Dan Stevens gallops onto the London set as Sir Lancelot in third installment of action franchise with Ben Stiller

MAIL ON LINE

By Hanna Flint

January 30, 2014

From New York City's American Museum of Natural History to Washington DC's Smithsonian Institute, the Night At The Museum film franchise has now come to London.

And for the next few weeks, Ben Stiller and Robin Williams will be filming scenes at the British Museum, reprising their roles as former night watchman Larry and Theodore Roosevelt in the action blockbuster.

Which means a host of British historical figures will be thrown into the mix, including Dan Stevens as Sir Lancelot riding onto the set on his trusty steed.

The role is a significant one for Dan, who has yet to garner much box office success since leaving Downton Abbey.

He made the Amy Heckerling rom com Vamps with Krysten Ritter and Alicia Silverstone, which went straight to DVD, and the ill-fated Summer In February opposite Dominic Cooper and Emily Browning, that received just a 37% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Last year he did have a small role in the Wikileaks movie, The Fifth Estate, with Benedict Cumberbatch, but certainly the Night At The Museum will provide more opportunity for a break out performance.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2548648/Dan-Stevens-gallops-London-set-Sir-Lancelot-installment-action-franchise-Ben-Stiller.html#ixzz2sMmygo8w 

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Dan Stevens: A year after his shock exit, he's still waiting for his big Hollywood break

MAIL ONLINE
By TOM LEONARD
PUBLISHED: 17:00 EST, 26 December 2013 | UPDATED: 17:00 EST, 26 December 2013

This time last year, we were still reeling with shock at the unexpected demise of Downton Abbey’s handsome Matthew Crawley, the man who was to be the saviour of the Grantham earldom.

Millions of viewers watched in disbelief when Matthew died in the wreck of his car after crashing on the way back to Downton after seeing his beloved Lady Mary and their newborn son in hospital.

The savage twist had been a well-kept secret, which gave added impact to the element of surprise.

The series has had its ups and downs since then — some of which have been blamed on the plot upset of Matthew’s brutal end and the departure of Dan Stevens, who played him.

Stevens had blown a huge hole in the most beloved TV drama of recent times after deciding he was leaving the Granthams and their stuffy Edwardian manners to move to New York and try to advance his acting career in the New World.

There were whispers that the rest of the cast were less than pleased, particularly when, as it turned out, this year’s fourth series suffered a dip in ratings without Matthew the pin-up boy.

Julian Fellowes had toyed with the idea of writing a plot line that involved Matthew moving to New York on business, leaving Downton’s huge oak door slightly ajar so that he could return for the odd episode when his other commitments allowed, but Stevens didn’t want to come back, so that was that.

Stevens himself is unapologetic. ‘I made my decision for myself, but I didn’t make it alone,’ he has explained. 

‘It felt the right thing to do. Also, it excited me to follow my instinct which said this is the right time. It’s just a nice feeling to have when you can trust yourself.

‘I’d had a great three years in Downton. Fond memories, lovely cast, but it was just time. We didn’t expect it to be such a success and when we came together for the second series, we were all a bit shell-shocked. And by series three, it almost seemed ridiculous how big the show had become.

‘I gave them plenty of warning — it wasn’t like I slammed the door and walked out. It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to face. On paper, it looked mad to walk away, but it felt like the right time. I’ve got an appetite to learn new things. There was no rancour. Julian was very gracious about it’.

In spite of Matthew Crawley’s demise, Downton remains immensely successful on both sides of the Atlantic.

Whether the same can be said of 31-year-old Stevens is another matter.

For young British actors, the lure of the U.S. is hard to resist, especially if they have already been love-bombed by fans.

And for some it works out wonderfully. Benedict Cumberbatch, for instance, first came to the attention of American audiences as the  star of the BBC drama  series Sherlock.

Suddenly, he seems to be everywhere: the villain in the latest Star Trek film, in the Edwardian TV drama Parade’s End — a U.S.-UK collaboration — and even as the voice of Smaug the dragon in the new Hobbit film.

