'Downton gave me a second act'
Elizabeth McGovern plays Cora, Countess of Grantham
- Caroline Frost
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Lady Cora has previously suffered the loss of a child (youngest daughter Sybil) and life-threatening illness. Does she have a fresh challenge this time around?
Yes, and this time it’s financial, following the arrival of her brother with some bad news, so that sparks a storyline of some concern for the people at Downton Abbey.
The Dowager Countess has departed. Does that leave room for Cora to step up?
No, she’s never had any personal ambitions in that way. She’s a self-effacing character, representing the new world like somebody out of an Edith Wharton novel. I always wished we could have explored that more.
Your husband Simon Curtis has joined you again for this film…
Yes, he’s directing for the second time – nothing to do with me, I hasten to add! Working together brings challenges, although this is easier than if
we were creating something from scratch. He understands how to fit into something that is already shaped, and bring his own warmth and humour. We don’t take it home with us. Neither of us feels like talking about it at the end of the day.
You’ve had a screen career since your debut in the film Ordinary People (1980). Did Downton Abbey change your life?
I suppose it brought me a second act, as a grown-up kind of person. I wasn’t expecting it at all. And for projects I’ve been wanting to do, it’s given me the leverage. It’s opened doors for things I’d been nurturing with no hope of ever following through, like my play about Ava Gardner (Ava: the Secret Conversations, which McGovern wrote and starred in). I don’t know how much Downton had to do with that, but it can’t have hurt!
What have been Lady Cora’s defining moments for you?
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I loved at the very beginning her dynamic with her maid O’Brien, played by Siobhan Finneran. Siobhan playing a character with complicated darkness was really sexy for the show. In Downton, the servants seem blissfully happy with their lives, almost grateful. O’Brien brought an element of dissatisfaction which felt truthful. I miss her character. And the writing for my character surrounding the death of Sybil was beautiful.
Authors
Caroline Frost
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