May 7, 2021 • 36 mins
Actresses Golda Rosheuvel (Queen Charlotte) and Adjoa Andoh (Lady Danbury) discuss their backstories and share favorite moments from filming Bridgerton.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bridgerton The Official Podcast is a production of Shondaland Audio
in partnership with iHeartRadio. I just really really loved the
scene between the two of you when Queen Charlotte is like,
is that all you can do? You're not gonna Curtsey
a little more? For me, that line always made me
think of I think it's a Curtsy McCall song in
these Hills. I don't think so. I don't think so.
(00:20):
It's the same sort of thing with these nat I
don't think so. Welcome back to bridgeton the Official Podcast.
I'm Gabby Collins and I'm taking you behind the scenes
of Bridgerton. We're hanging out with Atua Ende and goldiroche
Ball this episode. We'll get to hear their perspectives on
the impact of Bridgerton from Brazil to Chicago to Australia,
(00:41):
and we'll hear what they think their characters were doing
while they were entering the marriage market. So some backstory
theories mixed in here on Queen Charlotte and Lady Danbury.
We'll also get to know these two theater grades better,
what makes them tick, what roles they've played in the past,
while simultaneously Binge watching Shondaland Show and the Wings and
of course they are most memorable moments from filming Bridgerton.
(01:06):
Our discussion meandered quite a bit. We had some fun,
so I figured what I'd do for you is start
our conversation at the beginning of their journey sort of.
I asked them about the table reads. I found it
quite thrilling and beautiful because all of a sudden, these
(01:28):
characters were popping out and we're becoming real people. You know,
you'd sat with them and you'd read the episode, but
then Lady Danbury was sitting a couple of old seats
down from me, jan and Levine and Simon was like
there and Daphne was over there, and these humans started
(01:48):
to emerge. Yeah, when you start the table read and
the human gets those words and start speaking, it's life
appearing right in front of your arms. You know, the
human is being created. And that first table read was like, Yeah,
this is real and it's happening, and it's glorious, and
(02:11):
you've heard the voices of the characters because it's quite
a distinct kind of tone or language piece, which I love. Yeah,
to hear all that was really musical and It was
like a little orchestra starting to find their notes and
find the way they were going to play together. You know,
(02:33):
that's exactly it. Language does have its own musicality, doesn't it.
And you know when you hit a sentence right, because
it's like you get the song, you get the tune. Yeah,
like Gold, I was really excited to hear all the
voices because it's almost like I was like, Okay, what
is this tune? I think I've got the tune of voice. Yeah,
all of that stuff. You start to calibrate what's the
(02:56):
vibration of the show. What's really terrific about Till Reads
is the reading of the stage directions. Yes, Betsy Beers,
we are not worthy, but yes, what that woman can
read so energetically, you know, it was like it was
(03:16):
like firecrackers going off every two seconds. It was, but
which immediately gave you the sense of it's not Jane Austen,
my DearS, it's its own thing here. It's like you know,
the outside box of a jigsaw puzzle. That's the day
you get to see the whole picture. Yeah, so that
when you're slotting your piece of the jigsaw in, you
have a sense, that sense memory of Oh yes, so
(03:38):
you kind of see how you slot into the overall
jigsaw puzzle, and that's really really helpful as well. So
actually going to a table read is great because you
get to see all your friends and colleagues doing their
thing that you're never going to witness on the day.
So it's a treat. I just would love for the
two of you to talk to me about this very
(03:58):
special moment. It's the Curties scene. I just really love
that little wink between the two of you. That little
moment between the two of them always makes me laugh
when Queen Charlotte says to Lady dan Bruno Zariah, as
far as you can go. I always love that moment
because it's just like, these are two people who have
a long lived knowledge of each other and each other's
(04:22):
sense of humor, and they share a sense of humor,
and they know what their their status is in the hierarchy. Yeah,
there's a conversation and it's Michelle Obama meeting the Queen
and they have this conversation where they both end up saying,
these shoes are killing my feet, and the other goes,
I know, and you just have this moment where you
(04:42):
know there's the Queen, this long lived woman, hugely experienced
head of state, head of the commonwealth, and all the
history of that. And then there's it's the extraordinary woman
who's the kind of like the new kid on the
block as the first black, first lady of America, just
sharing the it's lovely intimate moment which is just about
women in ridiculous fashion having to struggle through their day.
(05:06):
You know. It's like that thing Jinjianja says about saying,
you know, I'm doing everything that Fred stairs doing, but
I'm doing it backwards and in yields. Yes, you know,
it's that sort of common thing between just for a minute,
they're just two women talking about how much their feet Yeah, beautiful,
and it's it's gorgeous. I think there's a lot of
those moments, not only with us, where you find the history,
(05:28):
where you kind of there's a little insight, the door
kind of cracks open to the history of these two women,
you know, and what is possible. Hopefully I'm praying in
season two that there's more of that, there's more of
the connection there and audience can see the history and
the love and respect that these two women have for
(05:48):
each other. And the way that they communicate. There's a
common language there, you know, between the two of them
because they know they've seen it, they've been it, and
they're in relationship with it, you know, with each other.
But I think there's a real real feeling of community
and ensemble. Yes, you know in the piece that or
(06:09):
especially all the women you know that like Mama bridget
Urn and ad You and Lady Danbury and late Lady
Lady Featherington and the Queen and Daphne and you know,
we're all together in this world. Yes, there is a
hierarchy and a status because it's that is just you
(06:30):
know reality. I'm agreeing with you that Schondeland is like
so spot on with all of those characters that can
be really nasty and really like yeah, hor horrible. Do
you love Cyrus? Yes, I've met my guy, yeah, man,
absolutely absolutely so. I was playing a fellow as a woman,
(06:53):
oh my goodness, So we changed all the pronouns and
it became a lesbian relationship. I've found such a real
connection with Olivia Pope and othellow. You know when I
always try and find when I'm doing like a massive
role like that, you know and kind of killing myself
every single night, do you know what I mean? I mean,
Othellow goes through some major shit. I always try and
(07:16):
find something that's that's relatable, but also that I can
escape with, you know, that will take me out of
the world that I'm in on stage and but also
sent to me in the world that I am in
on stage, Do you know what I mean? And Scandal
was one of slap box set that I watched, you
(07:39):
know for Othellow, but emotionally, emotionally between all these women,
I think there's a real bonding of sisterhood and girl power,
you know, the Pomeranians and the Custard. That scene right
there is where I felt that most about Queen Charlotte
and Lady bridget and too, I felt like you two
(08:01):
were real people. In that moment, Lady Bridgeton also realizes, Oh,
this woman who invited me to tea is is she's
actually trying to Yeah, we're on the same level, you know,
wink wink? Are we getting each other's sister? Are we
on the side we are? Okay, goodbye, there you go.
Yeah exactly exactly. I love that. Yeah me too. That
(08:24):
was one of my other favorite scene as well, with Ruth.
