EXCLUSIVE: Kevin Doyle Talks Mr. Molesley’s Journey in Downton Abbey: A New Era

Downton Abbey: A New Era is gearing up to be released in the United States this Friday, May 20, and we got the chance to talk to one of the stars of the new movie, Kevin Doyle.

Doyle plays  Mr. Molesley and during our interview with the star we talked the role Molesley plays in the new film, working with the film’s director, Simon Curtis, and so much more. Check out what he had to say below.

Were you surprised when you read the script and found out just how big a part Mr. Molesley plays in the film?

“Absolutely. You never know what’s going to occur when you read a Downton Abbey script, whether you’ll survive the film or not. So, you open the script with a certain amount of trepidation. What’s going to be revealed for these characters? And so, it was great fun. I hadn’t appreciated beforehand Mr. Molesley’ s, enthusiasm for movies and movie making. But yeah, he fully embraces it. It was great fun to do all of that.”

You have a new director to the Downton family, Simon Curtis. What was it like working with him on the film?

“Simon Curtis is married to Elizabeth McGovern. So, he knew the Downton family very well, and he knew the setup and he would occasionally make trips to the set when we were filming. When we found out, it was, oh, of course. Of course, he’s directing it. That makes so much sense. And he’s a brilliant director as well. He rang each of us in turn and talked to us about our roles in the movie, which I thought was a lovely thing.”

Because he was a new director to the family, did you more input in how Molesley was crafted in this film?

“I didn’t try to affect it in any way. Simon knew that, as you said, we’d all been playing these parts for so long that we knew best, really, how the characters would respond in certain situations. Simon had a very light touch in that respect. He respected what we knew and what we’d done previously. We all just responded to the text, really, it was all on the page.”

Your character has grown so much since we first met him many moons ago, was there anything you learned about Molesley over the years that really surprised you about the character?

“No, I don’t think surprised me. What’s been lovely is the fact that Julian was an actor himself, and one of his great gifts as a writer has been his ability to acknowledge what the actors in the show have brought to the characters. There was a template for those characters, which we all followed, but we all brought our own life experiences and intelligence to the part. He’s responded to that over the years, and so it’s been a very, in everybody’s case I think, it’s been a very organic journey for everybody.”

How so?

“It’s been a slow evolution for everybody. You can see everybody over that 15-year period has changed so much. They’ve all had extraordinary journeys. When you think about the character of Thomas [Rob James-Collier], for instance, how much his journey has changed. And Daisy [Sophie McShera]. You can pick any of them, I think, and they’ve all had remarkable experiences.”

What about Molesley in particular. Are you satisfied with his journey?

“It’s been an absolute gift, actually, this role. As I’ve said in previous interviews, I’ve assumed at the end of this TV series that was the end of it. I’d been really happy with that because I thought Mr. Molesley had a fantastic ending to the TV series, getting his job as the schoolteacher. I thought that was a beautiful ending for him. But Julian had other ideas. And so, he’s managed to come up with a spectacular idea for this movie. I don’t know where Mr. Molesley goes next. Who knows?”

Where would you like to see him go? If we do get another movie or series?

“I have no idea. I’ve absolutely no idea. Because if you’d have asked me this three years ago, when we were doing the publicity for the first movie, I would’ve said, well, as I said, he’s very happy in his life, in everything that he’s accomplished. I can’t imagine life getting any better for him. Then suddenly, this movie life gets sort of extraordinarily better for him. His whole life changes on screen. His whole life changes in 10 minutes. Which is, when you think about it, extraordinary. Isn’t it? His whole life is turned 180 degrees, both sort of personally and professionally. If we were to explore this journey anymore, I’ve no idea what would happen.”

If this is end, would you be happy with how things are left for Molesley?

“If this is the end, what’s lovely is that for every character I think the audience can imagine their future lives without us necessarily showing it to them. It’s nice to leave it to the audience’s imagination.”

As I said earlier, you have played this character for years, is there a character after all of these years that you wish Mr. Molesley would interact more with?

“I don’t think I ever had a scene with Lady Edith [Laura Carmichael]. I’ve always found her journey a really interesting one, partly because so little was expected of her at that time. She was expected to get married, have children, raise a family and that’s it, but she wanted more. And what Julian [Fellowes] did so wonderfully, I think, throughout the TV series and into the movies was explore how the role of women in society, in Britain certainly, changed over a relatively short period of time. 12 years their lives became well, I suppose better in as much as they had more choice, and they got the vote for the most part. That’s been the great thing about Downton Abbey, actually, is Julian’s exploration of change throughout society over that period over that 15-year period. And Lady Edith’s journey has mirrored that series of changes.”

As we wrap, I leave you with this final question. What are you hoping fans get from the movie?

“ Well, I hope it brings them back to the cinema. I think it’s a film that’s made for the cinema, it looks so fantastic on the big screen. Fantastic. I hope people feel confident enough to go back there to the movie theaters and have that sense of community. Because that’s something everybody’s missed. Isn’t it? Over the last few years. That sort of sense of community, enjoying an experience together. Apart from what they see on the screen, I hope they sort of regain some kind of confidence about living and being together again.”

*This interview has been edited for length and clarity