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Julian Fellowes' "Gilded Age" still happening

Moves from NBC to HBO

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by Anonymousreply 156May 2, 2020 3:35 AM

Oh God, Bob Greenblatt is going to bring every failed project he had from NBC over.

by Anonymousreply 1May 2, 2019 8:51 PM

Is there a part for me?

by Anonymousreply 2May 2, 2019 9:06 PM

The momentum for this kind of thing is long gone.

by Anonymousreply 3May 2, 2019 9:10 PM

His new movie The Chaperone is DOA.

by Anonymousreply 4May 2, 2019 9:17 PM

I'm curious what a British man will do with late 1800s NYC.

If he thinks it's Downton with American accents he's sadly mistaken.

by Anonymousreply 5May 2, 2019 10:32 PM

Downton was never really about biting social commentary, was it? So does he really think people will want to tune into the even more outrageous American version of that?

by Anonymousreply 6May 3, 2019 12:21 AM

Cast

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by Anonymousreply 7September 26, 2019 5:43 PM

I think all of Julian Fellowes projects got put on hold when Downton Abbey: The Movie got the greenlight.

by Anonymousreply 8September 26, 2019 5:48 PM

Oy, ducky, I'll be available to ply the Mrs. Hughes role. Lots of mouthy Sicilians in the Gildred Age, right?

by Anonymousreply 9September 26, 2019 5:57 PM

HOT DAMN! Now, they can leave the table legs uncovered!!! It's going to be SCANDALOUS!!

by Anonymousreply 10September 26, 2019 6:01 PM

It could be really good if he shows the more biting social satrical sense he brings forth in his novels and in "Gosford Park."

The hardest thing about doing it will be the cost. The genius of producing "Downton Abbey" is that the show's action is mostly sequestered in one stately home, and Britain has tons of those; setting this in 1885 NYC means lots of different sets, and since rich people lived in places with elbaorate detail in the woodwork and stonework, this will means finding adequate locations. The outdoor scenes will be much harder to shoot in NY than similar period street scenes in London: Scorsese had to do most of the street scenes in "The Age of Innocence" in Troy, NY (one of the few places in the US where the outdoors can believably pass for 1880s NY).

by Anonymousreply 11September 26, 2019 6:07 PM

It would be good if he used the real families Rockefellers, Carnegies, Mellons etc. as the characters for this story. People are not truly informed about how these people operated and the impact they've had in American history. Why have there never been movies about these people? These early robber barons were some nefariously clever cold blooded Machiavellian businessmen.

I don't want more made up shit. I want someone to make an epic about what really happened with some salacious fictional elements sprinkled in there.

by Anonymousreply 12September 26, 2019 6:14 PM

The description of the situation and main characters doesn't sound interesting.

While characters don't need to be sympathetic, they do need to be empathetic. None of the characters described sound particularly empathetic.

[quote]The genius of producing "Downton Abbey" is that the show's action is mostly sequestered in one stately home, and Britain has tons of those;

Perhaps the primary setting will be in a Breakers or Biltmore style estate. Tuxedo Park estates were arranged around a network of lakes just north of New York City. There were also several gilded age mansions in NYC itself.

by Anonymousreply 13September 26, 2019 6:14 PM

A show about Gilded Age Chicago or San Francisco would be more interesting than Gilded Age New York... the whole Edith Wharton/Henry James thing has been done so...

by Anonymousreply 14September 26, 2019 6:21 PM

Wasn’t an unaired pilot for this already made, like 4 or 5 years ago?

by Anonymousreply 15September 26, 2019 6:24 PM

I agree with R12 that finally digging into those old robber baron families would be very interesting. One of the problems is that many of these families were very secretive.

by Anonymousreply 16September 26, 2019 6:24 PM

It features Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon. Two actresses I admire. Worth checking out imho.

by Anonymousreply 17September 26, 2019 6:25 PM

He's a horrible writer. He ruined every great moment of drama on Downton. He would introduce an antagonist and then kill them off in the next episode. He made me crazy. I gave up on that show. Never watched the last season

by Anonymousreply 18September 26, 2019 6:25 PM

Morgan Spector naked in Split.

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by Anonymousreply 19September 26, 2019 6:26 PM

I can make myself free to play the gay butler. I know how to arch my eyebrow.

And maybe if they cancel Jonathan Groff's other tv show, he can play the chubby Irish chauffeur.

by Anonymousreply 20September 26, 2019 6:27 PM

Since it will be on HBO, we can expect lots of gratuitous swearing and nudity.

MARIAN: "Oh Agnes, please let me introduce you. Mr. and Mrs. van der Luyden, may I please introduce my cousin, Miss Agnes Brook."

MRS. VAN DER LUYDEN: "How do you do, Miss Brook."

AGNES: "FUCK THAT SHIT!!!" (Removes blouse)

by Anonymousreply 21September 26, 2019 6:33 PM

[quote]He's a horrible writer. He ruined every great moment of drama on Downton.

He's good for a one-off movie like Gosford Park. But he's not a good series writer/plotter. Even if a writer writes bad plots, the characterizations should always stay the same.

