Cast Q&A for ‘Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story’ | SAG-AFTRA Foundation Conversations

yeah it was I think we were in the middle of filming Bridgeton season two and I got an email saying Shonda Rhimes would like to go on a zoom call with you at three o'clock this afternoon now there's only two ways that that could go bad or good and lucky for us it was very very good but then we had myself um ajua and Ruth who plays lady Bridgeton had a really wonderful conversation with uh Shonda about older women and older actresses and really celebrating these three older women and their friendship and um yeah kind of Sisterhood and really pleased that she kind of uh was yeah really encouraged to kind of go in that direction as well as you know an origin story thank you all so much for being here congratulations on a fantastic show and thank you um I absolutely love this show uh this is an audience of your fellow sag after actors I actually have a fellow sag actor actors I usually like to start by asking how did you get your sag card but I believe you're all from the UK so so you might this might have been how you got them um or it might be hard to figure out so I'd actually love to know what was your first job as an actor the first time you felt you could call yourself you know whether it was professional or not I did a tour of hair the musical yeah around Europe who were you I played I I is it Donna yes Donna Aquarius yeah yeah and then other various parts yeah we we went around Europe on a bus and did uh several performances one of which was potsdema plants in uh Berlin just after the war had come down so that was yeah it was really cool really cool yeah it was an experience India um not as transatlantic as yours um apparently mine was a a Vodafone commercial at eight months old shout out mom um but the one I remember the best is um I was young Nala in The Lion King the West End wow very fun it's amazing um nowhere nowhere near as prolific as as either of those I was in a tiny tiny uh short film uh just after graduating drama school called Mars directed by Hannah Beach but uh I you know no one has has seen this film I have seen this film I'm someone you've seen this I have why the film is great Hannah did such an amazing job uh I just that's my that's I didn't know that wait have you seen it uh yeah every night before bed yeah I have seen it yeah all right uh I'd say this is unbelievable Wow have you been warned it's all downhill from here essentially yes I'm preparing for the worst from here on out well again congratulations on a wonderful show um I want to start at the beginning with Golda because Queen Charlotte the character became an instant fan favorite I feel like the moment Bridgerton dropped um at what point did Shonda Rhimes come to you and say that you know she was thinking about a series not only focused on the young Queen Charlotte but that you know your character would be in it so significantly these parallel stories yeah it was I think we were in the middle of filming Bridgeton season two and I got an email saying Shonda Rhimes would like to go on a zoom call with you at three o'clock this afternoon now there's only two ways that that could go bad or good and lucky for us it was very very good but then we had myself um ajua and Ruth who plays lady Bridgeton had a really wonderful conversation with uh Shonda about older women and older actresses and really celebrating these three older women and their friendship and um yeah kind of Sisterhood and really pleased that she kind of uh was yeah really encouraged to kind of go in that direction as well as you know an origin story I would love to know for the other actors how you came to be cast and I almost feel silly for asking this but were you familiar with the show were you really like a hardcore fan like me repeatedly watching it during the pandemic thank you um speaking of amazing Bridgeton yeah uh is and I was a fan of said show um before watching which made auditioning incredibly exciting but also very nerve-wracking because I knew kind of the weight of the show um I knew how kind of prolific and iconic um gold had made Queen um Charlotte um so yeah I didn't only kind of watch it as India but also as an actor which all of you I'm guessing are um seeing the impact it made on the industry was unlike anything I'd seen in my lifetime at least and then you know also introducing people of color and from different diverse backgrounds into a genre which again I never thought was open to people like us um was another kind of um bonus and another reason why it kind of captivated me and um yeah what an honor to be a part of it yeah Corey for you uh no I hadn't I hadn't uh yeah it somehow somehow passed me by um and uh I I as soon as I well I think we're the same uh when I first got the sides they were from um a scene in Bridgeton one they were from so I played uh Simon the Duke no way um yeah in a dinner scene with uh with uh Phoebe and um and that we were told deliberately to to not emulate any performances so I was very glad that I hadn't seen it and so then stayed away from it during the course of auditioning and then once uh I got the the dreaded phone call um I uh yeah I binged the entire thing wow um yeah and by that point season two would come out so I did the whole two in in one shabang did you know going in it was for King George or did they keep the the rules it was uh it was King Gregory at the time interesting yeah do you remember what you were called I can't remember Sophia which is you know she was called Sophia Charlotte or Charlotte's fear Charlotte Sophia