’Tis the season… for rom-coms. This week at Vogue, we’re examining the good, the bad and the ugly elements of the eternally popular genre. Lending a hand? Cover star Simone Ashley, who stars in a tribute to great British rom-coms.
Simone Ashley – one of four cover stars for British Vogue’s December 2022 issue – gives good rom-com. After launching her career with Sex Education, the 27-year-old became a household name courtesy of the second instalment of Netflix’s Regency romp Bridgerton, playing Anthony Bridgerton’s verbal sparring partner (and eventual wife), Kate Sharma. (In contrast to Regé-Jean Page, Ashley will remain with the series for its third instalment: “Tonally, it’s so different – sweet, endearing and light, compared to the heaviness of [Anthony and Kate’s] story last season,” she confided in her Vogue interview.
Who better, then, to recreate some of the most famous rom-com moments through time? In a video with Vogue, Ashley takes fans through her “day” – which, much like Will Freeman in About A Boy, she divides into “units” of time. Of course, she starts by waking up late with a Curtis-worthy “Fuck!” (Four Weddings And A Funeral), followed by stress-busting exercise (including falling off her bike, a la Bridget Jones). The remainder of her morning routine? Making a latte (which gets spilled all over her, a Notting Hill reference) and “self-care” (ie a bikini wax – another Bridget nod), which her agent interrupts by calling to let her know about a Horse & Hound interview (Notting Hill) and reminding her that she has a script to memorise.
Cue her practising her lines in a beret (per Julia Roberts’s Anna Scott), before Martine McCutcheon arrives with biscuits for her, “the ones with the chocolate on” (aka the Prime Minister’s favourites in Love Actually) and a copy of Vogue featuring Simone on the cover. “They’re all of me,” she says, flipping through the pages – quoting Keira Knightley’s Juliet. Then she settles down to make a dinner of blue soup (as prepared by Bridget for her “urban family”), which she ends up sharing with her housemate after her date, Grant, stands her up. “I like it, I do, I like it,” he tells her, quoting Colin Firth’s Mr Darcy. “Just the way it is.
Author: Hayley Maitland
Published on Dec 6, 2022
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