For example, in Downton Abbey, Daisy went from being a subservient, naive kitchen maid to being a nasty, smart assed kitchen maid. They would have booted her ass out the door the first time she yelled at Mrs. Patmore.

by Anonymousreply 22September 26, 2019 6:34 PM

Agree with others that I wish this would be about the real Gilded Age personalities (and set somewhere other than NYC). Also, based on the character descriptions, it strikes me as having too much Southern influence -- were there a lot of Southern belles in NYC in the 1880s?

by Anonymousreply 23September 26, 2019 6:36 PM

[quote] AGNES: "FUCK THAT SHIT!!!" (Removes blouse)

Give. Christine Baranski. Her. Emmy. Now!

by Anonymousreply 24September 26, 2019 6:36 PM

R22 - Gosford Park was a wonderful movie because Robert Altman directed it. Julian Fellowes only wrote the scrip.

Anyone who knows anything abut Robert Altman knows the first thing he always did when he began filming a movie was to throw the script into the nearest rubbish bin our out the nearest window.

by Anonymousreply 25September 26, 2019 6:38 PM

R23 - Yes, due to Ward McAllister.

See "Caroline Astor" in Wikipedia

by Anonymousreply 26September 26, 2019 6:43 PM

He's such a hack. He made his whole career by ripping off Renoir's "The Rules of the Game" and "Upstairs, Downstairs". And he's one ugly motherfucker to look at as well.

by Anonymousreply 27September 26, 2019 6:52 PM

Anyone who knows anything abut Robert Altman knows the first thing he always did when he began filming a movie was to insist that everyone involved smoke copious amounts of pot.

by Anonymousreply 28September 26, 2019 6:53 PM

R28 - Which is one of the many reasons why Robert Altman made some great movies.

by Anonymousreply 29September 26, 2019 7:05 PM

It would have to be based around NYC as that was the center of the Gilded Age in America. With country houses along the Hudson River or in Newport.

by Anonymousreply 30September 26, 2019 7:07 PM

I hope this show has a black sheep son. The problem with Downton Abbey is that they had all girls and they could only go so far. With a black sheep son, they can really ratchet up the drama. That's what was so great about Pauline Collins' role in Upstairs, Downstairs. She left and then the son found her working in a nightclub.

by Anonymousreply 31September 26, 2019 7:22 PM

Not that anyone would want to film there but the Rockefellers, Carnegies and Mellons lived in the "mid west" in the Cleveland and Pittsburgh areas during the golden age.

by Anonymousreply 32September 26, 2019 7:45 PM

Just don't book that awful actress Shirley MacLaine.

by Anonymousreply 33September 26, 2019 8:02 PM

I am already OUTRAGED at the lack of diversity and inclusion on this show!

by Anonymousreply 34September 26, 2019 8:32 PM

He will not be able to capture one iota of American life. Brits do not get and cannot write Americans if their lives depended on it, they’re too jingoistic, especially this old fart. Even ultra rich Americans are completely different from the braying Horsefaced jackasses that comprise the upper class British twittery. Why wouldn’t they get an American writer?

This show will be awful.

by Anonymousreply 35September 26, 2019 8:46 PM

This crap is getting old. Grow up r34

by Anonymousreply 36September 26, 2019 8:53 PM

I imagine what he will capture is upper class Americans trying to act like British aristocracy.

by Anonymousreply 37September 26, 2019 8:54 PM

You know it's coming r36.

by Anonymousreply 38September 26, 2019 8:55 PM

Special Guest Star Anderson Cooper as Cornelius Vanderbilt II

by Anonymousreply 39September 26, 2019 9:05 PM

Except, r38, the article points out that there IS a black character, a woman pretending to be a servant but who has a secret. Which means she's probably trans....

by Anonymousreply 40September 26, 2019 9:10 PM

[quote] I imagine what he will capture is upper class Americans trying to act like British aristocracy.

Have you not seen or read Edith Wharton's [italic]The Age of Innocence?[/italic] These people thought they were better than the British aristocracy--they saw their economy as flourishing while the British was dying.

There is a funny bit in the Wharton novel where the Dutch-American family at the very top of the heap of NY society invite an English duke to dinner, and everyone is impressed with him not because he's an English duke (which he believes) but rather because he's an English duke related to the elite NY family has been there since New York was New Amsterdam.

This is why the new money in the 1870s, 1880s, and1890s in NYC like the Vanderbilts , Belmonts, and the Jeromes started marrying British and french aristocrats: the old moneyed families in NYC who had been rich since the 17th and 18th centuries (such as the Schermerhorns, Van Rensselaers, Rhinelanders, Astors, and Schuylers) would not give them entry for decades into NY society, so if their daughters wanted social cachet they had to marry impoverished dukes and earls and live overseas. They STILL were not given entree into NY society until finally they had been there a generation or so and then their children made their way in by being friends with the old moneyed crowd's children.

by Anonymousreply 41September 26, 2019 9:16 PM

It’s being shot in NY, I have a few friends who’ve already been contacted to work on it. It starts shooting in March.

