The Works boards Nick Broomfield’s Congo-set love story which is set to shoot early 2013.

The Works International has boarded Nick Broomfield’s Congo-set love story The Catastrophist, which has new cast including Dan Stevens from hit UK TV series Downton Abbey, Frieda Pinto and singer/actor K’naan (Cosmopolis).

Filming is due to start in Tanzania in February 2013.

Broomfield and Marc Hoeferlin wrote the script, which is based on Ronan Bennett’s 1960, Belgian Congo-set novel about the love affair between a jaded writer and a young idealistic journalist who are forced to take sides when a violent civil war breaks out.

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Downton Abbey meets Broadway! BWW can report that Dan Stevens, star of the Golden Globe-winning series “Downton Abbey,” will play the role of “Morris Townsend” opposite Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain (Catherine Sloper) and Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner David Strathairn (Dr. Austin Sloper) in the Tony Award-winning play The Heiress. Written by Ruth Goetz & Augustus Goetz, The Heiress will be directed by Tony Award nominated playwright and director Moisés Kaufman. Performances will begin October 2012 at a theatre to be announced.

About making his Broadway debut, Stevens says “I couldn’t ask for a more exciting Broadway debut: to work on such a fascinating play, with such fantastic actors as Jessica Chastain and David Strathairn and one of Broadway’s great directors, Moisés Kaufman. I can’t wait to get started.”

The Heiress will be produced by Paula Wagner, Roy Furman and Stephanie P. McClelland. Dan Stevens is currently shooting season three of “Downton Abbey,” the Golden Globe-winning series written by Julian Fellowes, reprising the leading role of “Matthew Crawley.” On stage, Dan’s credits include the lead role of “Septimus Hodge” in David Leveaux’s hit West End production of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, and the “Doctor” in Tom Stoppard and André Previn’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favour at The National Theatre. He has worked frequently with Sir Peter Hall on productions including The Vortex (West End), Hay Fever (Haymarket Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like It, which wowed audiences in London, New York and Los Angeles, and earned him an Ian Charleson Award nomination which is the British theatrical award to reward the best classical stage performances in Britain by actors aged under 30. Forthcoming feature films include British independent Summer in February in which he stars alongside Dominic Cooper and Emily Browning and which he also executive-produced and Amy Heckerling’s Vamps with Alicia Silverstone, Krysten Ritter and Sigourney Weaver (due out in Autumn 2012).

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CONGRATULATIONS DAN!!!

Downton Abbey star Brendan Coyle has admitted that he is not opposed to a film version.

Rumours of a movie based on the hit period drama, in which Coyle plays valet Mr. Bates, have recently circulated.

“If it’s a great, great script, [I'd do it],” said Coyle during a recent press call for his new Sky1 drama Starlings. “You’d have to regard it on its own merit at the time. It’s a good idea. [Julian Fellowes] is a terrific writer, so it would have to be something, I imagine, completely removed from the series.”

Coyle admitted that he has no clue what has led Downton to become a “cultural phenomenon”.

“I don’t know what tipped it over,” he said. “Nobody does. There’s always theories that in times of austerity we look to nostalgia for comfort. There’s all those social theories. There’s [also] something about the open-ended, rolling nature of the story lines. You don’t know what is going to happen, it’s not finite in the same way a classic novel is, so… you get engaged in it in a different way.”

Downton Abbey star Hugh Bonneville (Robert Crawley) has dismissed speculation that a film version is currently in the works.

“Julian Fellowes was at the Golden Globes and was… in conversation with people who work in films,” he explained. “But to deduce from that that there is going to be a movie is a step too far. We’ll have to do series three first and see what happens.”

Coyle will next be seen in Sky1′s Starlings which begins on Sunday (May 13) at 8pm.

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NEW YORK – These days, meeting one of the principal players of the British TV sensation Downton Abbey almost feels like encountering one of the Beatles back in their ’60s heyday. Instead of outbreaks of twisting and shouting by fans, however, the actors are more prone to be prodded for precious details of future episodes.

Alas, all are sworn to secrecy. That includes Penelope Wilton, 65, whose chic haircut and figure-flattering garb show only a slight hint of Isobel Crawley, her dowdy do-gooder on the glorified soap opera that follows the travails of an upper-crusty English family and its serving staff amid early 20th-century societal upheavals.

