Anyone who’s enjoyed watching the Bridgerton Season 2 cast as they donned the fanciest of clothes, danced at many a society ball, and dealt with a number of scandals will know that there are several amazing Kate and Anthony moments held within, despite there being fewer Bridgerton sex scenes and no Kathony wedding on screen. But, some of the best scenes even happen when the duo are not engaging in hot verbal sparring or giving one another steamy longing glances. One of those moments involves Anthony (Jonathan Bailey) emerging from a lake with a very wet shirt, and while the scene was pretty epic on the show, filming it sounds just as amazing.
Jonathan Bailey Caused A Stir Filming Anthony’s Wet Shirt Bridgerton Scene
The scene in question (which occurs about a third of the way through Bridgerton Season 2, Episode 5, “An Unthinkable Fate”) is an obvious (and widely appreciated) nod to Colin Firth’s portrayal of Mr. Darcy from 1995’s Pride and Prejudice. And, Bridgerton’s intimacy coordinator, Lizzy Talbot, recently told Insider that Jonathan Bailey’s “pretty phenomenal” ability to easily remove clothes helped everyone around appreciate the shot even more, noting:
Anytime Jonny's in a wet shirt, it's going to create an absolute stir. And anytime he's taking shirts on and off he's so smooth, and I think that comes from an amazing natural ability to woo all of the watching population with his shirt moves. I don't think anyone escapes that magic.
Who knew that one could even possess “shirt moves”? I, most certainly, did not. Though, it’s also possible that I simply have not been keeping the correct company, but, I digress.
Fans will likely recall that Anthony’s wet shirt moment comes at a pretty critical time before the Bridgerton Season 2 ending. Kate and Anthony are clearly hot for one another by this point, as they’ve indulged in not only the bee sting scene and the “here’s how you shoot a gun” scene, but also that forbidden-night-in-the-library-scene, where Daphne caught them just in time.
Everyone has gone to the park to promenade (Regency folks loved a promenade), and Anthony had become gently unmoored by the fact that Kate was taking a turn around the lake with Mr. Dorset, whom Anthony had previously engaged to keep Kate busy so he could woo Edwina.
Anthony eventually helps Kate out of the boat, they both get flustered about touching, and in an effort to back away quickly, Anthony falls backwards over Newton, into Mr. Dorset, and both men end up in the lake. When Anthony emerges, he removes his soaked jacket and…well, his white shirt has become completely see through. Oh, dear!
According to what Talbot also said in her interview, however, this wasn’t the only time Bailey’s very proficient shirt work wowed the assembled cast and crew, as she also reflected on the scene where Kate is dreaming about Anthony removing his clothes. Talbot said:
Jonny had to take off his shirt and throw it, and he did it in one take in one very smooth movement. The whole crew erupted! The DP played 'I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt' at that exact moment, which was very much appreciated by everyone.
Well, now I very much want to know whether or not all of these “smooth” “shirt moves” are something that Jonathan Bailey practices, or if they just come as naturally to him as working with intimacy coordinators like Lizzy Talbot.
Bridgerton has already been granted a big renewal (with Season 3 definitely bringing back Kate and Anthony), but while we await news on what’s coming next, you can rewatch the first two installments on Netflix.
