“I’m Michael Engler, and I directed ‘Downton Abbey.’ At this point in the movie, the king and queen and their retinue have arrived, and they’re staying at Downton. And this is the big banquet dinner that they’re all going to be at together. And the servants at Downton have found out that they won’t be actually serving the king and queen, and the royal staff is going to be serving. And so there’s been this conspiracy to replace them and to restore the glory of Downton by having the staff serve and make dinner for the king and queen.” “Tom, you’re looking pleased with yourself.” “He was just praising Lady Bagshaw’s maid.” “There’s always a certain amount of tension between individual agendas and behavior and then what is expected of one and of the group.” “This is good. I thought something else was planned. But it is excellent. So a well done too old Courbet.” “This wasn’t Monsieur Courbet, Your Majesty. Mrs. Patmore cooked it. In fact, it is the Downton Abbey staff who are serving you this evening.” “That sets it up so that the contrast of when Molesley, who was supposed to be seen and not heard, he speaks up, and all eyes are on him. You know, I wanted these very long, formal, static shots of—” “I do beg your pardon, Your Majesty.” “The people at the table looking at him, try to include as many people as possible so you could see how big a room had been quieted by this and was focused and stilled. But also we played around with, well what shall we do with the score, here? What should it feel like and all that. And then in the end we played the absolute silence except for the light ticking of the clock. Kevin Doyle who plays Molesley is a brilliant actor. And because he is so real and he can play the most dramatic moments, but he is also fearless comically and really, really funny.” “I suppose he’s excited that they’ve had to take over from our people. I wonder what’s happened.” “Whatever may have happened does not excuse his behavior.” “I can assure you, Lady Grantham, we are quite used to people behaving strangely when we are near.” [LAUGHTER]