Downton Abbey movie is looking good to go as Maggie Smith now said to be attached

Downton Abby would definitely take well to the big screen, and the chances of it actually happening are certainly looking up.

Maggie Smith received an Emmy award for her performance as Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham, for the show last weekend.

Smith had previously expressed scepticism about being involved with the film. She was worried her character’s advancing years would exclude her from making an appearance.

She has said, ‘I can’t – what age would she be? By the time we finished, she must have been about 110. It couldn’t go on and on, it just didn’t make sense.’

However, at a BBC America BAFTA event in LA last weekend, her co-star Michael Fox, who plays Andy Parker on the show, said that Smith signing on meant the film would not only go ahead but be the better for it.

He said: ‘She elevates it to something else, because she is such a legend and a national treasure. It becomes a different show.

‘The film without her would still be good with all the other actors, but it puts a stamp of quality with her in it.’

At the same event, show creator and writer Julian Fellowes also expressed enthusiasm about the movie project.

‘I think it will be fun to get everyone together,’ he said, ‘and move it to a larger scale because you have got more money to spend.’

Reportedly most of the rest of the cast are ‘still up for it’. Production is due to start in 2017 but plot lines and release dates are being kept under wraps.

Via Mail Online