She's a great actress and it was just a dream
to do that scene with her. She's very clever lady,
very clever. Yeah, it was cool. What is the story
that you two have for your two characters? How are
you friends? One thing that's in the story already that
I really love is that there is this underlying sadness
(08:47):
in Queen Charlotte's life because of her husband. Yeah, who
really loved her. I've had to read loads of stuff
about the hannoveron, so I know that they really loved
each other. He hadn't had a good relationship with his father.
He wanted to do different sorts of family life for
his family. And this woman, who is frankly a stranger
when she comes across from Europe to marry. They married
(09:09):
on the same day, didn't they. They married on the
same day she arrived. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, you know, it's
the way dynasties were put together. But they created a
whole family life. There was love, there was children, there
was children being educated, there was you know, she was
quite progressive. She brought the Christmas Tree to Great Britain.
She was the first one. It wasn't it wasn't Queen Victoria.
(09:32):
It wasn't Victoria, it was Queen Charlotte. Yeah, exactly. So
there's that sadness that permeates the loss of that consistent,
loving person. And I think that you know, we've seen
the little bit with the flashback with Danbury when she's
talking to little Simon. Yeah, there have been moments where
she's had a sense of fragility and women carrying that
(09:56):
amount of status but also carrying that amount of FRIGI
you recognize someone who can stand up to things and
hold their own and you know, both of them, they've
got a salty tongue on them, both these women, Yeah, definitely,
but they also can see fragility and they can also
and they both have a sniff for the people who
are just talking nonsense and they don't have a lot
(10:19):
of time for those people. They don't suffer fools gladly,
do they. You know something about that sensibility that would
have attracted them to each other when they were younger,
regardless of their status. And there's that companionship as well
when you have that sensibility, and you know, for Queen Charlotte,
the kind of loss of a love companionship between you know,
(10:41):
Lady Danbury was and will be and is very very important.
And it's a trusted plague, isn't it for both of them?
Is trusted? Yeah, definitely, it's trusted and respected. Yeah. It's
just like in our business when you see somebody who's
made a way for themselves, some are way you wouldn't
have expected them to be, and you're like, I get
(11:02):
what that must be. I'm here, I salute you. I
think there's something of that respect. Our relationship is quite
like that, Adua. You know I was talking before about,
you know, seeing you in the park sometimes and just
kind of tipping the hats, you know what I mean. Well,
you know, you'd be walking with your family. I'd be
walking listening to my music, and there would be that
kind of I see you, Yeah, you know, I see you.
(11:25):
I love it. It's beautiful. I respect it, you know,
absolutely right back at Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's really precious.
I love it. I love it when we can kind
of celebrate each other and on each other, even if
it's just a right Yeah, exactly. There was a lot
of that on stage. Look at me talking about theater,
(11:46):
you know, on screen, you know, yeah, across the ballroom,
you know our eyes would meet. Yeah, just a little nod, Yeah,
just a little nod. I think that's the sort of
thing that would have been an early on that moment
when they first caught each other's eye, when she first
came over from Europe, and it's like, so I'm marrying
who write him? Okay, don't speak the language. What's what's
(12:09):
occurring here? Now? You know? Who can I find exactly?
And I would imagine that Lady Danbury would have been
recently established at Caught as well. Just thinking about age
wise and everything. It's it's interesting to speculate on what
that might be, but I think whatever the specifics of
it might have been, I think what you really get
(12:30):
strong me already is a long lived, long experienced admiration
and fondness, yes, with a you know, with a bit
with the salty bit of you know, sharp lemon juice
in there as well, which makes them both laugh. And
they're both naughty. They're naughty ladies as well at some level,
and I think that's that's sort of fabulous as well. Yeah,
(12:58):
it's our job always gives them the best show all
the world as a stage, and we are but mere players.
I would say that's right. I think that's I think
it's true. There's a rigor and a discipline to doing
a show every night all the way through for weeks
and weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks on end
(13:19):
that moment where you create a character and it's like
it's new every night. Yeah, you know, because I think
a person who's coming to the theater to see the
show deserves to see the best show. Yeah, whatever night
they come or whatever afternoon they come to, it should
be the first show that you do. Yeah, exactly, So
it has to be your best show every time. Because
(13:41):
I just think about where I grew up in the Cartswold.
To get to the theater, it was like a mission man.
You had to find someone who had a car that
was willing to take you. Or you got the bus
into town which was like two hours away and you
had to find someone to some floor to sleep off
that it was like. Or you had to get to
a matter that could only be a Saturday. Could you
(14:01):
get Saturday off work? So where I grew up, Gabrielle
was character and sheep and two buses a week. It
was like deep country. So I just I always think about,
you know, those people who have had to make a
huge effort, or they've had to save up a lot
of money to get there, or they've never been before
and they feel maybe it's a bit not for them,
and they're like poshing now for it's so it's our job,
(14:23):
or somebody who just needs to hear what you have
to say that day, whose heart needs to hear what
you have to say, so Anna, so that demand you
have to be quite rigorous with yourself. It's like don't
phone it in. Yeah, the day you phone it in
will be the day someone really needs to hear it.
And I remember I was doing a show in New
York and I saw Cecily Tyson on stage in How
(14:48):
Much Lady Years with Cuba Gooding Junior. She was extraordinary
and you know, if everything was left on the stage
so one hundred percent a beautiful, moving, rigorous perform months.
And you just want to be that kind of actor really,
So I think and Gold is that kind of actor.
And you know you bring that because we value that
(15:08):
work and so you hopefully you bring that discipline that
to screen and film as well. Stick around for more
from Gold to Rochevelt and Adua Endo, We'll be right back.
(15:33):
Welcome back to Bridgerton the official podcast. I'm Gabby Collins
and I'm taking you behind the scenes of Bridgerton. Today,
we're talking with actresses gold To Rochevelt and Adua Endo
about their time on set in rehearsals and learning a
little bit more about them and what they brought to
their characters. Let's hear more of their conversation. One thinks
(15:54):
back to nineteen sixties and nineteen seventies. If you're growing,
just imagine it's the Midwest or it's just some always
a lot of wheat, a lot of cattle, and you
say I'm going to be an actor, and everybody goes
so like you. I mean, I was the kid from
always from tiny, I mean apparently. I think it was
(16:15):
a survival mechanism because me and my brother were the
black children in the school. Wow, you strategize within your
narrow parameters. It's the same story. It's always the same story.
I was good at mucking about and telling jokes and
pulling faces. I was quite good at fighting as well,
I have to say, and so so, but I would
(16:36):
I was always directing plays in the front room of
the drawing room. I was I would choreograph to you know,
the planet sweep by ghlf staff Holes quite happily. And
I was in all the school plays and I read
everything all the time. I loved reading. I used to
read my mother's Georgette Heyer and Jean Playdy. I could
(16:57):
not wait till I could have my own adult library tickets,
which I got when I was eleven, so that instead
of scranging off my mum, I could go in there
and go, hey, from a ticket, take me to the books.