Charlotte Sophia Bingo how as you sort of prepare for the audition not being familiar with I don't say the tone of the show but you know not knowing the show and not knowing that you're eventually going to be playing you know an iconic person um I mean the the two scenes were the so they were actually both scenes from that episode which I think you guys have at least um so the the first meeting between Jordan Charlotte with uh with the wall which was an enormous scene for an audition it's like a 10-page scene it goes on for a long time uh and then the scene right at the end where uh George tells Charlotte that he's got to go he says I'm your king you know and the whole tone shifts and what a what a gift uh for an actor in an audition because that they exist in completely different worlds so you know you can always you can dive into each intention and you know show some range uh and and those scenes kind of exist in a little microcosm of their own and you can sort of play that irregardless of context uh you always make up your if you don't have any but uh they sort of spoke for themselves and and working with India and the chemistry test just made it so much easier because whatever um whatever she gave me I was able to change you know and and play play off India I actually wanted ask about that because I know obviously we're in this weird time period where people weren't always allowed to meet in person but there was a chemistry test was it pretty instantaneous yes and and also I'd come off the back of doing like I don't know six or seven chemistry tests that were all over Zoom um which always for me is like just a death sentence to the audition you know you're like right well this well I'm not going to get this one um and that one was brilliant it was in London um and it was in person and I thought amazing I've got a chance at least um yeah so it was exactly yeah yeah um so I was very very glad and privileged to have had that opportunity and I actually don't think that it would have gone gone my way if I hadn't been in the room so yeah very very thankful which I don't agree with um talking to our director I'd had a a meeting with our director Tom prior to our chemistry reading also prior to our chemistry read in which he kind of just explained you know we're going to kind of try out two guys um and you know very be very kind of um decisive in your decisions make really clear choices and then we will kind of change around um we'll kind of alter their performances and work with them and but just make sure that you are kind of like the through line in order to keep some kind of you know consistency um but we are really kind of rooting for this one guy who has just gone and shaved all his hair off um so we're hoping he can grow his hair back in time but I'm not so you know that this guy comes in he's really tall he's got long hair I'm like this isn't the guy do the chemistry read he's great but you know I'm like I'm waiting for you know this this bald-headed Beauty um and and then he comes um with a bald head obviously not now but um yeah I think um the chemistry read just I don't know if you guys have had it before but when it when it just clicks and you you just feel that um is is what I felt with Corey and initially with our summer or who on that day we both also had our chemistry read together which went really smoothly that was gonna be my other question because it you know your chemistry together too is is also amazing were you a Bridgeton fan and how did this part come to you uh so much like Corey I did not watch Bridgerton you're the two the two people in the world who didn't watch it yeah maybe actually um but I and it's it's so nice to kind of discuss this with like a room full of actors because I personally when I heard about this show I was like oh this sounds like something I would really love to do so I'm definitely not gonna watch it because I there was this like sense of I don't know maybe jealousy or you know coveting of something that was not yet mine um and then when the and so so then I bullied my agent into finding anything in it I was like I will do pretty much I don't even care if I don't have lines I just want to be in this world and just kind of inhabit with this beautiful storytelling and I was always a fan of Shonda um I watched Scandal and how to get away with murder constantly yeah yep it's amazing um and so he said you know oh they've already started filming season two so yeah and so I was like okay fine and I was in university at the time so I was like I'll just focus on my studies um and then two weeks later he was like actually this just popped up and it was a audition for a role that was not yet named it was a scene from season one of Bridgerton it was Penelope featherington and Colin Bridgerton and it was such a short scene I was like nothing is going to happen with this I'll get that happens is like a drink gets porn on her and she reacts and I was like okay it's a good thing I've never watched the show because I don't know what I'm doing and I have more reason to not know what I'm doing um so I sent it uh it was kind of one of those throwing it into the void and then the void responded and then I was like okay this is good response um then a couple more auditions than it was the bath scene that is in that first episode and I remember thinking I don't know what a ton is a ton of what [Music] and so it was like this I I think I might actually need to start watching the show because there is a lot of like just linguistically there is something very unique to the show um and so I think at that point we I had had a zoom