Ruth Gemmellhas starred onBridgertonsince it premiered in 2020, so usually nothing fazes her.
However, she was in for a surprise while filming for the current season, when she learned her character, Lady Violet Bridgerton, would share a sexy scene with costar Daniel Francis' Lord Marcus Anderson.
"I was a little bit shocked," Gemmell toldCiné-Télé-Revuein a recent interview. "I was in a costume fitting, and I realized that I was being fitted for something that I had no idea was going to happen."
The 58-year-old actress said she "went home and cried."
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Of course, what was going to happen on the Netflix period drama was that Lady Violet — a widowed mother of eight — was going to have an intimate moment with Lord Marcus.
"Thankfully, we tackled this one in a slightly different way to the kids of the show," Gemmell said, "because I don't think anyone would want to watch that really. I was a bit shocked."
She joked that the show used "low lighting."
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More seriously, Gemmell, who's also appeared on TV series includingPenny Dreadful(2015) andEastEnders(2009), eventually found the value in showing her character finding romance again following the death of her husband, Edmund, years ago.
"I think it is important," Gemmell said. "We don't die after a certain age, so it's quite nice to kind of represent that."
She added, "It's very lovely to see young love and love for the first time, but it's also very important and lovely to see somebody who has loved and lost and grieved and comes with a myriad of baggage, because everyone can identify with that, and I think that's important to show."
Gemmell explained in January that her colleagues on the Emmy-winning series helped put her at ease.
"I have to be honest that when I knew it was going to happen, I was quite scared, but then it was very apparent that everybody got on board — costume, hair and makeup … which is about making you feel comfortable and confident," Gemmell, who noted that she worked with an intimacy coordinator, toldTheWrapin January. "I lucked out on that whole score, so that was comforting, and the producers and the director — the crew a big part of it, because it's like a family, and if you feel comfortable with those people, then you feel confident. And working with Daniel was a treat … It was a real laugh and a bit of a relief."
As for Francis, well, he was uncomfortable at times, too.
"You need to be comfortable and even with the comfort level, there's nothing that really prepares you for the moment that you step on set and there's a camera right by your ass … and then nothing prepares you for the moment that you're sitting there and you see your ass on the screen," he told the outlet. "That's a whole new experience."
Bridgertonis available to stream on Netflix.
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