You know, I just for me. A summer holiday was
spent lying on the bed, chewing juicy fruit and reading books.
(17:19):
That was my summer holidays. That's what I left, apart
from when I was being shouted at to go and
clean something. But you know, that was what I likeed
to do. The beloved people in my life. My husband's
a novelist and I my dad was a journalist before
he had to leave Ghana. And words. Words, words, love, love,
love words. There's the georget Hair reference again. Remember that's
(17:44):
the author who Bridgerton's Writer's Room and Bridgerton's historian, doctor
Hannah Gregg, researched. While they buttressed the show with historic elements.
We definitely spent some time going down this rabbit hole.
And the fact that Georget's tales of Regency inner circles
captivated are in her childhood gives me those cathartic full
circle chills. Even though Agiba spent her childhood playing dress
(18:07):
up and getting lost in the world that her books
sent her to, she didn't immediately go down the Thesbian's path.
So I did school plays at school. Drama wasn't considered
a proper subject in my school. You're only allowed to
do it if you was staying on to do A levels,
which are the exams she took before you went to university,
because then clearly you had an academic mind and you
could fiddle about doing this silly dressing up nonsense that
(18:31):
you would do. So yeah, I did drama when I
was in my last year at school because that's what
the INtime we're had to do it. And I worked
for a bank for a while because I didn't want
to go and do this law degree that the good
African child always does. And then I realized I hated
(18:52):
working in the bank because it was numbers, not words.
So then I went and I did the law degree,
and then two years into the law degree, I left
the law degree and made my father a weep. Jass finished, Jass,
finish it, you know, exactly as I would do with
any of my kids. And then this woman who was
from the San Francisco Mean Troupe, a woman called Dabora.
(19:15):
She said, when I walked out my law degree, I
took up the cello. I went to a music class
with the head of my law department, who said he
wished he'd would walked out on his law degree when
he was my age and he was learning the violin.
Did I want to come to this music group? I
was like, So I went and learned the cello, and
I joined Debora's drama group. And then she got funding
(19:37):
to do a play and she asked me to go
and audition for it. I didn't know what, didn't know
what I was doing. I found a history book, The
History of the English Working Class by J. P. Thompson,
and I did a sea. I did a couple of paragraphs,
and then about land rights. That was my first audition.
The thing that I saw of you saying you were
(19:59):
telling you self to just go for it. That was
around this time. Then yeah, yeah, it's I'm an associate
at a theatical the Bush in Shepherd's Bush. I'm a
senior artistic associate there. So they were into being some
most and saying what would you say to young artists,
And I just was saying, if it's your thing, do
your thing. It's a really hard thing. But if it
makes your heart sing and you lose your mind and
(20:20):
you're lost in joy, that's your thing. Do your thing.
That's what I came around to. In the end, I
gave up doing what I was supposed to do, and
I did to think that was in my heart to do.
I also asked Calder about similarly impactful moments in her
(20:40):
career and in the moments that she brought her background
and her whole self to Bridgerton. You know, as you
can imagine through my career, I am by rayciaw. So
my father was black and my mother was white. I
was born in South America, in Guyana. My father was
Guyanese and my mother was British. So for all of
(21:06):
my career I would say I have played black roles. Yeah,
the stereotype, the social worker, the policewoman, the lawyer, the doctor.
You know, young mum with the wayward child, so when
Charlotte came along, yes she is a person of color,
and yes I am a person of color, but I
(21:28):
also have my white side in me as a person
of color, right, And this was the first time that
I was able to tap into my white side. Me
that loves cream teas, SCons with jam and plotted cream,
(21:48):
My side that loves cuts of tea at about four
o'clock in the afternoon, lovely, My side that loves walks
in the country, my side that loves you visiting manor
houses and castles. And so my upbringing was very much
quite eclectic. So I had the black, you know, side,
(22:09):
and the white side, and anybody who met my mother
would always come away going, gosh, she's posh. You know,
she held herself beautifully. She before the war, she had
a nanny, They had butlers. My grandfather ran a high
(22:35):
class private school. He was headmaster of one, so they
had what you would call is staff. So my mother
was raised in quite a privileged position. So to be
able to speak in her voice, with her tones, and
to really channel her as this really powerful, useful, generous
(23:01):
matriarch in my family is a dream, dream, dream come true.
She passed away in March twenty twenty and never got
to see progeton, but I would, you know, when I
went to costume fittings and stuff like that. She was
quite frail physically at the end, but you know, she
(23:24):
got to see costume fitting photos and stuff like. You
know what I mean. She got to see me as
Queen Charlotte in like pictures and how it was being developed.
So I'm very very grateful for that. You know, she
was a religious person, so I would say up in
heaven looking down going girl, who wow, And she would
(23:45):
be sitting on the edge of her seat, and she
would she would be recognizing herself definitely, and my family
and my cousins. The first thing they said was like,
you are Challie your mother and it's a really beautiful thing.
It's a really really beautiful thing. But yes, you see her.
(24:06):
But I think it's really interesting that, you know, for
me as an actress, getting to play that side of
my heritage in this piece of storytelling. That's what's the
beauty is of Shanda Rhymes and that whole team. They're relatable,
it's relatable, the emotions are relatable. People are recognizing how
(24:30):
they feel, do you know what I mean? And it's
being reflected back at them. It's it's touchable, it's it's
it's you can taste it, you can smell it, you
can feel it. You know, it's such a it's an
extraordinary thing. I think, extraordinary thing to be able to
tap into I mean, that's genius, to be able to
(24:52):
tap into reality like that in a fantasy period drama.
You know, it's it's genius. After the break, we'll hear
more from Golda and Adua and executive producer Shanda Rhimes.
(25:16):
Welcome back to bridgeton the official podcast. We're behind the
scenes of Shauna Land's hit show and talking with actresses
Adua Endo and Golda Rochevelle. They've been giving us some
insight to the backstories of their characters and also their
own personal backstories, what they're bringing to Bridgerton and how
they actually were able to bring their whole selves to
their roles. Let's begin to wind down our conversation with
(25:40):
a word from executive producer Shanda Rhimes. I truly stomped
around for a while saying like like I want to
watch I want to see me and you know there's
that whole British talkic that Queen Charlotte actually was of
African descent, and we were like, well, what if she was?
Like what if she was? And what did that mean?
