Fresh off of being named the most handsome man in the world, Rege-Jean Page is on Vanity Fair’s 2023 Hollywood Issue. He’s featured among the likes of Jonathan Majors, Keke Palmer, Selena Gomez, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, and other buzzy stars of the moment. In the interview, Rege-Jean talked about his status as most handsome man in the world, leaving Bridgerton, liking the hustle of acting, and the speculation about him becoming the next James Bond.
On being the handsome man in the world and overnight success: “Allegedly [laughs]. No one’s proven it in a court of law. It’s overnight for everyone else. Nothing changes for me. When it’s tough, when no one wants you in the room, when you’ve got to fight to bust down the door—you do the work, you turn up. It works or it doesn’t. When it’s loud and there’s a lot of attention and people are gassing you up with all kinds of things—some are true, some aren’t—same thing: You turn up, you do the work, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. The trick is to make sure that you focus on your job as hard as you did when you were struggling to get to do your job.”
On leaving Bridgerton: “It’s much simpler than that. I signed up to do a job and I did the job and then I did some other jobs. That’s it. That’s the story. I wish it was more glamorous than that. [After] we finished the story, the temptation would be to roll with the distractions and go, “Oh, well, the story went really well so we can kind of change this up and make some other stuff up, I guess.” That was never what we’d signed up to do.
On looking toward the next job: “I think there’s a healthy amount of wolf-at-the-door that kind of keeps you getting up every morning. And I don’t think that that’s a bad thing. I enjoy the striving. I enjoy the discovery of how high this thing goes, of how far this thing goes, of how wide this thing goes, because it doesn’t just go up. It goes up, down, sideways, and in every other direction. I don’t think I’ll ever stop thinking about the next job. A good 90% of my industry is out of work at any given time. You know what I mean? We’re living a charmed life and I don’t think we get to take the charm for granted at any point.”
On speculation about him being the next James Bond: “It’s a conversation people are having, and it’s terribly flattering that they’re having it. I leave them to it.”
It’s a short interview, but Rege-Jean comes off pretty well. He’s self-aware and pretty modest/humble and turns the focus back to work and his hustle as much as possible. I mean, it’s easy to be modest/humble when you look like that, but okay! He also characterizes himself as a striver which I can see. He does seem like he is trying to diversify his roles post-Bridgerton, even if it’s not happening as quickly as it seems like he would have liked. I do think he is putting a bit of a bow on his exit, but what he says is likely truthful. He signed up for one season, but they would have made room for him to return if he wanted and he just didn’t want to. Either way it’s not a glamorous story, but it seems like he’s trying to not burn any bridges, anywhere. It’s like he’s trying to come off as neutral as possible and it’s not a bad strategy. And that’s a good answer about James Bond — it’s flattering, but he’s not showing any thirst because it’s not going to happen, which is a shame.
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He is very handsome. Not my type — he’s too boringly perfect looking for my personal taste — but then maybe if he played an interesting villain I’d change my mind.
Sigh, why James Bond. Can’t we have some new stuff please?
Same here. Obviously everyone’s tastes are different and that’s a great thing but, to me, he is incredibly bland. Handsome, yes but no spark. Just a bit ‘meh’ personality wise. And did I read it wrong or did he keep referring to himself with the royal ‘we’ – as in
“[After] we finished the story, the temptation would be to roll with the distractions and go, “Oh, well, the story went really well so we can kind of change this up and make some other stuff up, I guess.” That was never what we’d signed up to do.”
Like, what??
I like boring. A boring man is my kind of guy.
What is a royal we? It’s easy to deduce that he meant the Bridgerton production staff. The writers as well as himself.
I assumed that he’s talking about the whole team involved in Bridgerton, him, the producers, his management team, etc. That’s usually how it works. He sounds pretty matter of fact about the business to me.
I think he was talking about the Bridgerton production staff for Season 1.
I think he’s gorgeous and sexy, but one of the fun things about life is that everyone has different tastes lol.
The thirst for Bond was there in the beginning tho. He had all the tabloids promoting him as Bond after Bridgerton came out. Hopefully he realised it wasn’t a good move to get in bed with the British press.
I like Rege. I do not like James Bond films at all. As much as I would love to see him working constantly, I hope he isn’t the next James Bond. Because that would mean that I would have to watch a James Bond because he’s in it. I don’t want to watch a JB film ever, I don’t get their hype.
I wish him the best. Its a vicious business, especially for people of color. Social media doesn’t make it any better.
He really is ridiculously handsome but I don’t think he’s found his footing yet or maybe the parts he’s played haven’t given him enough opportunity to show his range? Putting glasses on him in The Gray Man wasn’t enough. LOL
I know people lusted after him for Bridgerton but – especially after seeing season 2 – I didn’t get it? Handsome only gets you so far, it sometimes seemed like Phoebe had to carry scenes by herself. Maybe it was shoddy direction, I have no clue.
I don’t know if it’s the uneven hairline, Rege-Jean needs to come to the South and get a dope shape-up, or if it’s just the boringness of his looks overall, but I can acknowledge that he’s what others would perceive as good looking he just does nothing for me. If he became Bond it will continue my trend of not watching James Bond movies since Daniel Craig and it’s mostly because Rege-Jean seems so boring and doesn’t have that raw masculine sexual energy or pop that makes Bond an exciting character to watch on screen. Idris has it, I get why he doesn’t want to be Bond and I think that ship has sailed.
God he is handsome! I also think part of his appeal is when you see him in action. I’ve only seen him in Bridgerton and his SNL hosting (and he was amazing) but RJ in motion, speaking, etc. is part of his appeal. He’s a very good performer. I hope he finds his footing in Hollywood – he really could be a huge star.
Totally agree his hotness is for me when he is in motion. It was the same in Bridgerton and also the Shonda Rimes legal drama he was in.
I’d love for him to be Bond. I never felt Idris as Bond like the rest of the CBers did- but RJ I would totally love as bond
His episode of SNL was one of my favorites in recent years.
I’m here for it. The man was SO hot in Bridgerton. Huge congrats to R-J!
I’d like to prove it in a court of law, but I’m no lawyer. I’d still like him as my client, though.
Sigh, he’s perfect.
He’s one of those actors who I can acknowledge is very handsome but still leaves me totally cold (though to be fair, I’ve only seen him in Bridgerton, and thought despite his good looks he lacked charisma and depth as an actor). It’s like how at one point some article said that according to symmetry or the Golden Ratio, Amber Heard was supposedly the most beautiful woman in the world; I had a similar reaction of, “Well, okay if that’s what you think.”
I do hope for the best for him, though. I’m surprised by how little he’s been in since he shot to fame because of how big he become overnight (and I don’t blame him–it’s not like Hollywood is known for giving complex roles to black actors).
This man can read me the phone book any day, any time.
Alas, I’m with those who find his acting bland, but his interview answers seem well thought out and savvy. And yeah being a Black actor would be an uphill battle.