As for period outdoor locations there are plenty of areas they can use, the same ones which The Greatest Showman used, mostly in Westchester.

by Anonymousreply 42September 26, 2019 9:24 PM

It sounds like the show is mostly going to be set in NYC. I would expect they will have episodes where they go to the vacation places NY society went to in the 1880s (Newport and Saratoga Springs, especially), and those places will be easier for location shooting.

by Anonymousreply 43September 26, 2019 11:31 PM

R23 Actually, yes. The old, now impoverished, Southern families liked to marry their belles to rich yankees to get their money, just like the British Aristocracy at the time liked to marry rich Northern women, to get money. Basically, the South sent their women up North, while the North was sending their women to Britain. Teddy Roosevelt was a product of one of these marriages, his mother is actually thought to be one of the inspirations for Scarlett O'Hara. Also, remember the Ochs family of the New York Times, came from Chattanooga, TN, while the Strauses of Macy's fame moved to NYC from Georgia.

I would have much preferred if he had just set an American version of Downton in a large US country house like the Biltmore Estate.

by Anonymousreply 44September 26, 2019 11:58 PM

Thank you for the education regarding Southern belles in Gilded Age society. My exploration of the era has primarily focused on the business/unionization aspect rather than upper-class society.

by Anonymousreply 45September 27, 2019 12:02 AM

Well, remember Biltmore House was a bachelor's home. If you're going to have a family show set in a gigantic Gilded Age mansion, it would be more likely to have set it in a city: almost every American city had a gigantic mansion where the richest of the rich lived (like in The Magnificent Ambersons).

by Anonymousreply 46September 27, 2019 12:02 AM

Hklkll

by Anonymousreply 47September 27, 2019 12:02 AM

Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon are perfect casting as old-timey East Coast aristocrats. You really can't do better.

I have reservations about the show but will give it a watch just for them.

But Amanda Peet, for fuck's sake? Ugh.

by Anonymousreply 48September 27, 2019 12:04 AM

Why aren’t they shooting in Newport, RI? The Gilded Age headquarters. But I doubt the Newport Preservation Society would let them film at the Breakers or Rosecliff.

by Anonymousreply 49September 27, 2019 12:07 AM

R46 It was only a bachelor's house for three years, then he married, they had a daughter, and raised her on the estate.

He could have set the show in Newport, RI, or Aiken, SC where the elite owned large estates and spent the summer and winter, respectively. It would have suited Julian Fellows fluffy style more.

by Anonymousreply 50September 27, 2019 12:11 AM

Clay Aiken will be part of this? I thought he was from North Carolina.

by Anonymousreply 51September 27, 2019 12:34 AM

R48 But Baranaski's Jewish isn't she? I though most of the so-called "old-timey East Coast aristocrats" were Waspy.

I bet Mr Fellowes will steal more than few characters from Edith Wharton and real life just as he stole the characters from the wonderful Mitfords.

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by Anonymousreply 52September 27, 2019 12:55 AM

R51 Aiken, South Carolina was a major resort community for the wealthy in the late 1800s through the early 1900s. There are still many large homes there termed winter cottages. It is still a major center of the thoroughbred horse racing world, hosting their own triple crown every year consisting of harness races, a steeplechase and a polo match. Sports wise the community revolved around polo, fox hunting, golf, and tennis. In fact it is home to one of the few remaining court tennis facilities in the world. New York papers regularly featured special sections about the activities of the elites during their winters in Aiken, and there were special direct trains between Aiken and NYC. Asters, Vanderbilts, Whitneys, etc... owned estates there. One of the many famous people associated with the Winter Colony was Evalyn Walsh McLean the owner of the famous Hope Diamond. People wrote of seeing the diamond being worn around the neck of her dog while going around Aiken. While it was mainly the old money and Robber Barron types that frequented Aiken, there were some show business types as well, Fred Astaire practiced dance moves on the steps of the old Post Office and Jimmy Stewert's former house is now a funeral home. Politically, Winston Churchill visited several times, as did the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, numerous prominent politicians visited and owned homes there as well.

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by Anonymousreply 53September 27, 2019 12:57 AM

Baranski isn't Jewish.

by Anonymousreply 54September 27, 2019 12:59 AM

Baranski is Polish.

by Anonymousreply 55September 27, 2019 1:07 AM

She’s a Polish-American Catholic from Buffalo.

I wonder if Scarlett O’Hara Butler might drop by.

by Anonymousreply 56September 27, 2019 1:09 AM

R56 Speaking of Scarlett O’Hara, that character was not typical of a Southern belle, in ethnicity or religion. There weren't many Irish/French Catholic belles in Georgia.

by Anonymousreply 57September 27, 2019 1:15 AM

I watched Scorsese's 'Age of Innocence". It had lots of stars and looked good but I thought it rather dull.

Scorsese claimed he based it on William Wyler's 'The Heiress' but I thought the 1949 classic MUCH more satisfying .

by Anonymousreply 58September 27, 2019 1:18 AM

^^ Winona Ryder was terribly miscasted in that film

by Anonymousreply 59September 27, 2019 1:24 AM

She was miscast in Dracula too. For some inexplicable reason Ryder was in every third movie in that time period, and the public couldn't figure out why.

by Anonymousreply 60September 27, 2019 1:27 AM

Jesus Christ it's about an era even further back? Not interested. Now a Downton Abbey continuation with the grown children I would watch.

by Anonymousreply 61September 27, 2019 1:34 AM

[quote] He will not be able to capture one iota of American life. Brits do not get and cannot write Americans if their lives depended on it, they’re too jingoistic, especially this old fart.

