June 27, 2024 • 53 mins
This week, we’re bringing you an action-packed podcast to match an action-packed episode. As Violet Bridgerton’s romance heats up, host Gabi Collins spoke to the actress that portrays her onscreen, Ruth Gemmell. They broke down Lady Bridgerton’s motivations and her best moments as a mama. Then, episode seven director Tom Verica joins the show to deconstruct some of the themes in the episode and talk about bringing Benedict’s kiss heard round the world to life. And, fittingly, Luke Thompson – Benedict’s actor – caps off the episode by talking about what all of this might mean for our beloved rebel.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bridgerton The Official Podcast is a production of Shondaland in
partnership with iHeartRadio. Welcome to Bridgerton the Official Podcast, your
exclusive peak behind the curtain of Shondaland's Bridgerton series. I'm
your host, Gabby Collins. Today we're talking about episode seven,
(00:25):
Joining of Hands, and boy do we have a star
studded slate of guests. We're kicking off with Ruth Gemmel,
who plays Lady Violet Bridgerton. Then we're talking to Bridgerton
executive producer and ingenius director Tom Verica, and finally we're
getting into the gasp of the episode with Benedict Bridgerton.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Luke Thompson.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
If you haven't watched the episode yet, stop what you're doing,
head over to Netflix and catch up all of Bridgerton.
Season three is out now, then come back. But before that,
let's recap episode seven, or my goodness, let's at least
try where to begin. Well, Colin knows Penn's Lady Whistledown.
(01:16):
Welcome to the in crowd, Colin. He doesn't take the
news very well. Pen's actually one of the most powerful
people in the ton and to boot, she's a published
writer and so just days before their wedding, Penelope and
Colin are on the outs. In the morning, the ton
is greeted by dueling Whistledown papers. The first published by
(01:40):
Cressida aims low blows at the Bridgertons. The real Whistledown
publishes her usual delightful gazette of true gossip. Meanwhile, Violet
tends to her own potential love match.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
For a change.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Lord Anderson comes calling, and she's maybe sort of into it.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
One Francesca and Lord kil Martin's affairs are in order.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Do you think perhaps the two of us could explore
something together.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I am not uninterested in exploration.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
They've both got issues to sort out on their own.
And speaking of the Bridgerton family's romance drama, Benedict is
no exception. Lady Tilly has a proposal that shakes Benedict
in a way that we have not seen yet. She
invites Benedict to join her and the intoxicating Paul. In
(02:38):
the meantime, Holland and Penelope tentatively make out, I mean
makeup after he catches her on the street, whistle downing
once again, you're.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
Putting yourself in danger being out here tonight and You've
been putting yourself in danger, living this double life all along.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
I have been careful, you have been foolish.
Speaker 6 (02:58):
I can take care of myself.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
What I to you?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Penn and Colin wake up the next morning and get married.
The ensuing wedding breakfast is a time for reconciliation after
so much strife, and for some a moment of realization.
Benedict finds himself waiting for Tilly to come home with Paul,
and with a Bridgeton worthy kiss to each he embarks
(03:25):
on a new chapter. Now let's get into it. We're
starting with a conversation about the pivotal character behind every
Bridgerton wedding. Ruth Gemmel is here to talk about bringing
Lady Violet Bridgeton to life season after season, and what
it's been like to finally tend to her own garden.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Nice to see Ruth, Nice to see Lovely.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
I love seeing Lady Bridgerton and Lady Danbury's friendship continue
to grow, flours change as time goes on. There is
a moment where we do get some insight into that friendship.
There's a conversation where Violet tells Lady dan Berry that
(04:16):
her care of Lady Danberry is not contingent on her
aid and in a world where relationships are very transactional,
respectability politics, all that, it really sets the tone for
the female relationships that we see over the course of
(04:38):
the whole season actually with Jea, Elouise and Cressida and yeah,
so what do you find yourself channeling when you really
bring those relationships to life on screen.
Speaker 7 (04:51):
It's a joy to work without you, It's an absolute joy,
and we've had a lot of fun. She's a store
to the theater. There are times when we have those
intimate scenes together that are it's like a dance, it's
like being on stage with the woman. And yeah, it's
a real joy to explore friendship. Female friendship. It's nice,
(05:14):
it's really lovely. And so all those moments when we've
had a cross word in it are sort of entertainment
for us act.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
You know, if that makes any sense.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, yeah, you're kind of not making her happy with
your with.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Your interests this particular season.
Speaker 7 (05:37):
No, but she's very careful of Lady Dembury violence. So
it's also quite lovely that it's Lady Danbury who brings
up her father. You know, that was as far as I,
as far as Violet is concerned, was put to bed
quietly sort of sort of an acknowledgment in Queen Charlotte.
And because of where we are with the with Lord
(05:59):
Anderson and everything, it's Lady Danbury who brings up my father.
And it's a really nice it's a really nice acknowledgment
of two women's love for the same man in a
very different way, and it's a very it's lovely.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
It's lovely.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, yeah, definitely one of my favorite relationships.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Perhaps I can convince her, Majesty that is not necessary.
Speaker 8 (06:27):
You know, something you and your brother have in common
is a very kind urge to constantly help others. But
I hope you know that my care for you is
not contingent on your aid. I am here for you,
Agatha always.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
We'll be right back after the break. We're back with
more bridgeton the official podcast. Okay, So, speaking of backstory,
for anyone who's like, wait, wait, recenter me, young Agatha.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, I had a thing with young Violet's.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Father back in the day, right, and they had only
discovered that later years later, after they had formed a
friendship and.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Charlotte children have grown up.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah, the father has has passed. Is that backstory something
the two of you discussed a lot before filming season three?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
The yes, I'm sorry for season three.
Speaker 7 (07:42):
Well, weirdly enough, we were filming Queen Charlotte around about
the same time as season three, so the backstory was
in our head all the time. And I guess because
of how we resolved that moment. I guess, as as characters,
we had resolved how we were going to go forward
in our friendship.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
What did you find yourself reveling in when you got
the scripts this time around?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Then it was it's nice to.
Speaker 7 (08:11):
Get all that sort of hot under the color collar
and flirt a little bit.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
That's been really good fun as well.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Nice speaking of moments of getting hot and bothered, I
love the garden scenes you have with Lady Danbury and
Queen Charlotte where Viola says, my garden is in bloom.
Speaker 7 (08:29):
Which my brother quotes back at me quite a lot
just to embarrass me, which is slightly slightly.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Oh no, yeah, oh my goodness. Yeah. I feel like
everyone had a little bit of secondhand embarrassment for violence
in that moment, and I thought it was more so
how how Agatha was just like just laughing.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah, I think she's been behaving like my brother. Yeah, right, right, right.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
It's so neat to see a love interest or a
spark of something. Yeah, for me, tell me a little
bit about that, especially right off the hills of the
garden conversation.
Speaker 7 (09:13):
Well, I think it takes it by surprise. I think
she's I think it's not like she's going to go
headlong into something, because I think she's somebody who very
much has her children and their interest in how they
would feel about the whole thing. But she, you know,
she's not adverse to the idea of a bit of
flirtation and the rest of it. And I think, you know,
(09:36):
she discovers that it's Lady Tampery's brother, and I think, like.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Most people, you'd think that was great.
Speaker 7 (09:42):
But actually, when she realizes that her friend doesn't think
this is a great idea, it's sort of slightly tentative.
But it was really lovely to play the scenes when
there are only two of us in the room, because
we've played them very differently, Daniel to when we were
in a ball scene or you know, with loads of
(10:06):
people around.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Yeah, you know, that was that was that was nice
to discover.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
I loved the moment when Lord Anderson comes to visit
and your you know, Violet's just chilling out doing her
needle point. She's relaxing, and Lord Anderson comes to visit
and the way you embody just kind of that. I
(10:31):
wouldn't call it girlish, it's very just.
Speaker 7 (10:35):
It probably is yeah, well yeah yeah, and it's that
being alone, but yeah, it's I really enjoyed doing that.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
With that Daniel. Yeah, yeah, lovely.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Yeah, she's just so surprised that the caller is for
her and yeah it's Lord Anderson. I guess that's the
thing that's so interesting about Violet. Are beautiful about Violet
is is that that whole like pursuit of love or
that thunderbolt that, as you said, it still kind of
dwells within her, Like she's still very much although she
(11:09):
has learned a lot with Eloise and now Francesca, she's
still very much is that person looking for that she does.
Speaker 7 (11:17):
But that's why I brought up about Francesca, because Francesca
shows her that there is another way to love someone,
that it doesn't have to be what I had with Edmund.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Because I think Edmund.
Speaker 7 (11:29):
Will always be her great love I think I think
I think it's important to be true to the to
the books in that way as well. But I do
think she understands that you can have different loves. I mean,
we've all had different boyfriends probably and girlfriends, and we
kind of realize that no relationship.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Is the same, are they.
Speaker 7 (11:52):
They're always very, very different, and what you love about
someone you love something different in someone else, and you know,
they all ever but he has different qualities. And I
think because she'd only ever known Edmund, it was a revelation.
You know, she flirts and she likes him, and she's
nervous and she's girly, and then Francesca kind of allows
(12:12):
her to see that there's another possibility, that there's a
different possibility, and that's that's really lovely.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I think that's lovely. So my teacher children are teaching
me a thing or two.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
I also, I mean the way Jess and the writers
also choose to to word the way while it puts
things like.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
I'm not uninterested in exploration.
Speaker 9 (12:36):
Yes it's yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm making him work,
not straight out with it, but at the same time
I hear what you're saying, yeah.
Speaker 7 (12:50):
Which is so hilarious because he's so direct.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
You mentioned Francesca and how.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Hannah Doab's character Francesca has taught Violet Bridgerton a thing
or two. This is about moving into the next chapter.
There's a really unique dynamic there. In some ways you're
mirroring one another, and in other ways you're total opposites.
I was trying to get into Violet's head and figure
out why Violet wasn't thrilled by Francesca's interest in Lord Kilmartin.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
She was so opposed to it. I was just like, why.
Speaker 7 (13:30):
I think because what she expects her children to experience
is what she expected, which was that sort of thunderbolt,
and because they're so quiet and silent and have it,
and because Francisca keeps saying to me, I don't expect
the thunderbolt. I want, I want a good, honest match,
(13:50):
I want to you know, all of that kind of thing.
