Saturday, February 27, 2016
Growing Up
After finally accomplishing her childhood goal, Lady Mary set out in search of greater adulthood ambitions
Bondage
I want to respect Laura's privacy in her personal life, but this is too damn cute to ignore. There's no guarantee this story is true, but even if it's not it's fun to think about!
Hello!
By Chloe Best
This Story Has Been Edited for Content
Laura Carmichael has said she felt like she grew up with her Downton Abbey co-stars. The 29-year-old, who played Lady Edith Crawley in the ITV drama, has remained close to the rest of the cast since they finished filming in 2015. In particular, she has forged a strong bond with her fellow leading ladies Michelle Dockery, Lily James, and Jessica Brown Findlay.
"We are very much in touch," Laura told ES magazine of their friendship. "There's definitely a feeling of growing up with that lot. We do a lot of WhatsApp and we had a girls' dinner the other day. It's lush."
While Laura was open about the friendships she forged on the show, she wouldn't be drawn into discussion about whether she is dating her Downton co-star, Michael Fox. The pair were first linked in January, and while Laura mentioned that she has a boyfriend in the interview, she declined to name him,
"Not talking about it," she said. "Sorry, it always sounds so rude, but I just can't."
Laura and Michael, who played footman Andrew Parker, were said to have bonded on the set of the period drama over the past year and started dating in recent weeks.
It's very early days but they are really enjoying each other's company," as source told The Sun in January. "The best part is that since the show ended they have had a lot more time to spend with each other. Before that, most of their time together was at work."
Hello!
By Chloe Best
This Story Has Been Edited for Content
Laura Carmichael has said she felt like she grew up with her Downton Abbey co-stars. The 29-year-old, who played Lady Edith Crawley in the ITV drama, has remained close to the rest of the cast since they finished filming in 2015. In particular, she has forged a strong bond with her fellow leading ladies Michelle Dockery, Lily James, and Jessica Brown Findlay.
"We are very much in touch," Laura told ES magazine of their friendship. "There's definitely a feeling of growing up with that lot. We do a lot of WhatsApp and we had a girls' dinner the other day. It's lush."
While Laura was open about the friendships she forged on the show, she wouldn't be drawn into discussion about whether she is dating her Downton co-star, Michael Fox. The pair were first linked in January, and while Laura mentioned that she has a boyfriend in the interview, she declined to name him,
"Not talking about it," she said. "Sorry, it always sounds so rude, but I just can't."
Laura and Michael, who played footman Andrew Parker, were said to have bonded on the set of the period drama over the past year and started dating in recent weeks.
It's very early days but they are really enjoying each other's company," as source told The Sun in January. "The best part is that since the show ended they have had a lot more time to spend with each other. Before that, most of their time together was at work."
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Inside Mary and Edith's Epic Fight
By Julie Miller of Vanity Fair
It may have taken six seasons' worth of cruelties from Lady Mary, but in the penultimate episode of Downton Abbe, which aired Sunday in the US, Lady Edith finally took off her white tea gloves and let her awful sister have it. The tell-off was so satisfyingly nasty that it could have earned Edith her own Real Housewives of Yorkshire spin-off had Mary not disqualified her from eligibility by telling Bertie about Edith's secret daughter, detonating Edith's latest chance at marriage. For those who would like a refresher in Edith's consequent kiss-off, take a look.
But why would Mary be so especially evil in the first place? In an interview with PBS, Michelle Dockery, who plays Mary, attempted to rationalize her character's heinous actions.
"Well, in the previous episode, the whole [tragic car crash] has happened with Charlie and it brings back all those memories [of Matthew's death] and it's almost like a kind of second grief that happened...she can't handle it. And so what happens is she just takes it out on her sister which is often what she does...and then of course [the proposal] happens and [Edith] becomes potentially this great lady and outranks us all. And Mary can't bear that."
Although the scene was excruciating for both characters, Dockery revealed that she and Laura Carmichael, who plays Edith, were thrilled to sink their teeth into the loaded exchange.
"When we read it, me and Laura, I remember texting her going 'oh my god. We're gonna have such a good time.' Cause we love it when [creator] Julian [Fellowes] writes these great scenes between the sisters. It's one of the core relationships in the show."
Although Dockery will defend Mary until the end, the actress understands that viewers were likely pleased to see Edith call Mary a bitch-twice. "I'm sure audiences out there applauded that [Edith] said it cause [Mary] had it coming." Dockery allowed.