"Coal Miner's Daughter" was directed by Michael Apted, an English director. Sometimes an outsider can see things clearly.

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by Anonymousreply 62September 27, 2019 1:51 AM

R61 You might get your wish, after the success of the Downton movie, I predict they will make it a franchise.

by Anonymousreply 63September 27, 2019 1:54 AM

I hope they delve into the motivations behind things like Cora's marriage.

After her divorce, Alva Vandebilt was ostracized until she managed to get her daughter Consuelo married to the Duke of Marlborough. Some estimate her "dowry" was $5 million, a gigantic sum at the time.

These marriages were later criticized as being anti-American in propagating this type of aristocratic class system.

by Anonymousreply 64September 27, 2019 1:59 AM

[quote] just like the British Aristocracy at the time liked to marry rich Northern women, to get money

Well, I never in all my born days heard such claptrap. I was raised in Cobble Hill Brooklyn.

by Anonymousreply 65September 27, 2019 2:16 AM

[quote] Why aren’t they shooting in Newport, RI? The Gilded Age headquarters.

They may eventually. But it was [bold]not[/bold] the Gilded Age headquarters--most of the rich society people from NY usually only summered there. They did not have airplanes back then, so they usually spent most of the year near the headquarters of the corporations that made them their money because their services were required there.

by Anonymousreply 66September 27, 2019 3:12 AM

[quote] Scorsese claimed he based it on William Wyler's 'The Heiress'

Not quite. He said his film was doing homage to The Heiress. Bur he did not base The Age of Innocence on the earlier William Wyler film.

by Anonymousreply 67September 27, 2019 3:19 AM

R66 It was like NYC, was their college. They spent the fall and spring semesters in NYC, and took their summer break in Newport and winter break in Aiken or other winter resorts.

by Anonymousreply 68September 27, 2019 3:21 AM

How many murders do you think the valet will be charged with?

by Anonymousreply 69September 27, 2019 4:42 AM

R61, the late Victorian setting provides an excuse for sumptuous costumes and set design. That alone should be fun to watch.

by Anonymousreply 70September 27, 2019 5:01 AM

I don't care how much money you have, if you're from the south you are decidedly NOT upper class. You're a hillbilly with money.

by Anonymousreply 71September 27, 2019 8:31 AM

I love Downton Abbey but won't give this the time of day. I'd rather re-watch DA over and over again then watch this even once.

by Anonymousreply 72September 27, 2019 8:35 AM

[quote] Not that anyone would want to film there but the Rockefellers, Carnegies and Mellons lived in the "mid west" in the Cleveland and Pittsburgh areas during the golden age.

One could do an emtire episode (if not series) on the Johnstown flood, a tragedy that was largely avoidable and mostly at the hands of the Pittsburgh barons.

by Anonymousreply 73September 27, 2019 8:56 AM

R71 you are decidedly stupid and know nothing of history. The South was home to this country’s original aristocrats. Most of the Southern aristocracy were descendants of the second or third sons of the British aristocracy, and modeled themselves as such. Charleston had museums, theaters, musical societies, literary societies, and religious freedom, while New England was still persecuting witches.

by Anonymousreply 74September 27, 2019 12:38 PM

Coal Miner’s Daughter was written by Tom Rickman. Who is from Sharpe, Kentucky.

by Anonymousreply 75September 27, 2019 1:11 PM

R46 - Biltmore House was built for George Washington Vanderbilt II. He was NOT a bachelor. George Washington Vanderbilt II married and had one daughter. This daughter married a Brit. I believe one of George Washington Vanderbilt II's great-grandsons owns Biltmore House today as the house is still in the family.

by Anonymousreply 76September 27, 2019 2:17 PM

[quote]He will not be able to capture one iota of American life. Brits do not get and cannot write Americans if their lives depended on it, they’re too jingoistic, especially this old fart.

[quote]"Coal Miner's Daughter" was directed by Michael Apted, an English director. Sometimes an outsider can see things clearly.

And Ang Lee directed Sense and Sensibility. It's about seeing the human condition and knowing how to express it through your art. A real "artist" sees where we all connect and has the vision to bring out the comedy and/or pathos we all share.

by Anonymousreply 77September 27, 2019 3:42 PM

[quote] Biltmore House was built for George Washington Vanderbilt II. He was NOT a bachelor.

He was when he built it, and for the first couple years he lived in it.

by Anonymousreply 78September 27, 2019 3:57 PM

So, are you calling Julian Fellowes a real artist, r77?

Oh, my sides. Oh, my stars and garters.

by Anonymousreply 79September 27, 2019 4:24 PM

[quote]Charleston had museums, theaters, musical societies, literary societies, and religious freedom, while New England was still persecuting witches.

Charleston held human beings in bondage and treated them like cattle. How civilized!

by Anonymousreply 80September 27, 2019 9:09 PM

R80 Just like most of the world has had at times. In the history of the world, the idea that slavery is wrong is relatively recent.

by Anonymousreply 81September 28, 2019 2:01 AM

The South was always backward, nobody else considered them aristocratic except themselves.

by Anonymousreply 82September 28, 2019 2:10 AM

R82 You obviously have never actually studied history, especially the Colonial and Antebellum periods. Here is a quote from the Marquess of Lothian, a British Aristocrat.