And it wasn't really about straying into a fantasy world
(26:03):
or not straying into a fantasy world, or pulling us
from a fantasy world. We just weren't interested in bathing
in the white supremacy that everybody seemed to lead us
to bathe in. For the story to be the story,
we sort of went with this idea that there were
two separate societies, like separate societies were moving, and when
Charlotte and the King fell in love, he decided he
was uniting the society. Like that was just you know,
(26:23):
is that fairly simple? And it just went from there,
and that's what's the story she's telling. And the reason
the Duke's father is so awful and is saying like
this could be taken away from us at any moment,
you know. And the idea of that is is if
love can unite something, the dissolution of love can rip
it apart, Like what are you talking about? Like their
space in the society's tenuous, but it's also right now,
(26:46):
all the most powerful people are of color that we're
watching on screen. So it was interesting to me. I
just thought it was an interesting way of dealing with
it and telling the story without laboring in or taught
like spending so much time talking about it and I
was not interesting. I wasn't interested in that. That's not
what the show is about. And if the show is
about that, that'd be one thing, but it's not what
the show is about. And to me, it was a
(27:07):
way of finding a way to make it about a
love story, and it gave us a little bit of that,
and it also just explained the world because I needed.
I wanted a very multicultural world that didn't feel like
it came out of nowhere. But I also didn't need
it to feel like it came out of like actual
historical elements that we were, you know, pushing through it.
(27:29):
Even though Shanda didn't necessarily feel the need to justify
or signify casting choices with historical accuracy, this desire to
create a world where everyone belongs without question really resonated
with Golda and Adua Ira Aldridge. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the
first black actor to play a fellow at the Coburg Theater,
(27:52):
and it was I think it's this is twenty twenty four.
It's two hundred years so right after real regency. But
still that decade fifteen years or so, he was touring
in Europe. Then he transfer don't get me started in
our orders, go go go. He transformed the way that
we do Shakespeare to this day in this country. It
(28:13):
was a really it's really time. You know, there was
huge shifts in all sorts of things going on. There
was real change happening. Wasn't there real change happening? We
are beneficiaries of Yeah today, totally. History is just the
story of our forebears. It's not like some dusty driving
It's just stories. It's just how did people fall in
(28:37):
love and make their way in the world and discover
that actually they were wonderful at making pottery when maybe
they were supposed to be a farm laborer. What about
those extraordinary women who were scientists and we're doing extraordinary
things that, well, how would you even be doing it
in that era when were you were considered somebody's property.
The education of women in those of the education of
(29:00):
women full stop, I would probably say, is lacking and
quite extraordinary, you know, its in its lacking nous. I
mean that kind of behavior or that kind of way
of life and living. You know, I remember, you know,
my mother's generation. You know how you held yourself, what
(29:21):
knife and fork you used, do you know what I mean?
What spoon you used, how the table was made, what
you cooked, you know, was really also in my mother's generation.
And there are still some things in this day and
age that you kind of go, really, are we still there?
How people relate to each other through relationships earned, that
(29:44):
kind of marrying off and soil and so forth. You know,
I think it's it's really interesting. Hopefully one day we
can come to, you know, a much more inclusive, ambrasive
equality for women. And you know that brings me also
to your character. Again. One of my favorite moments was
when Queen Charlotte gets to even the way I say it,
(30:07):
she gets to have dinner with her husband, her friend.
That was one of the scenes that I love. All
those scenes with King George, I think are really really
special because you know, as I said, you get an
insight to what goes on behind the closed doors. I
was talking about this the other day about representation of
(30:29):
people of color and black and brown people to the
rest of the world, to those who don't necessarily see
us as normal as human, do you know what I mean?
And to kind of show those moments of vulnerability for
a character like Queen Charlotte, I think that really exposes
(30:50):
the beauty of humanity. You know that we are all
capable of suffering. We are all, no matter what race,
we are capable of love, of hatred, of tears, of happiness,
of joy, of frustration, of lack of understanding, of complication
(31:12):
of need. We're all capable of that no matter what
color we are. And I think the beauty of Bridgeton
really shows black and brown people. You know, it's I
feel it's so weird for me to say as human
because we shouldn't have to say that, do you know
what I mean? But we need to be showing us
(31:35):
in this light. For people who have discriminated or feel
they need to discriminate, we show them that it's you know,
love and exist in the same way as you do.
You know, twenty thousand three black people in London and
(31:57):
a fifth of the British Navy, fifth in the late
seventeen hundreds of the British Navy or African or of
African heritage really to go to Nelson's column Battle of Waterloo.
At the foot there's a sort of a freeze of
Nelson dying and he's in the arms of a black sailor. Wow.
(32:17):
So all this history is there, it's just it's in
plain it's hiding in plain sight. It's fascinating. Yeah, that's lovely.
What's lovely about the show is if it makes people go, oh,
is that right, I'm gonna go this black box that
if it makes them go and find out about Bill Richmond,
and if it makes them to find out more about
Queen Charlotte, and if it makes them look at the
(32:37):
you know, who were the people who were peopling this
capital city at this time. You know, if it makes
them go and do all of that stuff, it's really
it's it's fascinating, I mean, fabulously interesting time. I'm so
proud to be at Summer that's growing up in this country,
with the history of this country. You can't move for
(32:59):
costume drives, if you if you've grown up in Britain,
you can't move for historical romance. You cannot move for it.
But to know that here's an opportunity to be in it.
Because usually acts of color go oh custom drama another
job I won't get right moving. To be able to
go oh and oh good, you know we were here
(33:21):
and now we're in it. Wow. If there's something that
finally goes yes, you are here, we see you exist
is being able to say to all audiences you are
all welcome to the Bridgeton party. As I was saying earlier,
there are people in our business who you are just
(33:44):
I am just in or off for their vision, and
Shonda is absolutely you know, there is a tone and
a vision to do a Shonda Rhyme show. There's a
quality to the work that is entirely hers and it's unique. Yeah,
(34:05):
I feel I feel really lucky that that we're not
just kind of going for the glamor the kind of
you know, the party shots. She's not just all about
the you know, the fun and the parties and the
gossip and the scandal. You know, there is really deep,
meaningful truth. Wow. Of all the beautiful and wonderful things
(34:32):
we talked about, my favorite part of this conversation is
just listening to Golden and Adi will be friends in
real life. It really feeds into my whole fantasy around
the backstory between Lady Danbury and Queen Charlotte. Let's go
for a walk. I'll I'll go for a walk. Yeah,
do dude, I'd love that. I'll tell you what. The
water garden is just coming into its own now. Yeah,
we'll do that. Lovely, lovely. I'll bring my cup of coffee.
(34:55):
Two biddies going. Oh look day Niget calt White, Bye,
Calt White. Gabrielle. Nice talking to you, darling. Thank you
so much and thank you for sharing your journey. Oh
it's been it's been lovely talking to you as one
(35:16):
nerde to another isolate you. That's it for this episode
of Bridgerton. The Official podcast. Bridgerton The Official Podcast is
executive produced by Lauren Homan, Sandy Bailey, Holly Fry and
me Gabrielle Collins. Our producer is Chris Van Dooson and
our editor is Vincent de Johnny. Bridgerton the Official Podcast
(35:42):
is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you get your favorite shows.