call with the Tom verica our director the executive producers um and then they found out that I was not British but actually American um and then they told me that I should watch the show and so then I did wow and then to the chemistry test did you have to leave University to take this job yes I had to drop out yeah yeah [Applause] so kids her advice is drop out when Opportunity Knocks open the door yeah exactly exactly [Applause] um Indian Golda you're you're playing the same character but at very different points in her life where it really almost isn't the same character in so many ways um I'm curious uh India how did you prepare for the role did you did you watch Golda and did you study her did you want to come in and make it your own I did watch Golda um not in a creepy way um but um yeah I I had watched season one um uh prior to auditioning but then when I had um you know been given the role I uh re-watched it again just to get a sense of the world and the Creator the character you had created and where she sits in the kind of mobility of how everything runs just to get an idea of where I need to kind of look you know aim for or show glimpses of um but in terms of any kind of emulation of character choices I didn't do um and they didn't want um so that was really kind of a blessing for me to be able to create a whole different person um with flickers and glimmers of um a character that already has been uh created yeah basically butchered no and also like my advice to India was take it and make it your own you know I think Charlotte really um determines that because she is so uh clear in her own journey and who she is as a woman and Unapologetic um so to have you know that was my advice take it and make it your own um give what you can to it yourself and she will give you back a hundred times over did they sort of keep you updated on casting or did you you know sort of meet maybe on set oh I had no idea I only gave um a little photo of me I don't even know when uh Kelly might have you know found it somewhere and then I met I saw a picture of India and thought yeah I can see it I can see it and then we met in person and yeah I fell in love yeah you know straight away that's amazing um why do you think people have responded so strongly to the character of Queen Charlotte I think it says I said you know she's very sure in who she is she knows her own mind um she's Unapologetic um and yeah she's big and bold and Brash and witty and I think we could all especially women could kind of take a little leaf out of that book I know every time I play her and I I leave her behind on the journey home I'm always like wow girl what okay okay maybe I can have a little bit of I love the way you know we I talk to her she's really become her own character I know that sounds weird no but we've been together for like four years now and she really has taken on her own Persona and I'm very much led by the writing and how she reacts in certain situations that they put her in but yeah coming out of it as gold I'm always like what can I learn what can I take away from today that she's moved me in some way or just a little reaction that I've found that she's you know given um so I think she's a very learning character you know she's a she's a teacher in that respect and I'm very very grateful to be in her sphere I mean are there still new things you're learning about acting even today absolutely every single day I think it's really great to have the scripts that we do have and for Shonda to you know put pen to paper and really invest in this character and it's and their Journey was something I think all of us would agree was you know a dream come true and when you have writing like that it's very easy to step into you know a role like the queen or the king or lady Danbury and you know so on because it's it's although you do your research or whatever you do to get into a character when the writing is so good it just you can just sit back and let it happen and let the character just live for themselves and I think that's yeah what Shonda has given the four of us and you know the rest of the cast and Corey you're playing a famous historical figure who we we now know he struggles with you know a disease that wasn't defined at the time um obviously you can't play the future or play the ending that we see ends up with the later King George but how much did that factor into your research and your prep for him uh how much did the original portrayal of him yeah knowing his outcome knowing knowing the end um well I mean like uh you know I think writers always say you know start the end uh so you know the beginning but I mean we didn't need to start the end because we knew the end and I I think um I mean in terms of research there is if anyone watches the series and then is interested in King George at all uh there is a brilliant book by uh just called King George III um by a historian uh Andrew Roberts uh which is written after 2015 which is when 20 000 pages of his personal journals were finally released in 2015 uh by the Royal libraries um and uh so there's just a wealth of of information uh but I read the scripts I did that research I spoke to a specialist I made my decisions about what it was that I wanted to portray we don't diagnose him as a show but I think for me uh my work has I have to diagnose him in order for the for it to be specific and unoffensive and to pay uh homage to the guy that I fell in love with in the research but I think both of both both you and I thought of it almost um you know uh in in a Shakespearean Romeo Juliet Way um because you go to watch Romeo