Hugh Bonneville: "Nostalgia for the past, even if false, heals the sorrows of the present"

• Downton Abbey Review

• New series The most awaited series by 'Downton Abbey' addicts is here

Until 2010

was one of those actors who were easily recognized but difficult to name.

"Yes, the one who was the last to know that Julia Roberts was Julia Roberts in

.

Either that or... "Yeah, the one he was playing... something by Agatha Christie."

And so on until, at the turn of the decade, he was invested as a count.

Yes, the Earl of Grantham, aka Robert Crawley in

it became part of life not for everyone, but for many (120 million viewers worldwide).

This is the most popular series in British television history.

We are facing that character who, in his fiercely anti-Catholic clumsiness, is impossible not to love, or at least understand, or at least recognize perfectly.

And so.

He now returns to his character in the movie

which is basically like the first, but again.

Did you ever imagine that you would end up starring in six seasons and two movies with the same character? Never.

An actor like me has always been clear that his life consisted of going from here to there accepting whatever they offered him.

I remember when we started, the show's executive producer turned to us and said, 'Let's be real.

Few British series go beyond six or eight episodes.

Well, six years later we were in the sixth season.

And two movies now.How would you say his character and even yourself has evolved?I've always joked that Robert Crawley started out as a sympathetic liberal conservative, but he's gotten more and more of an idiot himself.

And it is true.

As it is also that the idea that remains of him with each end of the season is that he is a decent man. He does not seem anything special,

why then the success? I have no idea.

It is a question that we are asked and we ask ourselves very often.

I can only answer it if I recover what I felt the first time I read the script.

I remember that I couldn't stop reading it and that I was crazy to know more.

The vitality that Julian Fellowes (the creator) brings to the stories is unique.

On the other hand, you don't have the impression of being in a story by Dickens or Jane Austen, which refers to the distant past.

Downton Abbey talks about our grandparents. Perhaps it is the nostalgia for a world of certainties, calm, where everything seems orderly, what draws so much attention. Yes, that is the general impression.

Although it is still a false feeling.

That world went through two world wars.

Sometimes I think the same thing could happen on a space station, but it wouldn't be the same.

In that case, the proximity of the earth would be lacking. Would you say that it is a therapeutic universe in the face of the current permanent crisis? Yes, without a doubt.

I remember that in that same sense I have received many messages during the pandemic.

But we must not forget that the series was broadcast before the triumph of Donald Trump, the coronavirus and the confirmation of Brexit.

Of course, there was no war in the Ukraine.

I imagine that nostalgia for the past, even if it is false, cures the sorrows of the present.

An image from the movie 'Dowton Abbey: A New Era'. WORLD

Said like that, it sounds very reactionary, very typical of Crawley... Well, the series has dared to deal with issues such as homosexuality, which then, let's not forget, was a crime, or to denounce the situation of women.

In any case, that feeling of nostalgia that I was talking about says more about the tumultuous present than about the past. At one point in the film, the masters and the servants change their roles in precisely the shooting of a film, for pure representation.

I wonder if that is not what we are talking about, a veiled critique of cinema, of the power of cinema to hide problems... That is the function of art: escape from reality.

We read a novel or go to an exhibition to escape.

And yes, it is true that cinema is a unique and shared way of moving to another world.

It's good to run away from problems from time to time.

Europe has never been in the last 50 or 60 years under as much pressure as it is now, not only the war, but the loss of freedoms... I think that stories like this, which are pure escapism, can be a great tonic. Is it different bring the count to life in the series and in the movies? The main difference is that in the movies you eat better [laughs].

The chef in this movie was excellent.

In a series the feeling you have is that of running on a treadmill.

You roll for months and you live trapped in a loop.

In the case of A new era, it was also very nice to meet everyone again.

It had a lot of celebration and self-homage. You have gone from being an actor recognized by the profession to being one by the general public.

How have you experienced the change? I haven't really noticed it, but I like that you think that way.

Yes it is true that now I get more offers and at a time of development of previous projects.

I mean, they count on me as their first option [laughs].

Otherwise, I wouldn't have met a bear named Paddington without Downton Abbey.

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

• Europe

• Ukraine

• Coronavirus

• donald trump

• London

• cinema

• Series