Emma Corrin And Regé-Jean Page On Being Two Of The Year’s Biggest Breakout Stars

As two of television’s biggest breakout stars of 2020, Emma Corrin and Regé-Jean Page are opening up about their time “The Crown” and “Bridgerton”.

The pair joined forces for Variety‘s “Actors On Actors” issue, which features 18 of the TV’s best performances ahead of the Emmys, and bonded over being shot into superstardom.

Corrin earned rave reviews for her take on Princess Diana on the royal drama, “The Crown”, while Page gained recognition for his steamy role as The Duke on Netflix’s “Bridgerton”.

For Page, he still can’t believe 82 million people watched “Bridgerton”.

“I’ve got it seared in my brain. Eighty-two million households is what Netflix put out watched ‘Bridgerton.’ And I cannot hold 82 million in my head, because that doesn’t fit,” he said. “It’s too big. I can’t imagine that a small number of people watch ‘The Crown.’ What’s it like to hold that number in your head?”

Corrin added, “I was thinking this the other day. Our job is the day to day, going in and acting. And then the weirdness is that eons later, this thing has to come out, and then suddenly people are watching it and asking you about it. It’s such a separate state of mind.”

“I find that very disconcerting, the two different brains that you talk about. Almost like two different people. The guy who does the job and then…” Page replied before Corrin said, “Everything that comes afterwards.”

The 25-year-old actress also shared the unusual way she was cast as Diana.

“I was sort of working, jobbing, trying to earn money in London. And also, manically running around auditioning for anything that I could. I got asked by Nina Gold and Rob Sterne, who cast ‘The Crown,’ to come in and help for some of the chemistry reads they were doing between Camillas, who they were auditioning,” she explained. “Peter [Morgan] had written some preliminary scenes with Camilla and Diana, and so they needed someone to read for Diana. So I was like, ‘OK.’ And it wasn’t an audition. I was being paid to be there, and I wasn’t going to be on camera.”

She continued, “It’s really weird to hear in retrospect everyone’s perspective on this. My agent was like, ‘It’s the perfect situation because it’s going to be a no-pressure audition.’ We decided that I would just prepare as if it was an audition. And so I did, and I worked on the voice with my mum, who is a speech therapist. And then I learned the lines. And I just had fun, because I wasn’t really doing anything at the time.”

But for Page, 31, his casting process was much simpler.

“I was working with Shondaland on a show,” he said. “It was kind of just good timing. We had finished on ‘For the People’ as they were casting ‘Bridgerton.’ I was walking out the door, and they kind of grabbed me by the collar, like, ‘Come back here. We have this thing, and it’s British.’”