Lily James talks about her role in hit show Downton Abbey
DOWNTON Abbey actress Lily James introduces herself: “Hello, I’m really hot and sweaty ...”.
Like her rebellious alter ego, Lady Rose MacClare, the actress, who looks flawless, isn’t one for airs and graces. But the 25-year-old’s openness backfired on a recent holiday in south-east Asia, when she a told a boatload of fellow tourists she was an actress. “We all had a few drinks, and people say, ‘What do you do? Oh, you’re an actor, oh really, in what?’ And you’re like, ‘Umm, Downton Abbey’, and they’re like, ‘Argh!’, and you’re stranded on a boat,” James says. “From then on, I pretended I worked in a cake shop.”
James had better brace herself for more attention: she has a lead role in Kenneth Branagh’s upcoming Cinderella film (due out next year), and is rumoured to be in a romance with former Doctor Who star, Matt Smith.
But there’s a fifth series of Downton to discuss. Surrey-born James joined the show as the Dowager Countess’ fun-loving great-niece in 2012, two years after graduating from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Last year, Rose, who was taken in by the Crawleys when her parents moved abroad, threw herself into the London party scene and enjoyed a romance with jazz singer, Jack Ross — but he called off their engagement.
In series five, Rose will develop a social conscience, volunteering, and matchmaking for widowed former chauffeur, Tom Branson. “She’s growing up a bit,” James says. “I think, after all the drama of last year — falling in love about five times, having her heart broken and then realising, actually, she’s fine — I think she’s ready to take life a bit more slowly. And she feels safe at Downton, which is a feeling Rose never had. She’s always felt quite unstable and unloved. Poor Rose.”
There’s still hope of Rose meeting a suitor.
“For girls that age, that was it — that was what you did, that was what you looked for, that was your future,” says the well-spoken actress.
“You can’t deny that would be part of what’s going to happen for Rose in the foreseeable future. Having said that, she’s not going to settle for anything but head-over-heels love, which is hard to find.”
We’ll also see the return of Rose’s father, played by Peter Egan. “We had the best scenes together, very moving and teary. He’s such a perfect father, and then, on the other hand, she has this mother that’s so difficult,” James says.
“You see why Rose is the way she is, because of how she’s been brought up and the tension of her family life, which escalates this year.”
James counts co-stars Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary) and Laura Carmichael (Lady Edith) as some of her closest friends, but says she’s still getting used to the long periods of downtime between takes.
“I’m trying to figure out, as an actress, how you deal with that kind of boredom — of long hours and early starts and sitting around not doing anything. I find that reading is the best, because you get lost in another world, and then you can come back out fresh.”
Landing a role on the award-winning show — which has been sold to 250 territories — has been life-changing for the actress, who previously starred in the TV series, Just William, and the sporting drama, Fast Girls.
“It’s so hard coming out of drama school to claim your right to be taken seriously, and even get auditions. Now, I’m getting auditions, I know what I’m doing next, I’m so lucky and I really don’t want it to stop,” she says.
“I’m having the best time, and I’m getting to work with people I’d never dreamed I’d work with.”
One of those people is Branagh, who is “mates with half the cast” of Downton and helped allay James’s fears about being typecast in period roles.
“I was like, ‘I need to do something different’, and he said, ‘You just take your time’. I’ve hopefully got a whole career to suddenly mix it up, and it’s good to let an audience get to know you.”
Cinderella also stars Sophie McShera, Downton’s assistant cook, Daisy, as one of the Ugly Sisters.
“Sophie’s so good in it, I can’t wait for you to see her,” says James.
“She’s finally getting a taste of upstairs, and I’m in one dress the whole time.”
Despite taking Branagh’s advice, and saying that she’s happy doing Downton for as long as she can, James admits that “as an actor, you get a bit itchy to do something entirely different”.
She’s just had her first boxing session, to prepare for her role in an upcoming zombie film, “so that’s pretty different.”
“But it’s Pride And Prejudice And Zombies, so it’s still period,” she says, laughing.
“I haven’t quite managed to get away.”
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