Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery Joins the Gangsters of “The Gentlemen”

From the highly successful TV series Downton Abbey, Michelle Dockery, known for her unforgettable role as Lady Mary, steps up into a world dominated by men in the gangster caper The Gentlemen. Dockery takes on the shoes of a kingpin’s wife, Rosalind, who is just as tough, even tougher than the guys and who doesn’t back down from anything.

Writer-director Guy Ritchie assembles an all-star cast in The Gentlemen where the central protagonist is Mickey (played by Matthew McConaughey) whose attraction to his increasingly upper-crust way of life leads him to seek an exit from his chosen profession as a marijuana kingpin.

The Gentlemen also stars Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, with Colin Farrell, and Hugh Grant – all under the direction of master filmmaker Guy Ritchie, who returns to the genre and type of characters to which he gave an indelible and unique flavor in films such as Sherlock Holmes, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and Snatch.

While The Gentlemen is populated by several crime bosses and ruffians, at its heart, says Ritchie, “the film is also a love story. Mickey’s wife, Rosalind, played by Dockery. In The Gentlemen, she plays the matriarch of the enterprise run by her husband, Pearson. And the matriarch arguably trumps the patriarch. She’s the Cockney Cleopatra to Mickey’s Cowboy Caesar. Rosalind is a survivor with some very charming characteristics. She provides Mickey with some important counsel. Arguably, she’s the entity that keeps things running in Mickey’s business.”

“It’s not a conventional relationship. It’s a love story but not the usual kind, there is a unique dynamic between Mickey and Rosalind. Unsurprisingly, Rosalind is quite independent. She runs her own successful business – a garage. She comes from wealth, but her parents are self-made, Dockery explains.

Dockery embraced the chance to play a role unlike any she’s explored before. “This is closer to my roots,” she offers. “Often, I’ve played well-spoken and, yes, posh characters, like Lady Mary. So, when this part came along, I was delighted.”

The Gentlemen opens January 29 in cinemas nationwide.