‘Downton Abbey’ Director: Realy of Craftg a Closeted Gay Romance – IndieWire

Contents:

• DOWNTON ABBEY’S ROB JAM-COLLIER REVEALS REACTN TO ‘HORRIFIC’ GAY STORYLE
• DOWNTON ABBEY ACTOR SAYS GAY ROLE HURT HIS CAREER — BUT IS HE RIGHT?
• ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ ACTOR SAYS PLAYG A GAY CHARACTER HAS LEFT HIM “TYPEST”
• DOWNTON ABBEY'S CREEPY GAY SECRET
• ROB JAM-COLLIER SAYS HIS CHARACTER’S GAY ROMANCE IN ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ MOVIE IS ‘LOVELY’
• THE ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ MOVIE GAY BAR SCENE IS ACTUALLY PRETTY HISTORILLY ACCURATE
• DOWNTON'S ROBERT JAM-COLLIER OPENS UP ABOUT 'HORRIFIC' GAY STORYLE
• ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ DIRECTOR DISCS THE REALI OF CRAFTG A 1920S CLOSETED GAY ROMANCE
• THE ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ MOVIE’S GAY STORYLE ALMOST HAD A DARKER ENDG
• DOWNTON ABBEY'S ROB JAM-COLLIER SAYS NEW FILM SH A LIGHT ON 'HORRIFIC' TREATMENT OF GAY PEOPLE IN 1920S
• DOWNTOWN ABBEY: THE NEW ERA – EVERYONE’S FAVORE GAY CHARACTER RETURNS
• DOWNTON ABBEY'S THOMAS BARROW AND THE FUTURE OF THE GAY PAST
• ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ DIRECTOR DISCS THE REALI OF CRAFTG A 1920S CLOSETED GAY ROMANCE
• THE ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ MOVIE’S GAY STORYLE ALMOST HAD A DARKER ENDG
• ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ STAR ROB JAM-COLLIER RECEIV BACKLASH AFTER GAY TYPESTG COMMENTS

DOWNTON ABBEY’S ROB JAM-COLLIER REVEALS REACTN TO ‘HORRIFIC’ GAY STORYLE

Robert returns as Thomas (Picture: ITV)Former Corrie star Robert Jam-Collier has revealed his own reactn to landg an important gay storyle the upg Downton Abbey film. The actor, who plays valet-turned-butler Thomas Barrow for the big-screen outg, after starrg the ITV drama, said his plotle shows the treatment of beg a gay man the 1920s. Speakg of beg given the opportuny to lift the lid on what was like, Jam said was an emotnal sight to a horrific perd for gay people.

He’s opened up on his important storyle (Picture: PA)He ntued: ‘It also hammers home what was like to be a gay man those tim, was horrific and ’s brought back and jt shows how different was. Robert Jam-Collier is known ternatnally for his role as Thomas Barrow, the v gay unrbutler who brought trigue to the halls of Downton the perd drama, Barrow hid his sexual orientatn for fear would hurt his reer.

DOWNTON ABBEY ACTOR SAYS GAY ROLE HURT HIS CAREER — BUT IS HE RIGHT?

And the straight actor who portrays him, Jam-Collier, believ this character's inty may have had nsequenc the morn-day real world as, an terview wh Rad Tim, said his renown for playg a gay role hred his chanc Hollywood.

‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ ACTOR SAYS PLAYG A GAY CHARACTER HAS LEFT HIM “TYPEST”

N intify que easily wh the qutsential English gent and English lady, whereas a nrotic, dark, gay character like Thomas is a hard thg to put to the Amerin market. "Bee Thomas Barrow is gay and is, sentially, the bad guy for much of the show, a lot of people wh the dtry n only see you as that. He received offers for gay rol the theater world, which he refed bee he "really wanted to show somethg different.

" He is now set to appear the upg horror movie The Rual, one of his first major parts sce Jam-Collier did enunter hurdl Hollywood for playg a gay role, his experience would be an exceptn -- at least morn tim. There are straight actors who have turned down gay rol for var reasons, cludg a fear would lim future opportuni.

Will Smh said he limed the physily of his gay role Six Degre of Separatn, on a warng om Denzel Washgton, who said, "You n act all you want, but don't do any physil scen.... "But overall, Hollywood is full of straight actors who have won acclaim, awards, and a uful reer after playg gay rol. Downton Abbey star Rob Jam-Collier has suggted that playg a gay character the show has hurt his reer.

