Hugh Bonneville on Downtown Abbey’s secret to success | BBC News

Hugh Bonneville on Downtown Abbey’s secret to success | BBC News

The characters that you’ve played um and that you’ve particularly become well known for in America I guess it was I mean it was downt Abby so let’s talk about that that kind of catapulted you I I and some friends spent every Sunday night for about four series of down and

Abby having dinner together watching and our kids there was s of six kids and we would go from house to house we always liked it when we went to our Italian friends the food was better and we would sit and watch downt to Abby and almost everyone I knew was having a similar

Experience and I remember the first time I met you was at the state department I went to you and said Hugh do you realize how big it is here it was just when it was exploding you said I don’t know why it’s just a posh

Soap which it is um and I mean that it’s a compliment to it um Julian fellows uh was a big fan of Coronation Street which is you know one of the longest running soaps uh in the world I think um hugely popular still in Britain and he was a

Big fan of the West Wing and uh scenes that or or rather shows that have tremendous Pace to them and uh and short scenes often usually um and that was one of the characteristics of dtown that it had this this sort of break neck Pace to

It or rather if you got bored of one character there was another one coming along in about 25 seconds so it did have that soap element and certainly for most of this of the show you could say that it was about for example you know tension not violence romance not sex you

Could sit down with your granny you know and with your grandchild and watch it and and that sent of um crossing the generations was something that really I think uh took you know why the show took off that it was became a family experience as you say the other movie I

Guess that I knew you for first and that I think Americans did as well was Notting Hill talking of some rather bumbling um British characters but I have to say I love Bernie and for me he stole the movie I mean Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant but it was there was you had

These short scenes um where you you took the film away was that film for you a kind of breakout moment as well we talked about Danton Abby but I imagine that Notting Hill and what you did with that role Notting Hill was a wonderful experience I have to say

It was my first sort of decent part in a film it all of us had much bigger parts and they ended up on The Cutting Room floor um in order to put the money on the screen Hugh and Julia understandably but uh we had a beautiful it was a

Beautifully written script and really fun to do and with nice people and we had a laugh um and I was in a in a you know a big budget movie for the first time and so what’s not to like I I learned a lot on that film for instance

You know if you’re going to do a dining room scene um be careful what you eat on the wide shop because you’ve got to eat it on every other angle and we doing with you know as you may recall there’s a who’s going to eat the brownie the

Last Brownie and um oh at the end of the dinner party at the end of the dinner party there’s a whole brownie sequence and I like a mug at 8:00 a.m. ate two brownies on the wide shop and and um and so there every there about eight other

Angles you know that day and I ended up having to eat these bloody brownies and I swear to God I went out for dinner that night at a friend’s house and they served brownies and I sort of virtually threw up um uh so I learned I learned

That trick of the trade don’t eat unless you have to what was it like working with a kind of real celeb the first time you I Julia Roberts was Mega still is Mega but was Mega when you worked with her yeah yeah was that it kind of

Daunting scary did you have normal human reactions or well it’s quite funny the days when whatever well I can remember we we rehe we were rehearsing in this freezing cold Church Hall in Notting Hill literally with a sort of gas heater here and we all huddled around and it’s the days

When there was a lot more smoking going on so we’d all be puffing away and Roger Michelle the director and uh uh you know with with with ashr this is before Julia arrived so we had two or three days I think before she arrived and then literally on the day she arrived

Everyone stopped smoking suddenly there was no and she came in I remember her coming in and saying you know high and she was wearing you know jeans and a t-shirt thought a a she’s stunning you know of course she’s got this amazing Radiance about her but also she’s just

Completely normal she’s one of us and she first thing she said was anyone have a cigarette so out came five packets of silk cup um uh so well that’s sort of what the film’s about isn’t it really in a way Notting Hill it’s about that notion of you know normality and

Celebrity and and the and the the trappings that come with it good and bad to do with being in the public eye um you know it’s it’s a tricky one and and you’ve now been in the public ey I mean it must be that was kind of like like

You say about the trappings of do you have moments where you think oh God I just want to be anonymous and yeah I do walk around yeah all all I ever wanted was to be frankly all I ever wanted was to be on stage I I never thought I’d be

On telly or indeed in a film or or or be in the public eye in that way um so it’s it’s a strange it is a strange thing um it’s a strange thing when you’re in a restaurant and you know you’re aware that someone’s taking pictures of you

And you think well you know can I just finish my meal and you know um uh people always say um I’m sorry I don’t normally do this you think well there’s two lies straight away You’re Not Sorry and you do do this and I am in the middle of a

Meal and can I you know can I just finish my meal and then we’ll have a picture outside or something like that so I think the world of the of the camera phone and all that is has changed things a lot have you ever thought of playing an

American can I hear you no go no I’m too self-conscious now I’ve got prop do it no I can’t no I can’t I bet you can no I can with a bit of study but I’m no I’m too self-conscious now um but we did do

Once on um I think it was Steven cber we were doing uh three of us went on three three of us from D went on and he gave us the script and we had to do it and do the characters in American accents which was quite funny so reading Robert as an

American actually I can’t yeah I can’t do it my kids do in are both British and American and when they’re with their American friends they only speak American and when they’re with us they speak British and they can’t switch so if they were with us they couldn’t speak American that’s interesting that’s very

They don’t know how to it’s a language that belongs is an accent that belongs to certain circumstances in their life so I can see why you can’t suddenly turn it on no I should be able to even though you did a very good Romeo no I’m not

Falling for it I’m not Romeo in America yeah right through y window braak he did it a bit like some of your characters and I’m thinking I guess of Bernie particularly in Notting Hill you’re one of the most self-deprecating people I know in real life and on on screen

But so I’m sort of almost not sure if I can ask this question but what is it that makes you such a good actor uh I’m a good listener acting is about listening I think um and there’s a Michael Kane story and he he does he there’s a lovely thing on

YouTube which which I recommend every young actor to watch it’s a a master class he did probably 30 years ago now and in it he talks about when he was on on stage at the Royal Court theater in London you know in his early career and

Um and he had you know no lines or whatever uh he was I he was playing a policeman or something standing at the back of the stage all the interview took place with the you know the copper and the and the and the bad guy and the at

One point the director said to him during rehearsals he said what are you what are you doing Michael he said well I’m not doing anything I’ve got anything to say and he said no you’ve got loads to say you’ve got the world of stuff you could talk about but you choose not to

So that that you in other words keep it alive you know keep the thoughts alive even if you have got a smallish part and actually Julian fellows brought that up at the readr of the very first episode of Downtown Abbey he said go and watch Gosford Park and look at Sophie Thompson

She hasn’t got a lot of lines but she’s absolutely present in every single scene and you and you and you absolutely are inside the head of that character uh which was a very good note so it’s about being present it’s about being and and as I say listening and reacting um it’s

Not just about how many lines you’ve got

The BBC’s Katty Kay speaks to actor Hugh Bonneville, best known for his iconic roles in Downton Abbey, Notting Hill, and Paddington.

He talks about the surprising popularity of Downton Abbey, his role in Notting Hill and what he’s learned from working alongside other great actors.

You’re watching Influential with Katty Kay.

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