logo
Bridgerton's Regé-Jean Page: ‘The idea of attractive spies is ludicrous'

Bridgerton's Regé-Jean Page: ‘The idea of attractive spies is ludicrous'

Telegraph01-03-2025

After mulling it over for a little while, Regé-Jean Page reaches a conclusion: no, he would not make a very good spy. 'Probably not,' he concedes. 'I don't think I'd enjoy holding that kind of attention for that long. The stakes are a bit high.'
Also, he adds, he once learnt about the CIA term 'The Gray Man' (in fact, three years ago he was in a film of that name, opposite Ryan Gosling), which broadly relates to good spies being the sort of people you'd pass in the street without really noticing them.
'So the whole idea of having attractive spies is ludicrous,' Page says. 'That's more where actors are up against it. Because we, for various reasons, as a society like watching attractive people do attractive things, and that's kind of the opposite of the real job, which is being a very, very dull person, doing very meticulous things.'
As Page says the words 'attractive people', his hand gestures across his face, which he will later describe as his 'uniform'. It's as if to say, 'I mean, come on, who wouldn't notice this?' It would be a comically arrogant move coming from most people, but in Page's case it's a simple statement of fact. He really wouldn't last a day out in the field. Not with that smoulder.
We are in an oddly appointed mezzanine room above a photography studio in north London. Page – as he once had cause to tweet, Regé is pronounced like 'reggae', then Jean in the French style, and Page as you'd expect – is expressive and thoughtful, with a booming laugh and an ever-animated right eyebrow.
Cupro shirt jacket, £1,900, Giorgio Armani; Steel De Ville Prestige watch, £4,800, Omega; Bracelet, his own
He rode to global fame as Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings, the most swaggering, eligible man in London, in Netflix's Regency-era romp Bridgerton in 2020. Today, though, he is confident but solicitous, and so wary of saying the wrong thing that he seems almost timid. 'I try and listen more than I talk, so I find these situations… unnatural,' he says. 'One of my favourite things about acting is deflecting attention away from myself.'
He is 37 years old, and snug as a bug in a black Armani tracksuit (he was made the face of Armani Code Parfum in 2022). He strokes his own thigh. 'It does magical things that tracksuits shouldn't do – very, very casual but still looks dressed up just a liii-iiitle bit.' He's paired it with Vans skate shoes. Those are very much his own. 'Teenage indie kid,' he nods. 'That's never going anywhere.'
Spies are the topic this afternoon, though, because this spring, four years after Page left Bridgerton and walked straight into the thick of a rumour mill familiar to a lot of handsome young British actors on the verge, the prophecy has been fulfilled.
That is to say, in his next film – an explosive London-set thriller – Page is playing a suave, womanising MI6 secret agent with questionable morals, impeccable tailoring, an inappropriate workplace relationship with a character played by Naomie Harris… and even a wizened mentor portrayed by Pierce Brosnan.
It's just not that spy. That job's very much still open. Instead, Page stars in Black Bag, a stylish, old-fashioned espionage caper from the prolific and garlanded Steven Soderbergh. In it, Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett play impossibly stylish, married secret agents. When the latter is suspected of treason, the former has to investigate, testing loyalties in all directions.
Page and Harris, together with Tom Burke and Marisa Abela, play other MI6 employees who all get much too involved in the matter (in Page's case, that's an understatement). It is tricksy and smart. It's also refreshingly action-free. As Soderbergh told The Telegraph recently, 'It's less Fleming than Le Carré – no chases, no fights, just one gunshot. Bond is not my skill set. My core skill set is people in rooms, talking. The trick is making them interesting people and interesting rooms.'
And there really is just one gunshot. Otherwise, the action is largely focused on two extended dinner-party scenes in which the six of them bicker, flirt and talk shop while drinking expensive-looking wine. It's a little like Mr & Mrs Smith crossed with Couples Therapy. I liked it, I tell Page. It's full of bureaucracy, HR meetings and lanyards, which is probably what working for MI6 is actually like.
'Lanyards! Yes! It's about the real people behind the ethos of the secret service,' Page says. Soderbergh would most often ask, 'Well, what's real?' when questioning the set-up of a scene. They drafted in retired agents to advise them on getting it right, and Page drowned himself in research to grasp the culture of a world most of us understand only through bombastic fictional accounts.
'[The job] is mostly about manipulating people and knowing how to make other people do things as opposed to running around shooting things and blowing things up. Usually what spies do is make other people cause international incidents. It's soft power,' he says.
