“The thing about Mary is that she’s incredibly strong and has already been through quite a lot. Before Matthew died, she lost a sister and went through the whole scandal with Pamuk and Richard Carlisle. She’s really been through the mill. And what’s wonderful to play is the whole British, stiff-upper-lip thing. You keep calm and carry on. She’s not weak. She’s a survivor. So she will come through it.” — Michelle Dockery

Remember guys, Mary Crawley is a strong, complex, wonderful, [insert thesaurus results for strong here] woman. That is UNTIL Matthew dies and she must mourn him for the rest of her life and never find the courage to actually know she can and deserves to move on.

michaelpalin:

Alain Fabien Delon at Cannes, 21st May 2013

byebyebananas:

bodaciouscans:

Michelle Dockery just finished a long day of filming at Highclere Castle, the Hampshire, England, country house that always looks so lovely on “Downton Abbey,”even though most spring days there, like this particular one, are wet and windy. Before heading off to a late dinner with “Downton” creator Julian Fellowes (“I’m going to try to find out some story lines, but it’s like getting blood out of a stone,” Dockery good-naturedly complains), the Emmy-nominated actress took a break to talk to The Envelope about where her character, Lady Mary, might be heading in the wake of the shocking Season 3 finale death of her beloved husband, Matthew (Dan Stevens).

So how far along are you in shooting the new season?

We’re almost halfway through. We’re filming episodes 5 and 6.

Lady Mary’s wedding …

Oh, no, not yet! [Laughs.] She hasn’t moved on that quickly!

Some worry she will move on too quickly. She must mourn Matthew! Properly!

And she will. There’s no way she’ll fall for someone that quickly. Matthew was the love of her life. But …

I knew there was going to be a “but …”

Well, the predicament that Mary’s in now is that she does need to find someone eventually. She has the heir to Downton, she has baby George and she is under pressure to find someone. In that world, women had to find someone. It was all about marriage and who you’d spend the rest of your life with.

Judging from what I’ve read, potential suitors are making a beeline to Downton.

Oh, they are! Yes! She’s an eligible bachelorette. It’s exciting. We’ve got some great actors joining the show.

Were you surprised when Dan decided to leave “Downton”?

Initially, I was very sad to hear he was going. It has been strange not having him around because we had become very good friends and had done pretty much every scene together for three years. But the positive is that it’s opened a huge door of opportunity for storytelling. How is Mary going to survive without her Matthew? Her world is completely turned upside down.

Which gives you more drama to play than, say, Mary not getting enough sleep because baby George has been crying all night.

Yes! There’s more drama in misery, though I suppose not getting enough sleep would be miserable too.

In England, the “Downton” finale, which ended with that close-up on Matthew’s lifeless eyes and bleeding skull, aired on Christmas. Nothing quite says “happy holidays” like a shocking death.

I was watching it with my family, and none of them knew. My mom was in tears. She couldn’t believe it. It slightly ruined the day for a lot of people.

Did Matthew’s death need to be that graphic?

It had to seem final! We couldn’t leave it open because it would be brutal if people were wondering if he was still alive. I remember when I first read it, I was just in a flood of tears. It was the finality of mine and Dan’s time together on the show. But then I thought, “Wow! The audience will really be shocked!” And because the rumor got out that Dan was leaving, people were prepared for it.

And now even midway through filming the upcoming season, you have no idea where Fellowes is taking Mary?

I haven’t a clue. And that’s what’s brilliant about the show. Julian writes as he goes along, and the story develops from each set of rushes he watches. The thing about Mary is that she’s incredibly strong and has already been through quite a lot. Before Matthew died, she lost a sister and went through the whole scandal with Pamuk and Richard Carlisle. She’s really been through the mill. And what’s wonderful to play is the whole British, stiff-upper-lip thing. You keep calm and carry on. She’s not weak. She’s a survivor. So she will come through it.

Just not too quickly …

It will take a long time. I promise. 

I don’t even know why people are still complaining over their completely denied and made up worries about season 4 tbh. You hate it without Matthew, I can get it, I’ve quit some shows for less I swear. I’m a quitter, if I don’t like something I stop watching and caring about it so to me that’s completely understandable. To me it’s even understandable being free to hate the situation as it is but

What I don’t get is how people try to spread panic telling a story about the horrible s4 they have in their mind. ‘Mary can’t move on so quickly’ ‘ugh why does she need another man’ ‘I hate that they’ll write her another love story’ and I’m like JFC ARE YOU EVEN READING INTERVIEWS or are you just giving verbal form to your inner fears without even bothering to check what is going on?

