‘Downton’ film gives characters their due
When “Downton Abbey” aired its finale in March 2016, the British period drama’s creator Julian Fellowes felt fairly confident that all 18 central characters, including the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants, “were safely tucked up in their lives, and so we said goodbye to them and had a lovely wrap party.”
Fellowes, who wrote all 52 episodes of the television series, left budding feminist Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) finally married, and now outranking her sister Mary (Michelle Dockery); Anna ( Joanne Froggatt) and Bates (Brendan Coyle) had a son; and, of course, the barbedtongued Violet Crawley (Maggie Smith) got the show’s last word.
But with fans clamoring for even more from the upstairsdownstairs show that had begun with the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 and ended in the Roaring Twenties, Fellowes realized that a movie version was probably inevitable — if all the actors could reunite on the 5,000acre Highclere Castle estate, and if Fellowes could come up with a plausible “storyline that affects every single one of them,” he said.
While reading about the postWorld War I country tours of King George V and Queen Mary, Fellowes landed on the idea of the royal couple touring Yorkshire and spending a night at Downton in 1927, “which would give everyone downstairs, and upstairs, and even in the village a reason to be excited.”
And so, in an early scene in the muchanticipated film “Downton Abbey,” opening in theaters Friday, Sept. 20, we hear one of the Crawleys utter a line that’s a trademark expression of Fellowes’ wit and precise powers of observation: “A royal visit is like a swan on a lake, serenity above and demented kicking down below.”
It’s a perfect encapsulation of the drama and high jinks that unfold in the new movie, which Fellowes, 70, discussed in a recent interview by phone from his home in Dorset.
Q: How appealing was the challenge of translating “Downton Abbey” to the big screen, and knowing that instead of letting plot lines spread out over an entire season, you’d have just two hours to reconcile everyone’s conflicts and end without any cliffhangers? A: You’re quite right, that was the key challenge because when you’re writing a series, four or five characters have a story each week and every character will probably have three stories over the whole series. But in a film, everyone has their own story and they’ve all got to be resolved. You can’t say, “Oh well, we’ll tidy this up later.” You’ve got to get it all done.
Q: You’re famous for your attention to the details of etiquette and social mores among the upper class. Do you find it’s easier writing about the aristocratic Crawleys upstairs than the lives of the servants downstairs?
A: I don’t think so. I’m pretty committed to all of them. In the film, for instance, (servants) Carson and Anna and Mrs. Hughes are just as strongly involved in the story as (Countess and Earl of Grantham) Cora and Robert are above.
Q: How much fun is it writing those wickedly funny oneliners that Maggie Smith delivers, many of which have become memes online?
A: I very much like writing for Maggie because she is a consummate actress and so capable of changing moods. She can be very funny one minute and very moving the next. I love the fact that I never have to explain to her, “This is funny because ... . ” She knows why it’s funny and she knows when it’s funny, and she always delivers absolutely on the nail.
Q: She’s 84 and an acting legend, yet it seems like “Downton” has made her “Downton Abbey” (PG) opens Friday, Sep. 20, in Bay Area theaters. famous, globally, on a whole new scale.
A: Indeed. Before “Downton” she was of course a muchcelebrated actress, with Oscars and a title (Dame) and everything else, but she could still go to the supermarket and buy her dinner. “Downton” added a level of fame that has taken that option away, and I feel rather apologetic about that, to be honest. When you’re young, fame is the spur, but when you’re older, it’s the price.
Q: More broadly, how important is humor when you’re writing?
A: I don’t do real arch comedy writing much, I rather think of it as the kind of humor that you would hear if you were having dinner with someone very witty. I’ve met many witty women in my life, and I put them into the show.
If I’m sending a message, I think it’s that you must learn to laugh about what life does to you because it’s not an easy run for anyone. A strange belief has grown in my lifetime that if you have money, you have no troubles. But of course that’s just completely untrue. You can be a millionaire, you can be the Queen of France, and still have a wretched life. It’s bonkers to suggest that people don’t know trouble unless they are at the bottom end of the market economically, or that there is a type of person who doesn’t know suffering, any more than there is a type of person with rhythm or who’s good at money. People are individuals and they have to deal with what life chucks at them, whoever they are.
Q: I think that’s why people fall in love with “Downton,” because whether a plot is centered on a kitchen maid, a footman or a countess, each of their predicaments feels believable.
A: I’ll always remember watching television once, and there was an Englishman on, saying, “The terrible thing about ‘Downton Abbey’ is that Julian Fellowes has made us believe that we could like someone like Robert Grantham (played by Hugh Bonneville).” And I thought to myself, “That’s the greatest compliment I’ve received!” If it really annoys someone that I’ve made someone who people assume is unlikable likable, I couldn’t be gladder. He’s a nice man, a dear man. Why shouldn’t we like him?