Phoebe Dynevor said her appearance was held to a higher standard than her male "Bridgerton " costars.- She told L'Officiel Tuesday that she was expected to "dress up" for Zoom interviews.
- In contrast, the actress said her male costars would wear "whatever they wanted."
"Bridgerton" actress Phoebe Dynevor said she and her male costars were held to different standards during the press rounds that followed the Regency drama's premiere.
The 25-year-old, who stars as young debutante Daphne Bridgerton on
She said some of her male costars, however, didn't get the same memo.
"Even on Zooms, I was expected to dress up and look my best," the actress said, continuing, "Some of my male costars were like, wearing whatever they wanted."
The contrast between Dynevor's frilly blouses adorned with bow ties and Regé-Jean Page and Jonathan Bailey's unzipped hoodies and flannels highlights the emphasis placed on women's looks, Dynevor explained.
"If you're in the spotlight as a female, there's definitely still a pressure," she said, adding, "It's like the first thing they look at."
Dynevor has seen progress in gender equality in the entertainment industry
As the daughter of "Coronation Street" soap star Sally Webster and "Emmerdale" writer Tim Dynevor, the actress has been exposed to the inner workings of the
She embarked on her own acting career when she was 14-year-old, landing a role on the BBC show "Waterloo Road." Since then, she said she's seen the entertainment industry's treatment toward women "really change."
"Even just in the last five years there's been a shift in wanting to make more fully dimensional female characters. The scripts that I'm reading aren't just someone's girlfriend," she told Glamour in January.
The "Bridgerton" lead said she's also grown more confident in setting her own boundaries and vocalizing her opinions on set.
"We've been given more power to be able to say 'no', and for a long time that wasn't a thing. Women weren't allowed to speak up," she said.
"Bridgerton," an adaptation of Julia Quinn's best-selling romance novels, features numerous steamy sex scenes, many of which are shot from the female gaze. Dynevor consulted with Lizzy Talbot, the set's intimacy coordinator, to make sure she was comfortable throughout filming.
The actress later said that having an intimacy coordinator on set made all the difference.
Dyenvor told Grazia that shooting the sex scenes felt "safe and fun," likening the choreographed interactions to a "stunt" or "dance." In fact, working with Talbot on "Bridgerton" made Dynevor reflect on her past work shooting intimate scenes with a tinge of disbelief.
"It's crazy to me that that hasn't been there in the past," she said. "I've done sex scenes before that I can't believe I did: it was only five or six years ago, but it would not be allowed now."