And I think I've railed against it because I have
a feeling it won't last the test of time. So
I think that's what it is. And what's really interesting
is the moment it changes. There are two moments, one
of which is when John is telling a story which
we've all found difficult to listen to because we're not
really on his wavelength, and she is just besotted with him.
(14:14):
And I see this and I just think it doesn't
matter what I think, because she's happy. And then there's
another moment when at Colin and Penelope's wedding, John takes
her onto the dance floor in a kind of a whirlwind,
which is so unlike the pair of them that I
(14:34):
just think, actually, there is something here. And then also
how she talks about love, how she talks about love
on the day of her wedding. I see it, and
I get it, and then I can say, off, you
go and be happy. But I think the reticence is
purely because she doesn't trust that it will last the
(14:56):
test of time if it's not as dramatic and as
weirdly enough painful. I've watched two of my children be
really in pain because of love, and clearly I think that's.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
A great idea.
Speaker 7 (15:07):
But that's the that's why, that's it's not the man.
I can't fault the man, but I fault their connection.
And until I see some spark in them, I can't
let that go.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
It really is that simple. You're just like, no, this
is not boom fireworks. Yeah, with all the meddling that
Violet does, why she didn't why she didn't meddle more
between Eloise and Penelope or really well, I.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Think, well I can that's a very good point. I suppose.
Speaker 7 (15:42):
She had upset Eloise so much last season that I
think she's being tenteded. And there's I think there's a
ball that we go to and the first thing I
say is, I'm you know, I'm gonna I'm going to
stay off and lay off you a little bit, but
you know, perhaps you should broaden the horizons with your friendships.
So you know, I think I'm allowing her that bit
(16:03):
of freedom, having interjected a little too much last time.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Well, Ruth, this has been such a pleasure talking with
you about and Bridgerton episode seven. It's been a delight
watching you on screen. And I love what we see
with Lord Anderson. That's so exciting for all of us
who really are rooting for Violet, you know, so thank you,
(16:29):
so much, thank you.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
We'll be back after the.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Break to talk to episode seven's director, the one the
only Tom Verica recovering weddings.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
We're covering Whistledown.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
And we are covering the kiss Herd around the world.
Welcome back to Bridgerton the official podcast. Now nobody can
say Episode seven lacks action, a reveal, an engagement. There's
(17:04):
something for everyone, and I couldn't ask for a better
partner to walk me through it than the episode's director,
Tom Verica.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Hi Tom Verica, Hello, Gabrielle.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
How are you.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
I'm doing so well. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
One of the last thoughts I had before joining you
this morning is there are so many dark, night hooded
scenes in episode seven, which we're talking about today, quite
a different vibe from.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
What we've seen before.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Everything's very bright and beautiful or like in a location
or in a beautiful garden.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Everything's very there's a lot of nighttime. Yes, yes, Penelope's some.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Rats in there.
Speaker 10 (17:55):
We have some We got some rats in there in
the final scene, kind of symbolic of what's going on,
a little darker undertone, yes, yeah, setting up.
Speaker 11 (18:05):
For the finale. So it's all all very fun. I
remember when we were location scouting and we were for
the very last scene when Cressida comes up. We just
wanted to make sure drive home that it was this,
you know, a little bit seatier area, the contrast of
what the world that she's used to and where she
(18:25):
needs to go to try to.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Fight for her space.
Speaker 11 (18:29):
And I made this suggestion of having, you know, maybe
we'll have some rats to open the shot. And it
was a bit of a callback to season one because
I did the same thing. There was a scene with
Marina and Lady Featherington when they came to the oh yeah,
tougher part of town. Yeah, so I said, let's see
(18:50):
if anyone catches this. It's the only other time we
had rats in the show, I said. I was directed.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
No animals were harmed in the making of this element
streaming show.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Fred and Ginger.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Fred and Ginger are their names.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
I think that was their names.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Oh, Fred Ginger.
Speaker 11 (19:10):
They were dancing, dancing across the alley.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
So let's let's dive right into episode seven. There's so
much happening and arguably one of the most i mean,
jam packed episodes of all of the series. What are
some of the keys that you used to balance all
(19:37):
of these plot lines in creating a cohesive story.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
There's a lot going on.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
There is a lot going on.
Speaker 11 (19:45):
I directed, we shoot them in blocks, so I directed
both this episode seven and eight as well, So we
were filming oftentimes the very final scene of this season
as well, the final scenes. It was really a tremendous
challenge for the actors, for the writers, for myself to
(20:08):
honor these huge emotional moments that were culminating throughout this season,
whether they happened in eight in the finale, or seven,
which is a build up. In seven, I mean launches
right off the bat with that opening scene and that
scene in the alley and the emotional place they had
to be to kick off this episode really kind of
(20:31):
set the tone in the bar for where we were
going in this episode, that being the opening scene, and
knowing that we had to get to that they were
going to get married, that they're going to have, you know,
have a fight, have a passionate kiss, and dancing in
this beautiful So we had quite quite the arc of
(20:53):
all of these moments and very detailed laying out how
we went from one to the others. We would have
to we would have the three of us, Me and
Nicola and Luke would kind of just sync up where
we were when we were approaching one of these bigger scenes,
this one, I seem to get the wedding the wedding.
(21:16):
This is my third in the row. I think I
seem to get all the wedding episodes, which is fine.
I like them because I think they're so I enjoy
the mental journey that each character goes on and really
kind of designing how that unfolds through not only their journeys,
but the people who are there and what they're going through.
(21:39):
I kind of thrive on that. So I really this
was a very different one. But knowing we had to
get to this wedding and how fraud it was with
still some unresolved mode, the passion for one another, for
the for the two of them in this one was there.
But the conflict underneath and that secret that has not
(21:59):
come out yet, and then living with that was another
layer that we had had to play with before. And
it was Yeah, it was great. It was really just
navigating those these big swings and they were all as
you stated at the beginning, these are all very big sequences.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
You know.
Speaker 11 (22:19):
We spend numerous days at a particular location doing the
wedding breakfast. That was five or six days at one location.
The wedding we had a couple of days there. Yeah,
so it was there were a lot of these scenes
within scenes that you know might amount to about twenty
(22:40):
pages in the script, So that really requires you to
be there for quite a period of time.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
So we're like a traveling, traveling road show. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Yeah, it makes me wonder, Tom, if you ever have
time in between seasons where you are Bridgerton Universe free
and you reachn and re immerse yourself, how does this
how does your immersion in the beau Bridgeton universe actually
play out in your life?
Speaker 11 (23:08):
It's I mean, it is quite it's quite a it
goes year round for me. It, like I said, visual effects,
the music, composition, these things are happening. There's various stages
in the post production, whether we're doing the sound mix,
whether we're doing color timing. You know, I watch these episodes,
(23:31):
you know, probably twenty five thirty times each one through
different lenses, through different eyes about what needs to be,
whether it's audio or visual. So I feel very fortunate
to be part of the DNA of all these elements
coming together. And then you have a screening that you
(23:52):
hope go as well. But I, you know, I see
all those all those layers of what we you know,
what it's taken to get to that point then, and
it's it's certainly enjoy a moment and rewarding.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
I love the way you put it, like being part
of the DNA of this of this production. And in
some ways I feel like as viewers, a lot of
us are so invested that I wouldn't say we're part
of the DNA, but we definitely are invested in more
(24:29):
of those intimate moments between the characters.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
At this point in.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
The life of the Bridger Verse, as we've been has
it's been delivered from Shondaland, and there are there are
moments in episode seven that I would love to talk
to you about as far as your direction and working
with the cast. The moment between Tilly and Benedict. They're
(24:55):
sitting on a love seat and Tilly asked Benedict about
his interest in being with a man.
Speaker 8 (25:02):
If you did not feel anything the Mistu Suarez let
us you and I continue on our own.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
But you should know my staff are very discreet.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
And while he's somewhat covering his true feelings, his hands
are telling another story. And you cut to his hands,
which appears to be discomfort. Maybe maybe it's just nervous energy.
Whatever that emotion he's giving us with his hands is
(25:35):
definitely different from what he's saying. And I'm wondering if
that's something that you found in your work with the
actors in that moment, or if that's in the script.
Speaker 12 (25:48):
See, this is what I love about you, Gaby. If
you can't get any of these moments by you, you see,
I mean we made a moment of it. But yeah,
some of this stuff is scripted. Sometimes it's not. I
I tend to in in my kind of signature on
this show. I really have made many moments about.
Speaker 11 (26:12):
Hands and going back to Simon and Daphne when they
had their first touch. Oftentimes they are scripted, how we
film them, how we we shoot them is when and
when we choose to use them, and he.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Edit is really what kind of punctuates them. I think.
Speaker 11 (26:34):
We did have that moment where Tilly's I think it
said Tilly's hand touches his knee. But I think this
a lot of this was really the mark of Luke
Thompson and his brilliance and his physical his physicalizing what
he's what he's saying in the contrast of what he's
(26:55):
going through. Oftentimes, what I'll do is I'll see what's
happening in there, and I'll do a separate pass with
the cameraman and I'll go over to the cameraman. I said,
I have him now saying his lines and doing and
the emotion that I want this one. I want you
to go down and really feature these hands and listen
for those moments, and I'll show them in the script.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
This at a moment where I'd like to get down.
Speaker 11 (27:17):
And tag that come off of him, and so I
will be very specific about when I feel it. It
is a moment that could play into the telling of
the body language of what someone is going through, and
particularly if it's in contrast to what they're saying. So
a lot of that is I don't think Luke and
(27:40):
I talked about that.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
I think I caught what.
Speaker 11 (27:43):
He was doing in that moment, and then it was
my working with the cameraman about capturing that.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
But there may be a moment where you know, in
the middle.
Speaker 11 (27:54):
Of the take, I'll sort of ask him to do
repeat that little beat there that is so he doesn't
feel that he's thinking about it, he just does it,
and then I catch kind of a very impulsive moment.
It's fun it's what I do. It's what a director does.
It's not just sort of a you know, it's searching
(28:16):
for those that behavior. I'm always looking for real behavior.