The dreadful film The Fifth Estate, in which Cumberbatch played Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, was a rare flop on his recent CV. But for Stevens — who appeared in it as a Guardian journalist — it was probably the acting highlight of his year.

His other recent release, Summer In February, was another Edwardian period piece, this time about a Cornish artists’ colony. As with The Fifth Estate, it was drubbed by the critics and withered at the box office. Even supportive tweets from famous friends of Stevens such as Gordon Brown’s wife Sarah and Stephen Fry couldn’t save it.

The public school-educated actor originally moved to New York for only six months to make his Broadway debut alongside Hollywood star Jessica Chastain in the Victorian period play The Heiress.

Many reviewers were enthusiastic, but the all-powerful New York Times critic Ben Brantley damned Stevens with faint praise, saying his performance was ‘shiny, well spoken and lacking in discernible undercurrents’.

Instead of moving back to Britain at the end of the run, Stevens stayed — with his wife, South African singer Susie Hariet, and their children, Willow, four, and Aubrey, one. They now live in a fashionable part of Brooklyn, with the Manhattan skyline looming across the  East River.

READ MORE HERE: 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2529566/So-Dan-REALLY-happy-ditched-Downton-A-year-shock-exit-hes-waiting-big-Hollywood-break.html

Dan Stevens: I'm based in US for now (INDEPENDENT)

16 JUNE 2013

Dan Stevens has revealed he is basing himself in America for the moment because it "makes sense" for his career.

The Downton Abbey star moved with his wife and two small children to Brooklyn while he starred with Jessica Chastain in The Heiress on Broadway recently.

Since his Downton Abbey character Matthew Crawley was killed off, he has filmed Hollywood action movie A Walk Among The Tombstones with Liam Neeson and Julian Asange biopic The Fifth Estate.

Dan said of moving to America: "I don't know about for good but we're living there at the moment. And for work it makes sense for me to be there at the minute.

"But it's good to be back. I'm coming back in the summer to shoot Swallows And Amazons, we're doing a feature film adaptation of that, but in between I'm off back to the States to do an American independent film. So I hope I can keep hopping back and forth across the pond. I enjoy both."

The 30-year-old actor produced and starred in his latest film Summer In February, a period love story set amid the Lamorna Group of artists in Cornwall. It is based on a book written by his former teacher Jonathan Smith.

READ MORE: http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/movies/stevens-im-based-in-us-for-now-29348365.html

Dan Stevens’ First Movie Role Post-’Downton Abbey’ By Brigid Brown | Posted on May 15th, 2013 (BBC America)

 

Dan Stevens stars opposite Emily Browning in Summer in February. (Crossday)
Downton Abbey star Dan Stevens, who played Matthew Crawley on the series, is hoping to prove that there’s life after death.

To the dismay of fans, his heartthrob character on the hit British TV show–possible spoiler ahead if you’ve been living in Antarctica–was killed in an automobile crash in the Season 3 finale because Stevens wanted off the show at the end of his 3-year contract. (The episode aired on Christmas Day in the U.K. and on Feb. 10 in the U.S.)

Next month will mark the first test of Stevens’ post-Downtown career when Summer in February, a film in which he has a starring role, opens on June 14 in U.K. movie theaters. Will his Downton devotees turn out en masse or will they boycott him because he deserted their favorite show?

A romantic drama, Summer also features fellow Brit Dominic Cooper and Australian actress Emily Browning.

READ MORE: http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2013/05/watch-dan-stevens-first-movie-role-post-downton-abbey/

DAN STEVENS: “Summer in February” Trailer: Horse Art, Romance and the Star of Downton Abbey (EQUUS)

Today we share the launch of the official trailer of the film we think you’ll love. “Summer in February” has its premiere later this month in a special charity night at the National Sporting Library in Middleburg, Virginia. The premiere coincides with a new exhibit of paintings by British horse painter Alfred Munnings, who is one of the film’s main characters. He stars opposite Downton Abbey‘s Dan Stevens, who plays another starstruck and slightly confused gentleman who looks great on horseback. If you think you might like this film, you should know that you’ll love reading the book of the same name, on which it is based. And yes, it’s a true story. It really did happen.

