The huge budget, the sex scenes and also the Kardashians: behind the scenes of “Bridgerton”

Can’t control the thoughts around the Duke? You swallowed all the episodes in Bing and now you have a hard time letting go and moving on? The period romantic drama that Shonda Reims generously gave to Netflix found its way very quickly to the top of subscribers’ watch lists, and one can understand how, with plenty of hot scenes and sex appeal backed by stunning costumes and picturesque scandals. The good news? If you are done with what happened in front of the cameras, we have gathered for you some spicy information about what happened behind them.

Netflix’s deep pockets have proven themselves this time around as well, but in this case the money – which according to The Sun is estimated at around five million pounds per episode – did not burn on computerized effects, multiplayer battles or glittering castings. Oh no. All the money was channeled to large life-size wardrobes, wigs, jewelery and locations of 19th-century England.

Filming for the series ended in February 2020, just before the Corona made its own festive entrance. They lasted for nine months – a relatively long period for filming a series.

The first scene on the first day of filming for Reggae-Jean Page (Duke Simon) and Phoebe Dainbour (Daphne) was, of course, a hot sex scene in the library. Luckily for the two players, the filming was preceded by six weeks of training camp where they deepened their acquaintance. And not only that – they and the rest of the cast received briefings and training in some areas some of which are no longer part of modern life, such as social etiquette, horseback riding, dancing and period dances, sound lessons, shooting, boxing and playing the piano.

The sex scenes are of course the pulsating core of the series, not a short time has been spent building intimacy and closeness and preparing for the sexual scenes of Reggae-Jean and Phoebe. In fact, the production appointed the two main stars an “intimacy coordinator” – a line that will no doubt look wonderful in the woman’s resume – whose dimmed role included working with both actors to make the scenes look authentic and real, and more importantly, make them feel comfortable during their performance. The sex between Daphne and Simon was not only meant to horny you on the couch, but was also used for the benefit of the creators’ female empowerment agenda – almost all of the scenes in question were filmed from Daphne’s point of view, to tell the story of her sexual awakening.

The characters in “Bridgerton” are successful and seductive, but as we have already said – the real stars in the story are of course the costumes. Over 7,800 costumes included the series’ huge wardrobe, and it was created especially for it by a team that included over 230 people – from dresses and jackets to shoes and gloves – all handmade. In an interview with IndieWire, Bridgerton’s dressmaker Alan Miroynick called her “the greatest series of my career.”

By the way, as befits a daughter of the Bridgerton family, Daphne never wears the same dress twice. According to Miroinik, the diamond of the season had over a hundred dresses used only by her. And if we are already counting, Queen Charlotte also never wore the same wig twice, and each of her wigs matched the dress she wore. “She’s very bored,” noted in one of the interviews with showrunner Chris Van Dawson, “she has nothing to do but wait for her husband to die, and that’s what passes her time.” And here’s an anecdote that you can casually mumble at social events: During the period in question in England, people began to release their wigs, partly due to an expensive tax imposed on the powder used to maintain the wig, and required sums that not everyone could afford.

If you think you recognize some of the backgrounds of “Bridgerton” – you are not wrong. According to Oprah Winfrey magazine, the series has adopted several sets used in other period series – from the house where the “favorite” was filmed with Emma Stone and Olivia Coleman, to the one that served as Netflix’s “crown.” Some of the scenes were filmed in the house where “Downton Manor” and “Victoria” were filmed. However the furniture needed a completely different treatment. One of the insights of the production was that the dark color that characterizes 19th century furniture is actually … dirt. Therefore, all the London-ton furniture of “Bridgerton” was built especially for the series and was as colorful and shiny as new, and in all the furniture – the intention is everything. Including the curtains, rugs and paintings on the walls.

Another magical trivia detail: The Bridgerton family home was inspired by the Althorp house, which was Princess Diana’s previous home before her marriage to Prince Charles.

