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Director Simon Curtis discusses Downton Abbey: A New Era

The residents and staff of the beloved English manor house return in Director Simon Curtis’s romantic period drama, Downton Abbey: A New Era.

Based on the popular television series and a follow-up to the 2019 feature film, Curtis’s film reacquaints us with Crawley family and their servants as some of them venture forth on a grand journey to the South of France to uncover the mystery of the dowager countess’s newly inherited villa, while others remain behind to oversee the shooting of a film at their estate.

On May 21, after the DGA membership screening in Los Angeles, Curtis discussed the making of Downton Abbey: A New Era during a Q&A moderated by Director Amy Holden Jones (The Rich Man's Wife).

During the conversation, Curtis spoke about the challenges of directing a cast that was already so intimately familiar with the material after having been together for nearly a dozen years.

ā€œThe thing that people often say about directing is that every actor has a different version of how you can help them. Sometimes they want a lot of notes sometimes they don’t want any and they go into different versions of that as well. I was very fortunate that I had worked with a lot of these actors before. I had never worked on Downton Abbey before but I had my own history with a lot of them and I’ve been a sort of ā€˜plus one’ on the Downton journey, so I was sort of an insider and an outsider. I think that that greatly helped.ā€

In addition to Downton Abbey: A New Era, Curtis’s other directorial credits include the feature films The Art of Racing in the Rain, Goodbye Christopher Robin, Woman in Gold and My Week with Marilyn; the movies for television Born in the USA, Man and Boy and The Prince of Hearts; and episodes of the series The Practice and Tracey Takes On... Curtis has been a DGA member since 1995.

You can listen to Curtis' Q&A by clicking the podcast episode embedded below. You can find more DGA podcast episodes here.

Pictures

Q&A photos by Elisa Haber – Print courtesy of Focus Features

Director Simon Curtis discussed the making of Downton Abbey: A New Era during the DGA Q&A in Los Angeles.
An image from Director Simon Curtis’s romantic period drama, Downton Abbey: A New Era.
Director Simon Curtis (right) discusses the making of his new romantic period drama, Downton Abbey: A New Era, during a Q&A with Director Amy Holden Jones (moderator) in Los Angeles.
Harry Hadden-Paton, Laura Carmichael, Tuppence Middleton and Allen Leech in Director Simon Curtis’s romantic period drama, Downton Abbey: A New Era.
Director Amy Holden Jones served as the moderator of the conversation with Director Simon Curtis about the making of Curtis’s romantic period drama, Downton Abbey: A New Era, during the DGA Q&A in Los Angeles.
Sophie McShera and Lesley Nicol in Director Simon Curtis’s romantic period drama, Downton Abbey: A New Era.

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7/29/2025 - 8/4/2025

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