[quote]“It is only in that part of the Union [the South] that you can find anything approaching to the country gentleman of England. It is only there that you can find families which, holding the same lands generation after generation for a long period of years, have acquired the self-respect, the habits of command, and the elevation of character which arise in a society which has been for some time in the possession of power, and the refinement which generally follows upon the possession of hereditary wealth…. The blood of the old cavaliers of England, coursing in the veins of the Virginians and Carolinians, was as much reproduced in them as that of their opponents, the Puritans, was reproduced in New England….

“Still more powerful was the influence of the Southern ladies…. They bore the bell in grace and refinement, and besides, had about them that air of superiority which may possibly make its possessors detested, but which, when it has anything to rest upon, seldom fails to make itself acknowledged…. Over fashion the South bore almost unquestioned empire.”

by Anonymousreply 83September 28, 2019 2:34 AM

Still more powerful was the influence of the Southern ladies....they were cunts!

by Anonymousreply 84September 28, 2019 2:39 AM

[quote] “Still more powerful was the influence of the Southern ladies…. They bore the bell in grace and refinement, and besides, had about them that air of superiority which may possibly make its possessors detested, but which, when it has anything to rest upon, seldom fails to make itself acknowledged…. Over fashion the South bore almost unquestioned empire.”

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by Anonymousreply 85September 28, 2019 2:50 AM

The British in the 1800s did not consider Southerners, or Americans in general, aristocratic or anywhere near their equals. Trust me.

by Anonymousreply 86September 28, 2019 2:54 AM

Am I the only one who's wondered when all the DA characters would've died?

by Anonymousreply 87September 28, 2019 3:01 AM

R86 I bow down to your first hand knowledge of the 1800s. I didn't say they considered them equals. But, you have to acknowledge that the Southern Aristocracy was itself directly descended from the British Aristocracy's second sons, where as the rich of the North was not. Being an Aristocrat wasn't about such vulgar things as having a large fortune, especially if you had to work for that fortune. Being an aristocrat was about breeding and bloodlines, education, appreciation of the arts, manners, politics, and the passive accumulation of wealth. A wonderful fictional depiction of this difference is the tv miniseries North and South. The Mains of Charleston and the Hazards of Pennsylvania were both exceedingly wealthy, but the Mains were aristocratic whereas the Hazards were money grubbing nouveau riche.

I tried to link to a very good work, but it wouldn't let me link to it in the link box as it is on Google Books, "North and South: Essays on Gender, Race and Region" edited by Christine DeVine, Mary Ann Wilson. The relevant portion starts around page 53, in the chapter "British Travelers and the Antebellum American South"

by Anonymousreply 88September 28, 2019 3:44 AM

It'll have a life on HBO.....would most likely have been cancelled on NBC. Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon star! I'm in!

by Anonymousreply 89September 28, 2019 3:53 AM

Again, only the Southerners themselves considered themselves aristocrats. British and European aristocrats in that era just thought they were Americans.

by Anonymousreply 90September 28, 2019 4:29 AM

[quote]Am I the only one who's wondered when all the DA characters would've died?

They're all still alive. They live in a hospice in Wales.

by Anonymousreply 91September 28, 2019 4:56 AM

They must be doing wonderful for 125 years old!

by Anonymousreply 92September 28, 2019 5:02 AM

I see a lot of female cast but where is the hot male castmates? It's the lady mary show all over again.

by Anonymousreply 93September 28, 2019 5:34 AM

[quote]Am I the only one who's wondered when all the DA characters would've died?

George, Sybbie, and Marigold were all born in the early 1920s - they probably would have started dying about 1990 at 70-ish years old. Unless they have the longevity of QEII, they'd all be dead by 2019. It's very likely that George would have fought in WWII, so who knows if he would have survived or died. Sybbie would have been Cecilia in Atonement working in hospitals and such, so who knows if she would have survived the bombings of London or suffered the same fate as Cecilia.

Violet is 85 years old in the movie (1927).

Tom is the oldest (1885), then Mary (1891), so they'd all have probably died during the 50s and 60s.

Robert was born in 1866 and Cora in 1868 -which would have made a pregnancy after 1917 (WWI) dubious.

by Anonymousreply 94September 28, 2019 3:40 PM

R94 I wouldn't necessarily call it dubious. After doing genealogical research on my own family, I've come to the conclusion that having a "change-of-life" surprise baby, wasn't that unusual. There were a number of ones that had the majority of their children before they turned 30, then all of a sudden one pops up in their 40s or early 50s. This held true for both the poor and rich branches of my family tree.

by Anonymousreply 95September 28, 2019 4:26 PM

Tom, Thomas, Edith, Mary and Daisy could've lived into the 1970s or even the 1980s.

by Anonymousreply 96September 28, 2019 5:44 PM

[quote]Tom, Thomas, Edith, Mary and Daisy could've lived into the 1970s or even the 1980s.

Unlikely they would have lived into their 90s. Few people even today live that long and medicine and healthcare is a lot better today.