and Juliet and you're told that these are star-crossed lovers and they take their own lives right so we know we know where it ends up and so every moment of joy that they have is uh even more poignant because you know exactly what's going to happen and I think it was brilliant as the characters but also as the actors uh it's always about staying present and being there with your partner and and what a gift to have the the knowledge of the tragedy that is coming towards you uh because it's it's a lesson in every single second staying present into the joy that they find with each other and for George personally it was staying present in the moments of Lucidity that he has rather than drifting away into the into the lens that he he uh possesses more more in Bridgeton yeah your chemistry is so fantastic and I always think it's strange to put two people you know on on screen and say like okay pretend you're in love um but at the same time your characters are getting to know each other as as you're shooting did you find that that helped or was the chemistry pretty instantaneous uh I mean um oh my goodness um I think you know as as we film it's not we didn't film um Lenny in a linear manner uh yes episode wise but we were chopping and changing especially towards the end um of the scene of the end of shooting we were doing we had to come back and do some scenes from like episodes one and two and things like that because scheduling and Shonda writes kind of as we're going along and um if they're kind of pivotal moments that she'd maybe not picked up on whilst writing and that she's seen in the rushes that day she's like what can I what can I you know let's let's maybe go in and and delve deeper into this particular narrative um chemistry wise I think for our characters it was just about myself and Corey understanding who they were truly and um that um you know unconditional love is kind of the system and the the river that just runs straight through their relationship and in our own understandings and our own kind of findings of who our characters are individually we understand that together they are kind of just almost too compatible and they are you know ying and yang so once we got that that was fine um but then just Corey as a person and me as a person we just get on as well um and we have a very similar work ethic and um very kind of similar understanding of the world as well um which I think you said before you don't need but it's so incredibly important in being able to create convincing character and just being able to trust one another and able to venture and do some of these really scary vulnerable scenes and I absolutely love the friendship between Queen Charlotte and Lady Danbury in both Bridgerton and the end of this show um I'm curious what it's like to get to portray this wonderful friendship and why that's so important to this story especially in these early years I think there is something um that tends to be forgotten when it comes to friendships uh specifically when they are put in comparison to romantic relationships um and I think there is something really powerful about showing that you need the two to balance um you see Charlotte with King George and when it goes not so great who does she have then and I think there is specifically also showing black women being friends is such a revolutionary image to constantly portray on a screen because of the level of competition that I think a lot of racialized people are put when they're put in the same demographic or same demographic put in the same industry or in the same environment and to show women doing the opposite of that fighting that away I think is I hope it encourages people to to not look at these relationships and these friendships with such fear that they will overtake a romantic one the two kind of live in separate spaces it's such a great friendship and I love watching it in Bridgerton as well and now that I've met Queen Charlotte's children I love it even more because oh those kids uh uh my darlings [Laughter] let me take a couple questions from the audience we have one for the cast they didn't leave a name but talking about one of the standout aspects of Bridgerton is its stunning production design and costumes can you talk about how they go about creating the show's distinctive style what kind of research goes into the process and I guess for you as actors I'd love to know how much does it help you you can prepare for these characters but then you show up on sets and you're in this space and you put on these amazing wigs and how much does that help like really help you click into that character for me it's a hundred percent um you know as I've said before Charlotte is now for me her own entity so the journey to creating her um includes the journey from sitting in that makeup chair at five o'clock in the morning to putting on the last Jewel at five to eight before you step on set at eight o'clock you know that whole journey it's about two and a half hours I know my timelines were a bit weird just then but yeah it's about two and a half hours um in all for me to create from beginning to end on a film day but that is as important as the script as Direction uh for my portrayal of her um but I think it's really fascinating that Bridgeton is really vibrant and joyous in its color and costume and and and and wigs and all that kind of stuff and Queen Charlotte is very much is very much a kind of I don't want to say like downplayed the palette is different because it's more personal Hallet of Queen Charlotte is more emotional you know so it's it's not as vibrant it's not as in