‘Downton Abbey’ creator Julian Fellowes introduces ‘Belgravia’ on Epix
PASADENA, Calif. — In “Belgravia,” “Downton Abbey” creator Julian Fellowes adapts his own best-selling novel about secrets among members of London high society in the 19th century, beginning at a lavish party on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo.
The six-episode limited series, premiering April 12 on the Epix premium cable channel, certainly gives off a “Downton” vibe in its trailer, from the costumes to the music. But “Downton” executive producer Gareth Neame said “Belgravia” is nothing like the PBS series, in part because it has a beginning and an end.
“People who love ‘Downton,’ I think there’s a lot of the same comedy of manners and social observation,” he said at an Epix press conference Saturday during the
Television Critics Association winter 2020 press tour. “[But there’s also] a mystery at the heart of it. It’s a story about this couple and how they deal with the big tragedy in their lives and the repercussions of all of that.”
Fellowes said the time period of “Belgravia” also differs from “Downton.”
“It’s really in a sense the rise of the great Victorian era of manufactur[ing] and money-making and empire and … the expansion of London and so on, whereas you could say that ‘Downton’ was on the other side of the hill and was part of the decline, particularly as we follow it through into the 1920s.”
After working on a “Downton” feature film last year, Fellowes said he is finishing scripts for the longgestating “The Gilded Age,” which last year shifted from NBC to HBO. Set in 1885 New York and chronicling the disparity between old money and new money, “The Gilded Age” will star Christine Baranski, Cynthia Nixon, Amanda Peet and Morgan Spector.
“We’re in preproduction. We shoot this year sometime, and it’s in reasonably good shape,” Fellowes said, noting that being on HBO allows for more time per episode. He’s still working with Bob Greenblatt, an executive who moved from NBC to HBO about nine months before “Gilded Age” followed him there.
Is there any difference between making a series for an American media company than a British one?
“You do get more notes,” Fellowes said, smiling and with a twinkle in his eye.
‘Little America’
Apple TV+ last week debuted “Little America,” an eight-episode anthology series inspired by true stories from Epic Magazine. The stories are personal, not political, but producers from the subscription streaming service acknowledge that just telling immigrants’ stories may be viewed as a political statement.
“We’re not presenting an agenda. [But] just by saying that
immigrants are human beings with hopes, desires, likes and dislikes, in this climate, is a radical statement,” said executive producer Kumail Nanjiani (“Silicon Valley,” “The Big Sick”).
“We decided that if we’re telling a story about immigrants and we make it overtly political, you’re taking the focus away from the person whose story you’re telling and you’re putting the focus on the political system or the immigration system, and we didn’t want that. We wanted the focus to be on these people, on these stories.”
Episodes include the story of a Nigerian student who moves to Oklahoma and embraces cowboy fashion and a 12-year-old tasked with running his family’s Utah hotel after his parents are deported back to India. In one episode, Green Tree native Zachary Quinto plays a guru at a silent retreat who meets a French immigrant.
Nanjiani said “Little America,” already renewed for a second season, tries to avoid making its characters too perfect.
“These are people with flaws,” he said. “Sometimes I’ve noticed — I’m sensitive to it — this sense that sometimes you portray the minority as being noble or having some kind of wisdom that the rest of us don’t have, and I find that to be, in some ways, just as reductive as portraying negative stereotypes.”
‘Morning Show’
Producers of the Apple TV+ drama “The Morning Show” said they have no deal yet for Steve Carell to return as disgraced news anchor Mitch. Executive producer Michael Ellenberg said the first two scripts of season two have been written, so presumably Mitch isn’t back in those unless there are contingencies for a rewrite.
Star Jennifer Aniston said the show’s first season explored the #MeToo movement but also gender dynamics, power dynamics, abuse of power and not just abuse of sexual power.
“What we were trying to do is take a very realistic and humanistic look at this situation that we have all as a society have allowed to happen unconsciously actually,” Aniston said, noting the response to the series from broadcast journalists has been especially rewarding.
“The journalists who have said it’s staggering how spot-on it is, which is all we could hope to do, replicate the world in as true a fashion as we possibly can.”
‘Hillary’ on Hulu
On March 6, Hulu debuts “Hillary,” a four-part documentary series that explores how Hillary Clinton becameone of the most admired and most vilified women in the world.
The former secretary of state and past presidential candidate said the series began as a possible Clinton campaign documentary by filmmaker Nanette Burstein, who spent 35 hours interviewing Clinton.
“There were a lot of humbling moments,” Clinton said. “One was the recognition that I have been — often in my view — mischaracterized and misperceived, and I have to bear a lot of the responsibility for that whatever the combination of reasons might be. I certainly didn’t do a good enough job to break through a lot of the perceptions that were out there.”
Clinton implored viewers to vote thoughtfully in the 2020 Democratic primary, noting, “this is no ordinary time.
“Vote for the person you think is most likely to win” in the general election, she said. “That is what will matter and not just the popular vote [but also in] the electoral college.”