'The film is also about trust and intimacy, and knowing you're being lied to in good faith. Which is an extraordinarily knotty thing to dive into, because that's kind of what the secret service does to all of us: they lie to society in good faith.'
In the photo studio, a renovated old factory, Page gets up to gaze at a panoramic view of Tottenham and Enfield. 'This is insane,' he says, pointing out various sites and trying to orient himself. 'Is that… Wait. Yeah. And then… Ah. This is pretty much my old patch.'
He was born in London, to a Zimbabwean mother, a nurse, and a father who was a Catholic priest. When Regé-Jean was a baby, the family moved to Harare, where he and his younger brother, Tose, were brought up until returning to London for secondary school.
'Harare is close to my heart, it's where I grew up. I'm not sure I'd go back. I probably wouldn't recognise much of it at this point. But if you hadn't been to Hackney in 10 years, you wouldn't recognise it.'
His Zimbabwean accent wasn't strong – his father spoke in an old-fashioned RP, which he picked up – but it was enough to make him an outsider at school in London. 'I think you find a lot of actors are from overseas or military families, they move around and learn to fit in. Learning to assimilate, watching people and taking on that shape.'
As a child he was obsessed with Indiana Jones, and the idea of being an explorer. One of the most powerful moments of his life, he says, was getting a student Travelcard and being able to roam around London as he pleased. As a teenager he painted, wrote poems, and principally made music. With purple dreadlocks and in skinny-fit T-shirts, he sang in a punk band, The Super Nashwan Kids, with his brother, and still records on and off with Tose, a full-time musician, as the duo Tunya.
'Music's a bit of an outlet, because we grew up doing that. Acting's a wonderful resource, but then there's just playing [music] for yourself. Which is an important dividing line: the job side of it, and the link to the celebrity world. I like to find things that are just life, that feed the human being.'
Perforated suede/jersey blouson, £6,400, T-shirt, £590, and linen trousers, £1,400, all Giorgio Armani
He studied at Drama Centre London in King's Cross, which led to appearances in Casualty, a background spot in a Harry Potter film, a couple of episodes of Fresh Meat, and eventually a recurring role in the BBC soap Waterloo Road, which he's still recognised for. 'With soaps, you're spending so much time with people in their homes, which I think subconsciously is really quite intimate,' he says.
The 2016 remake of Roots, the landmark 1977 mini­series set after the era of enslavement in the US, followed, and remains the work Page is most proud of. 'Yeah, probably. Maybe a toss-up between that and Dungeons & Dragons [the 2023 fantasy boardgame adaptation he starred in]. They're certainly the most fun I've had, in very different ways.' Where would Bridgerton rank? 'Ah, I don't rank.'
Five years on from the trauma of the pandemic, it's easy to forget just how preposterously successful Bridgerton was. The super-producer Shonda Rhimes unleashed her period drama on a weak and unsuspecting audience just when it needed it. At the time, the global viewing public was hemmed in and, of necessity, chaste.
Here, then, was a pure, wilfully ahistorical slice of romantic escapism with a side order of incessant bonking. Eighty-two million households worldwide tuned into the show in its first 28 days online – which at the time was almost half of Netflix's entire subscriber base. Page, an instant sex symbol, was a large reason for that. One article during the fevered height of the world's lust was simply headlined: ' Bridgerton 's sex scenes, ranked by how much we see of Regé-Jean Page's butt.'
It's difficult to imagine that being written about a woman, wouldn't he say? He smiles. 'I'll leave that to others. I try not to concern myself too much with what other people think, and keep my eyes on the pitch.'
It was a breakneck ascent. Page had worked his way up to Bridgerton, including with a leading role in another Shondaland (Rhimes's company) production, the legal drama For the People, but to many it felt like the guy from Waterloo Road was suddenly one of the most famous faces in the world. Within weeks he was touted as Britain's next Hollywood star and surely Daniel Craig's successor as James Bond.
(The current party line on the Bond question? 'I am open to the full experience that acting is capable of giving me.')
That seemingly imminent vault into the next echelon of the industry was bolstered when, to the surprise of many, Page left Bridgerton after one series, despite the show carrying on. It seemed like a bold, brave decision. Both parties insisted this was always the plan, that Page was contracted for one series and the story was moving on without the Duke anyway.
