Phoebe Dynevor Revealed How "Bridgerton" Sex Scenes Were "Intricately Choreographed" Before Filming

"It was more intricately choreographed than our dance routines."

By
Ben Henry
by Ben Henry

BuzzFeed Staff

If you've been on Netflix, or indeed the internet at all, over the last few weeks, chances are you've watched or at least heard of Bridgerton.

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The glossy period show, which marks Shonda Rhimes' first collaboration with Netflix, basically sees an amalgamation of Gossip Girl and Downton Abbey against a London backdrop with a generous sprinkle of scandal and drama.

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Of course, one of the stars is Phoebe Dynevor, who takes on the leading role of Daphne Bridgerton opposite Regé-Jean Page's dashingly handsome Duke of Hastings.

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And the pair share quite a few steamy scenes that you probably wouldn't want to watch with your parents. Unfortunately for Phoebe, however, she's currently quarantining with her family, which means things can get a little awkward...

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"I'm happy for Mum and Dad to see it, because they know the industry, and they know how hard I worked, and how much it meant to me getting that role," the 25-year-old revealed in a recent interview with the Guardian. "But not my grandparents. And with my younger brother…well, it's awkward."

In another interview with the Daily Star, Phoebe hilariously added that she was on "on high alert with the remote control" so she could actually skip the sex scenes while watching the show with her family.

Liam Daniel / Netflix

"I watched the show with the whole family, even the grandparents managed to watch it," she said. "I had to sit there and fast forward on high alert with the remote control. We managed it just about."

But, on the set of Bridgerton, filming the scenes was a completely different story altogether, with Phoebe explaining that each sex scene was "intricately choreographed" with a bunch of measures in place to make everybody comfortable.

Liam Daniel / Netflix

"We would rehearse the sex scenes like stunts," she told the Guardian. "I would literally know exactly where a guy was going to put his hand at what moment. And we'd have props, like mats, that went in between us."

She added: "It was more intricately choreographed than our dance routines in a way, so I never really felt exposed at all."

Director Julie Anne Robinson expanded on how the sex scenes were filmed, revealing in an interview with Deadline that there were endless rehearsals to get everything right.

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"I would rehearse with the actors, we would talk through the scene in detail, and we would decide what story was that the scene was telling," she explained. "Then [intimacy coordinator] Lizzy [Talbot], who I trust immensely, went away, and it was almost like a stunt rehearsal. I would be doing dance sequence in the room next door, they would be doing an intimacy rehearsal."

However, there were some, uh, odd limitations to some of the sex scenes, not least because you have to be "delicate" with the furniture. Oh, and there would be "room monitors" on set too who were in charge of making sure nothing got broken.

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"When you go into a country house, there is far less flexibility than you can ever imagine," Julia said. "You can't move the bed, you can't move the painting, you can't move the wardrobe, and you have to be quite delicate with the furniture."

"There were room monitors in the room when we were doing the sex scenes, and they wouldn't leave," she went on. "We would be shooting a sex scene and they would say, 'Can you go easy on the bed, go easy on the bedpost.'"

You can read Phoebe's full Guardian interview here and Julia's Deadline interview over here.

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