Regé-Jean Page has recalled being repeatedly told to "do it sexier" on the set of his first blockbuster, Mortal Engines.
During a recent appearance on the Off Menu podcast, the Bridgerton actor recalled his first day on the "massive set" of the 2018 film and revealed the origin story of being able to "do it sexier" on camera.
Page shared that it took him around eight takes to nail his character Captain Khora's introductory shot because director Christian Rivers felt he wasn't being sexy enough - and kept giving him the note via a "god mic" that everyone on set could hear.
"So we do the first take and the camera pans up (from his legs) and my hair's blowing in the wind, fans, and I'm like (smouldering), 'Cut!' He's maybe 50 metres away, maybe more, on a platform, 200 people just milling about doing their work," he remembered.
"The bell goes (ring)... and he goes, 'Right, could you do that again, but maybe do it sexier? Alright, let's go!' Bell goes, we go back (to the scene), silence, camera pans up, crane whooshes, hair's blowing in the wind, I'm squinching the eyes. (He goes,) 'Cut! Yeah... sexier than that.' Just echoing off the walls. This is my first day on a blockbuster."
The Gray Man star noted that the crew on set eventually slowed down their work and paid more attention to the monitors as he tried to act sexier over and over again.
"We're at like take eight, the entire set has stopped, there are monitors around the place and everyone's just kind of watching if this kid's gonna get it. And get it being, 'Can you smoulder?' 'Can you possibly do it a bit sexier than that?'" he continued, before quipping, "And that is the origin story of where I learned to do it sexier."
Page insisted that he has no hard feelings towards Rivers, Peter Jackson's protégé, as "we were all doing our best" making his feature directorial debut.
Mortal Engines, starring Hera Hilmar, Robert Sheehan and Hugo Weaving, received mixed reviews from critics and flopped at the box office.
Page would find fame two years later for playing Simon Basset, Duke of Hastings, in the first season of Bridgerton in 2020.
