Promotion: Netflix

JQ is interviewed by Alison Flood and talks about the Bridgerton show, the cast, THAT scene, and more. Here’s an excerpt:

The show switches the race of some of Quinn’s key characters, who are white on the page: the duke is played by Regé-Jean Page, while Adjoa Andoh is the magnificently acerbic dowager Lady Danbury. “I think it’s wonderful and joyous,” says Quinn. “Previously, I’ve gotten dinged by the historical accuracy police. So in some ways, I was fearful – if you do that, are you denying real things that happened? But you know what? This is already romantic fantasy, and I think it’s more important to show that as many people as possible deserve this type of happiness and dignity. So I think they made the absolutely right choice, bringing in all this inclusivity.”

Written by author Vanessa Riley.

“Race is celebrated. Regé-Jean Page, Adjoa Andoh and Golda Rosheuvel play Black characters, not amorphous shape-shifters with tans. “Bridgerton” entwines culture into the story but without the burden of the colonial past. With everything from the solidarity dap, the arm tap between Hastings and Mondrich, to a jeweled Afro-pick comb, Black is on the screen. It’s bright and happy and shiny in a post-racial afterglow.

The duke, the lady and the baby-face queen — these characters’ struggles are not framed by slavery or prejudice. The Duke of Hastings is broken, consumed by a vow made against a horrid father. Lady Danbury’s pain is physical. Her knees aren’t as adept as her meddling. Queen Charlotte seeks excitement to avoid hours of dwelling on her husband’s mental illness. These troubles are universal. They hit at the soul. Viewers of color can feel safe watching the story without waiting for that moment when our breath is punched from our lungs because of an epithet, an othering action or plot point constructed on historical pain, pain that still runs deep.”

Quoted from the article’s beginning:

The new Netflix series “Bridgerton” joins a tiny but growing handful of prestige shows adapted from mass-market romance books. What took so long?

Chris Van Dusen doesn’t describe himself as an avid romance reader. “I’ve dabbled,” he said in a recent interview. “I wouldn’t say that I have romance books lining my bookshelf.”

But as the creator of the new Netflix series “Bridgerton,” a courtship tale set in Regency England and executive produced by Shonda Rhimes, he joins a curiously exclusive club — the men and women bringing popular romance novels to television.

In the book world, romance is big, occasionally bodice-ripping business. Romance novels sell tens of millions of copies each year, with approximately 10,000 new titles appearing annually. “Our industry keeps the book industry running,” said LaQuette, the president-elect of the Romance Writers of America.

But even as networks and streaming services slaver over intellectual property with prearranged fan bases, few mass-market romance novels have found their way to screens. Character-driven and story rich, they would seem to have a lot of what television wants. But showrunners have played hard to get.

“Among romance readers, there’s been a kind of puzzlement,” said Eric Murphy Selinger, an executive editor of the Journal of Popular Romance Studies and a professor of English at DePaul University. “Why yet another superhero show? Why yet another detective show? Why yet another reboot when here are all of these interesting novels?”

Finish reading Alexis Soloski’s article on The New York Times online. If you don’t have a paid subscription to The New York Times, you can make a limited account for free. Simply click here to open the article, and sign up for a free account.

JQ, along with series showrunner and creator Chris Van Dusen, share inside secrets with Good Morning America as the show enters its fourth day of streaming worldwide. Check out the video!

Julia talks with OprahMag.com…
on how involved she was with the script.
on showrunner Chris Van Dusen making changes from the book.
on meeting the real Duke of Hastings, Regé-Jean Page.
on visiting the Bridgerton set.
on the period drama’s multiracial cast.
on what Quinn would like to see in future seasons.
on potentially writing more Bridgerton books.
on her favorite Bridgerton sibling.

From the article:

“As an adaptation of romance author Julia Quinn’s beloved Bridgerton novels, the show is pitch perfection. Creator Chris Van Dusen has brought Quinn’s first novel in the series, The Duke and I, to soapy, sexy, and scathingly funny life all while teasing out future heartaches and rival happily ever afters. Bridgerton is a deceptively genius show that will seduce viewers as easily as any rake in any romance novel steals his lady’s heart. It is that damn fun and that damn good. Bridgerton is historic romance gold.”

“The whole show is a celebration of the straight female gaze, making the men the objects of sexual desire on screen and prioritizing feminine pleasure.”

“Ultimately what makes Bridgerton such a gem is its adoration of the historic romance genre. The attention to detail in this show doesn’t cater to fussy historic accuracy, but the way the romance genre drowns readers in fantasy.”

From the article:

“At the end of this miserable year, at least there is Bridgerton, arriving this holiday season like a frivolous but fulfilling present. The show is a Shonda Rhimes–produced adaptation of Julia Quinn’s series of romance novels of the same name…”

“The series tells that story with sparkling momentum, pausing at all the moments when one character or another wrestles with unexpected feelings, then prodding them forward before anyone can wallow for too long. Like the best romances, it marches its protagonists through agony (loathing, hidden lust, buried secrets) with regular intervals of relief, only to reinstate them in some even more unbearable state of tension.”

“A beguiling example of what can happen when romance is allowed to belong to characters who aren’t all straight and white, and a fanfare-and-confetti reminder of what the genre can be at its best.”

Quoted from the article’s beginning:

Shonda Rhimes generally doesn’t pay much attention to the breathless fan chatter around her television shows. (It’s because she’s too busy, she said, not because she doesn’t care.)

But in the lead-up to the premiere of “Bridgerton,” the first original Netflix show under the Shondaland banner, she found herself watching a fan video in which a young woman plays the show’s trailer and records her in-the-moment reactions. In the video, the YouTuber, a devotee of romance novels, said that television was finally taking her genre seriously, Rhimes recalled.

The prolific showrunner does not consider herself an avid romance reader, but she devoured Julia Quinn’s “Bridgerton” series about the moneyed marriage market of 19th century England, and like the fan, she did not understand why more books of that genre have not been adapted onto the screen, while Jane Austen novels have been wrung dry.

“It’s fascinating to me that no one has really done it before,” said Rhimes, an executive producer on the show. “Romance novels really lend themselves to the TV genre. They’re visual; they’re well paced; they have great plots.”

Finish reading Julia Jacobs‘ article with its gorgeous, lush photos on The New York Times online. If you don’t have a paid subscription to The New York Times, you can make a limited account for free. Simply click here to open the article, and sign up for a free account.

Quinn spoke to Shondaland about seeing the transformation of her stories onto the screen, her thoughts on the already established fandom surrounding the books and what scene she really wished made it into the show.