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The 'Downton Abbey' Cast Shares Their Thoughts on the Show's End Posted: Although "Downton Abbey's" storyline is set decades ago in the early years of the 20th Century, the show's pot-boiling plotlines have for legions of devoted fans felt as urgent as if they were happening today. And never have they felt as urgent as now, when the British-produced series airs its final episode in the U.S. after bringing the series to a close in its home country on Christmas Day 2015 after six enthusiastically received seasons. Did Mary choose wisely by following her heart to marry the dashing racecar driver Henry? Can Edith ever find a lasting love – and does she really need one? Will Mrs. Patmore's new inn survive its initial reputation as a house of ill repute? Can Mr. Barrow find an estate of his own to serve? Will the grand estate and all its beloved denizens continue to survive and thrive as the world evolves around it? And will the Dowager Countess Violet Crawley, as she typically does, have the last word? Although they were sworn to uphold the secrecy of the show's final moments for those U.S. viewers who've managed to avoid spoilers thus far, members of the "Downton Abbey" cast and creative team shared their thoughts on bringing the phenomenally successful series to a close, the ways in which it touched their lives, and whether there's a future for more tales from the aristocracy of the past. Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary Crawley): "It feels right that Season Six wraps it up, but of course, at the same time, it's saying goodbye to it, it's just strange. It's beginning to sink in now. When we had the last shooting day at Highclere, that was huge -– and I wasn't quite expecting it. I thought I'd be able to walk away. I guess I just didn't expect to be that emotional. And Laura [Carmichael] and I walked hand in hand through the house one last time, and we were just in bits! So it feels like an end of an era. And it's just been joyous. The timing felt right. I think collectively everyone felt this was the right time... I think if we'd have kept going, it would be maybe tricky to kind of find somewhere to finish. We've made friends for life. That's what I'll take away with me is the experience and the people that I've got to know. We're like a family, and it's not just the cast. It's the crew as well. You become so close because you're pretty much living day in, day out, on that set, and of course, you share so much with one another, so that's what I'll take away with me." Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith Crawley): "Michelle and I are criers -– like, consistently. We're weepy girls. We just love a weep. And it has been huge, and we have grown up on this show in a way that we think is maybe different to some of the others actors have had experiences like this before. We started when we were in our 20s, so it's a big change in my life growing up on the job. I think it would be crappy if you felt it was just the same as any episode. It feels like a special when there are satisfying elements to it. But as far as, I think Julian half-imagines or hopes, there's just no way you'll stop thinking about these characters until they're all dead and gone." Joanne Froggatt (Anna Bates): "Not all the loose ends are tied up. For "Downton Abbey," that would be strange and unrealistic. But I feel like we leave all of the characters in a place that's OK. It's all right. We can leave that there for a bit and it's fine. I absolutely wouldn't rule out [a reunion film or special]. I think actually, it would be a lovely thing. To be able to sort of have a break, do different things, and then come back and have a sort of reunion almost. It would be incredibly fun. And from a selfish point of view, it would be great fun to do." Elizabeth McGovern (Countess Cora Crowley): "I feel wary of the idea of a movie, but I'm not completely closed to the idea because I think it works so well in this context of a TV show. And I would be very frightened of tainting what we've done, what we've worked so hard to achieve. So I don't know: I wouldn't say that I wouldn't do one, but you'd have to conceive it in a way that makes sense for it to be a feature film, not just another episode that you splash onto a screen. I mean, I, myself, don't have the imagination to be able to envision what that would be like. In some ways, it's a character that's too close to myself to really be able to say [what I love about her]. The only difference between is that I think she's more self-effacing than I am. I mean, I'm obviously someone who is an actress in pursuit of a career, and I can't imagine Cora in a million years would ever indulge herself in that way. So maybe that's what I like about her. But it also drives me crazy because she's so self-effacing." Gareth Naeme (Executive Producer): "When you make one of those big shows of all time, that is game-changing. I've spent so much of my life trying to get anyone to take any interest in what I was doing. As a producer, you're hustling. You're trying to persuade people... When you're in this situation, you're actually batting people away. Because everyone loves it, everyone wants to talk about it. But I suppose it gives you confidence that your ideas can work, and that people will back your ideas. And it gives you confidence that sometimes -– just sometimes -– it can work; that Hollywood and the TV industry generally doesn't fuck everything up. That sometimes, a hit show can just get through, and people will fall in love with it. And then you get to that happy place where none of the networks or studios tell me what to do. They don't second-guess. They don't give me instructions because they just know it works. And they back it. And that very rarely happens." Hugh