The Cast of Downton Abbey Shares Behind-the-Scenes Journey on the Film
From the very moment we said goodbye to the Crawley family in the winter of 2015, rumors of a Downton Abbey film emerged. The show first captivated U.S. audiences five years earlier, with its salacious storylines focused on the carefully-woven relationships between an extraordinarily wealthy family and its downstairs staff. There was never a shortage of drama at Downton, from scandalous love affairs to cat fights amongst the elderly to many a premature death (we’re all still mourning the loss of Season 1’s short-lived but highly memorable Mr. Pamuk). But even though we said "so long" to a cast of nearly twenty-five beloved characters, it always seemed plausible that a movie maybe…could be…should be in the works.
Now, nearly four years after we collectively praised the heavens to see Lady Edith finally married off, Downton comes to the big screen. The script and plot have been shrouded in secrecy, but we do know the king and queen will pay a visit to the Abbey, and Lady Mary is—unsurprisingly—calling all the shots. And in a climate that's as royally obsessed as ever, do we really even need to know anything else?
Earlier this summer, in conjunction with Harper's BAZAAR's shoot with four of Downton's leading ladies, BAZAAR chatted with Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary), Elizabeth McGovern (Lady Cora), Joanne Froggatt (Anna Bates), and Sophie McShera (Daisy) about where we find their characters 18 months later, the potential for another movie, and what Maggie Smith is really like.
On how to the film begins for their characters:
Michelle Dockery: Mary is very much in charge of the household. They're about to embark on this huge visit from the royals, so Mary takes it upon herself to organize everything because she loves being in control. But she's in this conundrum because things aren't quite going to plan. As you can also see from the trailer, she calls in her lifelong hero, Carson, to come in and save the day. What I loved about the end of the series and now going into the film is that Mary is finally at a place in her life where she's settled and happy with Henry. It's about 18 months on, so her daughter Caroline is around 18 months old. The story is wonderful, and it's very much an extension of the show—just cranked up a notch.
Joanne Froggatt: Anna and Bates are in a really good place, actually, for the first time in a while. They've got Baby Bates, as we like to call him. His name's Johnny, after his dad, John. Time-wise, we've moved forward a little bit, but very much in the same world. Johnny's a little toddler, and Anna's still working at the house with Mr. Bates. Johnny goes to the upstairs nursery with the upstairs kids. Very modern.
Sophie McShera: I'm working with Mrs. Patmore in the kitchen, obviously. We're still at the house, and I am still sort of courting with Andy. But it's not necessarily plain sailing. I'm having my usual feelings of wanting something more.
On the differences between making a TV show and a movie:
Dockery: I felt I had to be aware of not playing for film, because if you suddenly become self-conscious that you're going to be on a big screen, it changes it. That's something I was really conscious about—don't do anything different, just do what I was doing for those six years. It seemed to work, so carry on. The only thing different about Mary, I guess, is that she's got bangs.
McGovern: I think there is an assumption that a lot of people will be familiar with the characters. There's not a lot of explaining the backstory or any of that. The approach is similar to another episode, but on a bigger scale.
McShera: We seem to have got more time to do things, because you're really up against it when you're filming a TV show. It felt more luxurious in terms of time and things being on a really grand scale. We could do these big set pieces. It didn't change my approach to the character. Getting back into the character felt really normal, and it felt like none of us had been away.
On coming back for the movie after wrapping up the series:
Dockery: [The end of the show] felt very much like the end of an era. And the timing felt right, so it had all of the emotions that go with that. But there was talk of the film the year before doing Season 5. The rumors were always there, so there was always that feeling that it's not quite over. What was so funny was stepping back into the castle and feeling like we just left. It's such a strange feeling. We said our goodbyes, and then three years later, you walk in there and you pick up where you left off. It felt very much like that every season that we went back to it. It didn't matter how huge the show had got and what awards we'd been to and what red carpets we'd stepped on. When you walk back onto set, it feels like the first season, like nothing's changed. We were all part of this big family and this phenomenon that took us all by surprise. Now I pinch myself, really, because it's ongoing. And there were many good reasons to do the film, but it also felt like people would not stop talking unless we did a film. Meeting people in the street, and at work—it's constantly a question, Is there going to be any more? It felt like the audience was not quite done with it.
McGovern: I suppose I was thinking, well, we kind of did that already. But I was injected by other people's enthusiasm. I certainly didn't want to let anyone down by being not there. And I think people were excited to give it that kind of cinematic scope and depth.
