‘Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale’ premiere – Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern, Paul Giamatti
right here, please. Thank you kindly. Thank you. Everybody got a seat right here. Right here. Thank you. And straight ahead for me, please. Straight ahead. Straight ahead. Right next to him. What’s it like playing basically a handsome Bernie Maid off? Oh, wow. Um, interesting question, especially since I played Bernie Maidoff’s son in uh, The Wizard of Lies with um, Dairo playing Bernie Maidoff. Um, so it’s full circle in that case. It’s funny. Um, I don’t think of this character as a monster. I mean, it’s hard to think of Bernie any other way. um given the lives that he destroy. Um this guy is just such a small time grifter that um I think he’s probably um actually really kind of fell for Lady Mary and just thought he could benefit from the relationship too. Um but yeah, he’s um he probably grew up less privileged than than this crowd did and probably has some resentment towards them about it and um was just trying to to to get his get his own. Um not something that um I approve of. Of course, it’s it’s become uh you know more and more acceptable these days. uh the grift. But um yeah, uh it’s it’s it’s interesting playing these kinds of roles because you want to find psychologically what’s real about them. Nobody sees himself as the villain of his own story, right? Um you all, you know, I think most people, you know, who end up doing nefarious things, uh you know, think that there’s some kind of good reason for it. and and this guy’s no exception. Um, are you prepared to become maybe known as Sam Navala’s dad? I think I’m already known as I get stopped on the street with people uh wanting to take my picture because I’m Sam Navala’s dad. So, what’s that like? Oh, I love it. He’s the only guy on the planet uh you know who who I can um be be happy about his uh success. Are you I love that. It’s pretty honest. So, are you like a jealous actor? No, not really. I mean, I I you know, in New York, we have a real solidarity amongst all the guys I grew up with, Sam Rockwell, Billy Crudep, and Ethan Hawk, and there’s a whole, you know, Josh Hamilton who’s here tonight. Um there’s a whole bunch of us who were kicking around the city uh 20 years ago and um we’re all pretty good to each other. Uh I heard you say that Sam dropped out of Colombia to do White Lotus. Were you pissed in the beginning cuz do you lose all that tuition money? Uh yeah. Uh, I mean, we well, to be honest, we gained tuition money because, uh, we had set some money aside for him to go there, and when he decided he wasn’t going there, that money got kicked down to his sister. So, she’s got a free ride. Oh, that’s good. Yeah. You Thank God cuz Kaching, right? Yeah. No, we would have been um out of pocket a hefty fee if he’d stayed in for another three years. So, thank you, Sam. And thank you, uh, Mike White. Mike White. Thank you, Mike White, for sure. He’s he’s saved us however many thousands. Uh, tens of thousands. Yeah, maybe even more than that. Um, but yeah. No. Um, yeah, Mike White, uh, brilliant director, shares my birthday, June 28th. Is that like a Happy birthday, Mike. Is that something that we should get out there? Like, I feel like you’re p pulling for a role in the next White Lotus. Oh, no, no. I’m pulling for him to send me a birthday present. Oh, okay. Good. All right. Thanks so much. What was it like kind of playing the village idiot of this movie? It was actually really fun playing a not very smart guy, right? Yeah, it really was playing kind of a hless like, you know, I’m not a bad guy, you know, not a bad guy and I’m kind of an idiot. Yeah, I enjoyed that actually. I really did. It’s nice. I usually have to play people who are hyper smart and it was actually nice to play the dumb guy. Is it hard to play someone dumb at the moment? Um, no, not for me it’s not. No, I actually think playing smarter is harder. But yeah, but but it was it was actually really fun. When you read the script, were you like, seriously? Oh my god, did he be that stupid? No, I think I was actually really kind of happy to play the guy who was like kind of a sucker and kind of a bit of a schmuck, but not a bad guy. I really was. Yeah. No, I mean, he really screws everything up. I thought it was very funny that this random character that I played once in the series comes in and screws everything up like this. I thought it was kind of funny. I like Right. Because you do nearly out down really kind of Yeah. screw everything up really badly. I know. That was great. Um and uh is it fun to I mean I imagine shooting there. I mean in gorgeous. It’s gorgeous. The grounds are really crazy. I didn’t get to shoot there when I did the Christmas show years ago. So, I was really psyched to be there. It’s crazy. The guy who was the lord of it was one of the guys that actually who funded the excavation of King Tut’s tomb. So, there was supposedly a curse on him and so there’s all this weird Egyptian stuff in the basement. It’s weird. Did you feel uber American when you were there? Yes, I feel uber American when I’m in England at all, you know, which is the president. But do you feel I I almost cuz your accent is to me it’s very New Yorky like almost New York. Well like Bugs Bunny like Yeah. What’s going on? Do you know what I mean? Like Sure. Sure. Yeah. And I probably play that up for this guy too. He’s supposed to be this kind of like he thinks he’s this kind of high roller New York rich guy. Right. But he I like in the end they’re like, “Oh, he’s going to be rich cuz he’s going to he’s going to he’s going to make money off. He’s not so dumb. So stupid.
Elizabeth McGovern, Michelle Dockery, Laura Carmichael, and Joanne Froggatt and more of the “Downton Abbey” cast lit up the “Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale” premiere in New York. Page Six has exclusive interviews with Alessandro Nivola and Paul Giamatti about their roles in the show.
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