Each of the main families – the Bridgertones and the Petheringtones – has a family symbol that appears several times in the series. In the Bridgertones it is a bee, which appears several times in the series (following the death of the father of the family in books from a bee sting), and the Petheringtoners hold a butterfly. The dominant color palette of the Bridgertons is like wedgewood porcelain (light pastels, mostly light blue and green), while that of the Pathringtons is of course a “guaranteed blindness” palette. As a reference, the production referred to the daughters of the Petterington family as the Kardashians sisters (Putterington mother is Chris Jenner and Penelope is a kind of Chloe), while the Bridgertones were accepted into the Kennedy family. You know, new money versus old money.

Luke Thompson and Luke Newton – or in short, the “locks” – who play the Bridgerton brothers, Colin and Benedict, were helped by wigs for glued cheeks. But the cheekbones of Jonathan Bailey, who plays Daphne’s big brother, Anthony, are completely his own from home. So he spared himself itching and adhesions but he said he began to regret the choice towards the end of filming because their maintenance required him a lot of time and energy, and also because he feared that after he took them off, he “would not be able to walk straight”.

The one who created the corsets for the series is the well-known corset, Mr. Pearl, who also created the corset worn by Kim Kardashian at the Met Gala in 2019. Apart from her, Mr. Pearl is also responsible for the design of the corsets of her sisters, Madonna and another, Beyonce.

The character of Will Mondrick, Simon’s boxing coach, who does not appear in the books, is based on a real boxer named Bill Richmond. He was born a slave on Staten Island in 1763, and his boxing talent allowed him to develop a career that saved him from an enslaved life.

Julia Quinn, the author of the books, served as the series’ advisor to the book affairs and was generally pleased with the result. However, one scene that Kevin regretted not getting into the series is the one during which Simon brings Daphne flowers but notes that the flowers are not for her but for her mother – a scene taken from Kevin’s real life. The producers were unable to bring in the scene itself but at one of Simon and Daphne’s meetings it was noted that the flowers Simon brought were for Daphne and also for her mother.

By the way, Kevin did give her blessing to the series but one twist caught her unprepared: Lady Wiseldown’s identity is revealed as early as the end of the first season, long before it happens in the books. This detail was only revealed to Kevin when she watched the first edited version of the series, and when she recovered from the shock she sent a letter to Reims and Van Dawson titled “I have some questions to ask you.”

Following a surprising coincidence, Nicola Coplan, who played Penelope, won the cast’s gossip title on the set – a title she does not deny. “If I were looking for a source of information on the set, I would definitely turn to Nicola,” Reg admitted in an interview following the series.

Queen Charlotte has a special fondness for her Pomeranian puppies, who sat on her at every opportunity. The actress who played her, Golda Roosevelt, a little less. In an interview, Roosevelt noted that the puppies had a “unique and dominant character, just like my character,” adding that she loves dogs but these specifically needed some restraint because they were “quite combative.” They were all, by the way, females, in keeping with the female agenda of the series.

While the entire cast tore its legs in waltz dance training for proms and parties, the aforementioned Koplan sat cross-legged and vacated. Fate wanted and the dance assigned to her was an ancient Irish dance and Koplan – an Irish by birth – has jumped it since she was five.

Daphne’s hair and makeup design was inspired by Audrey Hepburn in the movie “War and Peace”. The goal was to keep her look soft, clean and as natural as possible.

“Bridgerton,” as well as the book series that preceded it, stands out for the witty dialogues and self-humor of its characters. But the funniest scene shot was actually the riding scene in the park of Daphne and her brother, Anthony. If by the beginning of the scene the two actors still managed to control the horses, as soon as the “action” was released into the world air the horses insisted on galloping … backwards. The scene was repeatedly interrupted following uncontrollable outbursts of laughter from both of them.

The entire cast was obsessed with one actress who was not present on the set at all: Dime Julie Andrews, the voice behind Lady Wisdomdown, ignited the imaginations of all the actors who intervened who would meet her first.

There are seven more books left in Julia Quinn’s book series, so let’s hope we have at least seven more seasons ahead of us. The next book focuses on Anthony’s love story – and rumor has it that next season will begin filming in March 2021.