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Counting Down to the End of....Downton Abbey
Aloysius J. Gleek:
--- Quote from: southendmd on January 10, 2012, 01:27:13 pm ---Love the recap, John. And, I meant to thank you for all the above clips. They made for enjoyable watching, in anticipation of the new season.
"Lavinia Swire": I can't decide if it's more Proulxian or Dickensian.
--- End quote ---
Thanks, Paul!
Re "Lavinia Swire": Kenneth Grahame? Beatrix Potter? (Oh, Swire, not Swine! :laugh: )
brianr:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on January 10, 2012, 01:15:20 pm ---I saw Julian Fellowes--at least, I think it was Julian Fellowes--tell Brian Williams of NBC that Dame Maggie makes his lines funnier than he writes them. ;D
--- End quote ---
Whenever I see that Maggie Smith is in a movie, I automatically want to see it. She and Judy Dench are marvellous. If both are in a movie it has to be a must-see.
Aloysius J. Gleek:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2084297/Downton-Abbey-How-dresses-ITV-hit-recycled-major-films.html
Hand me Downton :
How dresses in ITV hit have been
recycled from other major films
Gowns and accessories previously worn
by stars including Uma Thurman,
Emma Thompson and Catherine Zeta-Jones
'You can’t supply originals to everyone because it would make an already
expensive programme simply unaffordable', says costumier Tim Angel
By Liz Thomas
Last updated at 12:52 AM on 10th January 2012
If you had the odd moment of deja vu during the last series of Downton Abbey, then don’t worry – there’s a reason some of those beautiful gowns looked familiar. Despite the ITV show’s £12million budget, attentive viewers may have spotted that some of its leading ladies wore Hollywood hand-me-downs. Lavish dresses worn by stars including Catherine Zeta Jones, Emma Thompson and Uma Thurman have been recycled and given the Downton treatment to save money.
A red dress worn by Michelle Dockery as Lady Mary Crawley, for example, was first seen on Miss Zeta Jones in the 2007 thriller Death Defying Acts.
Seeing double: Michelle Dockery's Lady Mary in a red dress, pictured left... and the original first
work by Catherine Zeta Jones in Death Defying Acts in 2007
In fact the pair have shared two outfits. The second is a floral blouse first worn by Miss Thompson 20 years ago in the film Howards End. It was then passed on to Miss Zeta Jones, again in Death Defying Acts, before ending up in Lady Mary’s wardrobe.
Truly vintage: Lady Mary, pictured left in a blouse first worn by Emma Thompson's character
in Howard's End, pictured right
Continuing the trend, Dockery wears a fetching silky green dress with sheer arms, a frock that had previously been worn by Radha Mitchell when portraying the wife of Peter Pan author J. M. Barrie in Finding Neverland in 2004.
In Downtown Abbey, Michelle Dockery (right) recycles a gown previously seen in
Finding Neverland in 2004
And on a separate occasion, she is seen in an elaborate black choker so distinctive that viewers remembered Monica Bellucci wearing the same accessory in the film Brotherhood Of The Wolf almost a decade ago.
Dockery (right) wears an elaborate black choker worn by Monica Bellucci in the film
Brotherhood Of The Wolf
Eagle-eyed viewers also noticed that Cora Crawley, played by Elizabeth McGovern, wore an adapted version of a dress sported 12 years ago by Miss Thurman, in Henry James’s The Golden Bowl, although the gown appears to have been altered slightly by dressmakers.
Oddly familiar: Cora Crawley, pictured left in an adapted dress worn by Uma Thurman's character
in The Golden Bowl
Dame Maggie Smith as Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham also appears in a long-sleeved, teal silk dress. as worn by Thurman in the same 2000 film.
Dame Maggie Smith as Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham appears in a long-sleeved, teal
silk dress (right) also worn by Thurman in the 2000 film, The Golden Bowl
And in the first series, Laura Carmichael’s Lady Edith Crawley wore a white dress from ITV’s 2007 adaptation of EM Forster’s A Room With a View.
Mirror image: Lady Edith Crawley, pictured left, in a dress worn by Elaine Cassidy's character
in ITV's A Room with A View
According to Katie Bugg, a designer who runs Recycledmoviecostumes.com this is common practice on expensive productions to ensure budgets don't overrun.
She states: 'Recycled movie costumes are gowns that often appear in one production and then go on to be used in another. Many movies have very small costume budgets, which means that instead of making all of the costumes, the designer is forced to rent costumes from a costume house. Sometimes costumes are altered significantly to give it a new look, and sometimes the dress is used as it appeared for the first time.'
Downton ’s costume designer Susannah Box has previously said only a third of the show’s outfits are new. ‘We couldn’t have done all of them – it would have cost a fortune, way over our budget,’ she said.
Tim Angel, whose costume firm Angels provided many of Downtown Abbey ’s frocks, said: ‘I would say around two-thirds of the costumes you see in Downton are from stock and have been used before. There is nothing wrong with that. You can’t supply originals to everyone because it would make an already expensive programme simply unaffordable.’
Despite the cost cutting measure, some characters, such as Samantha Bond’s Lady Rosamund Painswick, were dressed entirely in outfits hired from outside. Recycledmoviecostumes.com showcases many similar examples from other period dramas. One brown dress has appeared in seven productions over the past 15 years, including Pride & Prejudice, Vanity Fair, Little Dorrit and The Secret Diaries Of Miss Anne Lister. Meanwhile, a yellow ball gown created for the 1994 film The Madness Of King George has made six more appearances, one of them in a 2006 episode of Doctor Who.
Downton Abbey, which tells the story of a fictional estate in North Yorkshire, first aired in September 2010 and has since been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards.
A third season will be broadcast in September this year.
Jeff Wrangler:
How about that! Even the toffs wear hand-me-downs! ;D
Aloysius J. Gleek:
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2012/01/downton-abbey-starts-off-strong.html
Downton Abbey
Starts Off Strong
In Ratings
By Amanda Dobbins
Today at 3:30 PM
4.2 million people watched the season premiere of the British costume drama on Sunday, even though the second season has already aired in full in the U.K. (Earl Grantham is so proud of America right now.) Downton 's two-hour debut averaged a 2.7 rating, which is double PBS’s average viewership and well up from its season-one ratings. Or, if you prefer your ratings in comparative terms, Downton 's viewership is on par with Community and bigger than Mad Men. Which raises the important question: Is Matthew Crawley the new Don Draper? Self-made men, wartime heroes, devastating side smiles — there's something here. Discuss.
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