READ MORE: http://blogs.equisearch.com/horsehealth/2013/04/10/summer-in-february-trailer-horse-art-romance-and-the-star-of-downton-abbey/

'Downton Abbey' actor reveals passion for writing Dan Stevens, otherwise known as Matthew Crawley, is a literary star off-screen (TODAY BOOKS)

By Rachel Elbaum
TODAY contributor
updated 2/24/2012 1:59:52 PM ET

Millions of women have fallen in love with “Downton Abbey’s” Matthew Crawley, known in real life as Dan Stevens. But Stevens, 28, is more than a gifted actor with piercing blue eyes and a disarming smile. He is also an accomplished writer, the editor-at-large of the new literary magazine “The Junket,” and regular contributor to the Telegraph newspaper’s "My Week" feature.

Stevens, who studied English Literature at Cambridge, is currently in the midst of filming the love story, “Summer in February,” on location in Cornwall, as well as the third season of "Downton Abbey."

“The dawn eventually thaws us to reveal a serene and clear blue day, while the rest of the country is dusted with snow, slush and chaos,” he wrote in this month's My Week piece, published on Tuesday. “There is always a risk in making a film called ‘Summer in February’ in a Cornish winter, but the gods are with us this particular day and beneath the weatherproofed hoods and wind-chapped faces of the crew you can detect a few glowing smiles through the frosted beards.”

Stevens' love for literature began at Cambridge University, where he studied English just around the time that his acting career started to blossom. He started a writing blog several years ago with four friends from his college days.

But while the blog was meant to encourage the group to write more often, procrastination got the better of them. Instead of putting their ambitions by the wayside, the men decided to start a quarterly literary magazine, figuring that it would require a commitment they couldn’t so easily shirk.


READ MORE: http://www.today.com/id/46501762/site/todayshow/ns/today-books/t/downton-abbey-actor-reveals-passion-writing/#.UQw7loc1k8d

DOWNTON ABBEY STAR DAN STEVENS IS LINED UP AS A FUTURE 007 (EXPRESS CO.UK)

By Mel Caunter

HIS devastating good looks and gritty performances have seen fans label him the best Bond ever.
But it seems Daniel Craig has competition ...in the shape of Downton Abbey star Dan Stevens who fancies himself as the next 007.

The Daily Express understand that after making his debut on Broadway the father-of-two has being sounded out by Bond bosses who are on the look out for the next secret agent.

The news comes after Stevens, 30, who plays Matthew Crawley in the period drama, admitted he was unsure about his future in the hit ITV1 series, as he focuses on his new Broadway career.

READ MORE: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/356136/Downton-Abbey-star-Dan-Stevens-is-lined-up-as-a-future-007

Jessica Chastain & Dan Stevens: 'Heiress' Backstage Pics! (JUST JARED)

Jessica Chastain and Dan Stevens pose backstage in their costumes at their play The Heiress for a feature in New York Magazine‘s latest issue.

Here is what the Oscar-nominated actress had to share with the mag:

On adjusting to the costumes in the play: “I’m a jeans girl, but a blue-jeans way of moving is very different from wearing petticoats, so from day one, I was wearing the shoes, the skirt, the corset. I never really left the rehearsal room. It took so long to put everything on every day, it’s like, Well, I’ll just bring my lunch and eat it here.”

READ MORE: http://www.justjared.com/2012/10/17/jessica-chastain-dan-stevens-heiress-backstage-pics/

Happy Birthday Dan Stevens - October 10, 2012

Daniel Jonathan “Dan” Stevens is a British actor.

