He edits an online literary quarterly and writes screenplays when he’s not acting. Married to a South African jazz singer, Dan Stevens is also a dad to two young ones.
Still, for millions of fans, he’s the guy who walked away from Downton Abbey.
Formerly Matthew Crawley on the hit show, the Cambridge educated actor is now about to hit screens as a badass in the The Guest, directed by Adam Wingard. The film opened at TIFF, where fans (like my daughters) reported the actor was in fine form. In a recent New York Times profile, Wingard says he needed an actor with a military grade physique.
Through a rigorous program involving martial arts and “more gym stuff” as Mr. Stevens so eloquently put it, he bulked up enough so that in the scene when he and his chiseled torso emerge from the show, you can only feel sorry that he died before Lady Mary ( and the Downton viewers) had the change to appreciate his new body.
Downton Abbey Season 5 starts up this Sunday in the U.K. The series opens in the year 1924 and plenty of changes are on the way above and below stairs.
Elsewhere on the small screen, Bill Hader will return to Saturday Night Live as guest host next month. Hader left last year after eight seasons. SNL is now in it’s 40th year, which just makes me feel ancient. Until I watch Hader do Stefon and then I kill myself laughing and forget how old I am.
Appearing on Late Night with Seth Myers, his former cast mate, Hader reports he too had the giggles.
Word nerds and lit fans alert: The 25th edition of Word on the Street, the national book and magazine festival, will take over Queen’s Park Circle in Toronto this Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm.
See you there!
Have a great weekend.
