- Regé-Jean Page spoke about "
Bridgerton " book fans' negative reactions when he was cast as Simon. - He said they wanted the duke to be played by a blue-eyed actor to match the novels' description.
- Page noted that the book series' Brazilian fans supported him "before anyone else did."
Regé-Jean Page's performance as Simon Basset on season one of "Bridgerton" turned him into the Regency romance's breakout star.
But when the British-Zimbabwean actor was initially cast, he said many fans of the "Bridgerton" book series took issue with the fact that he didn't match the character's physical description in the novels.
In an interview Variety published on Wednesday, Page, 31, said readers of Julia Quinn's best-selling romance series, which served as the blueprint for the Shondaland and Netflix production, questioned the decision to cast him as Simon, noting that he doesn't have the "icy blue" eyes detailed in the author's pages.
The Brazilian "Bridgerton" book fans, however, immediately supported him, for which Page still remains grateful.
"I'm going to shout out [the book's] Brazilian fans specifically, because they had my back before anyone else did," he told Variety.
Page continued, "When everyone else was still passive aggressively getting all knotted up because I didn't have blue eyes, the Brazilians were there for me."
There's a large 'Bridgerton' fan base in Brazil
Shortly after "Bridgerton" premiered on Netflix in December, showrunner Chris Van Dusen's eight-episode creation became the streaming giant's most successful series debut to date - streaming in over 82 million households within the first month of its release.
As reported by Deadline, "Bridgerton" occupied Netflix's No. 1 spot in 83 countries, one of which was Brazil.
The show's success in the South American country doesn't come as a surprise considering Quinn's novel "Because of Miss Bridgerton" was at the top of Brazilian weekly magazine Veja's fiction list in 2018, two years before the Netflix show premiered. Quinn also went on a six-city book tour through Brazil in 2017.
Irish actress Nicola Coughlan, who plays Penelope Featherington on the Netflix show, mentioned the "lovely and supportive" fans in Brazil in a tweet she posted in August.
"I just want them to know I see them and so appreciate the support," she wrote.
-Nicola Coughlan (@nicolacoughlan) August 1, 2020
Page catapulted to international stardom following 'Bridgerton'
Though Page said he was met with lukewarm reception upon joining the "Bridgerton" cast, he catapulted into global fame after starring on the show opposite Phoebe Dynevor, who played his on-screen love interest Daphne Bridgerton.
He's hosted NBC's "Saturday Night Live," won an NAACP acting award, downplayed recurring rumors that he's the next James Bond, and landed roles in major Hollywood productions like "Dungeons & Dragons" and "The Gray Man."
Following the announcement that he won't return for season two of "Bridgerton" (he only signed a one-year contract), Page told Variety that he never thought it would be possible to land a Regency-era role like Simon.
"I've been in more Regency duels than I ever thought I would or could," he said. "I didn't think it was possible, and that's my mistake for not believing in that and not accepting my own responsibility to make it possible through what we do as actors."
"I'm pleased that I've taken a couple of good first steps into what seems to be an ever-widening pool of possibility, and long may that continue," he added.
Page said that he and his friends used to joke that they "don't see a Black man on a horse," a gap in on-screen representation that he hopes his role as the Duke of Hastings begins to bridge.
"Standing there, wearing the boots and the jacket, doing the dances, inhabiting a space that is perfectly possible for me to inhabit, changes how you see the world," he said.
Page later added, "What's revolutionary, in its own way, is getting folks to see the world through my eyes, because then they are in my skin and looking at the world through me."