Bridgerton The Official Podcast is a production of Shondaland Audio
in partnership with iHeartRadio. I just really really loved the
scene between the two of you when Queen Charlotte is like,
is that all you can do? You're not gonna Curtsey
a little more? For me, that line always made me
think of I think it's a Curtsy McCall song in
these Hills. I don't think so. I don't think so.
(00:20):
It's the same sort of thing with these nat I
don't think so. Welcome back to bridgeton the Official Podcast.
I'm Gabby Collins and I'm taking you behind the scenes
of Bridgerton. We're hanging out with Atua Ende and goldiroche
Ball this episode. We'll get to hear their perspectives on
the impact of Bridgerton from Brazil to Chicago to Australia,
(00:41):
and we'll hear what they think their characters were doing
while they were entering the marriage market. So some backstory
theories mixed in here on Queen Charlotte and Lady Danbury.
We'll also get to know these two theater grades better,
what makes them tick, what roles they've played in the past,
while simultaneously Binge watching Shondaland Show and the Wings and
of course they are most memorable moments from filming Bridgerton.
(01:06):
Our discussion meandered quite a bit. We had some fun,
so I figured what I'd do for you is start
our conversation at the beginning of their journey sort of.
I asked them about the table reads. I found it
quite thrilling and beautiful because all of a sudden, these
(01:28):
characters were popping out and we're becoming real people. You know,
you'd sat with them and you'd read the episode, but
then Lady Danbury was sitting a couple of old seats
down from me, jan and Levine and Simon was like
there and Daphne was over there, and these humans started
(01:48):
to emerge. Yeah, when you start the table read and
the human gets those words and start speaking, it's life
appearing right in front of your arms. You know, the
human is being created. And that first table read was like, Yeah,
this is real and it's happening, and it's glorious, and
(02:11):
you've heard the voices of the characters because it's quite
a distinct kind of tone or language piece, which I love. Yeah,
to hear all that was really musical and It was
like a little orchestra starting to find their notes and
find the way they were going to play together. You know,
(02:33):
that's exactly it. Language does have its own musicality, doesn't it.
And you know when you hit a sentence right, because
it's like you get the song, you get the tune. Yeah,
like Gold, I was really excited to hear all the
voices because it's almost like I was like, Okay, what
is this tune? I think I've got the tune of voice. Yeah,
all of that stuff. You start to calibrate what's the
(02:56):
vibration of the show. What's really terrific about Till Reads
is the reading of the stage directions. Yes, Betsy Beers,
we are not worthy, but yes, what that woman can
read so energetically, you know, it was like it was
(03:16):
like firecrackers going off every two seconds. It was, but
which immediately gave you the sense of it's not Jane Austen,
my DearS, it's its own thing here. It's like you know,
the outside box of a jigsaw puzzle. That's the day
you get to see the whole picture. Yeah, so that
when you're slotting your piece of the jigsaw in, you
have a sense, that sense memory of Oh yes, so
(03:38):
you kind of see how you slot into the overall
jigsaw puzzle, and that's really really helpful as well. So
actually going to a table read is great because you
get to see all your friends and colleagues doing their
thing that you're never going to witness on the day.
So it's a treat. I just would love for the
two of you to talk to me about this very
(03:58):
special moment. It's the Curties scene. I just really love
that little wink between the two of you. That little
moment between the two of them always makes me laugh
when Queen Charlotte says to Lady dan Bruno Zariah, as
far as you can go. I always love that moment
because it's just like, these are two people who have
a long lived knowledge of each other and each other's
(04:22):
sense of humor, and they share a sense of humor,
and they know what their their status is in the hierarchy. Yeah,
there's a conversation and it's Michelle Obama meeting the Queen
and they have this conversation where they both end up saying,
these shoes are killing my feet, and the other goes,
I know, and you just have this moment where you
(04:42):
know there's the Queen, this long lived woman, hugely experienced
head of state, head of the commonwealth, and all the
history of that. And then there's it's the extraordinary woman
who's the kind of like the new kid on the
block as the first black, first lady of America, just
sharing the it's lovely intimate moment which is just about
women in ridiculous fashion having to struggle through their day.
(05:06):
You know. It's like that thing Jinjianja says about saying,
you know, I'm doing everything that Fred stairs doing, but
I'm doing it backwards and in yields. Yes, you know,
it's that sort of common thing between just for a minute,
they're just two women talking about how much their feet Yeah, beautiful,
and it's it's gorgeous. I think there's a lot of
those moments, not only with us, where you find the history,
(05:28):
where you kind of there's a little insight, the door
kind of cracks open to the history of these two women,
you know, and what is possible. Hopefully I'm praying in
season two that there's more of that, there's more of
the connection there and audience can see the history and
the love and respect that these two women have for
(05:48):
each other. And the way that they communicate. There's a
common language there, you know, between the two of them
because they know they've seen it, they've been it, and
they're in relationship with it, you know, with each other.
But I think there's a real real feeling of community
and ensemble. Yes, you know in the piece that or
(06:09):
especially all the women you know that like Mama bridget
Urn and ad You and Lady Danbury and late Lady
Lady Featherington and the Queen and Daphne and you know,
we're all together in this world. Yes, there is a
hierarchy and a status because it's that is just you
(06:30):
know reality. I'm agreeing with you that Schondeland is like
so spot on with all of those characters that can
be really nasty and really like yeah, hor horrible. Do
you love Cyrus? Yes, I've met my guy, yeah, man,
absolutely absolutely so. I was playing a fellow as a woman,
(06:53):
oh my goodness, So we changed all the pronouns and
it became a lesbian relationship. I've found such a real
connection with Olivia Pope and othellow. You know when I
always try and find when I'm doing like a massive
role like that, you know and kind of killing myself
every single night, do you know what I mean? I mean,
Othellow goes through some major shit. I always try and
(07:16):
find something that's that's relatable, but also that I can
escape with, you know, that will take me out of
the world that I'm in on stage and but also
sent to me in the world that I am in
on stage, Do you know what I mean? And Scandal
was one of slap box set that I watched, you
(07:39):
know for Othellow, but emotionally, emotionally between all these women,
I think there's a real bonding of sisterhood and girl power,
you know, the Pomeranians and the Custard. That scene right
there is where I felt that most about Queen Charlotte
and Lady bridget and too, I felt like you two
(08:01):
were real people. In that moment, Lady Bridgeton also realizes, Oh,
this woman who invited me to tea is is she's
actually trying to Yeah, we're on the same level, you know,
wink wink? Are we getting each other's sister? Are we
on the side we are? Okay, goodbye, there you go.
Yeah exactly exactly. I love that. Yeah me too. That
(08:24):
was one of my other favorite scene as well, with Ruth.
