Simon Curtis on the Old Hollywood Film That Inspired Downton Abbey: A New Era
11Downton Abbey is arguably one of the most beloved television series of all time, a six-season giant beloved by television critics and normal viewers alike. Having accumulated numerous accolades, including Golden Globes, Emmys, and Screen Actors Guild Awards, the series was so successful in its telling of the story of the Crawley family and their staff that it spawned two sequel films — one of the same name in 2019, and this year’s Downton Abbey: A New Era, which introduces a whole new cast of characters into the world audiences know and love.
Simon Curtis is the man behind the camera for the second Downton film, which not only takes beloved characters out of the abbey, but brings new ones in as well, as a Hollywood film crew comes to make a movie on the ground, only for Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) to get roped into the chaos. The film is a blend of the old guard and the new, and is another addition to Curtis’s long and storied career, alongside films like My Week with Marilyn and Woman in Gold.
Ahead of the film’s release on DVD and Blu-ray on July 5, Collider had the opportunity to fly to England and interview Curtis at the stunning Wrest Park, the UK filming location for the French villa inherited by Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess in the film. Over the course of the interview, which you can watch above as well as read a transcript of below, Curtis discussed what it was like directing stars he’d worked with before — but never on Downton — as well as taking classic characters out of the abbey and into a new world, and the surprising film that inspired A New Era’s Hollywood plotline.
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