But Wilton’s feathery vocal inflections immediately give her away as the mother of Matthew, the estate’s presumptive heir. Her middle-class matron is a regular source of consternation for Maggie Smith, whose priceless putdowns as the Dowager Countess account for much of the series’ popularity.”We’re so pleased we are doing well here,” says Wilton. Not that she hasn’t had a career full of triumphs already, from conquering Shakespeare, Shaw and Beckett onstage to memorable roles as a middle-age pinup inCalendar Girls, a zombie victim in Shaun of the Deadand a disapproving mum in Woody Allen’s Match Point. But global fame is a different game altogether.

Today, she’s in town to promote Friday’s opening of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a picturesque feel-good ensemble piece about seven British seniors — including seasoned stalwarts Smith (she and Wilton are quite chummy in real life), Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson and Bill Nighy—who pull up stakes to spend their retirement years in India. In a savvy move, promos for the film were shown on PBS when Downton‘s second season aired earlier this year, taking advantage of Wilton and Smith’s participation in both.

While talking up Marigold Hotel, Wilton does let a few non-spoilers out of the bag about Downton’s third season that is currently in production. Mainly, she offers tidbits about newcomer Shirley MacLaine, who plays the American grandmother of Matthew’s fiancee, Lady Mary. Yes, her character butts heads with Smith. “With all of us, actually,” Wilton notes with a smile.

As for the Hollywood legend herself, “She was just so down to earth and good fun,” she says. “I think she found it all quite amusing. She loved Jim Carter,” who plays gentlemanly butler Carson. “She adored him.” The Oscar winner for Terms of Endearment even got her Bob Fosse on. “We coaxed her to do a bit of Sweet Charity for us,” referring to MacLaine’s 1969 movie musical. “She did If They Could See Me Now.”

As for Marigold Hotel, the film directed by John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) is already showing signs of becoming a phenomenon in its own right after closing in on $70 million at the box office overseas.

“It’s done fantastically well in place like Germany and Europe, not just England,” Wilton says. “A girl I knew a long time ago who lives in Devon rang me up. She said, ‘I couldn’t believe it. I went into Tavistock to the matinee — and it was full. That cinema, it’s only ever had two people at a matinee. I was astounded.’ “

While most of the oldsters embark on a journey of self discovery as they immerse themselves in Indian life, Wilton has perhaps the hardest role as Jean, the killjoy of the group who is steadfastly immune to the splendors of her exotic new home. Instead, she prefers to henpeck her charming if ineffectual husband played by Nighy.

“She is a disappointed woman,” Wilton says. “It would be unrealistic if everyone fell in love with India. People think that going somewhere new is going to change them, forgetting that they take themselves along. I find Jean finds herself difficult, not just other people. She is a mass of insecurities.”

Madden customized the role specifically for Wilton. “I’ve always extravagantly admired her as an actress,” he says. “She’s got an incredible poignancy and delicacy. And she’s a brilliant comedian. Her character was originally a shrill cow for a lot of the film. Now she is brittle and absurd, but also has a tragic depth to her.”

Last year, Wilton — a survivor of two bumpy marriages to respected actors, the late Daniel Massey (an Oscar nominee for 1969′s Star!) and Ian Holm (aka Bilbo in The Lord of the Rings) — juggled work on Downton Abbey with appearing in a London stage revival of A Delicate Balance. Now, the only role she’s taking on other than Isobel is being a first-time grandmother.

“My daughter, Alice, is going to have a baby on the third of June and I am going to be around for that,” says Wilton of her only child, whose father was Massey. “It’s a boy. She’s going to call him Dan after her father.”

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An auction to raise funds for performing arts equipment for young actors was boosted by the arrival of one who has made it and stars in Downton Abbey.

Rob James-Collier, who plays Thomas in the ITV period drama, took time out of filming the third series to visit Gretton Primary School’s auction of promises.

The event on Saturday at Gretton Village Hall, which was organised by the school’s Parent School Association (PSA), raised £4,900 after the star took to the stage to help with the auctioning.

Faye Brown, whose husband Daniel works supplying facilities to the television industry with Mr James-Collier and has a daughter Gabriella who attends the school, said: “My husband has been working with Rob on the third series and had worked with him on the first two and built up a bit of a friendship with Rob. Rob and Dan were talking about Dan trying to get some of the photographs to auction them and he said ‘I can come up and auction them for you’.

“We didn’t know until Wednesday he would be able to come because the filming schedules were changing so much because of the weather. He said to Dan afterwards he didn’t realise communities like this still existed.”

Mr James-Collier, who has also appeared in Coronation Street, took to the stage with auctioneer and opera singer Martin McEvoy to offer a lucky bidder a personal tour of Highclere Castle where some of the scenes are filmed.

Maria Thompson, mum to Jack, three, who also lives in the village attended the event. She said: “I was really bowled over by how much kindness he showed everybody. He posed for pictures with lots of giddy mums and was just fantastic.”