Daisy might have made it into the 1980s since she was probably born right around 1900.

by Anonymousreply 97September 28, 2019 5:49 PM

The Queen Mother and Princess Alice lived to be 100 and they were around the same generation. But even if Edith, Mary and Daisy lived that long they still would by now be dead for over 25 years.

by Anonymousreply 98September 28, 2019 5:52 PM

[quote]The Queen Mother and Princess Alice lived to be 100

Yes, we can all list many people who lived to be 100. But, the odds of people living that long are fairly low.

[quote]In 2017 there were 579,776 people aged 90 years and over living in the UK, including 14,430 centenarians.

That's on a population of 66 million - or less than 1% of people.

[quote]Across the UK as a whole, life expectancy did not improve at all between 2015 and 2017 - remaining at 79.2 years for men and 82.9 years for women...But it actually declined by 0.1 years for men and women in Scotland and Wales, and for males in Northern Ireland.

by Anonymousreply 99September 28, 2019 6:54 PM

Back when the original--and unsurpassed--Upstairs, Downstairs aired in the 70s, some network tried to copy its popularity with Beacon Hill, set in the 20s. It starred Nancy Marchand as the matriarch, way before her Soprano days. It was unbelievably boring. I think it was cancelled after a few episodes.

I love Baranski but it seems like she'd be miscast in this. She looks too contemporary.

by Anonymousreply 100September 28, 2019 7:20 PM

Beacon Hill aired 11 episodes in 1975; two more filmed episodes were unaired when the show was yanked due to dismal ratings.

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by Anonymousreply 101September 28, 2019 10:01 PM

r99 maybe the DA characters slipped through and got to be in that 1% lol! It's just a tv show.

by Anonymousreply 102September 28, 2019 10:38 PM

R94, how do we know Tom was born in 1885? I don't doubt you, I'm just wondering what the source is. He doesn't look 42 in the movie - not surprisingly, since Allen Leech was born in 1981 and so was probably 37 when it was filmed, and a fresh-faced 37 at that. I guess Tom was an early advocate of moisturizing. :-)

Speaking of age, how old is Thomas Barrow? Robert James-Collier is 43 (and a damn good-looking 43 at that), but I figure Barrow must be a few years younger. If he was 25 when DA began, he'd be 40 in 1927. That feels about right, doesn't it?

by Anonymousreply 103September 29, 2019 7:11 AM

Is Lady Mary still a cunt?

by Anonymousreply 104September 29, 2019 1:41 PM

Thomas would've been born around 1890-ish.

by Anonymousreply 105September 29, 2019 2:06 PM

[quote][R94], how do we know Tom was born in 1885? I don't doubt you, I'm just wondering what the source is. He doesn't look 42 in the movie - not surprisingly, since Allen Leech was born in 1981 and so was probably 37 when it was filmed, and a fresh-faced 37 at that. I guess Tom was an early advocate of moisturizing. :-)

It's an estimate based on a statement from Cora.

[quote]In Episode 3.07, when discussing Tom becoming the agent, Cora says that he and Matthew are "the same age"

Matthew's grave shows his year of birth (the marker says 1884 - 1921).

by Anonymousreply 106September 29, 2019 3:54 PM

Thank you, R106. I hadn't remembered that. 👍

by Anonymousreply 107September 29, 2019 9:44 PM

R95 - Cora got pregnant with the "change-of-life" baby in 1914 and had miscarried shortly before the start of 1914. This is per the last episode of Season I of Downton Abbey during the scene of the annual garden party.

by Anonymousreply 108September 30, 2019 3:16 PM

[quote]Matthew's grave shows his year of birth (the marker says 1884 - 1921).

[quote]Thank you, [R106]. I hadn't remembered that.

Just for precision, I should say that Matthew's gravestone says 1885-1921. I don't know what I hit "4" instead of the correct number.

by Anonymousreply 109September 30, 2019 3:37 PM
Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 110November 19, 2019 5:35 PM

He'll be Bronze Age by the time he gets it done, if he isn't already.

by Anonymousreply 111November 19, 2019 5:41 PM

Someone on the crew told me today they will actually be doing some shooting on location in Newport next summer.

by Anonymousreply 112November 20, 2019 1:18 AM

Next summer? Damn.

by Anonymousreply 113November 20, 2019 1:21 AM

It starts shooting in mid April. Will finish Season 1 in November.

by Anonymousreply 114November 20, 2019 3:49 AM

If the show is set in 1882, then these people are essentially contemporaries of Cora and her brother - Cora was born ~1868, so she'd be 14-ish.

This period would have been the height of rich girls, like Cora, being married off to English titles without a pot to piss in - girls like Conseulo Vanderbilt.

This is sounding more like a soap opera than a look at the Gilded Age.

by Anonymousreply 115November 20, 2019 4:03 AM

"f the show is set in 1882, then these people are essentially contemporaries of Cora and her brother - Cora was born ~1868, so she'd be 14-ish.

This period would have been the height of rich girls, like Cora, being married off to English titles without a pot to piss in - girls like Consuelo Vanderbilt."