She's a great actress and it was just a dream
to do that scene with her. She's very clever lady,
very clever. Yeah, it was cool. What is the story
that you two have for your two characters? How are
you friends? One thing that's in the story already that
I really love is that there is this underlying sadness
(08:47):
in Queen Charlotte's life because of her husband. Yeah, who
really loved her. I've had to read loads of stuff
about the hannoveron, so I know that they really loved
each other. He hadn't had a good relationship with his father.
He wanted to do different sorts of family life for
his family. And this woman, who is frankly a stranger
when she comes across from Europe to marry. They married
(09:09):
on the same day, didn't they. They married on the
same day she arrived. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, you know, it's
the way dynasties were put together. But they created a
whole family life. There was love, there was children, there
was children being educated, there was you know, she was
quite progressive. She brought the Christmas Tree to Great Britain.
She was the first one. It wasn't it wasn't Queen Victoria.
(09:32):
It wasn't Victoria, it was Queen Charlotte. Yeah, exactly. So
there's that sadness that permeates the loss of that consistent,
loving person. And I think that you know, we've seen
the little bit with the flashback with Danbury when she's
talking to little Simon. Yeah, there have been moments where
she's had a sense of fragility and women carrying that
(09:56):
amount of status but also carrying that amount of FRIGI
you recognize someone who can stand up to things and
hold their own and you know, both of them, they've
got a salty tongue on them, both these women, Yeah, definitely,
but they also can see fragility and they can also
and they both have a sniff for the people who
are just talking nonsense and they don't have a lot
(10:19):
of time for those people. They don't suffer fools gladly,
do they. You know something about that sensibility that would
have attracted them to each other when they were younger,
regardless of their status. And there's that companionship as well
when you have that sensibility, and you know, for Queen Charlotte,
the kind of loss of a love companionship between you know,
(10:41):
Lady Danbury was and will be and is very very important.
And it's a trusted plague, isn't it for both of them?
Is trusted? Yeah, definitely, it's trusted and respected. Yeah. It's
just like in our business when you see somebody who's
made a way for themselves, some are way you wouldn't
have expected them to be, and you're like, I get
(11:02):
what that must be. I'm here, I salute you. I
think there's something of that respect. Our relationship is quite
like that, Adua. You know I was talking before about,
you know, seeing you in the park sometimes and just
kind of tipping the hats, you know what I mean. Well,
you know, you'd be walking with your family. I'd be
walking listening to my music, and there would be that
kind of I see you, Yeah, you know, I see you.
(11:25):
I love it. It's beautiful. I respect it, you know,
absolutely right back at Yeah, yeah, it's it's it's really precious.
I love it. I love it when we can kind
of celebrate each other and on each other, even if
it's just a right Yeah, exactly. There was a lot
of that on stage. Look at me talking about theater,
(11:46):
you know, on screen, you know, yeah, across the ballroom,
you know our eyes would meet. Yeah, just a little nod, Yeah,
just a little nod. I think that's the sort of
thing that would have been an early on that moment
when they first caught each other's eye, when she first
came over from Europe, and it's like, so I'm marrying
who write him? Okay, don't speak the language. What's what's
(12:09):
occurring here? Now? You know? Who can I find exactly?
And I would imagine that Lady Danbury would have been
recently established at Caught as well. Just thinking about age
wise and everything. It's it's interesting to speculate on what
that might be, but I think whatever the specifics of
it might have been, I think what you really get
(12:30):
strong me already is a long lived, long experienced admiration
and fondness, yes, with a you know, with a bit
with the salty bit of you know, sharp lemon juice
in there as well, which makes them both laugh. And
they're both naughty. They're naughty ladies as well at some level,
and I think that's that's sort of fabulous as well. Yeah,
(12:58):
it's our job always gives them the best show all
the world as a stage, and we are but mere players.
I would say that's right. I think that's I think
it's true. There's a rigor and a discipline to doing
a show every night all the way through for weeks
and weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks on end
(13:19):
that moment where you create a character and it's like
it's new every night. Yeah, you know, because I think
a person who's coming to the theater to see the
show deserves to see the best show. Yeah, whatever night
they come or whatever afternoon they come to, it should
be the first show that you do. Yeah, exactly, So
it has to be your best show every time. Because
(13:41):
I just think about where I grew up in the Cartswold.
To get to the theater, it was like a mission man.
You had to find someone who had a car that
was willing to take you. Or you got the bus
into town which was like two hours away and you
had to find someone to some floor to sleep off
that it was like. Or you had to get to
a matter that could only be a Saturday. Could you
(14:01):
get Saturday off work? So where I grew up, Gabrielle
was character and sheep and two buses a week. It
was like deep country. So I just I always think about,
you know, those people who have had to make a
huge effort, or they've had to save up a lot
of money to get there, or they've never been before
and they feel maybe it's a bit not for them,
and they're like poshing now for it's so it's our job,
(14:23):
or somebody who just needs to hear what you have
to say that day, whose heart needs to hear what
you have to say, so Anna, so that demand you
have to be quite rigorous with yourself. It's like don't
phone it in. Yeah, the day you phone it in
will be the day someone really needs to hear it.
And I remember I was doing a show in New
York and I saw Cecily Tyson on stage in How
(14:48):
Much Lady Years with Cuba Gooding Junior. She was extraordinary
and you know, if everything was left on the stage
so one hundred percent a beautiful, moving, rigorous perform months.
And you just want to be that kind of actor really,
So I think and Gold is that kind of actor.
And you know you bring that because we value that
(15:08):
work and so you hopefully you bring that discipline that
to screen and film as well. Stick around for more
from Gold to Rochevelt and Adua Endo, We'll be right back.
(15:33):
Welcome back to Bridgerton the official podcast. I'm Gabby Collins
and I'm taking you behind the scenes of Bridgerton. Today,
we're talking with actresses gold To Rochevelt and Adua Endo
about their time on set in rehearsals and learning a
little bit more about them and what they brought to
their characters. Let's hear more of their conversation. One thinks
(15:54):
back to nineteen sixties and nineteen seventies. If you're growing,
just imagine it's the Midwest or it's just some always
a lot of wheat, a lot of cattle, and you
say I'm going to be an actor, and everybody goes
so like you. I mean, I was the kid from
always from tiny, I mean apparently. I think it was
(16:15):
a survival mechanism because me and my brother were the
black children in the school. Wow, you strategize within your
narrow parameters. It's the same story. It's always the same story.
I was good at mucking about and telling jokes and
pulling faces. I was quite good at fighting as well,
I have to say, and so so, but I would
(16:36):
I was always directing plays in the front room of
the drawing room. I was I would choreograph to you know,
the planet sweep by ghlf staff Holes quite happily. And
I was in all the school plays and I read
everything all the time. I loved reading. I used to
read my mother's Georgette Heyer and Jean Playdy. I could
(16:57):
not wait till I could have my own adult library tickets,
which I got when I was eleven, so that instead
of scranging off my mum, I could go in there
and go, hey, from a ticket, take me to the books.