Froggatt: I did feel like it was over. I thought we'd left everything in a really nice place. But I knew that Gareth Neame, our exec [producer], and Julian Fellowes always hoped to do a movie, so it was always in the background. [Then] Julian wrote a lovely script that we all thought was really nostalgic and checked in with all those characters that people have grown to love. I didn't have reservations. I think we all just wanted to make sure it was the right time and the right story.
McShera: In terms of it being a job, we definitely thought that job was over, all crying our eyes out in the carpark. It was properly the end of an era and we all said goodbye to each other.
On their first reactions to the script:
Dockery: I loved the script. What Julian does so brilliantly is weave all those narratives for each character throughout the story. Every single character has a role to play with the king and queen coming to visit. He hasn't made anything bigger than it needs to be just because it's film, which is what I think people will love about it. It's very much an extension of the show. There's just slightly more diamonds and that kind of ceremony, with the ball and all that. It's an event that people really look forward to. I think those worlds are colliding as well—the aristocracy and the royals coming together.
McGovern: We read two versions of the script, and I see that what they wanted to do was give people what they want. I thought, Well, that's probably a good idea, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel with the show. Given that that was their ambition, they really achieved that.
Froggatt: It felt very nostalgic and had a really warm heart when I read it. It gave me a very cozy feeling.
McShera: People would get so annoyed with us because everyone thought we were being good and saying, Oh, we know as much as you. But we actually didn't know anything. We were waiting just the same as everyone else to see if they could put it together and make it happen. It was so exciting when we finally got the nod.
On returning to fan-favorite relationship dynamics:
Dockery: The relationships in the show that are most interesting are [the ones] between [the people] above and below stairs. Really, Mary would've probably spent more time with Carson and the nanny growing up. Obviously there is this tension with her father when we first meet her in the show, because she feels like she is not the son he was supposed to have. That was the whole drama and continues to be—it's something that has always held up in the story. I feel in some way that Carson is another father figure to her in the same way that you have relationships like that with family members, where you go to them for advice, and not necessarily your immediate [family].
Froggatt: [With Anna and Bates], I think [fans love their relationship] because it was this slow burn love story, and their love for each other and their care was born out of this mutual respect for each other. They had very strong moral codes, both of them, but slightly different [ones] through having very different life experiences. They really stood by each other through thick and thin. There was a lot of things standing in their way. We didn't expect them to become such lovely characters, and it was such a treat that they were. They were [important] to [Brendan Coyle and I], but we didn't know if they would be to anybody else. It's lovely that people connected with them and connected with their story and got behind them, and wished them well.
On Easter Eggs from the series in the new movie:
McGovern: You'll recognize turns of phrase; the characters who have their own idiosyncratic ways of speaking, those are very much repeated. Maggie's one-liners. And also the dynamics of the relationship—they've got that as a loving lens, really looking at all these characters once again.
Froggatt: There's loads of those, really, because I think the whole thing is about that, hitting that place in people's hearts that they're like, Oh, I'm back. Obviously the set's the same. We've got a couple extra rooms that we didn't have before—the silver pantry and a pantry we've never seen before. I wear the same black dress I did in the last season, my evening uniform.
On a potential sequel to the movie:
Dockery: Because we loved doing it so much, [when we wrapped] it was definitely that feeling like, Oh, we could do this again, and it would be wonderful to all get back together. We have such a good time. But that really depends on how it's received. It will be really interesting to see the reaction.
McGovern: For me, we've done it, but that's just me. I suppose if there's a hunger for it, people [will] want to do it more, but, personally, I feel like enough already. But I would never want to take anybody's pleasure away if they want [it].
Froggatt: Who knows? I guess it’s down to the fans, isn't it? I mean, if it's popular and people love it, and, of course, there's scope to do something else. That's down to Julian, if he wanted to do that or not. What Julian did so cleverly is set up this company of vast characters. There were always 22 main characters to start with, and now we've grown into more. I think this story can be never ending when you've got that many different characters, personalities, relationships—whether they be romantic or friendships or feuds. Whatever those relationships are, you've got this melting pot of all these amazing stories that can come up from there. I don't think you'd ever say it's the end of the story.
McShera: Definitely we'd all be up for always revisiting these characters. We love them.
On their favorite Maggie Smith memory:
Dockery: There are hundreds. She has this cane, and there was one day when she felt like somebody was encroaching on her space a little too much, and she brought the cane up to create a distance between her and this person. All in jest! It was very, very funny. She is one of the funniest people that I know, and all of that wit and humor that you see on camera, it's all her.
McGovern: She always hated when she had a high neck. So there was one day when she had this high, stiff lace collar, and she said something like, "Now I understand why the French invented the guillotine."
Froggatt: Oh my God. I can't repeat. Maggie's brilliant. She's the most quick-witted person I think I've ever met.
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