Downton Abbey Scoop: Stars Dish on Season Three—Will the Dowager Countess Meet Her Match?-E! Online

Here's an article by E! Online's Christina Dowling and Brett Malec, which gives some scoop on what Shirley MacLaine's experience filming for Downton Abbey was like. Here's an excerpt from the article where Elizabeth McGovern and Shirley MacLaine talk about Shirley MacLaine being on Downton Abbey:



"She's just a gas. So much fun," McGovern dishes on her TV mother, but if you think the Downton crew went easy on the newcomer, think again. "We just threw [Shirley] in, right into the fire. She did what we call an excruciating dinner scene," McGovern explains. "Which, as you know, there are quite a lot of them and they take forever to shoot. We threw her into the deep end."

Excruciating (and hilarious) dinner scenes are our absolute favorites. Plus, they are the perfect opportunity for some verbal sparring between the Dowager Countess and Martha Levinson. McGovern promises that we "will see a little of that."

"I love Maggie, I've known her for 40 years. We did many scenes together," MacLaine says, and the matriarchs do clash, "but more on an intellectual level." The Dowager might have finally met her match with this American.

MacLaine also learned about the British class system, and confesses that working on Downton was "fabulous," but the corsets were terrible. "I know why there was the class system," she jokes. "You needed one or two people to get you dressed every day."

It's not just verbal spats we have to look forward to. McGovern explains that with the arrival of Cora's mother we'll learn more about the lady of the house. "She tells the whole story just by being there. You'll find out a lot more about [Cora] when she enters."



Link to the full article:Downton Abbey Scoop: Stars Dish on Season Three—Will the Dowager Countess Meet Her Match? - E! Online



My thoughts: I've only seen the first episode of Downton Abbey, but I'm already completely hooked on the show. It definitely deserves to be the hit TV show that it has become. I really want to buy the first two seasons on DVD so I can get caught up on watching the show. As for Shirley MacLaine being the show, I can't wait to see her performance on the show. She's a very talented actress, so I'm sure she'll do a great job.