Edith's profanity-laced meltdown, while much deserved, does defy social etiquette of the time, and David Evans, who directed the episode, discussed the "very strange atmosphere" while filming that exchange.
"Particularly for the women who are in the cast of Downton Abbey-they're always acutely conscious that they're playing women from another age," explained Evans. "The question is constantly, 'can I go there? Can I be that off the leash?' Obviously, the way that Downton Abbey is written, there are very few scenes where people are completely out of control and have lost their temper and are saying things really unguardedly like that...both of them were feeling 'is this too big? Is this too much?' And I was basically going 'nothing is going to be too much in a scene like this."
The blow-up does have a resolution ultimately, though, with Edith taking the high road and returning to Downton for Mary's wedding. Explaining why she returned, Edith says "because in the end, you're my sister. And one day, only we will remember Sybil. Or Mama, or papa, or Matthew, or Michael, or Granny, or Carson or any of the others who have peopled our youth. Until at last, our shared memories will mean more than our mutual dislike."
Those three sentences were so poignant, Dockery revealed, that they actually brought her to tears in real life.
"There were such strong parallels in that dialogue," Dockery said. "Laura and I have this closeness, and memories that we will only share. When she said those words, there was a double meaning to it. I was really tearful...you spend so much time with one another. You become so close. And we knew that these would be our last scenes together and it was just really emotional. It was amazing actually."
It may have taken six seasons' worth of cruelties from Lady Mary, but in the penultimate episode of Downton Abbe, which aired Sunday in the US, Lady Edith finally took off her white tea gloves and let her awful sister have it. The tell-off was so satisfyingly nasty that it could have earned Edith her own Real Housewives of Yorkshire spin-off had Mary not disqualified her from eligibility by telling Bertie about Edith's secret daughter, detonating Edith's latest chance at marriage. For those who would like a refresher in Edith's consequent kiss-off, take a look.
But why would Mary be so especially evil in the first place? In an interview with PBS, Michelle Dockery, who plays Mary, attempted to rationalize her character's heinous actions.
"Well, in the previous episode, the whole [tragic car crash] has happened with Charlie and it brings back all those memories [of Matthew's death] and it's almost like a kind of second grief that happened...she can't handle it. And so what happens is she just takes it out on her sister which is often what she does...and then of course [the proposal] happens and [Edith] becomes potentially this great lady and outranks us all. And Mary can't bear that."
Although the scene was excruciating for both characters, Dockery revealed that she and Laura Carmichael, who plays Edith, were thrilled to sink their teeth into the loaded exchange.
"When we read it, me and Laura, I remember texting her going 'oh my god. We're gonna have such a good time.' Cause we love it when [creator] Julian [Fellowes] writes these great scenes between the sisters. It's one of the core relationships in the show."
Although Dockery will defend Mary until the end, the actress understands that viewers were likely pleased to see Edith call Mary a bitch-twice. "I'm sure audiences out there applauded that [Edith] said it cause [Mary] had it coming." Dockery allowed.
Edith's profanity-laced meltdown, while much deserved, does defy social etiquette of the time, and David Evans, who directed the episode, discussed the "very strange atmosphere" while filming that exchange.
"Particularly for the women who are in the cast of Downton Abbey-they're always acutely conscious that they're playing women from another age," explained Evans. "The question is constantly, 'can I go there? Can I be that off the leash?' Obviously, the way that Downton Abbey is written, there are very few scenes where people are completely out of control and have lost their temper and are saying things really unguardedly like that...both of them were feeling 'is this too big? Is this too much?' And I was basically going 'nothing is going to be too much in a scene like this."
The blow-up does have a resolution ultimately, though, with Edith taking the high road and returning to Downton for Mary's wedding. Explaining why she returned, Edith says "because in the end, you're my sister. And one day, only we will remember Sybil. Or Mama, or papa, or Matthew, or Michael, or Granny, or Carson or any of the others who have peopled our youth. Until at last, our shared memories will mean more than our mutual dislike."
Those three sentences were so poignant, Dockery revealed, that they actually brought her to tears in real life.
"There were such strong parallels in that dialogue," Dockery said. "Laura and I have this closeness, and memories that we will only share. When she said those words, there was a double meaning to it. I was really tearful...you spend so much time with one another. You become so close. And we knew that these would be our last scenes together and it was just really emotional. It was amazing actually."
