"Downton Abbey" was already a moderate-sized phenomenon last July when we got our Season 2-previewing Television Critics Association press tour panel last summer. That was a big deal, but it's nothing compared to the build-up for Saturday's (July 21) TCA panel, which is the centerpiece of PBS' weekend, with a panel, an associated buffet dinner and a subsequent reception.
I already had a 10-minute sit-down with Brendan "Mr. Bates!" Coyle earlier this afternoon and I'll post that soon.
But here's the live-blog from the panel, which features creator Julian Fellowes, as well as many of the show's stars.
7:10 p.m. Dinner complete. This room has rarely been more packed. People are cuckoo for "Downton Abbey."
7:11 p.m. TRAILER! Maggie Smith says something catty. Shirley MacLaine arrives. There's a new tall serving man. The Plain Sister is flirting. Mr. Bates is in jail and Anna is visiting. Uh-oh! Money's gone! Could the servants be in jeopardy? Hot Sister is back to visit and her hubby is being all political. The ladies play cards! Carson's offended to be serving Hot Sister's Common Hubby. Mary and Matthew are bickering. People are crying. More talk about missing money. Uh-oh. The Crawleys are not in good shape. And Hugh Bonneville's earning his Emmy nomination for next year. There's a wedding coming up. Will this be the End of an Era at Downton Abbey? Perchance! Dirty talk with Matthew and Mary. Shirley MacLaine again! Hugging Maggie Smith and being catty!
7:17 p.m. On the panel, we have Julian Fellowes, Michelle Dockery, Gareth Neame, Shirley MacLaine, Elizabeth McGovern, Hugh Bonneville, Joanne Froggatt and Brendan Coyle.
7:19 p.m. Our first question was about last season's darkness, with the war. Will this season be brighter and more cheerful? "We like a few laughs. This season, in a way, is about the recover from the war," Fellowes says. The theme is about whether or not the world is changed forever. He promises laughs and tears.
7:21 p.m. UGH. Questioner asks if the actors are more happy because Emmy recognition comes from Americans? Bonneville tips his hat to Jon Hamm and Damian Lewis by name and says he was "gobsmacked." "Overwhelmed. It's wonderful that the show has been recognized in so many categories," Dockery says. Dockery is especially happy that their composer, overlooked last year, was nominated. Coyle told me this story earlier, but Froggatt and Coyle were shooting a scene and took a normal pause, found out they were nominated and then in the second half of the scene, they had a post-nominated glow. "It'll be interesting to see if people spot that scenes," Froggatt says.
7:24 p.m. "There's a liberation in it being period, because you can go into areas that a period novel would not have done," Fellowes says. "The discipline is to look at those subjects, but within the context of the period," he emphasizes. The goal is to avoid having characters who seem like they've been parachuted in from 2012. "With 'Downton' the fun is that it looks like a classic period drama... but the energy is much more modern. I think that has worked for us," Fellowes says.
7:26 p.m. Was MacLaine a fan of the show? "It definitely creeps into your pores," MacLaine says, calling it "an extraordinary experience" in terms of stamina and work ethic. She shot outside and in the rain and wind. "And nobody seemed to notice, so I think we just stepped right in there and acted like I didn't notice it either," she admits. MacLaine says that she'd seen that "Downton Abbey" was a hit in a variety of Asian countries that she'd visited. "What he's done so brilliant is make 15 characters... with just the right amount of time on screen, which fits with the Internet tolerance for emotional knowledge," MacLaine says. Fellowes cracks that it's a show for people with short attention spans. MacLaine was not, however, a fan of the show before. She heard about it at her hairdresser in Malibu. When she was announced for the show, she didn't know anything about the character, but her hairdresser did. "That's basically why I did it, to see if my hairdresser lady is right," she says.
7:29 p.m. MacLaine is asked about this being her Year of Alignment. But she doesn't want to talk about this now.
7:30 p.m. Had MacLaine and Maggie Smith met before? "Well, we were lovers in a movie," MacLaine cracks. Apparently they met 40 years ago at the Oscars and the met at the catering table over a chocolate cake that MacLaine devoured when she didn't win. "She remembered more than me, but she's younger than me," MacLaine says. Wow. Who'd have guessed Smith was a year younger than MacLaine?
7:30 p.m. "I felt that I really didn't know who Cora was until I met Shirley. Suddenly it all became clear and for two years I was in a bit of a fog," McGovern says. "It became very clear to me the journey that Cora had undertaken to go from Shirley to The Countess of Downton Abbey," she adds. McGovern calls her character flexible and resilient and "strong in a quieter, more self-effacing way" than lots of images of female strength that have perpetuated in recent years. What qualities does McGovern share with Cora? "None. I'm a raving lunatic," McGovern says. "She's right," MacLaine laughs.
READ MORE: http://www.hitfix.com/the-fien-print/press-tour-2012-live-blog-pbs-downton-abbey
No comments:
Post a Comment