Bonneville (Robert Crawley, the 7th Earl of Grantham): "I will miss it. I will always look on it with huge affection and gratitude because not only this bunch of people, but the experience as a whole has been transformative, really. It really has. But it's time to say goodbye to it. A particular memory I have is of standing out on the lawn with Maggie Smith one day when there was the ash cloud over Iceland, this volcanic eruption, so there were no flights or three weeks. And so there were no vapor trails in the sky. It was silent. And it was a beautiful sunny day with a clear sky at the castle. And she said, 'This is what it would have been like.' And you sort of realize, of course, we take noise and background noise and vapor trails for granted. And she was absolutely right. It was the first time, probably ever, in my life time I'd looked up and seen no vapor trails. That was a memorable moment." 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'The Birdcage': 11 Things You (Probably) Don't Know About the Robin Williams Hit Posted: At times, while directing Robin Williams and Nathan Lane in "The Birdcage," Mike Nichols found himself laughing so hard that he had to work from beneath a soundproof blanket in order not to ruin the takes. Can you blame him? Twenty years after its release on March 8, 1996, "The Birdcage" remains a hilarious landmark. Besides being a smash hit, the film made a movie star out of Lane, gave Calista Flockhart her big break, and provided probably the only opportunity in film history to see Gene Hackman in a platinum blonde wig and a gown. Still, as many times as you've watched it on cable over the past two decades, there's still much you may not now about the beloved drag comedy. Here are the secrets "The Birdcage" has tucked away. 1. "Birdcage" was already the seventh incarnation of the story, which started out as the French play "La Cage aux Folles" in 1973. It became a celebrated international film hit in 1978, spawned two movie sequels, a failed American TV pilot (called "Adam and Yves"), and then a hit Broadway musical in 1983. But Nichols' film was the first version to transplant the story to an American setting and insert topical political jokes. 2. The film marked a rare reunion between Mike Nichols and Elaine May, 35 years after they ended their pioneering sketch-comedy act at the height of its success. In the intervening years, May polished screenplays for such acclaimed films as "Reds" and "Tootsie." She stumbled notoriously as the director of 1987's "Ishtar." Nonetheless, when Nichols needed someone to adapt "La Cage" into a witty, Americanized, politically pointed screenplay, he turned to his old comedy partner. They'd reteam again two years later as director and writer, respectively, of the underrated political satire "Primary Colors." 3. Originally, the movie was to star Steve Martin (above) in the "straight" role of club owner Armand and Robin Williams as drag performer Albert. But when Martin dropped out of the project, Williams said he'd rather play Armand, feeling that, after "Mrs. Doubtfire," he wanted to play the subtler character. 4.The part of Albert went to Lane, then a top Broadway star whose biggest film role to date had been his voice work as meerkat Timon in "The Lion King." The two leads compared notes on the bonuses they earned for appearing in Disney animated blockbusters. Lane complained that, for Williams' role as the genie in "Aladdin," "he got a Picasso, and I got that painting with the six dogs playing poker." 5. The songs performed in the film are original or previously unheard songs by no less than Stephen Sondheim. The Broadway legend composed "Little Dream" (the song Albert sings in rehearsal) for the movie, and he gave the filmmakers two other songs cut from some of his acclaimed stage musicals. The song "Can That Boy Foxtrot," which Albert sings in the club, was a tune cut from Sondheim's "Follies." And "Love Is in the Air," sung by Armand and Katherine (Christine Baranski) in the latter's office, was the original opening number in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." 6. Wonder why that two-minute, all-in-one-take tracking shot that opens the film is so amazing? Maybe because the movie's cinematographer was Emmanuel "Chivo" Lubezki, the threepeat Oscar-winner behind "Gravity," "Birdman," and "The Revenant." 7. Playing a character who is supposed to be an 18-year-old college student, Flockhart was actually 30 at the time of filming. The exposure she earned from "The Birdcage" helped her land her star-making TV role on "Ally McBeal" a year later. 8. Playing a cameo as the club hostess is J. Roy Helland, who, besides crafting the hairstyles and make-up for "Birdcage" and other Nichols films, is also Meryl Streep's screen hairstylist. Helland is responsible for creating Streep's looks for nearly every movie the Oscar-winner has made since "Sophie's Choice." 9. The film cost a reported $31 million to make. It opened at No. 1 on the box office with $18.3 million, a record at the time for a movie with an openly gay protagonist. (That record stood for 13 years, until broken by "Bruno" in 2009.) "Bridcage" remained at No. 1 for four weeks and grossed a total of $124 million in North America -- and another $61 million overseas. 10. "Birdcage" earned one Oscar nomination, for its art direction. It lost to "The English Patient." 11. Now 83, May is enjoying a career resurgence. She's starring opposite Miley Cyrus in Woody Allen's upcoming streaming series on Amazon. And she returned to directing for the first time in three decades to film the recent episode of PBS' documentary series "American Masters" that's about the life and career of Nichols, who died in 2014. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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