That didn't stop voices from the more gossipy suburbs of the internet deciding Page must have quit – a decision, they reasoned, that surely vexed Rhimes, and definitely riled some Bridgerton diehards. 'I do generally try to avoid the darker recesses of the internet…' he says. 'It's only demanding if you're listening. It's the same as when people say, 'Don't believe your own hype.' Don't buy into your own narrative, because it's got nothing to do with you. It's hugely flattering that there's enough of a desire for people to talk about you. But it's got no bearing on you or your work.'
The truth is that Page doesn't appear nearly as motivated by the traditional leading-man rat race as people might expect. Instead, he is much more interested in doing what he wants to do, rather than what others choose for him. After Bridgerton, he admits, 'it got a bit loud there for a minute, and that can be a distraction, if you're not careful. Also, I'm not afraid of being patient and deliberate.'
Linen jacket, and matching gilet, both price on request, Zegna; Silver chain, £500, David Yurman
Naturally, he was offered an awful lot of breeches and tailcoats. 'Yeah, there are less imaginative swings that are easier to read quickly… But there's a pretty good variety of things that come through. And actually I spend a lot of time developing material for myself on the production side, so that's a useful channel.' That includes an upcoming series reimagining Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
He is now based between Los Angeles and London. Black Bag was exclusively shot in his hometown, which was one of the big draws. The other was the chance to watch and learn from Blanchett ('ridiculously good') and Fassbender. The latter has long been a hero to Page. To his endearing astonishment, both the leads knew who he was, which was 'really weird'. It told him he must be doing something right.
'There's that scene in Hunger [in which Fassbender plays the IRA prisoner Bobby Sands], when Michael's with the priest, and it's like 14 minutes of dialogue. I remember watching that and thinking, that – that's it.
'So getting to work with and chat with him, that's what it's about, that's how you lay down the foundations and do this well, for a long time, I think. That goal of just turning up to be seen doesn't interest me as much as turning up in good places with good people who I can learn from.'
Aside from his transatlantic work, he doesn't give much away about his life. Is he in a relationship? It says on Wikipedia that he's been with a nice British woman called Emily for several years. 'I do my best to talk about the rest of my life as little as possible, in public,' he responds, plainly. Fair enough. Hobbies? 'Weirdly enough, even that.' He must have some sick, perverted hobbies.
He goes silent and po-faced for a moment, then bursts into laughter and sighs. 'Not really. I play music with my brother. I play music and… don't sell it.' (He has turned down offers of multi-album deals, he says, 'because then I'd have to find another hobby'.) Fine Italian tailoring, as he has been wearing so well in our shoot today, is not something he was an expert in until fairly recently. 'It wasn't one of my leading hobbies, but I've learnt an awful lot about it, about the importance of how you wear your clothes.'
Linen blouson, £2,900, cargo trousers, £1,500, and leather loafers, £1,100, all Giorgio Armani
I wonder what he considers the worst part of his job. 'The job's great, the expectations outside the job can be a little trying. I think because you use yourself and your body it can be difficult to detach. Internally, because you don't stop thinking about it, and externally, because I walk around in my uniform, which is my face. So there can be an expectation. You need to remember you're not always a performer.'
He will now go home, and wait for LA to wake up, before making some calls and taking some meetings with his producer hat on. In that role, he's in charge, doing the unpredictable work he has always wanted to do, and he gets to choose when the spotlight falls on him.
This is a realisation Page has come to. Everything he does – 'the fashion, the films, the music, the plays' – is connected. 'The chaos of variety helps you realise that. If you do it right, everything gets a bit richer, and hopefully a bit more unexpected,' he says. 'I think the whole point of this job is not to be 'me, me, me'. What you do tells the story. How people interpret it is up to them.'
A shy and deep-thinking artist, hidden in plain sight as a Hollywood hunk. Maybe Regé-Jean Page would make a good secret agent after all.
In the lead image Regé-Jean Page wears silk crew-neck, £1,90; silk-blend trousers, £2,500; suede jacket (held), £5,850; and braces, £250, all Giorgio Armani; Gold De Ville Prestige watch, £13,000, Omega.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Chicken wine: UK shoppers spot new canned version of viral La Vieille Ferme
Chicken wine: UK shoppers spot new canned version of viral La Vieille Ferme