And when you have talent actors like we do here
and you know wherever, if you if you're fortunate enough
to have someone who really embodies that, there's so much
in the body language that I think it's it's a
real mark of what an actor does. If you could
(28:38):
turn the volume down when you're watching a show or
a film, and if you could see and if you
can tell what's going on between these two characters without
hearing the dialogue. So the visual language is always very
important for me to sort of tell that story because visually,
you know, we are seeing the story told in images
(29:01):
as well as hearing the importance of the dialogue, of
the script and the story.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Tom let's talk about the main event of the season
and this episode Hollin. Right when Colin finds Penelope on
the street yet again potentially doing some whistle down bidding.
The conversation that occurs is a really mature and honest
(29:26):
one where the two really can see each other. It's
such a relatable kind of undercurrent to the conversation that
they're having for today's audience. Tell us about navigating that
very very real conversation.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Yeah, that was.
Speaker 11 (29:45):
That was when we rehearsed and we worked on and
it takes a lot of turns, but you kind of
hit it. There's so much going on. They've reached a
new plateau in this moment and in this scene in
their relationship, but all those elements of real love and
the real attraction towards one another, in the realization of
(30:06):
them being together, but his insecurity.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
About the type, about her.
Speaker 11 (30:13):
Abilities as a writer and as an independent woman. I mean,
you know, elements of what potential could be that but
that she isn't just totally going to fold into whatever
it is that he says it's going to be. There
is so much going on in that scene and then
building to this moment where this passion when they reveal
(30:36):
that to one another, and here they are, you know,
in a doorway, letting passion get the best of them,
which overtakes you know, that sort of real raw emotion
that is underneath all of this that explodes in that moment,
and then the risk of are not even thinking about
where they are and out in public and.
Speaker 6 (30:58):
I realized how much damage I have on Lambs, so
so sorry for it too.
Speaker 5 (31:01):
Are you thinking when you wrote about Elouise.
Speaker 6 (31:04):
I was trying to protect her? I realized now how
much ky.
Speaker 5 (31:06):
Did I watch when you wrote about miss Thompson exposing
her as you did, ruining her.
Speaker 6 (31:11):
I thought I was protecting you.
Speaker 5 (31:12):
Then you should have told me to my face, I
know or do you not respect me enough? It is
clear you do not after what you've written about me
this year, But I hardly know myself.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
What were you thinking?
Speaker 11 (31:24):
Man?
Speaker 6 (31:25):
I was thinking that I simply wanted the colin I
know back I should have told you myself.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
There are so many things I should have.
Speaker 6 (31:31):
Done myself, and now the confidence you have helped me
find this year, I'm finally able to.
Speaker 11 (31:37):
We were really excited to do this. I remember it
was a very cold night and we were downtown London
and there was a lot of sounds. I think it
was a Friday night and we were contending with a
lot of noises, and I think there was even somebody
from a window above above us that was saying keep
it down.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
At one moment where we laughed during a take.
Speaker 11 (31:57):
Oh yeah, because we were in we were in in
the city. So we had this one kind of very
historic block that we found the film in. We were
against the elements, So those elements were very real in
the two thousand and twenty three world that were sort
(32:19):
of infusing itself with some you know, drunken banter down
the end of a block with people walking by. You know,
there was a lot of elements that we had to
get said with, but they were troopers. I mean we
really you know, you, Honor, You're always dealing with elements
in some respect one way or another. But with Luke
(32:41):
and Nicola navigating and dialing up those moments of strength
that doesn't want to feel like a you know, a
bruised ego baby boy, but someone who's really kind of
principled and trying to do the right thing and really
trying to figure out how not only is what society
(33:05):
will think, but what is his feeling.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
About that which he hasn't quite come to terms with.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
So you mentioned the wedding. It was maybe modest isn't
the word, especially in this universe, but definitely maybe subdued
in comparison to some of the other weddings that you've shot.
I think many of us will feel like there's a
moment that has your fingerprints all over it, and it's
(33:32):
the dance between just the two the groom and the
bride that follows. Was this written in Is this something
you and Jess were Again?
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Yeah, Eric, I did.
Speaker 11 (33:45):
And again I'll always you know, I'll talk to Jess
about these moments. We always have the option to not
use it. It's something that I said, look, i'll show
it to If you don't like it, you don't have
to use it. But I obviously I've done it a
couple of times. It's just, you know, I just love
that moment when two people are just so connected to
one another that the world falls away, and I think.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
It is it was.
Speaker 11 (34:11):
It was a brief moment that we went to it
From a filming schedule standpoint, it does take a while
to do because you know, my ad is like shaking
his head, like we're not doing this again. But I said, look,
this is the story. We We've got to I've got
to shoot the way the story and what it is
(34:32):
and what it speaks to me. But this moment where
they they take to the dance floor in this kind
of spontaneous moment in the middle of people that's during
the day, which was something we had never done before
as well. All these balls are always at nighttime, but
there's kids here, and kids don't usually they're not usually around,
you know, the younger, bridgeston kids are you are here
(34:56):
in this environment, so that doesn't usually happen in that kind
of scenario. So because of where they were emotionally in
that moment, and because the wedding itself, the ceremony itself.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Was on.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
The page in script, it was a little more.
Speaker 11 (35:13):
Modest, a little more less than some of these other ones,
which there was so much happening at that moment. But
we've seen so much what's happening before and after with
this couple that were with them already, and their moment
really comes at the wedding breakfast when they had that
beautiful dance together. That was Yeah, that was a moment
that I just saw and Luke and Nikola did not
(35:36):
know the morning of that I was filming it that
I was going to do that, but they got such
a charge out of it and they loved it, not
knowing that that was going to happen. When I pulled
every or before I brought everyone else in for the
rest of the scene.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
I said, they were wondering why they're coming to such
just the two of them. I'm like, we're going to
do this first, and they were.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Like, oh my god, I love it so Uh yeah
it does.
Speaker 11 (36:02):
And the spotan eighty of that, I mean, not in
my part, sometimes in my part, but uh, it feeds
I think the actors and what's happening with them in
their story that it brings layers of emotion that they
weren't preparing. That is always nice to capture because you
there's again, there's that spotan eighty that you that you
(36:26):
haven't rehearsed or thought about so much.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
That you just let yourself go.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Good. Way, can we get away from here?
Speaker 6 (36:35):
I've spent so long cleaning to walls like this, I
do not wish to do that any longer.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
I don't think I have an enemy to greet any
more guests. And perhaps we could dance.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Yeah, definitely definitely felt Penelope when she was like, can
we just go?
Speaker 2 (36:53):
I have been there, Yeah, yep, but you have to
sort of you.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Know, yep, yeah, way exactly exactly. So now let's talk
about the charge that you gave all of us watching,
And that's the episode's ending, Episode seven's ending, and it's
the it's a moment we thought was possible since season one,
(37:21):
and it's fiery, and it's a culmination of so many
of Benedict's thoughts and feelings and escapades, and he finally
he kisses Tilly and finally leans in and kisses Paul
even more like, with even more intensity, and it's just
such a moment that I can't even find the words.
(37:44):
But because of not being able to find the words,
I also wondered if there was, in a similar way
a balance of getting it right and just letting it happen.
Speaker 11 (37:58):
It was that those moments, because they're so specific, are
very technical.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
They were in the script.
Speaker 11 (38:06):
Each one of those beats were very much scripted out
as to what happened. And that is Jess was very
particular about what she wanted.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
We were all very.
Speaker 11 (38:15):
Clear about the decision making when it happens, when it
turns the fact that it's not just it's not excluding
Tilly that it really becomes this threesome, but the moments
of when Benedict's ready to leap and when he's ready
to take that chance we do with the three actors,
(38:38):
with Hannah and Lucas who played Paul and Luke Thompson.
We talked through that and we will first read the
script about the beats that happens and then just start
kind of getting it up on its feet with the
intimacy coordinator as well. So it was, you know, it
might just require a bit of a laying the beat more.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
I'll ask Luke to.
Speaker 11 (39:05):
Hold his look to Tilly a little bit longer before
his eyes fall over onto Paul. I remember we specifically
we had this sort of lean in like should I
should I feeling it, then backing off and Paul kind
of giving that permission, and then basically Ben at that
moment just saying no, I want to know what this is,
(39:28):
and he commits, and then it's again, you know, it
wasn't about getting.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
Their clothes off.
Speaker 11 (39:35):
I think we want to insinuate what was going and
then eight obviously it really becomes this kind of three
true threesome and how they're physically connected but just emotionally
connected as well.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Oh Tom, thank you so much, absolutely, absolutely thank you
so much for your time today and for this amazing
season and all the work that you're still doing right now.
Speaker 13 (40:00):
The show.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
We'll cure it up for the next one soon.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
We'll be right back after the break. We're back with
more bridgeton the official podcast, and what a perfect way
to dive into our last interview for episode seven, we're
catching up with Benedict Bridgerton himself. We've been waiting for
(40:30):
Benedict to make a decision like this for three seasons.
Boy did he decide.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Luke.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
Benedict is kind of a fan favorite, so I think
people will be really excited to see him come to
the forefront this season a bit more so, Let's talk
about the biggest revelation in this episode, which comes at
the end, which is, of course the kiss. This is
a upper Bridgerton kiss. You know, it's full of passion
(41:06):
and it's one of those scenes that has you just
kind of swept up off your feet with the three
of them.
Speaker 14 (41:11):
Yeah, there's a moment when Benedict kisses Tilly and when
he kisses Paul, and in that in between moment, it's
just kind of heart wrenching, or at least my heart
I felt a thing.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
It's one of the first times that you see Benedict
out of breath and maybe at a loss for words,
which is kind of crazy.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
For his character.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
So, can you take me back to the moment that
you read that kiss in the script and kind of
like what were your reactions to seeing it on the
page and what did you think it was going to
mean for Benedict's character.
Speaker 4 (41:50):
Well, I think the first thing that's great about it
is that it goes back to some of the essence
of Bridgeton, really, which is to remind people that people
weren't that different back then and that actually, we like
to think nowadays that we sort of sussed everything out
and we're discovering all these new things and all these
new ways of living. And actually I remember I got
(42:11):
years ago doing a play with Byron and you know
Byron Shelley and that you know, they had all sorts
of mistresses and you know, groups, and you know they
were experimenting as well with you know, not being just
in a sort of single monogamous couple, and so it's there,
It was there at the time, and so again I think,
(42:32):
like what's delightful about Bridgington is that it constantly reminds
of that, and I like moments. It's nice to read
moments like that in the script because you think, oh, yes,
of course, of course they were experimenting at that time.
