Fornia attorney general to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration a day after day issued a regulation designed to preempt the state's authority to set its own rules for how much pollution can come from cars and trucks the Sarah said 2 other courts have already upheld California's emission standards and the administration's decision does not affect California 13 other states plus the District of Columbia have adopted California's emission rules students across the world and here in l.a. Are participating in a global climate strike to draw attention to climate change. Vironment reporter Emily Guerin was with students in Mid City this morning as they started their walk out students at the magnet school laces have just walked out of class a bunch of them are holding signs they're drawing in chalk on the sidewalk things like you know what will a degree do in 30 years and planted over profit and a bunch of them are all walking down the sidewalk now down to Fairfax to catch a bus to go to Pershing Square where the really big rally is happening Emily is at that protest at Pershing Square right now she'll have more reporting this afternoon during all things considered that starts at 4 right here on k.p.c. The f.c.c. Has sued the mana Bello Unified School District its former chief business officer and superintendent of schools for allegedly defrauding investors in a $100000000.00 bond offering according to the complaint mana bellows auditor repeatedly raise concerns about potential fraud to the Board of Education and management in response the city they say refused to authorize the fees needed to complete the audit and instead decided to end it no response yet from the montevallo city attorney well the Dodgers kick off their last home series of the regular season tonight against the Rockies with just over a week left to play the n.l. West champs are still in the running to get the best record in baseball which would give them home field advantage during the playoffs. Tonight's game against the Rockies gets underway just after 7 o'clock I'm happy Lin her. Support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include dual lingo a language app whose mission is to make a language learning fun and excessive bill to the world with lessons in more than 30 languages including French Spanish and Chinese available in the App Store or at dueling go dot com This is Fresh Air I'm Dave Davies in for Terry Gross Downton Abbey the feature film based on the masterpiece series that ran on p.b.s. For 6 seasons opens today in theaters much of the cast returns of the movie for a plot set in motion by the visit of King George the 5th to doubt him in this scene conflicts emerge as servants at Downton are talking about preparations from the royals with the king's Page who is part of the royals advance team so my mates and I will not be involved in the preparations you mean joining the state you'll be the butler and excuse me I'm not a I'm the king's page of the back stuff. So our stuff has nothing to do I'm sure they can be useful but how do you make and get dressed up maybe castle if the staff in the valley and the maid are all here we have 2 of the the principal valid in the principal dresser with the Dr in advance of them Majesty's who bring. A lady in waiting 2 detectives and 2 shifts the other chef goes from rabid to Hollywood for footman go with him and the other for a man. Duel on the staff. Today will listen to an interview I recorded with Maggie Smith who regularly stole scenes in the Downton Abbey series as the Dowager Countess and returns to the role in the movie but 1st we'll hear from Julian Fellowes the screenwriter of the film and the creator of the series fellows is an actor as well as a writer and much of his writing has dealt with class distinctions and how the. Affect human relationships he grew up the son of a diplomat with an aristocratic background and he has a title himself Lord Fellowes of West Stafford his screenplay for the 2001 Robert Altman film Gosford Park won an Oscar I spoke to Julian Fellowes in 2013 Julian Fellowes Lord fellows welcome to Fresh Air Well it's very nice to be here you know a lot of your writing both for television and film and your novel involves distinctions of social class and now you grew up the son of a diplomat with an aristocratic heritage I believe did you have servants growing up . And I mean I think my background is much more ordinary than the newspapers have made it I mean you know we had people who came in and did some cleaning but I mean you know who'd plenty of other people have that I think in a way why I became quite aware of class as a kind of life defining issue was because my parents came from different backgrounds my father's was grander than my mother was and so my mother have to sort of put up with the disapproval of my father's relations and I suppose from that grew a kind of interest in the way the unfairness of class the fact that it is so true and it's selection and you know so so nothing to do with merit and yet it shapes a life and and creates entitle mint and all sorts of other fact that you know have a long term effect honest one of the things that makes downgrade and Gosford Park which is a movie I really love is the intimate look at the servants the life downstairs where did you become so acquainted with their lives and customs and rules. You know I was lucky in one way I mean I was I'm now kind of 150 years old and so when I was young I still had great aunts and that kind of thing who had lived to a degree that life before the war I mean my eldest great talent who was really the model for Violet Grantham was born in 8980 you know and she was presented in 8098 and married before the 1st war and all of that and I knew about it when she and he died when I was 21 so I was able to hear a lot of this stuff and where I was tremendously lucky is I was interested when I was young I one of the problems you know when you don't get interested in things until you're much older is a lot of people are dead and because I was interested as a teenager there were still many members of the family who could talk about what life had been before the 1st and 2nd wars and you know and I was very glad to hear it well let's talk about Downton Abbey and I want to play a clip from season one this is a moment at a table in the kitchen downstairs where the servants are all having tea and we hear one of them is O'Brien who's played by Sean Finneran disparaging Matthew Crawley he's a cousin of the master of the House who's arrived on the scene and may inherit Downton the whole place will hear a shuffling of