Born: October 10, 1982 (age 30), Croydon

Movies and TV shows: Downton Abbey, Dracula, The Line of Beauty, Azazel, The North London Book of The Dead, Vamps, Summer in February, Sense and Sensibility

Soon to be appearing in The Heiress on Broadway

Education: Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Tonbridge School, University of Cambridge


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKuTCh-1Qgs

SummerSparkle12

Jessica Chastain and Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens Make Broadway Debuts as The Heiress Begins Performances NEWS By Broadway.com Staff October 6, 2012 - 9:25AM (BROADWAY.COM)

Performances for the revival of Ruth and Augustus Goetz’s classic play The Heiress begin October 6 at Broadway's Walter Kerr Theatre, starring Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain and Downton Abbey’s Dan Stevens. Directed by Moises Kaufman, The Heiress will open officially on November 1, and will play a limited engagement through February 10, 2013.

Set in 18th century New York City, the play is based on Henry James’ novel Washington Square. The Heiress tells the story of Catherine Sloper (Chastain), an exceedingly wealthy but plain-looking woman who is pursued by a handsome, mysterious suitor (Stevens). Although Catherine is smitten, her father, Dr. Austin Sloper (David Strathairn), suspects the man is only after his daughter’s money. In addition to Chastain, Stevens and Strathairn, the production features two-time Tony winner Judith Ivey, as well as Virginia Kull, Kieran Campion, Dee Nelson, Molly Camp and Caitlin O’Connell.

READ MORE: http://www.broadway.com/buzz/164494/jessica-chastain-and-downton-abbeys-dan-stevens-make-broadway-debuts-as-the-heiress-begins-performances/

Dan Stevens: Hollywood 'it' girl Jessica Chastain is Fashion's Night Out's fiercest fashionista in leather colour block mini dress By CASSIE CARPENTER (MAIL ON LINE)

The in-demand starlet posed alongside her co-star in the upcoming Broadway play The Heiress, British actor Dan Stevens, at the Jeffery clothing store in New York's Meatpacking District.

Jessica first shot to fame last year as the result of a handful of high-profile movies including The Help and Tree of Life, for which she garnered much critical praise.

'I’m the unknown everyone’s already sick of,' the actress joked in Vanity Fair's latest issue.

DAN STEVENS FINDS IT TRICKY COMMUNICATING WITH SOME OF THE INTERNATIONAL FANS (EXPRESS CO.)

By Lizzie Catt, Lisa Higgins and Jack Teague

THEY have become global stars thanks to their hit show but Downton Abbey hunk Dan Stevens reveals that communicating with some of his international fans can prove rather tricky.

“We have to be a bit careful,” says Dan, 29, who plays Matthew Crawley in the hit show.

“I get tweets in Chinese, which I try to translate and then reply to in Chinese using a translator on the internet. They then assume I can speak the language so I enter into a tweet conversation in broken Chinese!

READ MORE: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/342589/Dan-Stevens-finds-it-tricky-communicating-with-some-of-the-international-fans

Dan Stevens goes to bat for poetry (THE TELEGRAPH) by Dan Stevens

BY DAN STEVENS

I might as well come clean; I’ve been involved in a tax-avoidance scheme for some time. I wouldn’t recommend it as it doesn’t seem to save me any money. Basically, I shove several trees’ worth of receipts to the back of a drawer for a year and ignore until many are faded and illegible. I then avoid all calls from my accountant until mid to late January when, in one panic-ridden week, I simultaneously clear the drawer and my bank balance. I admit to a severe lack of judgment.

Michael Gove’s educational master plan to force pupils to learn poetry by heart caused ripples in the poetic pond. It was excellent to have poetry being discussed in the public forum at all, albeit for only half an hour. For a “street urchin” like me, however, alarm bells ring when I hear the peal of conservative policies insisting that all children today should learn exactly what the putty-faced politician learnt at school. Fifty years ago Frank O’Hara prophetically observed, “Too many poets act like a middle-aged mother trying to get her kids to eat too much cooked meat, and potatoes with dripping (tears).” These poets still find their way onto a box-ticking syllabus. Great poetry engages language at its most alive, most playful and most exciting, which consequently engages pupils. We need to expand the canon for consideration, even to include rap and song lyrics. Poems that “the Empire was built on”, just as the models that free-market economics was built on, will soon appear ridiculous.