your face as Bridgeton but it's it's still got that but I love the fact that it's the color has just toned down slightly because we're mourning a death you know at the beginning or or that or there's mental health issues involved and and the cost you'll see the costumes and the wigs definitely for Charlotte in in my part of it is very much dimmed down because it's more personal it's more human you see her as a mother they all kind of more vulnerable situations so I love that the kind of palette is more Moody you know in a way more dark darker in a way yeah I mean I feel like you can't put on one of those dresses and not feel like royalty [Laughter] opening to that to the to Queen Charlotte you know I love that she's talking about her dress and like how challenging it is and you gotta hold yourself in a certain way I would think wearing one of those for sure but I think gold has just put it perfectly it creates authentic character because you're not having to find you're not having to delve too hard into how one might be holding themselves because you're just stuck holding yourself like that um but yeah I they are literally um they are you know such a they're almost their own character they hold so much story um and I see it almost as pathetic fallacy and that you know it it conveys mood it conveys everything that each character are going through and there are like little things like you know I don't know like roses and little things that are in the costumes and the wigs and stuff that is about story is about the show is about the characters about the relationships so it's just yeah it's amazing that the creation of these things and the Artistry that really goes into it and the thought of how you you're we're telling this story is All Through how it looks and wigs and costumes as well as script and direction it's extraordinary how do you not steal at least one of those costumes like they're amazing something something small from this end who says I haven't yeah who says I don't have one in my living room right now okay do you no but I might have taken I don't know a few things I don't know I'd like to take a tea set oh yeah but like one that is you know 24. yeah the one that you have in in one of the scenes where you're having dinner you know and that long there was a big old yeah yeah yeah yeah I'd like to I don't know where the hell I would put it but if I had to take one of those yeah I'm sure you know this but they have like Bridge or two will come around for tea yeah sure and scones yes yes and clotted cream which we can't get right out here I miss home we just can't get it right I don't I don't know yeah well I don't know what that is why why we can't but some the cows in England are better import it um we also have a question from Victor for uh the cast wants to know what's the most challenging part about shooting this series challenging [Laughter] you're either working through some trauma or it's so much fun you can't think of anything well it's also tricky because this uh because I guess we don't really want spoilers so I don't want to get too specific about a scene but [Laughter] [Music] we will say stamina um yeah the stamina to not only be in every day but to bring 100 to every scene every day is something um I don't think you can learn at drama school I think you have to learn on set you have to learn going through it and it is such a process and it is a marathon and not a Sprint um and everyone is very very different in their energy levels for instance Corey is up in the morning in the gym you know couldn't go all day without eating and it's like full of beans to the end of the day whereas I'm like I need to get up as late as possible to my call time I need breakfast lunch dinner snacks in between like I need my sleep and that's fine that's me that's how I am but I had to learn that the hard way trying to keep up with these a lot um and and that's fine because we're all you know we're all individuals and it's about collaboration and collaborate collaborating and finding out what works for you I was going to say uh World building there's something um I thought it was just all going to be in the script but like when you leave this world and enter another one and how to fully Encompass all of the complexities of that world it's like you you like you write it in your notebook all of the rules of the world but then you have to remind yourself every time you step on set everything and to fully embody that I didn't realize how I mean yeah it is stamina and it's also just yeah exhausting those things only be left to a writer and you'd forget as an actor that you also too have to create that world for yourself absolutely um I want to remind everyone um uh well actually what I'm sorry we're out of time because I was going to ask you to tell us everything that happens on season three at Bridgerton but we finished filming [Applause] there's no one from Netflix watching you can tell us we've finished filming there's a wave over that Netflix is in the room they're always in the room believe me yeah yeah yeah well until then I'm so excited because all the episodes of Queen Charlotte of Richardson's Story premiere on May 4th um so you can see them all just block off the day is my advice um again it's such a beautiful show thank you so much for being here and thank you for being a great audience thank you so much

Channel: SAG-AFTRA Foundation

Views: 322,314

Keywords: SAG Foundation, SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Acting, Actors, Q&A, Interview

Id: HloRHU5DmjI

Length: 32min 28sec (1948 seconds)

Published: Thu May 11 2023