‘The Gilded Age’ Star Christine Baranski on Fulfilling Her Dream of Playing ‘An Elitist Snob Written By Julian Fellowes’
variety.comCaroline Framke Chief TV CriticChristine Baranski’s career is so vast and varied — from starring roles in “The Good Wife” and its spinoff “The Good Fight,” to spending decades in New York City theater, to stealing scenes as the “Mamma Mia” franchise’s resident siren — that it’s genuinely shocking when she points out that she’s never been in an onscreen period piece “with wigs, corsets, language, the whole thing.”HBO’s “The Gilded Age,” a glamorous new post-Civil War era drama from “Downton Abbey” creator Julian Fellowes, embodies that “whole thing” and then some.
So when Fellowes reached out to offer Baranski a part that occupies what many “Downton” fans will recognize as the Dowager Countess role (i.e.
the Grand Dame with the most cutting glares and one-liners), she didn’t hesitate. “I mean, who wouldn’t want to play an elitist snob written by Julian Fellowes?” she says. “He does it awfully well.” “The Gilded Age” sees Fellowes pivoting from early 20th century England to post-Civil War New York City, where old money power players (including Baranski’s formidable Agnes and her more diminutive sister Ada, played by Cynthia Nixon) struggle to keep power from new money interlopers (such as their determined neighbors Bertha and George, played by Carrie Coon and Morgan Spector).
After spending years in development, surviving a network change from NBC to HBO, and with filming heavily delayed by COVID, “The Gilded Age” finally premiered on Jan.
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