DOWNTON ABBEYS UNHOLY FEUDS!
THE much-anticipated Downton Abbey movie is being hailed as a blockbuster — but the jealousies, rivalries and romances on-screen are nothing compared to the shocking secret dramas that exploded during filming!
Many of the original cast members on the long-running PBS show — including Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael and Brendan Coyle — are back in the flick, which has die-hard fans buzzing.
Now, GLOBE reveals the behind-the-scenes secrets of the new movie — including who begged for a role, which stars had affairs, who was banned for booze issues and the diva who threw tantrums over cake.
■ In real life,
Laura, who plays plain-Jane sister
Lady Edith Crawley, and Michael Fox, a lowly servant in the series, plunged into an affair during the final season and now live together.
“Between scenes, they couldn’t keep their hands off each other,” tattles the insider. “Michelle would roll her eyes. People would joke for them
to get a room!”
■ The lovey-dovey behavior was particularly hard for Michelle, who had to be sweettalked into coming back after the tragic death from cancer of fiancé John Dineen in 2015.
“The parallels between Michelle and her character, Lady Mary, whose on-screen husband, Matthew, died in a car crash, were too much to bear, but in the end she agreed to do the movie and she’s very glad she did,” reveals the insider.
Movie set secrets revealed: Divas, lust, tragedy, booze - and a destructive dog! ‘Between scenes, they couldn’t keep their hands off each other’
■ After Dan Stevens, who played
Matthew Crawley, left Downton abruptly to take the lead in a
Broadway show, his character was killed off. But he pleaded “to have a role” — and the bigwigs gave him a flashback scene with Michelle in the new movie.
■ Brendan, who portrays the mysterious manservant Mr. Bates, has had several DUI convictions and rehab stints — his lawyer described his alcohol problem as “significant” — and was once so drunk on the set they sent him home.
This time, producers insisted on a “no-hangover clause” in his contract, which forbade him from drinking during filming, tattles the insider.
■ The Crawley family grande dame, Maggie Smith, pitched such a diva fit over stale fruitcake served at tea that honchos had to send someone to run out and “fetch a lemon pound cake” to calm her.
■ And it was not just humans who were causing backstage dramas: Teo, the production’s dog — played by a Labrador named Benji — was so rowdy that the owners of Highclere Castle, where much of the show is shot, demanded he behave or be replaced.
“Teo needed emergency dog training to stop him from jumping on the furniture and toppling the priceless antiques,” reveals the insider.