‘Downton Abbey’ season 3: Notes on Michelle Dockery, Ed Speleers
So what is currently happening in the world of “Downton Abbey”? On the show, we are seeing some of the many troubles for some characters escalate, whether it be Bates remaining behind bars, Matthew’s new co-ownership of the Abbey, or Edith’s decision to get into the newspaper writing business and the ramifications that are coming with that.
For now, though, we are placing most of our real focus on what is happening for some of these characters away from the cameras. In starting with one Michelle Dockery, Variety reports that the actress has signed on to appear in Liam Neeson’s next action movie “Non-Stop,” which revolves around his character of an air marshall getting some threatening text messages while aboard a plan that some serious trouble could be afoot. Will we be able to figure out the threat in time? It’s possible, but for the time being there are two other questions currently plaguing us when it comes to this movie:
1. Aren’t you supposed to turn your phone off during flight?
2. Wouldn’t it be easy to just find the person sending texts on the flight, and automatically assume that this person is the culprit?
On a different note, we turn to something that new star Ed Speleers (Jimmy “James” Kent on the show) did in order to make sure that he could play a proper footman at the Abbey: be trained in the best way to walk as the character. In a new interview with The Sun, the actor had the following to say about working with a famed historical adviser in Alistair Bruce::
“Alistair said I had a bit of a waddle and he wanted to knock it right out of me. He got me marching, properly marching, all day … He said Jimmy would have seen action in World War One and he would have been trained in how to march. So I had to de-modernise myself and go back into the ’20s. It was very important for footmen to be upstanding. The costume helps.”
It’s an interesting story, for sure, and it is one that you do not exactly think about when you are watching the show and picturing some of these characters in this world.