Of course they maybe didn't have the same words for it,
but of course they were still experimenting with it. It's
just interesting just in terms of Benedict, because I feel
like it ties into something that was sort of floated
(42:55):
a little bit in season one as well, you know,
with with with them, with Henry So. And I loved
how that sort of like was never I really liked
how that was sort of subtle and it wasn't you know,
it didn't sort of turn into anything.
Speaker 13 (43:09):
It was just sort of like a you know.
Speaker 4 (43:11):
You're watching, you think, I wonder and so actually then
to sort of break through that in this moment is
really Yeah, it's really exciting to sort of cuts back
to at that moment, you know, two seasons ago.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
It was so interesting to see that kind of hint
from season one brought back now.
Speaker 13 (43:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
And I think what's interesting about it too is that
Bridgeton is a series about finding freedom through love and
finding yourself through romance.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
So I wondered if any.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
Of that rang true for you while you were shooting
these scenes. What did it enable you to do as Benedict.
Speaker 4 (43:52):
Well, I think it goes back to sort of like
a really fundamental thing, which is that you don't you know,
you hear so much nowadays of just that I'll just
be yourself, like it's all about being yourself and authenticity.
But actually I think that what's always interesting, particularly in
terms of love, but just more generally, is that actually,
you know, you don't you can't be yourself. You have
to find out, like you know, you have to do
(44:15):
things in order to find out who you are.
Speaker 13 (44:16):
You don't you know it's it's.
Speaker 4 (44:18):
And that you know that can that can be fraught
with all sorts of anxiety because if you do something
like that was this who I am?
Speaker 13 (44:24):
And blah blah blah.
Speaker 4 (44:25):
And actually what's really refreshing about Benedict and really nice
to explore is that he seems to do it with
very little neurosis actually, like there is excitement, and as
you say, there is that sort of like hesitation. But
actually I think what's really refreshing, particularly from a male
character actually as well, I feel like male sexuality generally
(44:46):
can be seen as quite sort of boxy, as in
like you know, you're either this or you're that, or
you're you know here, either gay, straight, or bisexual or whatever,
but it's like just one thing. And actually it's really
nice to watch a male character explore that, not in
this ins necessarily in the sort of spirit of some
sort of like long repressed you know thing, but actually
just exploration and without the sort of like angst that
(45:08):
often you know, understandably for all sorts of reasons, you know,
I mean that scene in season one where you know,
they still talk about the fact that you know, in
that society, it's it's frowned upon, you know, So there
is that tension, but also that for him it's just
it's exploration and it's not sort of some sort of
big statement about who he is, and he doesn't feel
(45:30):
sort of anxious about that, which I think is a
really nice thing to portray, I think, and quite rare,
you know, I don't think that. I don't think I
often see that on screen.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
And it's something really lovely to see. So the other
thing is that Benedict is sort of a little directionless.
Maybe in this season when it opens, you know, Anthony
is out in his honeymoon and Benedict has long been
the second son trying to figure out what he wants
to do. What do you think Benedict sees in Tilly
(46:04):
and maybe Paul even and what do they bring out
for him in the state that he's in where I
guess he's not really sure exactly what he wants to do.
Speaker 4 (46:16):
Well, I guess I guess the thing with Tilly and Paul,
particularly Tilly is that.
Speaker 13 (46:22):
It's funny, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (46:23):
It's she's a very strong character who will sort of
she'll take the lead in a way, I mean, you know,
and I think he I guess similarly that sort of
happens with Paul as well. And I think maybe that
that sort of points, I guess to maybe a flaw
of Benedict maybe, which is that he will sort of.
Speaker 13 (46:43):
He's not very good at sort of.
Speaker 4 (46:44):
Establishing what he wants to do as it necessarily that's
not necessarily a starting point. He's more sort of interested
in what other people where they want to take him.
And obviously that's absolutely fine to live like that, you know,
Like I think every it's part of going up.
Speaker 13 (47:00):
I think so. I think what's.
Speaker 4 (47:01):
Attractive to be probably about Paul Antony as has said,
is that they they laid the path for him in
a way, not in a manipulative way, at all, but
in the sort of you know, he can he can
take a queue from them.
Speaker 1 (47:16):
It's always nice to see the Bridgeton's a little uncomfortable, exactly,
a little out of their depth is always fun.
Speaker 4 (47:23):
Well, they've got you know, you know, they've got so
much going for them, and they're a nice, rich family.
They need to be a bit, they need to be needled.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
A bit, they need to be challenged.
Speaker 13 (47:32):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (47:33):
Well, speaking of that extra sprinkle of conflict. We talked
with Tom Verrika about this. There are these really beautiful
close ups on Benedict's hands where he's kind of twiddling
his thumbs and stuff, and I was just wondering what
it was like to embody that you did such a
(47:55):
great job of physically showing who Benedict is.
Speaker 13 (47:59):
Well, this is funny. It's funny.
Speaker 4 (48:00):
It's a stranger process than that really for all acting really,
which is that there's obviously you you make certain decisions
and you decide to do certain things, and you know
there is an element of control, but then there's lots
of the sort of more interesting stuff is stuff that
you're not even you don't even realize you're doing. So
actually the challenge is actually to not sort of I
(48:24):
guess I'm only partially aware maybe of what you're referring to.
Speaker 13 (48:28):
You do you see what I mean? And which which,
which I think is how it should work.
Speaker 4 (48:32):
You know that there are some elements obviously that you know,
you're given a structure, and you do take some decisions.
But then actually, particularly when you're working with a really
nice script, you just let the sort of the script
do the work. And sometimes if it is just there
is no script, if there are no words, you know,
you basically let the director just sort of frame you
into whatever the situation is.
Speaker 13 (48:51):
And then you just see what happens.
Speaker 4 (48:53):
So I guess, yeah, the fun of it is and
the challenge of it is to to just sort of
let let stuff happen that maybe you're not even aware of,
you know.
Speaker 13 (49:05):
So actually it's it's the challenges.
Speaker 4 (49:08):
To try and not try and control it. And then
I think, as I say, that's sort of hopefully more
compelling to watch.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
I feel like one of the highlights, especially of this
episode Benedict's reactions to everything good. So it's coming through,
it's beautifully unfiltered and curated.
Speaker 13 (49:26):
Good. I'm glad there's this.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
Point where ben is talking to Eloise at the wedding breakfast,
and Elowise is crying, and you know, he asked her,
do you have room in your heart for all of
us siblings?
Speaker 13 (49:38):
Which brother or sister do you.
Speaker 3 (49:40):
Like the best?
Speaker 4 (49:41):
Gregory clearly, fair enough, but I know there is room
enough in your heart for the rest of us.
Speaker 13 (49:49):
Love is not by night, Eloise.
Speaker 1 (49:52):
And that seems to be the thing that kind of
sets him on this trajectory to go seek out Tillian. Paul, Yeah,
did you have any reactions to reading that line?
Speaker 13 (50:01):
Again?
Speaker 4 (50:02):
I think that sort of points to a flaw in Benedict,
because actually, if you want to build.
Speaker 13 (50:06):
Something with someone, it is finite.
Speaker 4 (50:08):
And you know when like I remember, like if when
I'm in a bookshop, I sort of get completely paralyzed
because I'm like, what, I want to read all of it?
I want to read I want to read all the
books and you can't. And then certainly you're like, what's
the point of reading any of them if you can't
read all of them? And actually the thing is no,
you just have to pick some to read, like you
can't absorb everything. And I think that's a very young
(50:29):
thing to think to, you know, when you're maybe you know,
a little less mature that you sort of think, oh,
I just want to absorb everything, and I just want
to you know, date everyone and do everything, and you know,
and I guess part of the so what's interesting about
him saying that is that, Yeah, I guess it points
to the fact that actually that only takes you so far.
(50:50):
And it's lovely to have that enthusiasm and that curiosity
for new experiences and new people, and yeah, that sense
love is sort of, you know, not finite. Maybe Benedict
running away from something a little more profound.
Speaker 1 (51:04):
Are there any onset moments that made you excited about
the way the episode might be received.
Speaker 4 (51:10):
I feel like I think I feel like that one
of the main things I'm really excited about is it
was it was really nice to build the relationship that
the build that relationship that triangle.
Speaker 13 (51:20):
And obviously, first.
Speaker 4 (51:21):
That relationship with Tilly and Hannah News just done such
an amazing She's an incredible actress, and it was just
so easy and you know that to get to dance
together as well. And again, you know, with an actor
like that opposite you, you know, moments even like a
dance aren't just a dance like they become a real
(51:42):
sort of you know, examining of a relationship and the
beginning of a relationship, and so it's full of other stuff.
It's not just you moving your feet and unison. There's
there's something else going on.
Speaker 13 (51:55):
And so I'm just.
Speaker 4 (51:56):
Really excited to share that whole threat for also of reasons,
but mainly because I think that my colleagues that did
such an amazing job and we're so amazing to work
with and it's just right.
Speaker 13 (52:13):
I just think it's.
Speaker 4 (52:14):
Really it's a really lovely deepening of the Benedict story.
Speaker 13 (52:18):
I think.
Speaker 1 (52:22):
Thank you for listening to this episode of Bridgerton the
Official Podcast.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
Join me next week for.
Speaker 1 (52:30):
The finale, the Big Finale. I'll be joined by showrunner
Jess Brownell to walk us through the massive installment and
the one and only Nikola Cochlin gracees us with all
things Penelope. If you're enjoying this show, please subscribe, share
with your friends, rate, or leave us a review. And
(52:53):
if you haven't finished binging Bridgerton on Netflix, please go
do that so you can enjoy all the juicy spoilers
with us. Us. Bridgerton the Official Podcast is produced by
Shondaland Audio and Wonder Media Network. This show is executive
produced by Sandy Bailey, Alex Alcea, Lauren Homan, Jenny Kaplan,
(53:16):
and Emily Rudder. Our producers are Sarah Schleid, Edie Allard,
and Carmen Borca Carreo. This episode is edited by Jenny
Kaplan and Emily Rudder. Our associate producers are Lauren Williams
and Akia mcnight and I Am Your Host Gabrielle Collins.