Thursday, February 18, 2016
Fan Art Friday
Randomness because we're nearing the end and I'm running out of themes...but this art is still amazing!
Artist: the.downton.sketch
Artist: M. Pliego
Artist: Allisonsohn
Artist: Unknown
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Fan Art Friday
Team Servants Edition Part 2
Artist: Squirrelgirl15
Artist: Diffuseness
Artist: Marzo20
Artist: Tobiee
Wednesday, February 10, 2016
Sunday, February 7, 2016
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Fan Art Friday
"We were a show that flopped"...the great love story of Downton
Artist: Richterbach
Artist: Pharmafia-Soldier
Artist: Humans-r-superior
Artist: Loleia
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
The Beginning
Downton Abbey by Liz Trubridge
The Beginning:
Finding Downton Abbey:
I joined Gareth and Julian on Downton in the very early days. There was a greenlight, a budget and a first episode but that was it so we spent a wonderful late summer/autumn going round the stately homes of Yorkshire – since Downton is set in Yorkshire it made sense to look there first. Except it wasn’t the first place we saw, Highclere Castle was our first stop as Julian had it in mind when he conceived of the idea and wrote the first script but we kept it on the back burner as a) it wasn’t in Yorkshire and b) it was just a bit too far from London for a daily commute with long filming hours. The problem was we couldn’t find a complete house in Yorkshire that was the right size and offered everything we needed: a grand driveway, a great hallway and staircase plus several staterooms and bedrooms.We found composites but not the whole thing so, after looking closer to London and not finding exactly what we were looking for, we returned to Highclere and we all agreed it really was perfect. Just the right size for an Earl in Robert’s position. So we decided it would be our Downton Abbey and we would find a way to deal with the travel problem.
The Look and The Feel:
One of the other big advantages to us of Highclere was that it didn’t look like any of the other houses that we were used to seeing in period drama..it was not Palladian, nor was it Georgian) and we were keen to give DA a different feel. We wanted it to feel like a contemporary world as if the audience were watching it at the time that the characters were living, for the colours to be bright, the costumes to feel like the clothes that had been chosen from their wardrobes, that every detail should be considered, whether seen on camera or not, in order to create an authentic world. The music of John Lunn was so key to the overall feel of the drama and when we heard the theme tune for the first time, Gareth and I had no doubts that this was the one…we knew it had to be rousing and exciting and reflect the world and John certainly delivered that several times over.
Casting:
The challenge and the excitement of casting this ensemble were that we had to create not only a believable family but the entire household and it was clear that it would be a mixture of well-known names and totally unknowns. We were all relieved that the marvelous Jill Trevellick was our Casting Director as it was a daunting task. Hilariously our auditions must have been a weird sight: Jill had broken her foot and was in plaster and on crutches, I had badly broken my arm and had a plate and several pins in it and Brian, our director, had an eye infection so heaven knows what the actors thought of us….it certainly broke the ice at the start of each audition! Julian and I had just finished a feature film starring Maggie Smith and it was clear from the start that she would make the perfect Violet so we started the process of press-ganging her into to saying yes! Robert was the next piece of key casting and Hugh was the stand-out choice for all of us (he had also been in the feature with Julian and me) and so we were delighted when he agreed. Over the following months all the rest of the parts fell into place and it became very clear when sitting in the auditions with Brian and Jill how lucky we were to have so many good actors eager to play these parts. Gradually, frontrunners for each role became clear and the cast came together. I will never forget the goosebumps I had at our first readthrough just looking round the room and seeing this cast step into their roles for the first time.
The Script:
The moment I read Episode 1, I was hooked and couldn’t wait for Julian to write Ep 2. I’d read the series ‘bible’ and was excited about how he would flesh out the storylines and by the time Ep 3 came in with the infamous Mr Pamuk I could see that it was more than living up to my expectations.
The success:
Although we knew by the end of Series 1 that we had a classy series on our hands, we had no idea if it would work on ITV (as large-scale period drama had not been on the commercial channel for over 30 years) but it wasn’t until our audience figures were so good and were climbing every episode that we allowed ourselves to hope for a second series commission. It came after Episode 3 and we eagerly embarked on development for that at the same time as finishing post production on Series 1…this was a pattern that continued for the following six years…
Once the award nominations started coming and our very surprise win at the Emmy’s for our first season, we realized we were in the midst of something very special both at home and abroad. Never in a million years did we imagine it would sell in over 250 territories all over the world and have such a global impact. I still pinch myself regularly at the sheer scale of it all.
