JUDY WOODRUFF: Now to a much anticipated return.
Britain's Crawley family open their doors
again at "Downton Abbey," this time on the
big screen, all the drama, the intrigue of
the PBS series that ended four years ago,
this time with a royal twist.
I sat down with some of the actors and the
creator for this preview.
It's part of our Canvas series on arts and
culture.
It's back to the English countryside of a
century ago.
You remember the place, the sets, the costumes,
those memorable one-liners.
ACTRESS: After all these years, you still
astonish me.
MAGGIE SMITH, Actress: Oh, good.
I'm glad I'm a revelation and not a disappointment.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And most important, the dramas
of the Crawley family and their staff, upstairs
downstairs, all adapted for the big screen.
ACTOR: You mean during this day you will be
the butler, and...
ACTOR: Excuse me, I am not a butler.
I am the king's page of the back stairs.
ACTOR: So our staff has nothing to do?
ACTOR: I'm sure they can be useful.
JUDY WOODRUFF: "Downton Abbey"'s creator,
Julian Fellowes:
JULIAN FELLOWES, Creator, "Downton Abbey":
When the first ideas started sort of rumbling
around of a possible movie, I didn't think
it would happen.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, how much of a challenge
was it to take this story that had stretched
out over six seasons, six years, and turn
it into a two-hour film?
JULIAN FELLOWES: Well, we didn't go back.
We went on.
It's a continuation of the story.
It's not retelling anything that we have told
before.
And in a film, you can't say to people, oh,
by the way, this story will be finished in
the second movie.
So we have to find narrative reasons for them
all to be there, and we have to complete all
those stories by the end of the film.
ACTOR: The king and queen coming Downton.
ACTRESS: What?
JUDY WOODRUFF: The story picks up in 1927,
as the entire Crawley household prepares for
a visit by Britain's King George V and Queen
Mary.
HUGH BONNEVILLE, Actor: Are you excited?
ACTRESS: I am a bit.
Are you?
HUGH BONNEVILLE: Would it be common to admit
it?
ACTRESS: Not to an American.
HUGH BONNEVILLE: To use this device, if you
like, of the royal visit, which does affect
everybody, even if some characters, like myself,
you know, are supposed not to show their enthusiasm
or excitement, it's a triumph.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Hugh Bonneville plays Lord
Grantham.
Lesley Nicol is Mrs. Patmore, the cook.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Are you breaking some kind
of social taboo by sitting together for this
interview?
LESLEY NICOL, Actress: We have never done
this, have we?
HUGH BONNEVILLE: We love each other.
LESLEY NICOL: We do love each other, but we
haven't actually done much of this together
in six years, have we?
HUGH BONNEVILLE: No.
No.
LESLEY NICOL: So, it's nice.
HUGH BONNEVILLE: We have got a handful of
scenes together, but...
LESLEY NICOL: Yes.
HUGH BONNEVILLE: So it's nice to be acquainted
off set.
JUDY WOODRUFF: But you do come together in
this storyline?
HUGH BONNEVILLE: The great trick of Julian
Fellowes, our writer and creator, our god,
is that, in the film version, the house is
united, that the teams both below and above
stairs are united.
ACTRESS: And Anna can look after you.
ACTRESS: Really?
Can she?
ACTRESS: Of course.
ACTRESS: Just like the old days.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Actors Laura Carmichael and
Michelle Dockery portray sisters Edith and
Mary Crawley.
It's kind of the shoe on the other foot, isn't
it, for the Crawley family?
MICHELLE DOCKERY, Actress: Exactly.
And I think it's fun to see them in that position
where they're having to cater for the king
and queen.
And every single character has a different
role to play within that.
So I think Julian did such an incredible job
at doing that, having this one main narrative
of this big event happening, and then weaving
in and out each character's kind of subplot,
which he does so cleverly in the film.
LAURA CARMICHAEL, Actress: I did get giddy
sort of reading the characters again.
You know, he's so good at getting you right
back in there.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The film is inspired by a real
royal event.
In 1912, King George V and Queen Mary visited
Yorkshire, England, where the fictional Downton
is set.
The royals are coming, so they're no longer
the top of the heap.
JULIAN FELLOWES: They are not.
You know, they are just a noble family in
the north.
And it is a great honor that the king and
queen are coming to their house.
JUDY WOODRUFF: How important was that to you
in the scheme of figuring this out?
JULIAN FELLOWES: I like the idea that they
had to pull out every stop.
ACTRESS: The truth is, he's in a sort of trance.
Won't you help me?
I feel I'm pushing a rock up hill.
ACTOR: I will be there in the morning, my
lady.
LESLEY NICOL: The family element is important,
not only above stairs, but below as well.
Although we're not blood relations, there
was a family kind of vibe to it, and that's
universal.
JUDY WOODRUFF: How much of a departure do
you think the "Downton Abbey" idea is from
the way it really was back in the day?
HUGH BONNEVILLE: Oh, yes, there's no question
this is a fictionalized, rose-tinted view
of a tiny sliver of society.
And on paper, of course, it's a structure
that is if not abhorrent, it's peculiar, certainly,
and has sort of no merit to it at all, because
it's all about where you were born in life.
MAGGIE SMITH: Don't think I approve, because
I don't.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Inheritance and who deserves
one is a subplot.
HUGH BONNEVILLE: Julian writes from a position
of respect for his characters.
And there is, within that, a sense of, if
not decency, then tolerance and compassion.
And so our audiences have responded to that.
LAURA CARMICHAEL: It's such a warm environment.
This movie, when you go and watch it, it feels
like some really welcome, light relief.
ACTRESS: To quote Tennyson, kind hearts are
more than coronets and simple faith and Norman
blood.
MAGGIE SMITH: Will you have enough cliches
to get you through the visit?
ACTRESS: If not, I will come to you.
HUGH BONNEVILLE: When I watched the movie
for the first time, as the lights went down,
my shoulders literally relaxed.
And I thought, I'm going somewhere that is
just a bit kinder.
LESLEY NICOL: I burst into tears because it's
quite something to watch, isn't it?
And the music never disappoints.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Do you see any parallels between
clearly class differences of the 1920s in
Britain with what's going on today?
JULIAN FELLOWES: Class is always with us.
I mean, who you were born still is the greatest
single determinant on what will happen to
you in your life.
I am happy to say that I think social mobility
has not made it as absolute as it used to
be.
But, nevertheless, I think Britain has moved
on.
We're in a different place than where we were
in the '20s.
You know, good.
JUDY WOODRUFF: There was this stark difference
between what people's lives could be like.
But people couldn't act it out.
Today, they are much more likely to speak
up against a government they don't like.
You have got the whole fight going on over
Brexit.
JULIAN FELLOWES: To be honest, the whole business
of social media, which has allowed people
to express their anger, often anonymously,
usually anonymously, and so this savage anger
can be vented, I think that has altered the
tone of our societies.
JUDY WOODRUFF: It is a tonic at a time of
great turmoil, isn't it?
LAURA CARMICHAEL: It's so nice to have something
that feels so uncynical and so, yes, just
warm.
It's sort of as much a workplace drama as
it is anything else, and the sort of hierarchy
that exists in that world.
You could say it is true of any work environment.
You know, it's that kind of thing that is
relatable, without cynicism, really.
Let's look at people and believe that we all
have good in us and they're all trying to
do their best.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Stay tuned.
There may be more chances to see the Downton
crew do their best.
Creator and cast say they're waiting to see
how audiences respond to this Downton.
I worked on my British accent, but I just
couldn't get there.