For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
(53:38):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Bridgerton The Official Podcast is a production of Shondaland in
partnership with iHeartRadio. Welcome to Bridgerton the Official Podcast, your
exclusive peak behind the curtain of Shondaland's Bridgerton series. I'm
your host, Gabby Collins. Today we're talking about episode seven,
(00:25):
Joining of Hands, and boy do we have a star
studded slate of guests. We're kicking off with Ruth Gemmel,
who plays Lady Violet Bridgerton. Then we're talking to Bridgerton
executive producer and ingenius director Tom Verica, and finally we're
getting into the gasp of the episode with Benedict Bridgerton.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Luke Thompson.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
If you haven't watched the episode yet, stop what you're doing,
head over to Netflix and catch up all of Bridgerton.
Season three is out now, then come back. But before that,
let's recap episode seven, or my goodness, let's at least
try where to begin. Well, Colin knows Penn's Lady Whistledown.
(01:16):
Welcome to the in crowd, Colin. He doesn't take the
news very well. Pen's actually one of the most powerful
people in the ton and to boot, she's a published
writer and so just days before their wedding, Penelope and
Colin are on the outs. In the morning, the ton
is greeted by dueling Whistledown papers. The first published by
(01:40):
Cressida aims low blows at the Bridgertons. The real Whistledown
publishes her usual delightful gazette of true gossip. Meanwhile, Violet
tends to her own potential love match.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
For a change.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Lord Anderson comes calling, and she's maybe sort of into it.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
One Francesca and Lord kil Martin's affairs are in order.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Do you think perhaps the two of us could explore
something together.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I am not uninterested in exploration.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
They've both got issues to sort out on their own.
And speaking of the Bridgerton family's romance drama, Benedict is
no exception. Lady Tilly has a proposal that shakes Benedict
in a way that we have not seen yet. She
invites Benedict to join her and the intoxicating Paul. In
(02:38):
the meantime, Holland and Penelope tentatively make out, I mean
makeup after he catches her on the street, whistle downing
once again, you're.
Speaker 5 (02:50):
Putting yourself in danger being out here tonight and You've
been putting yourself in danger, living this double life all along.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
I have been careful, you have been foolish.
Speaker 6 (02:58):
I can take care of myself.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
What I to you?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Penn and Colin wake up the next morning and get married.
The ensuing wedding breakfast is a time for reconciliation after
so much strife, and for some a moment of realization.
Benedict finds himself waiting for Tilly to come home with Paul,
and with a Bridgeton worthy kiss to each he embarks
(03:25):
on a new chapter. Now let's get into it. We're
starting with a conversation about the pivotal character behind every
Bridgerton wedding. Ruth Gemmel is here to talk about bringing
Lady Violet Bridgeton to life season after season, and what
it's been like to finally tend to her own garden.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Nice to see Ruth, Nice to see Lovely.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
I love seeing Lady Bridgerton and Lady Danbury's friendship continue
to grow, flours change as time goes on. There is
a moment where we do get some insight into that friendship.
There's a conversation where Violet tells Lady dan Berry that
(04:16):
her care of Lady Danberry is not contingent on her
aid and in a world where relationships are very transactional,
respectability politics, all that, it really sets the tone for
the female relationships that we see over the course of
(04:38):
the whole season actually with Jea, Elouise and Cressida and yeah,
so what do you find yourself channeling when you really
bring those relationships to life on screen.
Speaker 7 (04:51):
It's a joy to work without you, It's an absolute joy,
and we've had a lot of fun. She's a store
to the theater. There are times when we have those
intimate scenes together that are it's like a dance, it's
like being on stage with the woman. And yeah, it's
a real joy to explore friendship. Female friendship. It's nice,
(05:14):
it's really lovely. And so all those moments when we've
had a cross word in it are sort of entertainment
for us act.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
You know, if that makes any sense.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Yeah, yeah, you're kind of not making her happy with
your with.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Your interests this particular season.
Speaker 7 (05:37):
No, but she's very careful of Lady Dembury violence. So
it's also quite lovely that it's Lady Danbury who brings
up her father. You know, that was as far as I,
as far as Violet is concerned, was put to bed
quietly sort of sort of an acknowledgment in Queen Charlotte.
And because of where we are with the with Lord
(05:59):
Anderson and everything, it's Lady Danbury who brings up my father.
And it's a really nice it's a really nice acknowledgment
of two women's love for the same man in a
very different way, and it's a very it's lovely.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
It's lovely.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah, yeah, definitely one of my favorite relationships.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Perhaps I can convince her, Majesty that is not necessary.
Speaker 8 (06:27):
You know, something you and your brother have in common
is a very kind urge to constantly help others. But
I hope you know that my care for you is
not contingent on your aid. I am here for you,
Agatha always.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
We'll be right back after the break. We're back with
more bridgeton the official podcast. Okay, So, speaking of backstory,
for anyone who's like, wait, wait, recenter me, young Agatha.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Yeah, I had a thing with young Violet's.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Father back in the day, right, and they had only
discovered that later years later, after they had formed a
friendship and.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Charlotte children have grown up.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah, the father has has passed. Is that backstory something
the two of you discussed a lot before filming season three?
Speaker 2 (07:39):
The yes, I'm sorry for season three.
Speaker 7 (07:42):
Well, weirdly enough, we were filming Queen Charlotte around about
the same time as season three, so the backstory was
in our head all the time. And I guess because
of how we resolved that moment. I guess, as as characters,
we had resolved how we were going to go forward
in our friendship.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
What did you find yourself reveling in when you got
the scripts this time around?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Then it was it's nice to.
Speaker 7 (08:11):
Get all that sort of hot under the color collar
and flirt a little bit.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
That's been really good fun as well.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Nice speaking of moments of getting hot and bothered, I
love the garden scenes you have with Lady Danbury and
Queen Charlotte where Viola says, my garden is in bloom.
Speaker 7 (08:29):
Which my brother quotes back at me quite a lot
just to embarrass me, which is slightly slightly.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Oh no, yeah, oh my goodness. Yeah. I feel like
everyone had a little bit of secondhand embarrassment for violence
in that moment, and I thought it was more so
how how Agatha was just like just laughing.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah, I think she's been behaving like my brother. Yeah, right, right, right.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
It's so neat to see a love interest or a
spark of something. Yeah, for me, tell me a little
bit about that, especially right off the hills of the
garden conversation.
Speaker 7 (09:13):
Well, I think it takes it by surprise. I think
she's I think it's not like she's going to go
headlong into something, because I think she's somebody who very
much has her children and their interest in how they
would feel about the whole thing. But she, you know,
she's not adverse to the idea of a bit of
flirtation and the rest of it. And I think, you know,
(09:36):
she discovers that it's Lady Tampery's brother, and I think, like.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Most people, you'd think that was great.
Speaker 7 (09:42):
But actually, when she realizes that her friend doesn't think
this is a great idea, it's sort of slightly tentative.
But it was really lovely to play the scenes when
there are only two of us in the room, because
we've played them very differently, Daniel to when we were
in a ball scene or you know, with loads of
(10:06):
people around.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Yeah, you know, that was that was that was nice
to discover.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
I loved the moment when Lord Anderson comes to visit
and your you know, Violet's just chilling out doing her
needle point. She's relaxing, and Lord Anderson comes to visit
and the way you embody just kind of that. I
(10:31):
wouldn't call it girlish, it's very just.
Speaker 7 (10:35):
It probably is yeah, well yeah yeah, and it's that
being alone, but yeah, it's I really enjoyed doing that.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
With that Daniel. Yeah, yeah, lovely.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Yeah, she's just so surprised that the caller is for
her and yeah it's Lord Anderson. I guess that's the
thing that's so interesting about Violet. Are beautiful about Violet
is is that that whole like pursuit of love or
that thunderbolt that, as you said, it still kind of
dwells within her, Like she's still very much although she
(11:09):
has learned a lot with Eloise and now Francesca, she's
still very much is that person looking for that she does.
Speaker 7 (11:17):
But that's why I brought up about Francesca, because Francesca
shows her that there is another way to love someone,
that it doesn't have to be what I had with Edmund.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Because I think Edmund.
Speaker 7 (11:29):
Will always be her great love I think I think
I think it's important to be true to the to
the books in that way as well. But I do
think she understands that you can have different loves. I mean,
we've all had different boyfriends probably and girlfriends, and we
kind of realize that no relationship.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Is the same, are they.
Speaker 7 (11:52):
They're always very, very different, and what you love about
someone you love something different in someone else, and you know,
they all ever but he has different qualities. And I
think because she'd only ever known Edmund, it was a revelation.
You know, she flirts and she likes him, and she's
nervous and she's girly, and then Francesca kind of allows
(12:12):
her to see that there's another possibility, that there's a
different possibility, and that's that's really lovely.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
I think that's lovely. So my teacher children are teaching
me a thing or two.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
I also, I mean the way Jess and the writers
also choose to to word the way while it puts
things like.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
I'm not uninterested in exploration.
Speaker 9 (12:36):
Yes it's yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm making him work,
not straight out with it, but at the same time
I hear what you're saying, yeah.
Speaker 7 (12:50):
Which is so hilarious because he's so direct.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
You mentioned Francesca and how.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Hannah Doab's character Francesca has taught Violet Bridgerton a thing
or two. This is about moving into the next chapter.
There's a really unique dynamic there. In some ways you're
mirroring one another, and in other ways you're total opposites.
I was trying to get into Violet's head and figure
out why Violet wasn't thrilled by Francesca's interest in Lord Kilmartin.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
She was so opposed to it. I was just like, why.
Speaker 7 (13:30):
I think because what she expects her children to experience
is what she expected, which was that sort of thunderbolt,
and because they're so quiet and silent and have it,
and because Francisca keeps saying to me, I don't expect
the thunderbolt. I want, I want a good, honest match,
(13:50):
I want to you know, all of that kind of thing.
And I think I've railed against it because I have
a feeling it won't last the test of time. So
I think that's what it is. And what's really interesting
is the moment it changes. There are two moments, one
of which is when John is telling a story which
we've all found difficult to listen to because we're not
really on his wavelength, and she is just besotted with him.