furniture as the servants spring to their feet because Lady Grantham who's played by Elizabeth McGovern has suddenly showed up in the kitchen and has overheard Mrs O'Brien her own lady's maid talking down Matthew Crawley she rebuked Ms O'Brien and this leads to an interesting exchange after that among the servants Let's listen. Now seriously. It's just. That if anyone thinks I'm going to pull my phone off and cause it to this Mr nobody for to know what surprises. Me discussing Mr Crawley. Yes minute it is your place to do so. I've got my opinions and I did and as anybody. Can I help your ladyship this is the only thing from an evening Co definite line in the graphic but I was shocked at the talk I heard as I came in. Mr Crawley is his fortunes cousin and heir You will therefore peace accord him the respect he's entitled to. But you don't like you self and I'd say you never wanted him to go sailing perilously close to the window Brian if we're to be friends you will not speak in that way again about the crawlies or any member of what Grantham's family. Now I'm going to rest wake me at the dressing gown. I don't think there's one here in the servants' hall I agree. If she was a real lady she would to me if she'd have room for me and give me the not so this isn't it's our children say what we like down here who says the law and all of it there is such a thing as free speech you know what I'm in charge. Don't push your luck to miss. And that's from the series dome created and written by our guest Julian Fellowes it's such a lovely scene and what we hear here is the law the class lines are clear the roles are clear and yet they're changing the series begins what in 1912 this was a particular moment in class relations in Britain isn't it well I think it was attractive to us but because it was a period of tremendous change in quite a short time you know between 1912 when they we begin the show and 1922 where we are at the end of season 3 is only 10 years and yet the changes in Britain were enormous between the sort of end of high confidence and so on and then through the war years and finally into the on 70 of the twenty's when all sorts of things were being challenged and even in these great revolutions of women's rights or workers' rights or whatever then they don't come out of nowhere that they are that early and they're just below the surface and then something like a war happens and it makes everything come through but you know you don't invent from from nothing it hasn't quite come yet but it's sort of fizzing away somewhere and that's what a scene like that will tell you that they I merely at the end of always being 2nd banana and you know they they can express that right and then some among them say not so fast. Remember your place well I mean one of the interesting things about this kind of drama is that you know the family up status are on the whole all equal as 70 equal in terms of class and position but you know they might record respect to the Father or something like that but they're not told different socially that's not true of the people below those that is who are working that there is a vast social range between Carson. And Daisy the kitchen maid and all of these ranks was sort of observed you would have a special sitting room for visiting valance and a special sitting room for visiting ladies' maids and so on and on it went the detail of this extraordinarily complicated structure but you know that said it was on the brink of starting to come down one of the things that I love about the series is that as a viewer I gradually become aware of the distinctions among the servants and others by the forms of address I mean the you know the aristocrats are referred to as Lord and Lady or her your lordship or your ladyship the the servants even those of highest rank are referred to by their last names only by the aristocrats even when speaking affectionately I mean when there's a moment when Lady Grantham is talking to Mrs O'Brien and she she says they're having a nice intimate conversation but she still calls her O'Brien and then among the servants Some are called Mr and Mrs those of lower rank like the kitchen maid Daisy only by their 1st names there was a there were a clear set of rules and forms of address here. Well I mean we live in an era where there are sort of no rules for anything anymore but of course the good thing about rules is you always know what you're doing you always know what you should when you always know we have supposed to be when you're supposed to get that what you're supposed to do when you do get that you know we've lost that kind of security I think that that is one reason why you know the show appeals because it seems to show more. And and kind of ordained world in fact of course that is largely a myth it was a world where all sorts of as I've said things were bubbling just beneath the surface but nevertheless in terms of your daily life what you wore when you got out what you called people what you did next I think it was sort of easier to follow the plot than in our own time. Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes recorded in 2013 we'll hear more after a short break this is Fresh Air I mean Martinez on the next take to as part of our series covering climate now l.a. Mayor Eric Garcetti talks about his green and New Deal and how it's working so far it's take 2 days to 89.3 k p c c. K p c c supporters include the gets men group managing consulting careers for accounting professionals for over 20 years working to employ individuals who seek to advance their careers and fully utilize their abilities geo a t z m a n group dot com This is Fresh Air and we're listening to my 2013 interview with Julian Fellowes who created Downton Abbey the masterpiece series and also wrote the screenplay for Downton Abbey the movie which opens in theaters today. In season 3 an American arrives on the scene a real American hero I mean Cora Lady Grantham is an American but has spent a long time in England as the wife of Lord Grantham but her mother who's played by Shirley MacLaine arrives tell us a little bit about her and the role that she plays well what I really wanted the audience to be reminded of really by Martha Levinson played by Shirley MacLaine is that Cora is not some ancient American Arris to crack she's not a Winthrop you know or as Stuyvesant or one of those founding father families she is the product of new money quite a lot of it but she's that's who she is but there were others like Mary Leiter who married Lord Curzon who came from men who had made their own fortunes and that is what chorus come from and