READ MORE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/9379271/Dan-Stevens-goes-to-bat-for-poetry.html

My Week: Dan Stevens The actor on rediscovering the world's greatest invention (TELEGRAPH)

Dan Stevens is Editor-at-Large for thejunket.org. This article also appeared in SEVEN magazine. Follow SEVEN on Twitter @TelegraphSeven

By Dan Stevens 8:00AM BST 12 Jun 2012

If there has ever been a better invention than the hammock, then I’ve yet to hear of it. During the recent spell of jubilicious weather, I blissfully rediscovered the joys of lying, cradled, suspended in sunshine. Of course there’s the wheel, but the wheel is actually only useful if you want to go somewhere. If you’ve found where you want to be and you don’t need to move then a hammock – or “hangabout”, as my daughter dubs it – is about the most beautiful thing you could imagine.

Of course, if you do need to go somewhere then not only are wheels useful, but it also pays to have some nice threads. Next weekend sees the first-ever London Collections: Men, a fashion weekend exclusively for male attire. It’s surprising this hasn’t been done before, since London’s reputation as a hub for menswear precedes its chic status for women.

In what is fast becoming “The Year of Britain”, it seems fitting that Savile Row should be celebrated and shown off to the world and that we can finally rival the men’s fashion weeks of New York, Milan and Paris. Big names such as Burberry, Ralph Lauren and Dunhill will be represented alongside exciting, up-and-coming houses such as A Sauvage, Christopher Kane and Spencer Hart. One might think in the much-touted “Age of Austerity” that high fashion would suffer, but in fact there seems to be an implementation of the adage “Buy cheap, buy twice”: as consumers economise, it is actually the frivolous end of the market that suffers; impulse buys and petty purchases. More thought is put into where to spend your money and the longevity of apparel. And as anyone next weekend will tell you, step out in a well-loved cheap suit and you look like a tramp; but in fine togs worn to tatters you look like aristocracy.


READ MORE: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/9314402/My-Week-Dan-Stevens.html

What's the 'Downton Abbey' cast up to? Posted by Moira Macdonald May 17, 2012 at 11:01 AM (SEATTLE TIMES)

I don't know about you, but this having-to-wait-almost-a-year-for-more-'Downton-Abbey' thing is getting me down. I need a Dowager Countess in my life, not to mention gloves, hats, butlers, upstairs/downstairs romance, and mail at the breakfast table. Nonetheless, I shall wait, as decorously as possible, but in the meantime I'm keeping an eye on that cast. What are they up to?

-- Dan Stevens, who plays swoony good fellow Matthew Crawley, will co-star opposite Freida Pinto in "The Catastrophist," a love story set in the '60s Congo. He's also filmed "Summer in February," a love story co-starring Emily Browning and set in the "Downton" prewar time period, and will star on Broadway this fall in "The Heiress," based on the Henry James novel, alongside Jessica Chastain and David Strathairn.

-- Michelle Dockery, who plays that uppity minx Lady Mary, will appear in this fall's star-studded new film version of "Anna Karenina," as Princess Myagkaya. She'll also sing on an album, to be released later this year, alongside co-star Elizabeth McGovern.

READ MORE:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/popcornprejudiceamovieblog/2018229023_whats_the_downton_abbey_cast_u.html

The Works, Frieda Pinto, Dan Stevens join The Catastrophist 16 May, 2012 | By Andreas Wiseman (SCREEN DAILY)

Filming is due to start in Tanzania in February 2013.

Broomfield and Marc Hoeferlin wrote the script, which is based on Ronan Bennett’s 1960, Belgian Congo-set novel about the love affair between a jaded writer and a young idealistic journalist who are forced to take sides when a violent civil war breaks out.