(14:14):
And I see this and I just think it doesn't
matter what I think, because she's happy. And then there's
another moment when at Colin and Penelope's wedding, John takes
her onto the dance floor in a kind of a whirlwind,
which is so unlike the pair of them that I
(14:34):
just think, actually, there is something here. And then also
how she talks about love, how she talks about love
on the day of her wedding. I see it, and
I get it, and then I can say, off, you
go and be happy. But I think the reticence is
purely because she doesn't trust that it will last the
(14:56):
test of time if it's not as dramatic and as
weirdly enough painful. I've watched two of my children be
really in pain because of love, and clearly I think that's.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
A great idea.
Speaker 7 (15:07):
But that's the that's why, that's it's not the man.
I can't fault the man, but I fault their connection.
And until I see some spark in them, I can't
let that go.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
It really is that simple. You're just like, no, this
is not boom fireworks. Yeah, with all the meddling that
Violet does, why she didn't why she didn't meddle more
between Eloise and Penelope or really well, I.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Think, well I can that's a very good point. I suppose.
Speaker 7 (15:42):
She had upset Eloise so much last season that I
think she's being tenteded. And there's I think there's a
ball that we go to and the first thing I
say is, I'm you know, I'm gonna I'm going to
stay off and lay off you a little bit, but
you know, perhaps you should broaden the horizons with your friendships.
So you know, I think I'm allowing her that bit
(16:03):
of freedom, having interjected a little too much last time.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Well, Ruth, this has been such a pleasure talking with
you about and Bridgerton episode seven. It's been a delight
watching you on screen. And I love what we see
with Lord Anderson. That's so exciting for all of us
who really are rooting for Violet, you know, so thank you,
(16:29):
so much, thank you.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
We'll be back after the.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Break to talk to episode seven's director, the one the
only Tom Verica recovering weddings.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
We're covering Whistledown.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
And we are covering the kiss Herd around the world.
Welcome back to Bridgerton the official podcast. Now nobody can
say Episode seven lacks action, a reveal, an engagement. There's
(17:04):
something for everyone, and I couldn't ask for a better
partner to walk me through it than the episode's director,
Tom Verica.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Hi Tom Verica, Hello, Gabrielle.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
How are you.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
I'm doing so well. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
One of the last thoughts I had before joining you
this morning is there are so many dark, night hooded
scenes in episode seven, which we're talking about today, quite
a different vibe from.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
What we've seen before.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Everything's very bright and beautiful or like in a location
or in a beautiful garden.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Everything's very there's a lot of nighttime. Yes, yes, Penelope's some.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Rats in there.
Speaker 10 (17:55):
We have some We got some rats in there in
the final scene, kind of symbolic of what's going on,
a little darker undertone, yes, yeah, setting up.
Speaker 11 (18:05):
For the finale. So it's all all very fun. I
remember when we were location scouting and we were for
the very last scene when Cressida comes up. We just
wanted to make sure drive home that it was this,
you know, a little bit seatier area, the contrast of
what the world that she's used to and where she
(18:25):
needs to go to try to.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Fight for her space.
Speaker 11 (18:29):
And I made this suggestion of having, you know, maybe
we'll have some rats to open the shot. And it
was a bit of a callback to season one because
I did the same thing. There was a scene with
Marina and Lady Featherington when they came to the oh yeah,
tougher part of town. Yeah, so I said, let's see
(18:50):
if anyone catches this. It's the only other time we
had rats in the show, I said. I was directed.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
No animals were harmed in the making of this element
streaming show.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Fred and Ginger.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Fred and Ginger are their names.
Speaker 3 (19:05):
I think that was their names.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Oh, Fred Ginger.
Speaker 11 (19:10):
They were dancing, dancing across the alley.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
So let's let's dive right into episode seven. There's so
much happening and arguably one of the most i mean,
jam packed episodes of all of the series. What are
some of the keys that you used to balance all
(19:37):
of these plot lines in creating a cohesive story.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
There's a lot going on.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
There is a lot going on.
Speaker 11 (19:45):
I directed, we shoot them in blocks, so I directed
both this episode seven and eight as well, So we
were filming oftentimes the very final scene of this season
as well, the final scenes. It was really a tremendous
challenge for the actors, for the writers, for myself to
(20:08):
honor these huge emotional moments that were culminating throughout this season,
whether they happened in eight in the finale, or seven,
which is a build up. In seven, I mean launches
right off the bat with that opening scene and that
scene in the alley and the emotional place they had
to be to kick off this episode really kind of
(20:31):
set the tone in the bar for where we were
going in this episode, that being the opening scene, and
knowing that we had to get to that they were
going to get married, that they're going to have, you know,
have a fight, have a passionate kiss, and dancing in
this beautiful So we had quite quite the arc of
(20:53):
all of these moments and very detailed laying out how
we went from one to the others. We would have
to we would have the three of us, Me and
Nicola and Luke would kind of just sync up where
we were when we were approaching one of these bigger scenes,
this one, I seem to get the wedding the wedding.
(21:16):
This is my third in the row. I think I
seem to get all the wedding episodes, which is fine.
I like them because I think they're so I enjoy
the mental journey that each character goes on and really
kind of designing how that unfolds through not only their journeys,
but the people who are there and what they're going through.
(21:39):
I kind of thrive on that. So I really this
was a very different one. But knowing we had to
get to this wedding and how fraud it was with
still some unresolved mode, the passion for one another, for
the for the two of them in this one was there.
But the conflict underneath and that secret that has not
(21:59):
come out yet, and then living with that was another
layer that we had had to play with before. And
it was Yeah, it was great. It was really just
navigating those these big swings and they were all as
you stated at the beginning, these are all very big sequences.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
You know.
Speaker 11 (22:19):
We spend numerous days at a particular location doing the
wedding breakfast. That was five or six days at one location.
The wedding we had a couple of days there. Yeah,
so it was there were a lot of these scenes
within scenes that you know might amount to about twenty
(22:40):
pages in the script, So that really requires you to
be there for quite a period of time.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
So we're like a traveling, traveling road show. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Yeah, it makes me wonder, Tom, if you ever have
time in between seasons where you are Bridgerton Universe free
and you reachn and re immerse yourself, how does this
how does your immersion in the beau Bridgeton universe actually
play out in your life?
Speaker 11 (23:08):
It's I mean, it is quite it's quite a it
goes year round for me. It, like I said, visual effects,
the music, composition, these things are happening. There's various stages
in the post production, whether we're doing the sound mix,
whether we're doing color timing. You know, I watch these episodes,
(23:31):
you know, probably twenty five thirty times each one through
different lenses, through different eyes about what needs to be,
whether it's audio or visual. So I feel very fortunate
to be part of the DNA of all these elements
coming together. And then you have a screening that you
(23:52):
hope go as well. But I, you know, I see
all those all those layers of what we you know,
what it's taken to get to that point then, and
it's it's certainly enjoy a moment and rewarding.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
I love the way you put it, like being part
of the DNA of this of this production. And in
some ways I feel like as viewers, a lot of
us are so invested that I wouldn't say we're part
of the DNA, but we definitely are invested in more
(24:29):
of those intimate moments between the characters.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
At this point in.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
The life of the Bridger Verse, as we've been has
it's been delivered from Shondaland, and there are there are
moments in episode seven that I would love to talk
to you about as far as your direction and working
with the cast. The moment between Tilly and Benedict. They're
(24:55):
sitting on a love seat and Tilly asked Benedict about
his interest in being with a man.
Speaker 8 (25:02):
If you did not feel anything the Mistu Suarez let
us you and I continue on our own.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
But you should know my staff are very discreet.
Speaker 1 (25:14):
And while he's somewhat covering his true feelings, his hands
are telling another story. And you cut to his hands,
which appears to be discomfort. Maybe maybe it's just nervous energy.
Whatever that emotion he's giving us with his hands is
(25:35):
definitely different from what he's saying. And I'm wondering if
that's something that you found in your work with the
actors in that moment, or if that's in the script.
Speaker 12 (25:48):
See, this is what I love about you, Gaby. If
you can't get any of these moments by you, you see,
I mean we made a moment of it. But yeah,
some of this stuff is scripted. Sometimes it's not. I
I tend to in in my kind of signature on
this show. I really have made many moments about.
Speaker 11 (26:12):
Hands and going back to Simon and Daphne when they
had their first touch. Oftentimes they are scripted, how we
film them, how we we shoot them is when and
when we choose to use them, and he.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Edit is really what kind of punctuates them. I think.
Speaker 11 (26:34):
We did have that moment where Tilly's I think it
said Tilly's hand touches his knee. But I think this
a lot of this was really the mark of Luke
Thompson and his brilliance and his physical his physicalizing what
he's what he's saying in the contrast of what he's
(26:55):
going through. Oftentimes, what I'll do is I'll see what's
happening in there, and I'll do a separate pass with
the cameraman and I'll go over to the cameraman. I said,
I have him now saying his lines and doing and
the emotion that I want this one. I want you
to go down and really feature these hands and listen
for those moments, and I'll show them in the script.
Speaker 3 (27:15):
This at a moment where I'd like to get down.
Speaker 11 (27:17):
And tag that come off of him, and so I
will be very specific about when I feel it. It
is a moment that could play into the telling of
the body language of what someone is going through, and
particularly if it's in contrast to what they're saying. So
a lot of that is I don't think Luke and
(27:40):
I talked about that.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
I think I caught what.
Speaker 11 (27:43):
He was doing in that moment, and then it was
my working with the cameraman about capturing that.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
But there may be a moment where you know, in
the middle.
Speaker 11 (27:54):
Of the take, I'll sort of ask him to do
repeat that little beat there that is so he doesn't
feel that he's thinking about it, he just does it,
and then I catch kind of a very impulsive moment.
It's fun it's what I do. It's what a director does.
It's not just sort of a you know, it's searching
(28:16):
for those that behavior. I'm always looking for real behavior.
And when you have talent actors like we do here
and you know wherever, if you if you're fortunate enough
to have someone who really embodies that, there's so much
in the body language that I think it's it's a
real mark of what an actor does. If you could
(28:38):
turn the volume down when you're watching a show or
a film, and if you could see and if you
can tell what's going on between these two characters without
hearing the dialogue. So the visual language is always very
important for me to sort of tell that story because visually,
you know, we are seeing the story told in images
(29:01):
as well as hearing the importance of the dialogue, of
the script and the story.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
Tom let's talk about the main event of the season
and this episode Hollin. Right when Colin finds Penelope on
the street yet again potentially doing some whistle down bidding.