Of course, one of the downsides for producers of this kind of success is that, inevitably, the cast become much sought after which led to some early exits for some of our characters that we had to grapple with…of course, any long-running series needs some new blood in the cast from time to time to keep it fresh but it is always sad to lose a character from the ‘family’ we created. It also caused logistical problems as we filmed for six months every year and the cast were always being made other offers which they were keen to fit in where I schedule allowed. You can imagine the conundrum when a cast of 25 each has requests for time off! Most of our problems though were a direct result of the show’s global success so we could hardly complain about that!
It is astonishing to think that Julian wrote all 52 episodes, a truly remarkable achievement, and that he did so in such a tight time frame (he would start writing in September, we would start shooting in Febrary until August and then we would transmit while we were still finishing off the series and then he’d start all over again!). Sometimes this rather intense schedule took its toll….I broke my arm in Series 1 and my ankle in S6, just to neatly bookend it!
The end:
Key Moments: There have been so many, each episode has it special moments and these are just a few:
- obviously when we said goodbye to Thomas Howes (William) in S 2 and to Jess Brown Findlay (Sybil) and Dan Stevens (Matthew) in S3 these were huge moments in the series and really sad for everyone concerned. - The filming of the Mr Pamuk scenes, the Suffragette rally, the trenches, Mary and Matthew’s proposal and their wedding. Indeed all the weddings we’ve had: Daisy and William, Bates and Anna, Edith being jilted by Sir Anthony, Rose and Atticus, Carson and Mrs Hughes and, of course, Mary and Henry. Then there’s Bates’ trial, Anna’s rape, Anna’s arrest, the point-to-point, the car race, the cricket match and not forgetting Violet and Kuragin and Isobel and Merton.
Our visitors: We had great pleasure in welcoming the Duchess of Cambridge to Ealing Studios, the rest of Kate’s family (the Middleton’s) to Highclere, the Duchess of Wessex visited twice and the First Lady of Mexico. Then, of course, there was George Clooney filming for Text Santa alongside our other guests: Joanna Lumley and Jeremy Piven.
Our legacy: For those of us lucky enough to have been involved in this phenomenon from the beginning, we have been part of an unforgettable experience as television history was made. We have formed life-long friendships and will be talking about it – and writing about it – for a long time after the final scene has aired. We are immensely proud of what we were able to achieve together, both cast and crew alike and we’ll miss it terribly. But it was right to end it now with people still wanting more and now that the last episode has been delivered to ITV, I for one want to enjoy the memories and share the huge joy of being a part of it.
The Beginning:
Finding Downton Abbey:
I joined Gareth and Julian on Downton in the very early days. There was a greenlight, a budget and a first episode but that was it so we spent a wonderful late summer/autumn going round the stately homes of Yorkshire – since Downton is set in Yorkshire it made sense to look there first. Except it wasn’t the first place we saw, Highclere Castle was our first stop as Julian had it in mind when he conceived of the idea and wrote the first script but we kept it on the back burner as a) it wasn’t in Yorkshire and b) it was just a bit too far from London for a daily commute with long filming hours. The problem was we couldn’t find a complete house in Yorkshire that was the right size and offered everything we needed: a grand driveway, a great hallway and staircase plus several staterooms and bedrooms.We found composites but not the whole thing so, after looking closer to London and not finding exactly what we were looking for, we returned to Highclere and we all agreed it really was perfect. Just the right size for an Earl in Robert’s position. So we decided it would be our Downton Abbey and we would find a way to deal with the travel problem.
The Look and The Feel:
One of the other big advantages to us of Highclere was that it didn’t look like any of the other houses that we were used to seeing in period drama..it was not Palladian, nor was it Georgian) and we were keen to give DA a different feel. We wanted it to feel like a contemporary world as if the audience were watching it at the time that the characters were living, for the colours to be bright, the costumes to feel like the clothes that had been chosen from their wardrobes, that every detail should be considered, whether seen on camera or not, in order to create an authentic world. The music of John Lunn was so key to the overall feel of the drama and when we heard the theme tune for the first time, Gareth and I had no doubts that this was the one…we knew it had to be rousing and exciting and reflect the world and John certainly delivered that several times over.