Headteacher Jane Dooley said the new equipment would be used by the children when they perform shows when the school has a new larger hall. Mrs Dooley said: “I think it was a fantastic effort by the whole of the PSA. Their dedication to the school is much appreciated by all of the children and staff.”

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Samantha Bond has dismissed rumours she is ready to quit Downton Abbey as “absolutely untrue”.

The 50-year-old actress, who plays Lord Grantham’s sister Lady Rosamund in the hit TV show, has taken time out to pursue a stage project, sparking reports she may be ready to walk away from the show.

But Samantha told ITV’s This Morning: “It’s absolutely untrue. There was a discussion with producers before Christmas about what shape this year was going to take. I was desperate to get back on to the stage, so we amicably agreed that we’d maybe have a little break – it was all very friendly and done with a lot of love. The doors are wide open – I haven’t left, and I look forward to returning to Downton in the near future.”

Following the vast success of series one and two, the show is set to return to ITV1 in September.

Samantha admitted that she was really enjoying working on the stage in What The Butler Saw, describing it as “the most extraordinary thing I’ve ever done in my life”.

Meanwhile, the actress, who has previously played Miss Moneypenny in James Bond films, was tight-lipped when asked about rumours that she may be set to feature in the next 007 instalment, Skyfall with Daniel Craig.

She said: “I’m sorry – I’ve sworn the secret service act or whatever it is! I couldn’t possibly say…”

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The actress starred in the first series of Downton Abbey as Gwen, who Lady Sybil helped to advance from a housemaid to a secretary. In an interview with Access Hollywood, Leslie revealed that she’s not opposed to reprising the role of Gwen in the future.

“There is no way I would ever say, ‘No’,” the star declared. “I had the most fantastic time filming Downton. I really did, so I would love to go back, but… I was always told that I would only ever be in the first series.”

Leslie added: “I always knew that my character would have a happy ending at the end of it all. [Leaving Downton Abbey] didn’t come as a shock… But it was fantastic. I loved it.”

She went on to credit Downton Abbey with helping her land her current job as Ygritte on Game of Thrones.

“I definitely think it opened doors for me and what was so fantastic about Downton being showed over in the States, was that it helped get me noticed,” Leslie explained.

“I know that [Game of Thrones executive producer] David Benioff actually mentioned it to me, I think it was on my first kind of audition going for Ygritte. He was like, ‘We’ve seen you in Downton Abbey and we like the whole, like, Northern accents thing’. And I [thought], ‘Oh! Great! Well, obviously that was working in my favour’. So, yeah… I definitely think it helped me, which is lovely.”

Downton Abbey returns for a third series this summer on ITV in the UK and PBS in the US.

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“Downton Abbey” star Penelope Wilton had kind words for her new co-star Shirley MacLaine. While speaking to Vulture, Wilton had nothing but praise for the Oscar winner, who guest stars on Season 3.

“Shirley was wonderful. She’s so marvelous,” Wilton said. “She’s in the first two episodes, and we loved her.”

MacLaine joins the Season 3 cast as Lady Cora’s (Elizabeth McGovern) mother. Masterpiece’s Rebecca Eaton, an executive producer on the series, said MacLaine’s character tangles with Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess. “There are some wonderful scenes between Maggie and Shirley MacLaine — Shirley MacLaine being as ditsy as ever,” Eaton said.

According to Wilton — or the Dowager Countess’ first nemesis, Cousin Isobel, to “Downton” fans — MacLaine fell for one particular actor on the series. “She fell in love with Carson — Jim Carter, who plays Carson the butler. She thought he was heaven. How could you not?” Wilton said with a laugh. “It was such a thrill to work with her. We got her to do ‘If They Could See Me Now’ for us. Such good fun.”

MacLaine told HuffPost blogger Alex Simon that working on the series was a treat as an actor. “I can’t talk about the scripts and stuff, but you know the environment … it seems like we sat around a big table for about two and half weeks and I was surrounded by these extraordinary actors,” she said. “I adore Maggie Smith. The comedy of class, played so straight, is a wonderful thing for an actor to sink their teeth into.”

In addition to MacLaine’s presence, Season 3 of “Downton Abbey” will feature a birth, a wedding and a death. Could the Dowager Countess kick the bucket? Rumors swirled about Smith leaving the series, but Masterpiece told HuffPost TV that “Season 3 is currently filming with Maggie and the rest of the cast. We don’t comment on future storylines, but there’s no truth in the story that Maggie is leaving the show.”

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