Because so far everybody has been telling us that:

a) Mary won’t emotionally move on quickly but
b) Mary is socially pressured to move on because a rich woman who will legally run an estate and an inheritance until her child is of age is threatening to the 1922’s patriarchy system so they want her settled with someone because…young fertile single Lady? Historically, they wanted to put a ring on it. OF COURSE she’s pressured and that’s a fucking true and interesting issue, to see the hoard of suitors she will have! It doesn’t mean she’ll bed them. b2) But think back to s1 when she was the one supposedly hunting men and the Duke turned her down because her dowry wasn’t enough. Now she is the price everybody wants to win, with money and an estate and power she’s the one noblemen (often on the brink of financial ruin) will need to marry. She owns the waiting room now. She has a fucking secretary and has her tell all the men she’s in a meeting while she’s really watching cats videos on youtube because she’s the boss. Karma!
c) Her storyline as producers/writers have actually told us: raising a child alone while fighting off all the family/social influences who will want to tell her how to do it and have control over the baby (single mom issues!); taking her rightful place as Matthew’s widow in the management of Downton, being now co-proprietor and therefore having a say in how her father runs it (top-manager working single mom!); mourning the freaking love of her life; and if the past has taught us anything, is that Mary is basically involved in everybody else’s lives because family is her highest value, for all her being realistic and beautifully cynical. So
d) yes she will need to move on but I don’t see why ppl think that season 4 will be about Mary finding a man to love. Jesus. 

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

god seriously at this point people are just whining to whine, just don’t watch season 4 if you don’t want to stop trying to act like you know everything that’s going to go down. and if you hate that mary’s end game won’t be matthew - blame the guy who decided to leave because there was no realistic way season 4 was not going to happen

camaelczarka:

never seen this at all! what bunch of sexy freaks

kavan30013:

lesleepingcat:

In this new interview with Michelle Dockery that can be found her : http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-en-michelle-dockery-20130530,0,7478122.story

We can read this :

*****

“Some worry she will move on too quickly. She must mourn Matthew! Properly!

And she will. There’s no…

This forever.

It’s absolutely ridiculous that DA isn’t even waiting a year to put Mary back on the marriage track.

I feel like JF wants us to pity Mary because of the social mores and gender discrimination of the time but at the same time he never writes anything that challenges that discrimination. Oddly its like JF thinks Mary is a victim, and yet he never allows her to really challenge the system or the mores of the time.

Like you said why doesn’t Mary decide to run DA herself? Why can’t she focus on raising the heir? Those would be compelling stories and give her story a full circle moment. Instead JF just goes back to oh Mary has to get married. That’s the kind of stuff that would really challenge MD and give her meatier material to play.

Even if JF wants Mary to find love again, the timeline here is being rushed and its about the least interesting story JF could write. For all the oh DS leaving offers new opportunities, the spoilers just suggest JF had no real new ideas and is returning to S1 themes.

And spare me the this isn’t about a man. Uh yeah it is. Because the pov of this series isn’t Mary changing post Matthew or Mary adapting its oh Mary needs a new man because x, y, z.  It’s more of the Mary must be in a romance even if her husband hasn’t been dead long enough for it to make any sense that she’s being pushed at men again.

It’s just piss poor lack of imagination based writing. It’s why I do feel S4 is going to be awful. It’s like JF and GN put no thought in how to restructure the show after Matthew died and just went back to oh make Mary cold, give her suitors etc. Instead of trying to really create something new and different he’s going back to S1. The problem is Mary is almost a decade older. Yet its oh cold Mary, Mary with suitors, etc. It’s writing at its laziest.

And it baffles me that they really think this is going to work. Will DA still be popular, oh sure. But creatively its increasingly obvious the show is running on fumes and refusing to do anything new or different.

WOW all this premature whining are we reading the same articles?  Michelle said it will take a long time before Mary moves on but at the same time acknowledging that it is important for women at that time to find a good marriage. Also your line of reasoning supposes that there is somewhat something wrong with women wanting to have a man in their life. Mary is still young and she has needs (yes, the sexual kind) to be quite honest. And afaik, GN and JF have made references to Mary taking a huge role in running the estate. You people are just choosing to ignore all of these to keep on complaining about Mary daring to move on in the future. This is so much premature complaining - do you already have the series 4 scripts or something since you seem to know exactly what is going to happen?

volchitza replied to your post: Keira, Mary, James/Keira, the name Don Stovens (lmao), obsession with Keiras jaw really

im behind the times because I dont care about Stoves lmao and anyway really KEIRAs JAW and did you ship Rupert/Keira? man, I know I did

good on u because he sucks

i did!!!!!! but i ship her more w other ppls like james mcavoy cillian murphy orlando bloom circa pirates days lmao. her most goodlooking bf is still jamie dornan imo but i did ship keira/rupert !!! i never shipped keira/righton since they started dating i’ve always been against it lol