Scotsman

timean hour ago

  • Scotsman

Chicken wine: UK shoppers spot new canned version of viral La Vieille Ferme

This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement. You can now buy the summer favourite wine in a can 🍷 Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The viral 'chicken wine' is now being sold in a can The French wine La Vieille Ferme gained popularity in 2024 Fans of the wine can buy the canned version for less than £4 UK shoppers have spotted a brand new canned wine, which is sure to fly off the shelves during summer. In 2024, French wine brand La Vieille Ferme became a viral sensation due to the taste of its rosé offering. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad However, fans of the wine also loved the aesthetic of the bottle and its label which featured an illustration of chickens. The label led to La Vieille Ferme gaining the nickname 'chicken wine', which is still used by many. Canned version of viral chicken wine spotted by shoppers causing debate on social media | Panama - While 'chicken wine' decreased in popularity during the colder months of the year, it is now back on everyone's lips once again as we hit the summer season. However, it's not the glass wine bottle of 'chicken wine' that those are picking up for their barbecues, but rather the brand new canned version of the alcoholic beverage. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad TikTok users have been sharing videos of finding the 'chicken wine' cans in Sainsbury's, expressing their delight at finding the popular wine in a can. Sainsbury's and Tesco appear to be the only UK supermarkets to stock La Vieille Ferme in a can so far, with it being priced at £3.10 at Sainsbury's and £2.75 at Tesco , both of which are stocking 200ml cans. While many have shared their excitement for the wine in a can on social media, commenting that it would be ideal for a summer picnic, others have debated whether it is worth the price for a 200ml can. One user said: "Chicken wine in a can! I know what I'm drinking all summer ', while another user said: "Wouldn't touch the sides at 200ml." Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The regular 75cl bottle of La Vieille Ferme Rosé is available to purchase across a variety of UK supermarkets, with a price point between £8 and £9. If you have a food and drink story to share with us, we'd love to hear from you. You can now send your stories to us online via YourWorld at It's free to use and, once checked, your story will appear on our website and, space allowing, in our newspapers.

Pet owners praise country pub chain's 'dog-friendly' dining
Pet owners praise country pub chain's 'dog-friendly' dining

Daily Mirror

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mirror

Pet owners praise country pub chain's 'dog-friendly' dining

Whether it's a swift pint, a leisurely lunch after a ramble in the countryside, pooches will be greeted with warmth and open arms As dog lovers know, furry friends are an important part of the family, not to be left at home while the humans have all the fun. Proudly dog-friendly, Vintage Inns extends a warm welcome to everyone, including four-legged friends. Amid the hustle and bustle of modern life, Vintage Inns provide a welcome respite from the to and fro. Each pub has been designed to feel like a home away from home, offering a cosy atmosphere with modern country interiors. From Inverness in the north to Devon in the south, from Cardiff to the Norfolk sands, each of the pubs aims to offer an authentic taste of British countryside hospitality. Whether it's a swift pint, a leisurely lunch after a ramble in the countryside, or a relaxed evening meal, pooches will be greeted with warmth and open arms. Vintage Inns offer a traditional menu that caters to contemporary tastes—think perfectly cooked pub classics like freshly battered fish and chips, indulgent sticky toffee pudding and hearty Sunday roasts. Alongside these favourites, each location serves a range of seasonal delights and an extensive drinks menu. As a special weekend treat, diners can tuck into the Weekend Treat Menu, offering three courses from £30. Available on Friday and Saturday evenings from 6pm, guests can enjoy dishes such as the honey-baked whole camembert for two to share and the tender slow-cooked pork belly. For dessert, the lemon tart with blueberry and prosecco compote and fresh cream offers a refreshing finish. To complement the weekend dining experience, selected bottles of wine are available to share for just £20. For daytime diners, Vintage Inns is also offering a Lunch Set Menu which includes two courses from £17.50. Choose from pub favourites like beef and red wine lasagne, or something a little different like a chicken katsu rice bowl. If the Vintage Inn menu isn't quite right, Harvester restaurants offer their famous unlimited salad bar and a choice of good-value meals in 164 locations throughout the UK. Elsewhere, Gaucho restaurants claim to be exceedingly dog-friendly, even offering activities for dogs and dogs lovers at selected locations. Specialising in Argentinian steaks and cuisine, Gaucho has a high end restaurant vibe that is a little more formal than a cosy Vintage Inn. Diners who have already experienced the comfort of a Vintage Inn have left reviews for various locations on TripAdvisor. One customer said: "We visited The Golden Retriever pub in Bracknell yesterday with our two rescue German Shepherd dogs. The place is amazing inside and out and the staff were really friendly." Another added: "The Barge Inn, Woolstone. Extremely attentive and friendly bar staff. Lovely cosy interior - beams! Very dog friendly. Nice and clean. Made to feel so welcome - will definitely be back. Had my favourite pink gin. The creme brulee was delicious!" A diner who visited The Priory in Portbury said: "Had a fabulous steak meal at the Priory at Portbury highly recommend it. Steak cooked to perfection and well presented. Staff were extremely friendly and nothing was too much trouble. Not every visitor was quite so impressed. One disappointed diner left a three-star review after finding items not available on the menu: "My husband and I went to the Three Legged Cross Inn. It was 7 p.m. We were told that there were no steak meals left." However, they added: "The meals we had were of good quality, the atmosphere was pleasant, and our waitress was pleasant and attentive." Overall, most guests, with four legs or two, enjoyed their experience. One five-star review for The Globe in Bath summed it up saying: "Absolutely wonderful evening meal for our son's birthday. Even the dog enjoyed it! "The staff were so friendly and attentive and the service was prompt even though the restaurant was completely full. The food was presented beautifully and so tasty and fresh!"