Consuelo Vanderbilt was born in 1877 and married the Duke of Marlborough in 1895 at the age of 18.

by Anonymousreply 116November 20, 2019 11:49 AM

It has potential, and I will give it a chance. But Julian Fellows version of the Titanic was an utter bore, and it makes me wonder if he got lucky with the success of Downton Abbey. I enjoyed the Downton Abbey TV series and the movie, but the movie was so safe in its dramatic decisions that it felt like another TV episode and not grand enough to warrant a big screen treatment. If he's going to do the Guilded Age, he better bring something to make it new and fresh.

by Anonymousreply 117November 20, 2019 12:40 PM

The plotting of both the DA series and movie was totally ridiculous and boring. Just utterly stupid. So this is bound to be even worse.

by Anonymousreply 118November 20, 2019 12:44 PM

"but the movie was so safe in its dramatic decisions that it felt like another TV episode and not grand enough to warrant a big screen treatment"

R117 - I am a big Downton Abbey fan too but have not yet seen the movie. Some movie reviewer said it was nothing but a $40 million 2 hour and 15 minutes TV episode.

I had hope they would go deeper in the movie and show things via storyline that you cannot show on PBS.

All fans of the show that saw the movie that I have talked to loved it!

by Anonymousreply 119November 20, 2019 1:35 PM

R199, R117 here.

See the movie, you will enjoy it! I was not disappointed, but after it was over I felt that they could have taken more risks with the stories they chose to tell. The stakes were not very high.

by Anonymousreply 120November 20, 2019 3:25 PM

[quote]Consuelo Vanderbilt was born in 1877 and married the Duke of Marlborough in 1895 at the age of 18.

LOL - of course. What, did you think I was referring to 1882 when she was a small child as the year of her marriage.

Consuelo epitomizes "this period" of time during the Gilded Age during which rich girls with new money were being married off.

by Anonymousreply 121November 20, 2019 3:27 PM

[quote]Harry Richardson, Thomas Cocquerel & Jack Gilpin Join HBO Drama Series

Betty Gilpin's dad...

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 122February 1, 2020 12:30 AM

[quote]It has potential, and I will give it a chance. But Julian Fellows version of the Titanic was an utter bore, and it makes me wonder if he got lucky with the success of Downton Abbey.

That Titanic was awful. If you read the Deadline article you can already pick out the Branson character. This will flop. Fellowes is a one trick pony. The times are certainly changing here in the gilded age. Mrs. Whoever

by Anonymousreply 123February 1, 2020 1:25 AM

Hurry up. I’ve been waiting 10 years.

by Anonymousreply 124February 1, 2020 1:35 AM

Fellows provided the script to the great Gosford Park - which Altman promptly shitcanned.

The only Fellows novel I read is "Snobs" which starts out promisingly and then does a volte face (he admitted pretty much around the time whoever he based the family on found out he was writing about them) and its satirical insights wither entirely away. It's a chickenshit performance: the only thing it breaks is the sound barrier with the speed of its pulled punches.

No British person has ever understood the least thing about the American rich or socially prominent; and when it comes to New York, they seem to work to actively get things wrong. New York well into the 19th century was ruled by the Dutch patroons, and the UK English were lower than shit to them. There are prominent Anglo-American surnames from that time period, such as the Livingstons - but they married into Dutch landholders and were accepted in that manner. There's a reason why the Gilded Age in the US and New York in particular took on French architectural and fashion models - the English were disliked. Watch for Fellows to have all the Yanks durn tootin' eager for a goggle at visiting Lady Cuntpaste - and 1930s Stockbroker Tudor to be the background setting for these mad barbaric yawps.

by Anonymousreply 125February 1, 2020 2:18 AM

Won't he have consultants, though?

by Anonymousreply 126February 1, 2020 2:58 AM

[quote] Why have there never been movies about these people?

That's an interesting question. I haven't read the whole thread so sorry if someone else answered. I imagine it's because the Rockefellers, Carnegies, and Mellons have endowed, and continue to fund, so many institutions today. It would probably be hard to make a movie about them for that reason.

by Anonymousreply 127February 1, 2020 3:02 AM

R125, the leading character to be played by Christine Baranski is named Agnes Van Rijn, the widow of a Dutch patroon.

by Anonymousreply 128February 1, 2020 3:07 AM

In other words, he gots this.

by Anonymousreply 129February 1, 2020 3:08 AM

[R11] Numerous Brooklyn neighborhoods could plausibly double for late 1800s/early 1900s New York. Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, the collection of mansion around the Pratt Institute. There are also well-preserved remnants on the UES and UWS and within Harlem.

by Anonymousreply 130February 1, 2020 3:30 AM

They’re shooting up in Troy, NY for a month and then up in Newport RI for a month. And enormous Fifth Avenue exterior set out on Long Island.

by Anonymousreply 131February 1, 2020 5:44 PM

Troy, really? Is there a nice part of Troy? I drive through there on my way to a gay vacation spot in Vermont each year... I always thought Troy was down at heel.

by Anonymousreply 132February 1, 2020 6:54 PM

What VT gay vaca spot?

by Anonymousreply 133February 1, 2020 7:27 PM

R133... I've already said too much.

by Anonymousreply 134February 1, 2020 7:30 PM

[R133] Troy is shabby, but architecturally very well preserved and the neighborhood next to the opera house is hipster-ish enough to pass for a pleasant 19th century neighborhood.

by Anonymousreply 135February 1, 2020 7:32 PM

Meryl Streep’s youngest daughter Louisa will play the young female lead. She’s by far the prettiest of the Gummer girls and, one hears, the most talented.

by Anonymousreply 136February 22, 2020 12:19 AM

[quote] She’s by far the prettiest of the Gummer girls and, one hears, the most talented.