The conversation that occurs is a really mature and honest
(29:26):
one where the two really can see each other. It's
such a relatable kind of undercurrent to the conversation that
they're having for today's audience. Tell us about navigating that
very very real conversation.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Yeah, that was.
Speaker 11 (29:45):
That was when we rehearsed and we worked on and
it takes a lot of turns, but you kind of
hit it. There's so much going on. They've reached a
new plateau in this moment and in this scene in
their relationship, but all those elements of real love and
the real attraction towards one another, in the realization of
(30:06):
them being together, but his insecurity.
Speaker 3 (30:10):
About the type, about her.
Speaker 11 (30:13):
Abilities as a writer and as an independent woman. I mean,
you know, elements of what potential could be that but
that she isn't just totally going to fold into whatever
it is that he says it's going to be. There
is so much going on in that scene and then
building to this moment where this passion when they reveal
(30:36):
that to one another, and here they are, you know,
in a doorway, letting passion get the best of them,
which overtakes you know, that sort of real raw emotion
that is underneath all of this that explodes in that moment,
and then the risk of are not even thinking about
where they are and out in public and.
Speaker 6 (30:58):
I realized how much damage I have on Lambs, so
so sorry for it too.
Speaker 5 (31:01):
Are you thinking when you wrote about Elouise.
Speaker 6 (31:04):
I was trying to protect her? I realized now how
much ky.
Speaker 5 (31:06):
Did I watch when you wrote about miss Thompson exposing
her as you did, ruining her.
Speaker 6 (31:11):
I thought I was protecting you.
Speaker 5 (31:12):
Then you should have told me to my face, I
know or do you not respect me enough? It is
clear you do not after what you've written about me
this year, But I hardly know myself.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
What were you thinking?
Speaker 11 (31:24):
Man?
Speaker 6 (31:25):
I was thinking that I simply wanted the colin I
know back I should have told you myself.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
There are so many things I should have.
Speaker 6 (31:31):
Done myself, and now the confidence you have helped me
find this year, I'm finally able to.
Speaker 11 (31:37):
We were really excited to do this. I remember it
was a very cold night and we were downtown London
and there was a lot of sounds. I think it
was a Friday night and we were contending with a
lot of noises, and I think there was even somebody
from a window above above us that was saying keep
it down.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
At one moment where we laughed during a take.
Speaker 11 (31:57):
Oh yeah, because we were in we were in in
the city. So we had this one kind of very
historic block that we found the film in. We were
against the elements, So those elements were very real in
the two thousand and twenty three world that were sort
(32:19):
of infusing itself with some you know, drunken banter down
the end of a block with people walking by. You know,
there was a lot of elements that we had to
get said with, but they were troopers. I mean we
really you know, you, Honor, You're always dealing with elements
in some respect one way or another. But with Luke
(32:41):
and Nicola navigating and dialing up those moments of strength
that doesn't want to feel like a you know, a
bruised ego baby boy, but someone who's really kind of
principled and trying to do the right thing and really
trying to figure out how not only is what society
(33:05):
will think, but what is his feeling.
Speaker 3 (33:06):
About that which he hasn't quite come to terms with.
Speaker 1 (33:09):
So you mentioned the wedding. It was maybe modest isn't
the word, especially in this universe, but definitely maybe subdued
in comparison to some of the other weddings that you've shot.
I think many of us will feel like there's a
moment that has your fingerprints all over it, and it's
(33:32):
the dance between just the two the groom and the
bride that follows. Was this written in Is this something
you and Jess were Again?
Speaker 3 (33:41):
Yeah, Eric, I did.
Speaker 11 (33:45):
And again I'll always you know, I'll talk to Jess
about these moments. We always have the option to not
use it. It's something that I said, look, i'll show
it to If you don't like it, you don't have
to use it. But I obviously I've done it a
couple of times. It's just, you know, I just love
that moment when two people are just so connected to
one another that the world falls away, and I think.
Speaker 3 (34:09):
It is it was.
Speaker 11 (34:11):
It was a brief moment that we went to it
From a filming schedule standpoint, it does take a while
to do because you know, my ad is like shaking
his head, like we're not doing this again. But I said, look,
this is the story. We We've got to I've got
to shoot the way the story and what it is
(34:32):
and what it speaks to me. But this moment where
they they take to the dance floor in this kind
of spontaneous moment in the middle of people that's during
the day, which was something we had never done before
as well. All these balls are always at nighttime, but
there's kids here, and kids don't usually they're not usually around,
you know, the younger, bridgeston kids are you are here
(34:56):
in this environment, so that doesn't usually happen in that kind
of scenario. So because of where they were emotionally in
that moment, and because the wedding itself, the ceremony itself.
Speaker 3 (35:06):
Was on.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
The page in script, it was a little more.
Speaker 11 (35:13):
Modest, a little more less than some of these other ones,
which there was so much happening at that moment. But
we've seen so much what's happening before and after with
this couple that were with them already, and their moment
really comes at the wedding breakfast when they had that
beautiful dance together. That was Yeah, that was a moment
that I just saw and Luke and Nikola did not
(35:36):
know the morning of that I was filming it that
I was going to do that, but they got such
a charge out of it and they loved it, not
knowing that that was going to happen. When I pulled
every or before I brought everyone else in for the
rest of the scene.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
I said, they were wondering why they're coming to such
just the two of them. I'm like, we're going to
do this first, and they were.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
Like, oh my god, I love it so Uh yeah
it does.
Speaker 11 (36:02):
And the spotan eighty of that, I mean, not in
my part, sometimes in my part, but uh, it feeds
I think the actors and what's happening with them in
their story that it brings layers of emotion that they
weren't preparing. That is always nice to capture because you
there's again, there's that spotan eighty that you that you
(36:26):
haven't rehearsed or thought about so much.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
That you just let yourself go.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Good. Way, can we get away from here?
Speaker 6 (36:35):
I've spent so long cleaning to walls like this, I
do not wish to do that any longer.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
I don't think I have an enemy to greet any
more guests. And perhaps we could dance.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
Yeah, definitely definitely felt Penelope when she was like, can
we just go?
Speaker 2 (36:53):
I have been there, Yeah, yep, but you have to
sort of you.
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Know, yep, yeah, way exactly exactly. So now let's talk
about the charge that you gave all of us watching,
And that's the episode's ending, Episode seven's ending, and it's
the it's a moment we thought was possible since season one,
(37:21):
and it's fiery, and it's a culmination of so many
of Benedict's thoughts and feelings and escapades, and he finally
he kisses Tilly and finally leans in and kisses Paul
even more like, with even more intensity, and it's just
such a moment that I can't even find the words.
(37:44):
But because of not being able to find the words,
I also wondered if there was, in a similar way
a balance of getting it right and just letting it happen.
Speaker 11 (37:58):
It was that those moments, because they're so specific, are
very technical.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
They were in the script.
Speaker 11 (38:06):
Each one of those beats were very much scripted out
as to what happened. And that is Jess was very
particular about what she wanted.
Speaker 3 (38:15):
We were all very.
Speaker 11 (38:15):
Clear about the decision making when it happens, when it
turns the fact that it's not just it's not excluding
Tilly that it really becomes this threesome, but the moments
of when Benedict's ready to leap and when he's ready
to take that chance we do with the three actors,
(38:38):
with Hannah and Lucas who played Paul and Luke Thompson.
We talked through that and we will first read the
script about the beats that happens and then just start
kind of getting it up on its feet with the
intimacy coordinator as well. So it was, you know, it
might just require a bit of a laying the beat more.
Speaker 3 (39:02):
I'll ask Luke to.
Speaker 11 (39:05):
Hold his look to Tilly a little bit longer before
his eyes fall over onto Paul. I remember we specifically
we had this sort of lean in like should I
should I feeling it, then backing off and Paul kind
of giving that permission, and then basically Ben at that
moment just saying no, I want to know what this is,
(39:28):
and he commits, and then it's again, you know, it
wasn't about getting.
Speaker 3 (39:34):
Their clothes off.
Speaker 11 (39:35):
I think we want to insinuate what was going and
then eight obviously it really becomes this kind of three
true threesome and how they're physically connected but just emotionally
connected as well.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Oh Tom, thank you so much, absolutely, absolutely thank you
so much for your time today and for this amazing
season and all the work that you're still doing right now.
Speaker 13 (40:00):
The show.
Speaker 3 (40:01):
We'll cure it up for the next one soon.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
We'll be right back after the break. We're back with
more bridgeton the official podcast, and what a perfect way
to dive into our last interview for episode seven, we're
catching up with Benedict Bridgerton himself. We've been waiting for
(40:30):
Benedict to make a decision like this for three seasons.
Boy did he decide.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Luke.
Speaker 1 (40:41):
Benedict is kind of a fan favorite, so I think
people will be really excited to see him come to
the forefront this season a bit more so, Let's talk
about the biggest revelation in this episode, which comes at
the end, which is, of course the kiss. This is
a upper Bridgerton kiss. You know, it's full of passion
(41:06):
and it's one of those scenes that has you just
kind of swept up off your feet with the three
of them.
Speaker 14 (41:11):
Yeah, there's a moment when Benedict kisses Tilly and when
he kisses Paul, and in that in between moment, it's
just kind of heart wrenching, or at least my heart
I felt a thing.
Speaker 1 (41:28):
It's one of the first times that you see Benedict
out of breath and maybe at a loss for words,
which is kind of crazy.
Speaker 2 (41:36):
For his character.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
So, can you take me back to the moment that
you read that kiss in the script and kind of
like what were your reactions to seeing it on the
page and what did you think it was going to
mean for Benedict's character.
Speaker 4 (41:50):
Well, I think the first thing that's great about it
is that it goes back to some of the essence
of Bridgeton, really, which is to remind people that people
weren't that different back then and that actually, we like
to think nowadays that we sort of sussed everything out
and we're discovering all these new things and all these
new ways of living. And actually I remember I got
(42:11):
years ago doing a play with Byron and you know
Byron Shelley and that you know, they had all sorts
of mistresses and you know, groups, and you know they
were experimenting as well with you know, not being just
in a sort of single monogamous couple, and so it's there,
It was there at the time, and so again I think,
(42:32):
like what's delightful about Bridgington is that it constantly reminds
of that, and I like moments. It's nice to read
moments like that in the script because you think, oh, yes,
of course, of course they were experimenting at that time.