I was convinced my chair was blue for 7 years – I listed it, now people are saying GREY… I don't know what to believe
I was convinced my chair was blue for 7 years – I listed it, now people are saying GREY… I don't know what to believe

Scottish Sun

timean hour ago

  • Scottish Sun

I was convinced my chair was blue for 7 years – I listed it, now people are saying GREY… I don't know what to believe

Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A WOMAN has been left baffled after discovering that after seven years, the armchair she thought was blue is actually grey. Kristin was originally made aware of the discrepancy when she listed the chair online for free, with the person interested in taking it pointing out its actual colour. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 6 Kristin took to TikTok to ask for advice as to whether her chair was blue or grey Credit: 6 She showed the chair in question in the video, with the overwhelming consensus that it was grey Credit: 6 She couldn't believe that the chair, and the sofa, weren't blue Credit: 6 She tried comparing the colour of the chair to two blue colouring pencils Credit: She then took to TikTok to ask for advice, as she questioned whether she'd been wrong for all this time. "Is this chair grey or blue?" she asked. "Cause I'm giving it away to someone and I'm sending pictures and I'm like, it's a blue chair and they're like, that's grey. "And I'm like, I'm pretty sure it's blue. "And she's like, can you get more pictures? It's grey. And I'm like, okay, but my couch and my chair have always been blue. "But now she's gaslighting me and I'm starting to believe it!" She showed the sofa and chair in the video, as she wondered if it was her phone playing tricks on her. "Also I shouldn't be stressing this much over a free chair," Kristin continued. "You either want it or you don't, but is it blue or is it grey? So I can tell her the truth!" "What colour is this chair?" she asked in the video caption. I furnished my ENTIRE home with Facebook Marketplace finds - my stools were free & I saved £1k on a farmhouse table set And pretty overwhelmingly, the consensus was that it is, in fact, grey. "I wasn't prepared for how grey it would be," one gasped. "I was prepared for it to be like a blueish grey, not full on gravestone of a child who died of tuberculosis in the 1800s GREY," another joked. "I wasn't expecting it to be the oxford dictionary definition of grey," a third commented. "That is so very grey. I'm so sorry this is how you're finding out," someone else said. To which Kristin replied: "I am actually crashing out!" What is colour analysis? Colour analysis is a tool you can use to determine which colours flatter you most. It's based on your overall appearance and particularly the colouring of your eyes, hair and skin. You are then assigned one of twelve colour seasons. Each colour season comes with a colour palette, specifically designed to harmonise with your natural colouring. According to a British study, there is evidence that suggests that the colours worn by a person can affect how they are perceived by others. For example: red and pink are thought to signal sexual attractiveness, particularly when worn by women, while dark colours like black or navy may convey the impression of authority - in turn making the wearer seem less approachable. The theories of colour analysis also teach that certain colours are capable of emphasising or, conversely, de-emphasising an individuals attractiveness to others. Unflattering colours may make a person look pale, for instance, or draw attention to such "flaws" as wrinkles or uneven skin tone. Flattering colours are thought to have the opposite effect. "Is the blue in the room with us?" another asked. "Your grey-dar is off hunny. It's grey," someone else said. "Bestie if you think that is blue, what colour is the sky to you?" another questioned. While someone else said: "Are you colour blind by chance?" "If I am I am only finding out now," Kristin responded. "That chair is so grey I forgot what blue is!" another laughed. As someone else said it could be that Kristin has a condition called Tritanopia, a blue-yellow colour blindness where individuals experience a reduced sensitivity to blue light, and therefore struggle to distinguish between blue and gree, as well as yellow and red. "Specifically, grey may appear as a very pale blue or blue-green to someone with tritanopia," they added. Kristin tried to prove herself right by laying blue colouring pencils and blue clothing on top of the armchair, before taking some colour blindness tests online and referring herself to the doctor. "The butterfly effect is crazy because if the Facebook lady never questioned me on this chair colour, I'd have a millennial grey living room for the rest of my life," she wrote over the top of another video. 6 She also used a blue coat to try and figure out the actual colour Credit:

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store