How do people know she's the most talented of the daughters? Her IMDB profile is filled with voice work for narrations and video games, some short films, and not much else. She's killing it in auditions or something?

by Anonymousreply 137February 22, 2020 12:55 AM

I lived in Troy with my late husband for several months and the architecture is truly amazing but overall its very,very poor . Mind you that was a decade ago so it may have changed . Albany is also chock full of amazing victorian architecture . I liked it up there,but the winters were brutal . Being a florida boy , my ass jetted with a quickness when my husband died .

by Anonymousreply 138February 22, 2020 12:57 AM

Start date got pushed from next week to sometime in May.

by Anonymousreply 139March 13, 2020 9:42 PM

Where will this thing air?

by Anonymousreply 140March 13, 2020 9:49 PM

[quote]based on the character descriptions, it strikes me as having too much Southern influence -- were there a lot of Southern belles in NYC in the 1880s? [R23]

In the 1830s to the1850s and even during the Civil War, yes, NYC was thick with rich Southern women; and Newport also from about 1840. Many of the wealthiest Southern planters were themselves (or their parents) from Pennsylvania and points north. Living on isolated plantations, they looked to the North for cultural and financial ties, sent their sons to medical school in the North or to Harvard, and sent their daughters to live for extended periods with rich relatives in Philadelphia and New York.

Fortunes mostly changed after the war, though those ho hung on to large fortunes (in part having having diversified their investments through Northern channels) often settled in NYC; a larger number were short on money but traded on manners and charm as someone mentioned earlier. By the 1880s some new Southern fortunes had emerged or been revived and many of the women who were part of these had a strong cultural affection for the North. Southern women had some significant role in NYC and Philadelphia society throughout the 19thC.

by Anonymousreply 141March 13, 2020 10:23 PM

R140, not until sometime in 2020.

HBO was able to negotiate with ITV to allow a Downton Abbey cross-over. A young Cora Levinson is to appear in the season finale.

by Anonymousreply 142March 14, 2020 1:10 PM

The mother of Consuelo Vanderbilt, Alva Vanderbilt who later became Alva Belmount was born Alva Erskine Smith was born in Mobile, Alabama.

by Anonymousreply 143March 16, 2020 6:35 PM

Oops, I meant sometime in 2021, sorry.

by Anonymousreply 144March 16, 2020 6:43 PM

Carrie Coon is replacing Amanda Peet and shooting finally starts in the fall. That’s the only info the link provided.

by Anonymousreply 145May 1, 2020 5:46 PM

Have you Bitches forgotten about "Belgravia" another Julien Fellows production on Epix. I have watched the entire first season. It's really Good. Of course, I am "lower middle-class white trash from Philly" and I LOVE that Upper class British shit!!

by Anonymousreply 146May 1, 2020 6:12 PM

R146 - Been watching too but have only seen the first three episodes. Must agree with you PhillyWhore, Belgravia is good; much better than I thought it would be.

by Anonymousreply 147May 1, 2020 6:16 PM

r146/r147, anything gay in Belgravia?

by Anonymousreply 148May 1, 2020 6:23 PM

R148 - Not that I have seen yet in the first three episodes.

by Anonymousreply 149May 1, 2020 7:23 PM

I've heard mixed reviews about Belgravia. Someone on BBC4 radio described it as a "hat drama" and I knew exactly what she meant.

I did, however, love "The English Game".

by Anonymousreply 150May 1, 2020 7:26 PM

I only watched the first episode of Belgravia and thought it was like watching paint dry. And Tamsin Grieg should never be in period dramas such as this.

by Anonymousreply 151May 1, 2020 10:19 PM

They should just kill this show. In fact, I won't be surprised if it happens.

by Anonymousreply 152May 1, 2020 10:21 PM

You nailed it, r118. The worst.

Wynona Ryder, unlike Michelle Pfeiffer, was perfectly cast in The Age of Innocence and played the iron fist in the velvet glove brilliantly. Her revelation scene near film's end, abetted by Scorsese's superb cinematography, is terrifying.

by Anonymousreply 153May 1, 2020 11:00 PM

Im 3 in and so far Belgravia is meh . One thing I do detest is the way they film all the night scenes as though its candlelight. You cant see shit ! But the costumes and interiors are delightful,so Ill hang in .

by Anonymousreply 154May 2, 2020 12:31 AM

R118 The first few seasons were OK, but I think they stretched what should have been 3 or 4 years to 6, and that's when it became mind numbingly repetitive and/or slow.

The movie was much ado about nothing.

by Anonymousreply 155May 2, 2020 12:34 AM

It’s happening, R152. All the sets have been built on soundstages in Brooklyn/Queens as well as an enormous exterior Fifth Avenue set out on Long Island. No way HBO isn’t going to get it done.

by Anonymousreply 156May 2, 2020 3:35 AM
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