Michelle Dockery had a feeling things were going to go well with “Downton Abbey” when she ran into the man who would eventually play Matthew to her Mary – Dan Stevens — in the audition room.
“Until then I’d played much more vulnerable parts, but I remember coming out of the audition, and Dan Stevens was in the waiting room. I said, ‘Who are you up for?’ and he said, ‘Matthew,’” the English rose recounted to Harper’s Bazaar magazine’s September issue. “I walked out and thought, Oh, that could work.”
The two previously appeared in 2009’s BBC television movie, “The Turn of the Screw” together.
The actress said she suspects the phenomenal success of “Downton” stateside has to do with its accessibility.
“I think some period drama can be quite alienating, but ‘Downton’ isn’t,” she told the mag. “This is going to sound quite, um, pretentious, but someone said that it’s like a soap written by a poet.”
Fantasizing about what Mary would be like if she was a modern day character, Michelle said Lady Mary would still be a high class gal.
“She’d be in charge, her own boss. She’d have married very well and maybe had kids, but I don’t think she’d be particularly maternal,” Michelle said. “She’d definitely have help.”
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