DOWNTON ABBEY'S CREEPY GAY SECRET

“I thk dienc the US n intify que easily wh the qutsential English gent and English lady, ” he said, “whereas a nrotic, dark, gay character like Thomas is a hard thg to put to the Amerin market.

“Bee Thomas Barrow is gay and is, sentially, the bad guy for much of the show, a lot of people wh the dtry n only see you as that, ” the actor ntued. Jam-Collier also revealed that he has turned down theatril rol “which happened to be gay characters” sce Downton Abbey fished bee he “really wanted to show somethg different”.

ROB JAM-COLLIER SAYS HIS CHARACTER’S GAY ROMANCE IN ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ MOVIE IS ‘LOVELY’

The actns were fueled O'Brien's fluence, as she suggted to Jimmy that he would be spected of beg gay himself if he didn't act. The most fascatg gay villa on televisn is Downton Abbey's schemg unr-butler Thomas Barrow, played wh smolrg menace by the darkly handsome Rob many characters on the wildly popular Brish seri, Barrow is a mass of ntradictns.

He attempts to blackmail a gay aristocrat season 1, yet he falls unrequed love wh pretty boy footman Jimmy, whose life he sav, season the season 5 premiere alone, Barrow tri to blackmail lady's maid Baxter to revealg dirt on the valet Mr. Bat, yet he rcu Lady Edh and sav the day when the hoe tch 's villay is rooted his seethg rentment of his aristocratic employers, but more importantly, the fact that he's a closeted gay man a time when homosexualy was punishable by gay storyle is takg a dark and creepy turn the current season, which ma s U.

All signs suggt that he's attemptg some 1920s versn of gay "nversn" an terview wh Brish tabloid The Sun, Jam-Collier hted that his character's journey will get much worse before gets better:"It's fally dawned on Thomas he isn't gog to be allowed to love and he may give up that partment. At the time was illegal and agast God to be gay, so he's got this tremendo cross to bear.

THE ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ MOVIE GAY BAR SCENE IS ACTUALLY PRETTY HISTORILLY ACCURATE

Yet viewers both gay and straight will likely be transfixed by what's gog to happen to Barrow. Downton Abbey star Rob Jam-Collier has spoken out about his character’s gay storyle the six-season seri and now, film, Downton Abbey. More than that moment of romance, though, Downton Abbey fally giv portrays the secret gay subculture of 1920s England.

In the new film, Thomas Barrow (Robert Jam-Collier) gets to vis a gay bar lled Turton's. But once they're si, Thomas se that 's a secret bar filled wh gay men drkg, dancg, and generally havg a good time. A Vice article about the history of UK gay bars not that 18th century spac for gay men to meet that were known as "molly ho" are well-documented, but that siar meetg spac existed long before that.

Historian Peter Ackroyd told the Guardian 2017, "As a percentage of the populatn, there were as many gay bars 18th-century London as there are today.

DOWNTON'S ROBERT JAM-COLLIER OPENS UP ABOUT 'HORRIFIC' GAY STORYLE

" In 1912, a bar lled The Cave of the Goln Calf, Bra's "first 'gay bar', as we know today", opened London, but was around for only two years. It wasn't until the Sexual Offens Act of 1967 that homosexual relatnships were crimalized, but that did not mean that there was full equaly Bra.

‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ DIRECTOR DISCS THE REALI OF CRAFTG A 1920S CLOSETED GAY ROMANCE

Robert Jam-Collier has revealed his reactn after beg given a gay story le the upg film. The former Corrie star has spoken out about the treatment of his character of beg a gay man the 1920s. Robert, who plays butler Thomas Barrow, says that he got an emotnal sight to what was like for gay people this perd.

‘It also hammers home what was like to be a gay man those tim, was horrific and ’s brought back and jt shows how different was. It seemed that was Thomas’ bt chance at happs as a closeted gay man 1920s England. After all, he hadn’t had much luck love the past, and homosexualy was emed a crime at the time.

Left to his own vic, Thomas starts hangg out wh one of the royal servants and eventually stumbl upon an unrground gay nightclub full of men dancg, lghg, and drkg. “In pictg that world, that gatherg that he go to, we had to fd a way to tell that didn’t feel anachronistic even though there’s almost no rearch that one uld actually do about a place like that bee there was no gay bars York 1927, ” said Engler. Although there were rerds of tablishments London where gay men uld gather, those were primarily for procurg sex partners.

