If this actor, screenwriter and congressman born in Egypt into an English aristocratic family has achieved anything, it is to turn his name into a true brand, and at the same time a guarantee of quality. After creating a real sensation in his country and in the world with the ambitious Downtown Abbey, who has also written novels, directed films and won an Oscar for the screenplay of Gosford Park, he delighted those who watched the first season of The Golden Age on HBO Max . In the presentation of the second installment, which arrives this Monday on the platform in Spain, Julian Fellowes explained some of the decisions he made when continuing the story of the new rich of New York in the 1880s.
In this second season, many of the characters find love...
Love usually plays a very important role in most people's lives. The biggest mistakes we make and the moments when we act really stupid are usually linked to love. That's why I feel like it's always good to show your characters in love, because that allows you to take them into areas that they usually wouldn't go into if they weren't clouded by the ailments of the heart. But also, we use love in this season, and I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, to show you who Ada (Cynthia Nixon) truly is.
And who is it?
So far we have only seen one aspect of her as the overpowered sister and the one who is always willing to help her sister Agnes (Christine Baranski). But there's so much more to her that we wanted to include. Ada has an emotional dimension that there were some glimpses of last season, but that we hadn't properly explored. And in this season it is something that can be clearly seen. Also, I think we were very fortunate to hire two new actors who helped us tell this part of the story.
Are you surprised that there are so many parallels between what takes place in the series in the 19th century and today?
Sure and it's something I've always enjoyed. That was one of the things that attracted me to do this series, because I've been interested in The Golden Age of New York for a long time. That's why I found the strike part very interesting because it shows you the other side of the world of unscrupulous capitalists. It's true, there are these men with their beautiful wives full of diamonds who enter with their tiaras into magnificent dining rooms where all the dishes are decorated with gold. But then there's the whole other part, which is how they make the money.
And how do they do it?
In that world of millionaires who lived in luxurious mansions, workers had no rights. They did not have any kind of protection, because the security measures were too expensive. That meant that if there was an accident, no one would come back from it. There were no labor restrictions and employers did not pay taxes either. It was a paradise reality for them. On the other hand, unfortunately people made a living by putting their lives at risk every day. I wanted to show that in the series. I am of the theory that Queen Elizabeth of England never wanted to personally meet Mary, Queen of Scots because she knew that if she did she would not be able to execute him if she needed to. And I think that's true for many relationships in our lives, where we can deal with people while we don't know them or take their emotions into account when making a decision.
The strike that serves as the framework for this second season is based on real events, right?
It is based on the true story of Andrew Carnegie and the Homestead Strike, which took place in 1892, eight years later, when another of the steel barons, Henry Clay Frick, got the governor to send his soldiers. And following Frick's orders, he opened fire on his own workers. Today we look at the collection of art he left in his museum in New York and it is truly enjoyable, but Frick was a terrible man.
While working on the script with Sonja Warfield, were you wondering how the production team would then be able to recreate all those opulent scenes?
No, that would have been mean. I only write those scenes because I have tremendous faith in his talent. Otherwise I would have to hide behind the couch. But it is true that we try to open the world a little more this season. And of course Bob Shaw, our art director, and Kasia Walicka Maimone, our costume director, rose to the occasion. In this type of series you depend on having the right people to be able to capture what you write on the screen. And the same way you hire dancers in a ballet, the people you choose have to be able to dance. And that doesn't depend on you, but on them. You have to forget about yourself in these types of things and know that you have the right people to achieve what you dreamed of. After the first season, I knew I didn't have to be nervous about anything he wrote.
