Downton Abbey creator dubbed ‘awful’

Sunday, 19 April 2015 | The New Zealand Herald

He is the creator of Downton Abbey, used to being feted by Hollywood’s A-list, with leading stars pleading for a role in the hit drama.

But Lord Fellowes has been left in shock by the emergence of a secret email written by a Hollywood mogul damning him as ‘awful’ – and snubbing the Oscar winner for another writer.

The insult to the Tory peer – written by his own former agent – is among a series of bombshell emails leaked on to the internet revealing the inner workings of Hollywood.

Lord Fellowes, 65, last night described the comments by Brian Siberell – one of the film industry’s most powerful men – as ‘disappointing and surprising’.

Siberell’s comments are among more than 40,000 leaked emails and documents hacked from Sony studios and published by the WikiLeaks website last week. The documents, which have sent shockwaves through Hollywood, also reveal that:

• The producers of the new Bond film Spectre considered casting Meryl Streep as a female Blofeld, the coveted ‘baddie’ role played by Donald Pleasence in 1967 in You Only Live Twice.

• 12 Years A Slave actor Chiwetel Ejiofor wanted the pivotal Blofeld role in the new film.

• David Cameron’s advisors dropped plans to invite A-list stars like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to a Downing Street reception, worried ‘vicious’ newspapers would accuse him of courting favour with luvvies.

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