
I think that the fact that we have talking points
and articles questioning our casting choices, and specifically I mean
(37:21):
actors of color in rules where most people haven't seen before. Now,
if that engages a debate, I think that's a great thing.
And I'm very willing to hear a negative comment about that,
because maybe it brings it to the table that I
can have a discussion in a context that I believe
that people can understand, So we don't have to be
(37:43):
educating with a documentary about the history of Black Lives matter.
This is in a context I think maybe some people
can understand. And if one person can understand that, well,
are you upset by our choice of casting for Lady Danbury?
And if I can talk through that with someone and
very clear and simple terms, which let's face it, it
(38:03):
is simple, it doesn't matter. And if that person can
understand when we finish that conversation that why are you
angry about that? If they can ask themselves, actually, why
am I angry about that? Then maybe that one person
ends up being a better person, and the next time
a show does it, maybe they'll be less questions. And
if we're part of that, then I think we've done
(38:25):
really well and we're certainly not the end of it.
And with that we'll drop the mic. Right there, Kelly
has spoken and it is sprinkled with Shonda Land. Okay,
(38:48):
I'm hoping that this conversation soothed your curiosities about what's
going on with casting? You guys are hungry. I see
you on Twitter. But we have to leave something to
the imagination, right. I suppose we can show you a
little ankle. And I'm sure you've heard recent news. If
you haven't, just google Queen Charlotte Shondaland and Jess Brownell,
(39:08):
one of my co hosts, and just dine on that.
Just celebrate that for a little bit until next time,
Dear hearts, I'm going to raise a glass to my
co host Jess Brownell and Shonda Rhymes and the Shondaland
family and Bridgerton. The Official Podcast is executive produced by
Lauren Homan, Sandy Bailey, Holly Fry and me Gabrielle Collins.
Our producer is Chris Van Duson, and our editor is
(39:32):
Vincent de Johnny Bridgerton. The Official Podcast is a production
of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio. For more podcasts
from Shondaland Audio, visit the iHeartRadio app or anywhere you
subscribe to your favorite shows.
Host
Gabrielle Collins
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