Casting:
The challenge and the excitement of casting this ensemble were that we had to create not only a believable family but the entire household and it was clear that it would be a mixture of well-known names and totally unknowns. We were all relieved that the marvelous Jill Trevellick was our Casting Director as it was a daunting task. Hilariously our auditions must have been a weird sight: Jill had broken her foot and was in plaster and on crutches, I had badly broken my arm and had a plate and several pins in it and Brian, our director, had an eye infection so heaven knows what the actors thought of us….it certainly broke the ice at the start of each audition! Julian and I had just finished a feature film starring Maggie Smith and it was clear from the start that she would make the perfect Violet so we started the process of press-ganging her into to saying yes! Robert was the next piece of key casting and Hugh was the stand-out choice for all of us (he had also been in the feature with Julian and me) and so we were delighted when he agreed. Over the following months all the rest of the parts fell into place and it became very clear when sitting in the auditions with Brian and Jill how lucky we were to have so many good actors eager to play these parts. Gradually, frontrunners for each role became clear and the cast came together. I will never forget the goosebumps I had at our first readthrough just looking round the room and seeing this cast step into their roles for the first time.
The Script:
The moment I read Episode 1, I was hooked and couldn’t wait for Julian to write Ep 2. I’d read the series ‘bible’ and was excited about how he would flesh out the storylines and by the time Ep 3 came in with the infamous Mr Pamuk I could see that it was more than living up to my expectations.
The success:
Although we knew by the end of Series 1 that we had a classy series on our hands, we had no idea if it would work on ITV (as large-scale period drama had not been on the commercial channel for over 30 years) but it wasn’t until our audience figures were so good and were climbing every episode that we allowed ourselves to hope for a second series commission. It came after Episode 3 and we eagerly embarked on development for that at the same time as finishing post production on Series 1…this was a pattern that continued for the following six years…
Once the award nominations started coming and our very surprise win at the Emmy’s for our first season, we realized we were in the midst of something very special both at home and abroad. Never in a million years did we imagine it would sell in over 250 territories all over the world and have such a global impact. I still pinch myself regularly at the sheer scale of it all.
Of course, one of the downsides for producers of this kind of success is that, inevitably, the cast become much sought after which led to some early exits for some of our characters that we had to grapple with…of course, any long-running series needs some new blood in the cast from time to time to keep it fresh but it is always sad to lose a character from the ‘family’ we created. It also caused logistical problems as we filmed for six months every year and the cast were always being made other offers which they were keen to fit in where I schedule allowed. You can imagine the conundrum when a cast of 25 each has requests for time off! Most of our problems though were a direct result of the show’s global success so we could hardly complain about that!
It is astonishing to think that Julian wrote all 52 episodes, a truly remarkable achievement, and that he did so in such a tight time frame (he would start writing in September, we would start shooting in Febrary until August and then we would transmit while we were still finishing off the series and then he’d start all over again!). Sometimes this rather intense schedule took its toll….I broke my arm in Series 1 and my ankle in S6, just to neatly bookend it!
The end:
Key Moments: There have been so many, each episode has it special moments and these are just a few:
- obviously when we said goodbye to Thomas Howes (William) in S 2 and to Jess Brown Findlay (Sybil) and Dan Stevens (Matthew) in S3 these were huge moments in the series and really sad for everyone concerned. - The filming of the Mr Pamuk scenes, the Suffragette rally, the trenches, Mary and Matthew’s proposal and their wedding. Indeed all the weddings we’ve had: Daisy and William, Bates and Anna, Edith being jilted by Sir Anthony, Rose and Atticus, Carson and Mrs Hughes and, of course, Mary and Henry. Then there’s Bates’ trial, Anna’s rape, Anna’s arrest, the point-to-point, the car race, the cricket match and not forgetting Violet and Kuragin and Isobel and Merton.
Our visitors: We had great pleasure in welcoming the Duchess of Cambridge to Ealing Studios, the rest of Kate’s family (the Middleton’s) to Highclere, the Duchess of Wessex visited twice and the First Lady of Mexico. Then, of course, there was George Clooney filming for Text Santa alongside our other guests: Joanna Lumley and Jeremy Piven.
Our legacy: For those of us lucky enough to have been involved in this phenomenon from the beginning, we have been part of an unforgettable experience as television history was made. We have formed life-long friendships and will be talking about it – and writing about it – for a long time after the final scene has aired. We are immensely proud of what we were able to achieve together, both cast and crew alike and we’ll miss it terribly. But it was right to end it now with people still wanting more and now that the last episode has been delivered to ITV, I for one want to enjoy the memories and share the huge joy of being a part of it.
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