READ MORE:  http://www.screendaily.com/news/production/the-works-frieda-pinto-dan-stevens-join-the-catastrophist/5041843.article

Dan Stevens: ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ HEARTTHROB DAN STEVENS TO MAKE BROADWAY STAGE DEBUT By Leah Rozen | Posted on Tuesday, May 15th, 2012 (ANGLOPHENIA)

Book that trip now to New York City for next fall. That’s when Dan Stevens, the 29-year-old British actor who has become an international heartthrob playing Matthew Crawley on Downton Abbey, heads across the Atlantic to appear on Broadway.

He will make his debut on the Great White Way next October opposite fast-rising movie star Jessica Chastain (The Help and The Tree of Life) in a hotly anticipated revival of The Heiress, a play based on the Henry James novel, Washington Square.

Stevens has been cast as Morris Townsend, an ambitious young man whose motives for courting Catherine Sloper (Chastain), a shy heiress who’s under the thumb of her domineering father (to be played by David Strathairn), are open to question.  It’s a role that has been played on Broadway in earlier revivals by David Selby (TV’s Dark Shadows) and Jon Tenney (TV’s The Closer) and by Montgomery Clift in the 1949 movie version.





READ MORE:  http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2012/05/downton-abbey-heartthrob-dan-stevens-to-make-broadway-stage-debut/

Dan Stevens: First Image of Emily Browning and Dan Stevens from Summer in Feburary May 11, 2012 By Jon Lyus (HEY U GUYS)

We’ve got the first image from her latest film, Summer in February, for you today and Christopher Menaul’s film on a group of artists in the approach of the First World War is due to reveal itself by way of footage screened at this year’s Cannes Film Festival which begins next week. Browning stars with Dan Stevens and Dominic Cooper and Speranza13 Media have just announced they have picked international sales rights for the film.

Time for a synopsis don’t you think?

Set in the years before the First World War, SUMMER IN FEBRUARY focuses on the painter Alfred Munnings (Dominic Cooper), Laura (Hattie Morahan) & Harold Knight (Shaun Dingwall), both renowned artists in their own right. The incendiary anti-modernist Munnings, now one of Britain’s most sought-after artists, becomes the centre of a complex and passionate love triangle, involving the young aspiring painter Florence Carter-Wood (Emily Browning) and Gilbert Evans (Dan Stevens), the land agent in charge of the Lamorna Valley estate.  Based on fact – and deeply moving – the story is played out against the timeless beauty of the Cornish coast, in the far West of England.


READ MORE: http://www.heyuguys.co.uk/2012/05/11/first-image-of-emily-browning-and-dan-stevens-from-summer-in-feburary/

Dan Stevens to Be a Father Again 17th April 2012 (FEMALE FIRST)

Dan Stevens is set to become a father again - his wife is pregnant with their second child.

 The Downton Abbey star and his partner Susie are already parents to daughter Willow, two, and they're preparing to welcome a sibling for the little girl later this year (12).

 Susie showed off her blooming baby bump on the red carpet of Sunday night's (15Apr12) Olivier Awards, which was dominated by Matilda The Musical.


READ MORE:  http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/entertainment/Dan+Stevens-235541.html

There's a Downton Abbey baby on the way: Dan Stevens shows off his blooming wife Susie at the Laurence Olivier Awards By EMILY SHERIDAN (MAIL ON LINE)

Downton Abbey fans are eagerly awaiting to see if Matthew Crawley will tie the knot with Lady Mary in the upcoming third series of the period drama. But in real-life, actor Dan Stevens is preparing to become a father for a second time. The 29-year-old looked proud as he stood beside his pregnant wife Susie, 36, on the red carpet of Laurence Olivier Awards tonight.

South African singing teacher Susie is heavily pregnant with the couple's second child - a sibling for their two-year-old daughter Willow. The couple met in 2006 when they were both starring in different theatre in Sheffield and married in Sussex in 2009, when Susie was six months pregnant with Willow.

READ MORE:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2130114/Olivier-Awards-2012-Downton-Abbey-star-Dan-Stevens-shows-blooming-wife-Susie.html?ito=feeds-newsxml