You know, I just for me. A summer holiday was
spent lying on the bed, chewing juicy fruit and reading books.
(17:19):
That was my summer holidays. That's what I left, apart
from when I was being shouted at to go and
clean something. But you know, that was what I likeed
to do. The beloved people in my life. My husband's
a novelist and I my dad was a journalist before
he had to leave Ghana. And words. Words, words, love, love,
love words. There's the georget Hair reference again. Remember that's
(17:44):
the author who Bridgerton's Writer's Room and Bridgerton's historian, doctor
Hannah Gregg, researched. While they buttressed the show with historic elements.
We definitely spent some time going down this rabbit hole.
And the fact that Georget's tales of Regency inner circles
captivated are in her childhood gives me those cathartic full
circle chills. Even though Agiba spent her childhood playing dress
(18:07):
up and getting lost in the world that her books
sent her to, she didn't immediately go down the Thesbian's path.
So I did school plays at school. Drama wasn't considered
a proper subject in my school. You're only allowed to
do it if you was staying on to do A levels,
which are the exams she took before you went to university,
because then clearly you had an academic mind and you
could fiddle about doing this silly dressing up nonsense that
(18:31):
you would do. So yeah, I did drama when I
was in my last year at school because that's what
the INtime we're had to do it. And I worked
for a bank for a while because I didn't want
to go and do this law degree that the good
African child always does. And then I realized I hated
(18:52):
working in the bank because it was numbers, not words.
So then I went and I did the law degree,
and then two years into the law degree, I left
the law degree and made my father a weep. Jass finished, Jass,
finish it, you know, exactly as I would do with
any of my kids. And then this woman who was
from the San Francisco Mean Troupe, a woman called Dabora.
(19:15):
She said, when I walked out my law degree, I
took up the cello. I went to a music class
with the head of my law department, who said he
wished he'd would walked out on his law degree when
he was my age and he was learning the violin.
Did I want to come to this music group? I
was like, So I went and learned the cello, and
I joined Debora's drama group. And then she got funding
(19:37):
to do a play and she asked me to go
and audition for it. I didn't know what, didn't know
what I was doing. I found a history book, The
History of the English Working Class by J. P. Thompson,
and I did a sea. I did a couple of paragraphs,
and then about land rights. That was my first audition.
The thing that I saw of you saying you were
(19:59):
telling you self to just go for it. That was
around this time. Then yeah, yeah, it's I'm an associate
at a theatical the Bush in Shepherd's Bush. I'm a
senior artistic associate there. So they were into being some
most and saying what would you say to young artists,
And I just was saying, if it's your thing, do
your thing. It's a really hard thing. But if it
makes your heart sing and you lose your mind and
(20:20):
you're lost in joy, that's your thing. Do your thing.
That's what I came around to. In the end, I
gave up doing what I was supposed to do, and
I did to think that was in my heart to do.
I also asked Calder about similarly impactful moments in her
(20:40):
career and in the moments that she brought her background
and her whole self to Bridgerton. You know, as you
can imagine through my career, I am by rayciaw. So
my father was black and my mother was white. I
was born in South America, in Guyana. My father was
Guyanese and my mother was British. So for all of
(21:06):
my career I would say I have played black roles. Yeah,
the stereotype, the social worker, the policewoman, the lawyer, the doctor.
You know, young mum with the wayward child, so when
Charlotte came along, yes she is a person of color,
and yes I am a person of color, but I
(21:28):
also have my white side in me as a person
of color, right, And this was the first time that
I was able to tap into my white side. Me
that loves cream teas, SCons with jam and plotted cream,
(21:48):
My side that loves cuts of tea at about four
o'clock in the afternoon, lovely, My side that loves walks
in the country, my side that loves you visiting manor
houses and castles. And so my upbringing was very much
quite eclectic. So I had the black, you know, side,
(22:09):
and the white side, and anybody who met my mother
would always come away going, gosh, she's posh. You know,
she held herself beautifully. She before the war, she had
a nanny, They had butlers. My grandfather ran a high
(22:35):
class private school. He was headmaster of one, so they
had what you would call is staff. So my mother
was raised in quite a privileged position. So to be
able to speak in her voice, with her tones, and
to really channel her as this really powerful, useful, generous
(23:01):
matriarch in my family is a dream, dream, dream come true.
She passed away in March twenty twenty and never got
to see progeton, but I would, you know, when I
went to costume fittings and stuff like that. She was
quite frail physically at the end, but you know, she
(23:24):
got to see costume fitting photos and stuff like. You
know what I mean. She got to see me as
Queen Charlotte in like pictures and how it was being developed.
So I'm very very grateful for that. You know, she
was a religious person, so I would say up in
heaven looking down going girl, who wow, And she would
(23:45):
be sitting on the edge of her seat, and she
would she would be recognizing herself definitely, and my family
and my cousins. The first thing they said was like,
you are Challie your mother and it's a really beautiful thing.
It's a really really beautiful thing. But yes, you see her.
(24:06):
But I think it's really interesting that, you know, for
me as an actress, getting to play that side of
my heritage in this piece of storytelling. That's what's the
beauty is of Shanda Rhymes and that whole team. They're relatable,
it's relatable, the emotions are relatable. People are recognizing how
(24:30):
they feel, do you know what I mean? And it's
being reflected back at them. It's it's touchable, it's it's
it's you can taste it, you can smell it, you
can feel it. You know, it's such a it's an
extraordinary thing. I think, extraordinary thing to be able to
tap into I mean, that's genius, to be able to
(24:52):
tap into reality like that in a fantasy period drama.
You know, it's it's genius. After the break, we'll hear
more from Golda and Adua and executive producer Shanda Rhimes.
(25:16):
Welcome back to bridgeton the official podcast. We're behind the
scenes of Shauna Land's hit show and talking with actresses
Adua Endo and Golda Rochevelle. They've been giving us some
insight to the backstories of their characters and also their
own personal backstories, what they're bringing to Bridgerton and how
they actually were able to bring their whole selves to
their roles. Let's begin to wind down our conversation with
(25:40):
a word from executive producer Shanda Rhimes. I truly stomped
around for a while saying like like I want to
watch I want to see me and you know there's
that whole British talkic that Queen Charlotte actually was of
African descent, and we were like, well, what if she was?
Like what if she was? And what did that mean?