the reason I want the audience to be sort of aware of that is chorus story is really that she married into the system and swallowed it wholesale and got it all down but now that the world is changing and things are being challenged in a funny way her original value is a much more suited to the modern world than Robert's You know she has the American work ethic she is not obsessed by rank she is kind of much more free about accepting the changes that are coming as as you will be seeing in the 3rd series The Future doesn't frighten her so you know you've got I hope an interesting clash there of beliefs and philosophy. You know I thought we would hear just a moment of their interaction this is the Maggie Smith and Shirley MacLaine The 2 grandmothers in a moment from season 3 dear. Through the war has made old women of us both. But then I always keep out of the sun you. How do you find Downton on your return much the same really probably too much the same but then I don't want to cast a pall over all the happy as how could you ever do that to. Tell me what to think of young Lochinvar who has so ably carried off our granddaughter and our money do approve them not as much as you will when you get to know him. Has he gone home to change on you please he can't get the green never cease the prize hate the night before the wedding. Nothing ever alters for you people doesn't revolutions erupting mounted his crash to the ground and the groom still cannot see the bride before the wedding you Americans never understand the importance of tradition Yes You know we just don't give it power over us history and tradition took Europe into a world war maybe we should think about letting go of its hand. That's from season 3 of Downton Abbey written and created by our guest Julian Fellowes of course one of the changes that comes to the Crawley family the shocking development of one of the daughters Lady Sybil marrying the family chauffeur Tom Branson I don't know how likely this would have been to happen in 1912 or 14 or 15 but one of the one of the things I love about the way it's portrayed here is that of course the aristocracy is shocked and they have to come to terms with it some react differently but then the chauffeur goes back to the house where he was a part of the service and has to interact with the other servants who are so used to clear social distinctions and he has changed I mean I always like to base these things on a real story and when people say that would never of happened of course it did happen just as love affairs between servants and members of the family happened and . They were they disapproved but they still happen and this particular story is based on the daughter of an o. Who ran off with the groom actually it wasn't the chauffeur it was the groom and I don't think there's a great distinction in that and they had to put out with it I think it was very difficult and of course they rather encouraged the couple to live in Dublin because it's sort of easier if they're out of sight but you know families then like families now when your children marry someone you would not have chosen for them there is a moment where you have to decide am I going to quarrel with my son or my daughter and literally no longer have them in my life or am I going to find a way to get on with this person and I think most of us hope for the 2nd and that's really what the Grantham's have to do what kind of research did you do for Downton Abbey I mean you obviously had a lot from your you know from your own experience and discussions with your relatives what kind of research did you do. You know one just kind of reads a lot of books around it I mean the truth is I've always been interested in the whole setup of the old world you know when I was young it had only just for many people come to an end you know I mean I was a little boy in the fifty's and that was when a lot of people were chanting in the towel and selling the house and you know so when I would see empty servants' rooms and empty cupboards in the basement line didn't green baize or whatever I can remember all that quite well so a certain extent I just have been buy from the air but I also have read quite a lot about it I mean one of the great advantages of the Internet if you want to use a piece of slack all you want to use a song you just type in you know the thing and you go into the dick etymology dictionary and it gives you the year of 1st usage and so on or 1st printed usage but on the whole I do sort of I mean it sounds rather pretentious actually but and but I do sort of know how this way of life worked out you know at this point and I take advantage of that really. You said you saw houses with empty servants' quarters because essentially that way of life had just disappeared. Yes I mean you know you'd go into the stable and there were no horses and then you go into the old kitchens huge old kitchens and there'd be sort of signs for the village fete and you know old perambulators and broken bicycles and things and they would have created some horrible slot kitchen in some ante room upstairs and you know all of that was was very fresh I mean one of the great changes now actually is that these houses the ones that have survived have essentially been reinvented by their owners who are normally the children or grandchildren of the ones who threw in the towel and they come to it differently this generation doesn't you know long for the days of their youth when they were footman behind every chair because they want their youth was spent after all that had come to an end so they just look at it differently and they have different ways of running it and now help in the house comes in from the village instead of coming from ups there's and everyone calls each other by their Christian names everything else and it it just runs on different wheels and I like that I like the fact that these houses have in a sense been reinvented and and you know I think it's very attractive you know Downton Abbey begins in 1912 when there are all these social trends that that are causing the the old order to begin to unravel Did did your. Observation of kind of the disappearance of that way of life make you want to really explore the end of that period and the dissolution of the aristocracy. I just remember one time when I was quite young I was I forget now 70 as I left. And I was staying in a house and I got lost and I went through the wrong door and I was standing at the top of the staircase that led down into the kitchens and everything and there was a tremendous Rao going on between sounded like 456 people shouting and yelling and