Julian Fellow on the 'Prediment of Beg Gay' 'Downton Abbey'

Contents:

• 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
• DOWNTON ABBEY ACTOR SAYS GAY ROLE HURT HIS CAREER — BUT IS HE RIGHT?
• DOWNTOWN ABBEY: THE NEW ERA – EVERYONE’S FAVORE GAY CHARACTER RETURNS
• ROB JAM-COLLIER SAYS HIS CHARACTER’S GAY ROMANCE IN ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ MOVIE IS ‘LOVELY’
• ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ ACTOR SAYS PLAYG A GAY CHARACTER HAS LEFT HIM “TYPEST”
• THE DIRECTOR OF “DOWNTON ABBEY” OPENED UP ABOUT THE MOVIE’S TOUCHG GAY STORYLE
• DOWNTON ABBEY'S CREEPY GAY SECRET
• ‘DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA’: JULIAN FELLOW MOLED THOMAS BARROW AND GUY DEXTER AFTER SEVERAL REAL-LIFE GAY CELEBRI
• THE ‘DOWNTON ABBEY’ MOVIE’S GAY STORYLE ALMOST HAD A DARKER ENDG
• DOWNTON ABBEY STAR MOVED BY GAY STORYLE NEW MOVIE
• ACTOR ANDREW HAYN-SMH SAYS DOWNTON ABBEY ACTOR’S GAY TYPEST PROBLEM IS WRONG
• DOWNTON ABBEY'STHOMAS AT A GAY BAR WH THE DOWAGER? IT COULD HAPPEN
• ‘DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA’: JULIAN FELLOW MOLED THOMAS BARROW AND GUY DEXTER AFTER SEVERAL REAL-LIFE GAY CELEBRI

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

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?

Hello to the future of the gay past.

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.

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

Barrow is stantly regnizable as a morn gay man, even if he never que those words. Gooch//Getty ImagOn the one hand, this feels like an elaboratn of that famo gay liberatn slogan “we are everywhere, ” expandg to be “we were everywhere” also. On the other hand, seems to remove sexualy om the doma of history entirely, suggtg that the experience of beg gay has always been the same, no matter the place or perd.

While everyone else the show be, Barrow already qutn for queer Downton Abbey fans, then, is this: Is Thomas an accurate unveilg of historil homosexualy, hidn but fully formed, jt wag for to notice his existence?

Or is he a backward projectn of our current ia of what means to be gay, an anachronism disguised as a revelatn? Like Thomas Barrow, Alec Scudr seems preternaturally gay, fully aware of his sexual sir, that they are exclively for men, and that they mark him, irrevobly, as a different sort of person.

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

In the post-Edwardian perd, upper class men were more likely to already unrstand the world terms of heterosexuals and homosexuals, wh a bright and absolute le dividg the two. But whereas Scudr and Barrow seemed to thk of themselv as gay, el-Adl experienced his sire for men differently.

Increasgly, sexologists, policians, and wrers began to promulgate the ia that the behavrs were signifiers of homosexualy, to be surveilled and curtailed.

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

Compton Mackenzie, pictured send om the left the ont row, wrote several works about gay men.

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

BettmannA workg class man like Thomas Barrow, livg the untrysi, was unlikely to have accs to this kd of rmatn about gay inty. As s passed, the neat fictn of bary sexualy beme broadly acknowledged “tth, ” leavg ls and ls space for middle-dwellg, workg-class men like Buckgham and an earlier and earlier age, people would be tght— streets as much as schools—that homosexuals existed, that they were unlike other men, and that any apparent “middle ground” was actually a slippery slope head straight to hell.

Barrow might have been an implsible outlier at the begng of the show 1912, but by the 1950s, workg class men who intified as homosexual were throngg the streets of London. It seemed that was Thomas’ bt chance at happs as a closeted gay man 1920s England.

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

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.

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. 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.

THE DIRECTOR OF “DOWNTON ABBEY” OPENED UP ABOUT THE MOVIE’S TOUCHG GAY STORYLE

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.

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.

DOWNTON ABBEY'S CREEPY GAY SECRET

"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: A NEW ERA’: JULIAN FELLOW MOLED THOMAS BARROW AND GUY DEXTER AFTER SEVERAL REAL-LIFE GAY CELEBRI

Among those volved the productn is Guy Dexter, a closeted gay movie star played by Domic Guy drops hts about his sexual inty, mostly through exchang wh gay butler Thomas Barrow (Robert Jam-Collier, both pictured above), the portrayal ntu the tradn of queer cln projects om Downton creator and wrer Julian Fellow, wh exampl such as Barrow, The Gild Age's Osr van Rhijn, and several characters Gosford Park. "I got que terted, really, over the past years, the prediment of beg gay before the morn age, " says Fellow, a straight ally.

Some viewers didn't believe such thgs really happened, and Fellow got letters to which he rpond that beg gay was not only illegal the 1920s, was illegal his own youth the 1960s. In his own life, one of his brothers had a godfather who was a gay earl.

Fellow's pictns of gay people aren't one-dimensnal, and the characters are hardly sats; some uld even be ced as exampl of the "schemg gay" trope, like Osr The Gild Age or Barrow the early seasons of Gild Age's Osr van Rhijn (Blake Rson); Photo Alison Cohen Rosa"What I that at the begng of Downton, [Barrow] would be seen as v and untstworthy and all of those kd of thgs, but as you got to know him and as you got to know the prediment he was , you started to unrstand that was very difficult for him to tst people and that was very difficult for him to relax and to bee open and iendly, " Fellow says. "You gradually unrstand that for most people, beg gay the 1920s, that ma you were always one step away om disaster.

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

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.

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.

DOWNTON ABBEY STAR MOVED BY GAY STORYLE NEW MOVIE

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.

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.

ACTOR ANDREW HAYN-SMH SAYS DOWNTON ABBEY ACTOR’S GAY TYPEST PROBLEM IS WRONG

Gay butler Thomas Barrow fally gets his happy endg Downton Abbey: A New Era. This time, however, we’re treated to somethg new: a gay happy endg. But on a trip to York, Barrow is ved to an unrground gay bar, where he is arrted after the club raid by police.

At a time when gay sex was punishable by life imprisonment, and gross cency by at least two years behd bars, Barrow was a prer suatn. 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.

Downton Abbey star Rob Jam-Collier has suggted that playg a gay character the show has hurt his reer. “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.

DOWNTON ABBEY'STHOMAS AT A GAY BAR WH THE DOWAGER? IT COULD HAPPEN

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”.

‘DOWNTON ABBEY: A NEW ERA’: JULIAN FELLOW MOLED THOMAS BARROW AND GUY DEXTER AFTER SEVERAL REAL-LIFE GAY CELEBRI

Michael Engler, the director of the newly released Downton Abbey film, weighed on the importance project’s touchg gay urse, there will be major spoilers om this pot on, so if you haven’t seen the film yet, you may want to steer you rell, at the end of the six-season n of the origal Downton Abbey seri, most characters were blsed enough to get a satisfactory endg. Thomas had fleetg, clanste affairs wh other men, and at one pot the seri attempted to change his sexual clatns by unrgog gay nversn therapy. The two spend the rt of the night together walkg around and nnectg about their liv as closeted gay men.

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.