A show choreographer helped “Bridgerton” star Phoebe Dynevor overcome a “full-blown panic attack” while filming a difficult scene in season one.
Last year, Dynevor revealed to Grazia that she suffered a panic attack before filming a pivotal scene in season one, episode three, in which Daphne enters the Ingenue Ball and everyone watches as she walks downstairs. Dynevor stated that this was “one of the most difficult scenes to film” since she felt “poo” on set.
In “Inside Bridgerton,” a new book on the production of the first two seasons of the blockbuster Netflix series, Dynevor and choreographer Jack Murphy describe the actor’s decision to proceed with the sequence.
According to Murphy, Dynevor approached him during scene practice and expressed uncertainty about how to portray the sequence.
In the behind-the-scenes book, Murphy stated: “I told her, ‘You’re feeling self-conscious because everyone is watching you as you down the stairs. Thus, you are playing the emotion rather than the action. As you descend the stairs, you know, and there is a shift, that you must make “someone else” feel uneasy. And you will exploit the prince to accomplish this. Therefore, cease focusing on your emotions and engage in action.”
Dynevor added: “It is extremely kind of Jack Murphy to say that I was only self-conscious. I wasn’t only uneasy; I was experiencing a full-blown panic attack! I’d awakened feeling like a lump of feces. Just one of those awful days that we all have from time to time when we simply do not feel good about ourselves.”
She went on: “And then I had to perform a sequence in which I walk down the stairs while everyone is staring at me; it was very difficult to confront all of those eyes. You must always have a purpose in a scenario, and I did not believe I deserved to command the attention of the entire room. I felt way too flawed.”
Dynevor continued by stating that Murphy’s guidance greatly assisted her in filming the sequence.
“I had a real moment with Jack in which he coached me to a point of empowerment, but that sequence was so difficult to film – I wanted to flee!” She said.