The Downton Abbey Cast on Saying Goodbye to their Characters

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The Downton Abbey Cast on Saying Goodbye to their Characters Report by Mccallumj. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn

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00:00But is that because he's way ahead of his time and he writes the pitch for Men in Black?

00:03I'm going to get emotional now talking about it.

00:05Maybe he'll invent the Caribbean cruise.

00:07I was in bits, wasn't I? I did not expect to cry as much as I did and it was just an

00:14accumulation of everything. I felt so proud. I thought the characters were just given such a

00:20hopeful, beautiful ending and it's sort of an ending that you feel has a future for everybody.

00:27You know, it has a dot, dot, dot and I feel like the audience can all fill in the blanks however they wish to.

00:33And also on a personal level, you know, it's been 15 years of our lives and 15 years of working

00:38together and we've lived our lives alongside these characters for 15 years and I'm going to get

00:43emotional now talking about it. And the ending is just so beautiful and special and I won't

00:49spoil it for people that haven't seen it, but the ending is it's a tearjerker, but they're happy tears.

00:54You know, I think one of the reasons audiences have responded to it so strongly is because

00:59within it there is a sense of compassion throughout and a sense of mutual respect.

01:03As Robert says to Matthew Crawley early on about Mr. Molesley, you know, he has his place to play

01:10and let him play that role with dignity. And you sort of discard people like him at your peril.

01:18Everyone needs their place in our society. And so I think people have responded to that hugely,

01:23but it's because underneath it or underpinning everything that Julian writes is a sense of

01:29loyalty, of compassion, of putting yourself in the shoes of others and caring for others.

01:33I kind of love how their journeys have almost switched in some ways because Edith,

01:40Laura often says how traditional Edith started out and, you know, through her journey,

01:47she's become fiercely independent. She's moved away from Downton and she's sort of carved a very,

01:56very different path to maybe what the audience may have thought she would have in the beginning.

02:01Mary was very reluctant to stay at Downton and, you know, live this life that she now has,

02:08and she's really embraced it and, you know, she's ready, particularly in this film, to take the reins

02:15and to kind of see Downton into the next generation, which has sort of surprised me actually looking

02:21back. She was rebellious to begin with and kind of resisted all of that. So they've had this really

02:28interesting path, the two of them. Well, we see Lord and Lady Grantham literally walking off into the sunset,

02:36into their retirement. I don't think he'll hang around the castle in quite the same way that Carson

02:41hangs around, looming over his successor. Polishing the silver. But I think there's such a dear

02:51relationship between Robert and his daughter, Lady Mary, who's obviously taking on the role in

02:58preparation to hand it on to George, her son, that I think he'll, his advice will be sought,

03:05if not listened to. And I think he'll find a sort of purpose in that. And he'll probably spend a lot

03:11more time in his layer cake of strangers in London and go to his club and probably dine in an armchair.

03:16I think it is a difficult thing, particularly for someone like him who's literally been born into this

03:21job and that his, his sole function in life is to conserve the estate and be conservative about it.

03:28And now he's actually handing over the reins possibly earlier than he certainly need legally

03:33to or his obligations aren't, you know, are lifelong, but he's seen the light. He's persuaded by the

03:39brighter forces in the household to hand over the reins while the time is right. And as Tom says,

03:46you know, while you've still got time to enjoy, and Mr. Carson said, you know,

03:50while you've still got time to enjoy the next chapter. So, so I think, I think lots of people

03:54will identify with that in whatever role in life they have, that there's exciting times ahead.

03:58But I think probably going off on a, on a, on a, you know, Caribbean cruise would be high on,

04:03high on the list. If such a thing was, maybe he'll invent the Caribbean cruise.

04:07I did have a hand in writing my final storyline for the film because I was pregnant. So when I told

04:14Gareth and Julian when it was, you know, the right time to tell them, they, they sort of said,

04:18you know, I suggested it might be a good idea to write it in because I was going to be very,

04:24very pregnant by the time I was filming. So I was actually, the final day of the shoot was my

04:28final day and I was 38 weeks pregnant. So, um, yeah, we all very quickly agreed that it actually

04:33would be a lovely ending for Anna and Bates. And it would be really fitting and what beautiful sort

04:39of full circle moment. So it worked out perfectly. Certain characters in this story were born into

04:44their vocation and others find them. And I think that Tom's vocation now is to go back. He has his

04:50own family, his own estate to run now. And that idea that I think Tom will continue is trying to adapt

04:57and change and bring in this world that he has been thrust into, into modernity as much as he can

05:04and bring it, bring it forward and constantly see how to adapt. And, uh, because I do believe that

05:11underneath that he, he's still the socialist and, and certain tendencies still exist inside him.

05:17Brendan and I always joked that Anna and Bates would have, would own Bates's motel.

05:24So yeah, they may have to change the name of it at some point in the future, but I think,

05:28I think they'll sort of, you know, semi-retire off and have a little guest house or something,

05:35maybe by the seaside. Yeah. I can't, I can't see him sort of being a screenwriter for very much

05:42longer. I, I think he's happiest as a school teacher. And, um, I kind of hope that he would

05:48go back to that eventually. But is that because he's way ahead of his time and he writes the pitch

05:53for Men in Black and no one understands it. And he ends up writing The Pride of Miss Jean Brodie.

06:01Yes. Yeah. I think you get a window into it right at the end and particularly those subtle changes

06:10that she's making, like when she invites, this is a great moment, when she invites Barrow up to

06:15the Noel Cowards cocktail party. And I like to think that Mary, you know, right at the end of the film,

06:21she then goes off to like, start writing letters to people to invite them over to the next party.

06:26Um, I like to think that there's a, there's a real kind of shift in the energy of the house now that

06:33she is in charge and, um, and now that her social, you know, status is, is back, I think she'll probably

06:42embrace that. Um, and really it's for her, it's carrying on the legacy of, of Downton, what her father

06:50built, what her grandmother built. Um, but the thirties feel, feels like a really interesting,

06:58you know, decade for them to move into.

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