Of course they maybe didn't have the same words for it,
but of course they were still experimenting with it. It's
just interesting just in terms of Benedict, because I feel
like it ties into something that was sort of floated
(42:55):
a little bit in season one as well, you know,
with with with them, with Henry So. And I loved
how that sort of like was never I really liked
how that was sort of subtle and it wasn't you know,
it didn't sort of turn into anything.
Speaker 13 (43:09):
It was just sort of like a you know.
Speaker 4 (43:11):
You're watching, you think, I wonder and so actually then
to sort of break through that in this moment is
really Yeah, it's really exciting to sort of cuts back
to at that moment, you know, two seasons ago.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
It was so interesting to see that kind of hint
from season one brought back now.
Speaker 13 (43:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (43:31):
And I think what's interesting about it too is that
Bridgeton is a series about finding freedom through love and
finding yourself through romance.
Speaker 2 (43:42):
So I wondered if any.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
Of that rang true for you while you were shooting
these scenes. What did it enable you to do as Benedict.
Speaker 4 (43:52):
Well, I think it goes back to sort of like
a really fundamental thing, which is that you don't you know,
you hear so much nowadays of just that I'll just
be yourself, like it's all about being yourself and authenticity.
But actually I think that what's always interesting, particularly in
terms of love, but just more generally, is that actually,
you know, you don't you can't be yourself. You have
to find out, like you know, you have to do
(44:15):
things in order to find out who you are.
Speaker 13 (44:16):
You don't you know it's it's.
Speaker 4 (44:18):
And that you know that can that can be fraught
with all sorts of anxiety because if you do something
like that was this who I am?
Speaker 13 (44:24):
And blah blah blah.
Speaker 4 (44:25):
And actually what's really refreshing about Benedict and really nice
to explore is that he seems to do it with
very little neurosis actually, like there is excitement, and as
you say, there is that sort of like hesitation. But
actually I think what's really refreshing, particularly from a male
character actually as well, I feel like male sexuality generally
(44:46):
can be seen as quite sort of boxy, as in
like you know, you're either this or you're that, or
you're you know here, either gay, straight, or bisexual or whatever,
but it's like just one thing. And actually it's really
nice to watch a male character explore that, not in
this ins necessarily in the sort of spirit of some
sort of like long repressed you know thing, but actually
just exploration and without the sort of like angst that
(45:08):
often you know, understandably for all sorts of reasons, you know,
I mean that scene in season one where you know,
they still talk about the fact that you know, in
that society, it's it's frowned upon, you know, So there
is that tension, but also that for him it's just
it's exploration and it's not sort of some sort of
big statement about who he is, and he doesn't feel
(45:30):
sort of anxious about that, which I think is a
really nice thing to portray, I think, and quite rare,
you know, I don't think that. I don't think I
often see that on screen.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
And it's something really lovely to see. So the other
thing is that Benedict is sort of a little directionless.
Maybe in this season when it opens, you know, Anthony
is out in his honeymoon and Benedict has long been
the second son trying to figure out what he wants
to do. What do you think Benedict sees in Tilly
(46:04):
and maybe Paul even and what do they bring out
for him in the state that he's in where I
guess he's not really sure exactly what he wants to do.
Speaker 4 (46:16):
Well, I guess I guess the thing with Tilly and Paul,
particularly Tilly is that.
Speaker 13 (46:22):
It's funny, isn't it.
Speaker 4 (46:23):
It's she's a very strong character who will sort of
she'll take the lead in a way, I mean, you know,
and I think he I guess similarly that sort of
happens with Paul as well. And I think maybe that
that sort of points, I guess to maybe a flaw
of Benedict maybe, which is that he will sort of.
Speaker 13 (46:43):
He's not very good at sort of.
Speaker 4 (46:44):
Establishing what he wants to do as it necessarily that's
not necessarily a starting point. He's more sort of interested
in what other people where they want to take him.
And obviously that's absolutely fine to live like that, you know,
Like I think every it's part of going up.
Speaker 13 (47:00):
I think so. I think what's.
Speaker 4 (47:01):
Attractive to be probably about Paul Antony as has said,
is that they they laid the path for him in
a way, not in a manipulative way, at all, but
in the sort of you know, he can he can
take a queue from them.
Speaker 1 (47:16):
It's always nice to see the Bridgeton's a little uncomfortable, exactly,
a little out of their depth is always fun.
Speaker 4 (47:23):
Well, they've got you know, you know, they've got so
much going for them, and they're a nice, rich family.
They need to be a bit, they need to be needled.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
A bit, they need to be challenged.
Speaker 13 (47:32):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (47:33):
Well, speaking of that extra sprinkle of conflict. We talked
with Tom Verrika about this. There are these really beautiful
close ups on Benedict's hands where he's kind of twiddling
his thumbs and stuff, and I was just wondering what
it was like to embody that you did such a
(47:55):
great job of physically showing who Benedict is.
Speaker 13 (47:59):
Well, this is funny. It's funny.
Speaker 4 (48:00):
It's a stranger process than that really for all acting really,
which is that there's obviously you you make certain decisions
and you decide to do certain things, and you know
there is an element of control, but then there's lots
of the sort of more interesting stuff is stuff that
you're not even you don't even realize you're doing. So
actually the challenge is actually to not sort of I
(48:24):
guess I'm only partially aware maybe of what you're referring to.
Speaker 13 (48:28):
You do you see what I mean? And which which,
which I think is how it should work.
Speaker 4 (48:32):
You know that there are some elements obviously that you know,
you're given a structure, and you do take some decisions.
But then actually, particularly when you're working with a really
nice script, you just let the sort of the script
do the work. And sometimes if it is just there
is no script, if there are no words, you know,
you basically let the director just sort of frame you
into whatever the situation is.
Speaker 13 (48:51):
And then you just see what happens.
Speaker 4 (48:53):
So I guess, yeah, the fun of it is and
the challenge of it is to to just sort of
let let stuff happen that maybe you're not even aware of,
you know.
Speaker 13 (49:05):
So actually it's it's the challenges.
Speaker 4 (49:08):
To try and not try and control it. And then
I think, as I say, that's sort of hopefully more
compelling to watch.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
I feel like one of the highlights, especially of this
episode Benedict's reactions to everything good. So it's coming through,
it's beautifully unfiltered and curated.
Speaker 13 (49:26):
Good. I'm glad there's this.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
Point where ben is talking to Eloise at the wedding breakfast,
and Elowise is crying, and you know, he asked her,
do you have room in your heart for all of
us siblings?
Speaker 13 (49:38):
Which brother or sister do you.
Speaker 3 (49:40):
Like the best?
Speaker 4 (49:41):
Gregory clearly, fair enough, but I know there is room
enough in your heart for the rest of us.
Speaker 13 (49:49):
Love is not by night, Eloise.
Speaker 1 (49:52):
And that seems to be the thing that kind of
sets him on this trajectory to go seek out Tillian. Paul, Yeah,
did you have any reactions to reading that line?
Speaker 13 (50:01):
Again?
Speaker 4 (50:02):
I think that sort of points to a flaw in Benedict,
because actually, if you want to build.
Speaker 13 (50:06):
Something with someone, it is finite.
Speaker 4 (50:08):
And you know when like I remember, like if when
I'm in a bookshop, I sort of get completely paralyzed
because I'm like, what, I want to read all of it?
I want to read I want to read all the
books and you can't. And then certainly you're like, what's
the point of reading any of them if you can't
read all of them? And actually the thing is no,
you just have to pick some to read, like you
can't absorb everything. And I think that's a very young
(50:29):
thing to think to, you know, when you're maybe you know,
a little less mature that you sort of think, oh,
I just want to absorb everything, and I just want
to you know, date everyone and do everything, and you know,
and I guess part of the so what's interesting about
him saying that is that, Yeah, I guess it points
to the fact that actually that only takes you so far.
(50:50):
And it's lovely to have that enthusiasm and that curiosity
for new experiences and new people, and yeah, that sense
love is sort of, you know, not finite. Maybe Benedict
running away from something a little more profound.
Speaker 1 (51:04):
Are there any onset moments that made you excited about
the way the episode might be received.
Speaker 4 (51:10):
I feel like I think I feel like that one
of the main things I'm really excited about is it
was it was really nice to build the relationship that
the build that relationship that triangle.
Speaker 13 (51:20):
And obviously, first.
Speaker 4 (51:21):
That relationship with Tilly and Hannah News just done such
an amazing She's an incredible actress, and it was just
so easy and you know that to get to dance
together as well. And again, you know, with an actor
like that opposite you, you know, moments even like a
dance aren't just a dance like they become a real
(51:42):
sort of you know, examining of a relationship and the
beginning of a relationship, and so it's full of other stuff.
It's not just you moving your feet and unison. There's
there's something else going on.
Speaker 13 (51:55):
And so I'm just.
Speaker 4 (51:56):
Really excited to share that whole threat for also of reasons,
but mainly because I think that my colleagues that did
such an amazing job and we're so amazing to work
with and it's just right.
Speaker 13 (52:13):
I just think it's.
Speaker 4 (52:14):
Really it's a really lovely deepening of the Benedict story.
Speaker 13 (52:18):
I think.
Speaker 1 (52:22):
Thank you for listening to this episode of Bridgerton the
Official Podcast.
Speaker 2 (52:28):
Join me next week for.
Speaker 1 (52:30):
The finale, the Big Finale. I'll be joined by showrunner
Jess Brownell to walk us through the massive installment and
the one and only Nikola Cochlin gracees us with all
things Penelope. If you're enjoying this show, please subscribe, share
with your friends, rate, or leave us a review. And
(52:53):
if you haven't finished binging Bridgerton on Netflix, please go
do that so you can enjoy all the juicy spoilers
with us. Us. Bridgerton the Official Podcast is produced by
Shondaland Audio and Wonder Media Network. This show is executive
produced by Sandy Bailey, Alex Alcea, Lauren Homan, Jenny Kaplan,
(53:16):
and Emily Rudder. Our producers are Sarah Schleid, Edie Allard,
and Carmen Borca Carreo. This episode is edited by Jenny
Kaplan and Emily Rudder. Our associate producers are Lauren Williams
and Akia mcnight and I Am Your Host Gabrielle Collins.
For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
(53:38):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Host
Gabrielle Collins
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