And it wasn't really about straying into a fantasy world
(26:03):
or not straying into a fantasy world, or pulling us
from a fantasy world. We just weren't interested in bathing
in the white supremacy that everybody seemed to lead us
to bathe in. For the story to be the story,
we sort of went with this idea that there were
two separate societies, like separate societies were moving, and when
Charlotte and the King fell in love, he decided he
was uniting the society. Like that was just you know,
(26:23):
is that fairly simple? And it just went from there,
and that's what's the story she's telling. And the reason
the Duke's father is so awful and is saying like
this could be taken away from us at any moment,
you know. And the idea of that is is if
love can unite something, the dissolution of love can rip
it apart, Like what are you talking about? Like their
space in the society's tenuous, but it's also right now,
(26:46):
all the most powerful people are of color that we're
watching on screen. So it was interesting to me. I
just thought it was an interesting way of dealing with
it and telling the story without laboring in or taught
like spending so much time talking about it and I
was not interesting. I wasn't interested in that. That's not
what the show is about. And if the show is
about that, that'd be one thing, but it's not what
the show is about. And to me, it was a
(27:07):
way of finding a way to make it about a
love story, and it gave us a little bit of that,
and it also just explained the world because I needed.
I wanted a very multicultural world that didn't feel like
it came out of nowhere. But I also didn't need
it to feel like it came out of like actual
historical elements that we were, you know, pushing through it.
(27:29):
Even though Shanda didn't necessarily feel the need to justify
or signify casting choices with historical accuracy, this desire to
create a world where everyone belongs without question really resonated
with Golda and Adua Ira Aldridge. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the
first black actor to play a fellow at the Coburg Theater,
(27:52):
and it was I think it's this is twenty twenty four.
It's two hundred years so right after real regency. But
still that decade fifteen years or so, he was touring
in Europe. Then he transfer don't get me started in
our orders, go go go. He transformed the way that
we do Shakespeare to this day in this country. It
(28:13):
was a really it's really time. You know, there was
huge shifts in all sorts of things going on. There
was real change happening. Wasn't there real change happening? We
are beneficiaries of Yeah today, totally. History is just the
story of our forebears. It's not like some dusty driving
It's just stories. It's just how did people fall in
(28:37):
love and make their way in the world and discover
that actually they were wonderful at making pottery when maybe
they were supposed to be a farm laborer. What about
those extraordinary women who were scientists and we're doing extraordinary
things that, well, how would you even be doing it
in that era when were you were considered somebody's property.
The education of women in those of the education of
(29:00):
women full stop, I would probably say, is lacking and
quite extraordinary, you know, its in its lacking nous. I
mean that kind of behavior or that kind of way
of life and living. You know, I remember, you know,
my mother's generation. You know how you held yourself, what
(29:21):
knife and fork you used, do you know what I mean?
What spoon you used, how the table was made, what
you cooked, you know, was really also in my mother's generation.
And there are still some things in this day and
age that you kind of go, really, are we still there?
How people relate to each other through relationships earned, that
(29:44):
kind of marrying off and soil and so forth. You know,
I think it's it's really interesting. Hopefully one day we
can come to, you know, a much more inclusive, ambrasive
equality for women. And you know that brings me also
to your character. Again. One of my favorite moments was
when Queen Charlotte gets to even the way I say it,
(30:07):
she gets to have dinner with her husband, her friend.
That was one of the scenes that I love. All
those scenes with King George, I think are really really
special because you know, as I said, you get an
insight to what goes on behind the closed doors. I
was talking about this the other day about representation of
(30:29):
people of color and black and brown people to the
rest of the world, to those who don't necessarily see
us as normal as human, do you know what I mean?
And to kind of show those moments of vulnerability for
a character like Queen Charlotte, I think that really exposes
(30:50):
the beauty of humanity. You know that we are all
capable of suffering. We are all, no matter what race,
we are capable of love, of hatred, of tears, of happiness,
of joy, of frustration, of lack of understanding, of complication
(31:12):
of need. We're all capable of that no matter what
color we are. And I think the beauty of Bridgeton
really shows black and brown people. You know, it's I
feel it's so weird for me to say as human
because we shouldn't have to say that, do you know
what I mean? But we need to be showing us
(31:35):
in this light. For people who have discriminated or feel
they need to discriminate, we show them that it's you know,
love and exist in the same way as you do.
You know, twenty thousand three black people in London and
(31:57):
a fifth of the British Navy, fifth in the late
seventeen hundreds of the British Navy or African or of
African heritage really to go to Nelson's column Battle of Waterloo.
At the foot there's a sort of a freeze of
Nelson dying and he's in the arms of a black sailor. Wow.
(32:17):
So all this history is there, it's just it's in
plain it's hiding in plain sight. It's fascinating. Yeah, that's lovely.
What's lovely about the show is if it makes people go, oh,
is that right, I'm gonna go this black box that
if it makes them go and find out about Bill Richmond,
and if it makes them to find out more about
Queen Charlotte, and if it makes them look at the
(32:37):
you know, who were the people who were peopling this
capital city at this time. You know, if it makes
them go and do all of that stuff, it's really
it's it's fascinating, I mean, fabulously interesting time. I'm so
proud to be at Summer that's growing up in this country,
with the history of this country. You can't move for
(32:59):
costume drives, if you if you've grown up in Britain,
you can't move for historical romance. You cannot move for it.
But to know that here's an opportunity to be in it.
Because usually acts of color go oh custom drama another
job I won't get right moving. To be able to
go oh and oh good, you know we were here
(33:21):
and now we're in it. Wow. If there's something that
finally goes yes, you are here, we see you exist
is being able to say to all audiences you are
all welcome to the Bridgeton party. As I was saying earlier,
there are people in our business who you are just
(33:44):
I am just in or off for their vision, and
Shonda is absolutely you know, there is a tone and
a vision to do a Shonda Rhyme show. There's a
quality to the work that is entirely hers and it's unique. Yeah,
(34:05):
I feel I feel really lucky that that we're not
just kind of going for the glamor the kind of
you know, the party shots. She's not just all about
the you know, the fun and the parties and the
gossip and the scandal. You know, there is really deep,
meaningful truth. Wow. Of all the beautiful and wonderful things
(34:32):
we talked about, my favorite part of this conversation is
just listening to Golden and Adi will be friends in
real life. It really feeds into my whole fantasy around
the backstory between Lady Danbury and Queen Charlotte. Let's go
for a walk. I'll I'll go for a walk. Yeah,
do dude, I'd love that. I'll tell you what. The
water garden is just coming into its own now. Yeah,
we'll do that. Lovely, lovely. I'll bring my cup of coffee.
(34:55):
Two biddies going. Oh look day Niget calt White, Bye,
Calt White. Gabrielle. Nice talking to you, darling. Thank you
so much and thank you for sharing your journey. Oh
it's been it's been lovely talking to you as one
(35:16):
nerde to another isolate you. That's it for this episode
of Bridgerton. The Official podcast. Bridgerton The Official Podcast is
executive produced by Lauren Homan, Sandy Bailey, Holly Fry and
me Gabrielle Collins. Our producer is Chris Van Dooson and
our editor is Vincent de Johnny. Bridgerton the Official Podcast
(35:42):
is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio.
For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or anywhere you get your favorite shows.
Host
Gabrielle Collins
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