THE ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ MOVIE’S GAY STORYLE ALMOST HAD A DARKER ENDG

There’s people of lor gay bars, and there’s guys who go to the gym and are mcle-y gay bars.

Later, when the royal retue is about to take their leave of Downton, Richard reveals that he’s also gay and hop Thomas will stay touch. Thomas Barrow, Downton Abbey‘s valet-turned-butler, whose dark journey durg the seri saw him take some wrenchg steps to try and “cure” himself of homosexualy, received a much more hopeful treatment the new feature film of the same name. The film, which troduc Barrow to a world he has never seen before, a clanste unrground social scene where gay men n openly nnect, where he's led by Richard Ellis (Max Brown), part of the royal entourage that has e to vis Downton.

Engler also spoke about the gay storyle wh Indiewire, about some of the choic that were ma when pictg the 1920s gay scene, particular the gay ‘speakeasy' that gets raid. Said Engler: “In pictg that world, that gatherg that he go to, we had to fd a way to tell that didn't feel anachronistic even though there's almost no rearch that one uld actually do about a place like that bee there was no gay bars York 1927. There's people of lor gay bars, and there's guys who go to the gym and are mcle-y gay bars.

DOWNTON ABBEY'S ROB JAM-COLLIER SAYS NEW FILM SH A LIGHT ON 'HORRIFIC' TREATMENT OF GAY PEOPLE IN 1920S

Downton Abbey actor Rob Jam-Collier has revealed how the new film explor the “horrific” treatment of gay people the early 20th has played Downton staff member Thomas Barrow the ITV perd drama sce s but 2010, wh the character eventually promoted to head butler s fal was revealed to be gay early on the show’s n, which is explored further the new Jam-Collier as Thomas BarrowFoc FeaturSpeakg to PA news agency, Rob said Barrow’s storyle almost feels like a “separate film”, revealg: “You see Thomas disver a whole new world, and that is closer to who he is and there is a joy there, but then that joy may get taken away but ’s a very emotnal, Thomas’s journey.

DOWNTOWN ABBEY: THE NEW ERA – EVERYONE’S FAVORE GAY CHARACTER RETURNS

”He ntued: “It also hammers home what was like to be a gay man those tim, was horrific and ’s brought back and jt shows how different was.

However, for LGBTQ+ fans of Downton Abbey, there will be even more excement to see the return of gay character Thomas Barrow, who will be portrayed once aga by Rob Jam-Collier. Barrow is not jt a gay character, he’s not jt an openly gay character, and he’s not jt a gay character played by an openly gay actor.

DOWNTON ABBEY'S THOMAS BARROW AND THE FUTURE OF THE GAY PAST

Homosexualy the early 20th century. When Downton Abbey buted 2010, set self apart om other perd dramas by featurg a gay character — Thomas. Though homosexualy was illegal England until 1967, Julian Fellow ma sure to clu Thomas as part of his ensemble st.

In a past terview wh the Prs Associatn, Rob said his character’s storyle picts the cel treatment of beg a gay man way back the 1920s.

‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ DIRECTOR DISCS THE REALI OF CRAFTG A 1920S CLOSETED GAY ROMANCE

And even though he had to al wh homophobia om other members of staff and society, he still found ways to make work for himself and, the end, managed to fd happs. Thomas Barrow (Rob Jam-Collier)—former footman, would-be blackmailer, and early morn homosexual everyman—is now head butler on staff, givg him ample opportuny to teract wh the visg stars, and particular, wh the bonair Guy Dexter (Domic Wt). Is Thomas an accurate unveilg of historil homosexualy, hidn but fully formed, jt wag for to notice his existence?

THE ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ MOVIE’S GAY STORYLE ALMOST HAD A DARKER ENDG

Hello to the future of the gay past.

‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ STAR ROB JAM-COLLIER RECEIV BACKLASH AFTER GAY TYPESTG COMMENTS

In the film, dienc will see Barrow the ntext of a wir gay world for the first time: visg a secret gay bar, dodgg police harassment, and possibly even fdg love. "I thk one of the thgs that Downton Abbey don’t get right is that actually a great al more of those young men who were service were homosexual. Barrow is stantly regnizable as a morn gay man, even if he never que those words.