Cecil Ainsworth in HOTEL PORTOFINO – Season 3 | ©2024 PBS

The third season of HOTEL PORTOFINO premieres on PBS’s MASTERPIECE THEATRE on Sunday, July 28. Produced in partnership with the U.K.’s ITV and created by Matt Baker, HOTEL PORTOFINO chronicles the ups and downs of the English Ainsworth family in 1920s Italy.

Fascism is on the rise, but the Ainsworths have more immediate troubles. Chief among these is the rift between hotel manager Bella Ainsworth, played by Natascha McElhone, and her husband Cecil Ainsworth, played by Mark Umbers.

Cecil is of British nobility by birth – his title is Viscount Heddon – but his behavior is distinctly ignoble. He cheats on Bella, has a habit of trying to swindle one acquaintance to pay another (if he can’t swindle that person), and has a terrible relationship with adult son Lucian (Oliver Dench).

Actor Umbers, however, is charming and appears to be very above-board in person when he sits down for an interview during the PBS portion of the summer Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour at Pasadena, California’s Langham Hotel.

Umbers was previously a series regular in MISTRESSES and HOME FIRES, and has appeared in a wide variety of films and television productions, including MY DINNER WITH HERVÉ (as Roger Moore), MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, THE TURN OF THE SCREW, CHE: PART TWO, and CASSANDRA’S DREAM.

Is there any chance Cecil is going to become, if not more responsible, at least more self-aware this season?

Umbers replies, “I think his skin is too thick for that. I think he just assumes he’s always going to succeed. He’s always very surprised to find himself in a perilous situation. Even when he’s been beaten up, and he’s on the floor covered in blood, it’s still like, ‘Oh, well, tomorrow morning I’ll go and I’ll fix this, and then I’ll fix that,’ like he just doesn’t stop. He’s very vital.”

In Cecil’s negotiations, Umbers adds, “He always manages to couch it in terms of, ‘If you do this for me, I will do this for you.’ He makes out like it’s a kind of reciprocal arrangement, until it’s not. But if your question is, ‘Does he redeem himself?’, not quite,” he laughs.

When Umbers first became part of the original HOTEL PORTOFINO Season 1 cast, what was he told about Cecil when he was auditioning?

Umbers laughs again. “Not a lot. I got the [scripts for the] first two episodes, that was all. So, all I knew was that he was a terrible father. I found his rudeness really entertaining. It made me laugh when I first read it. But I’d no idea what was coming.”

One story point that came and went without the audience knowing about it at the time was an act of brutality on Cecil’s part that was cut in order to keep the character, Umbers reveals. “What a lot of people probably don’t know is that in the first season, when we started filming, there was a scene in Episode 5 where Cecil slaps Bella, and she hits her head in the bedroom. That was originally a rape scene, and we filmed it. We filmed it relatively early on, because I think what happened was that, once we’d done two or three weeks’ filming – I was always going to die at the beginning of Season 2, and then they saw me obviously just having fun, and thinking that he was entertaining, and they said, ‘Oh, no, we’re going to change our mind, we’re going to keep the character in.’ They realized they couldn’t keep that scene in the show without killing him instantly, so I’m pleased they kept him.

HOTEL PORTOFINO key art | ©2024 PBS

“But we ended up filming this horrible rape scene anyway, which was cut. So, in answer to the question, I didn’t know what was coming when I auditioned for it. I think that’s why I got the job, because I thought [Cecil, without the rape scene] was quite funny.”

Did the actor have to rethink his character after shooting the rape scene and then having it excised? “Not really, because I think in order to play a scene as horrible as that, you have to really understand what’s motivating the character to do such a terrible thing. So, I understood where his anger and where his sense of powerlessness came from.

“It’s easy to forget when you’re playing something that’s set in the Jazz Age, like the 1920s, that characters of my age are raised by, and raised to be, Victorians. Which seems very counterintuitive, it seems like it should be three or four generations earlier, but it’s not. Victorianism is kind of rife in this age.

“Someone like Cecil would have been raised as an Empire builder, as a patriarch, where men ran the family and ran businesses. And then, suddenly, after the First World War, everything changes. Suffrage starts to get an amplified voice, social mobility becomes easier, and suddenly, the place he thought he was going into the world, he doesn’t have anymore. So, in Italy, I think he’s literally and figuratively at sea. He’s grappling for anything to make him feel relevant.”

Does this mean that Umbers was approaching HOTEL PORTOFINO as sort of a dramedy? “Not a dramedy. I knew how awful he was, but his awfulness I found quite entertaining.”

There is a variety of villainy in HOTEL PORTOFINO, represented by everyone from local importer/exporter/crime boss/fascist leader Vincenzo Danioni (Pasquale Esposito) to Detroit mobster Luigi Farrino (Joseph Balderrama) to unscrupulous art dealer Jack Turner (Adam James). Where does Umbers rank Cecil amongst them?

“I think he’s only a danger to himself. I don’t think he’s a dangerous person in the way that Danioni is, or Farrino. That’s why Cecil is always out of his depth, because he’s not like that, he doesn’t understand that world at all. So, he’s trying to kill Danioni, but he’s not a murderer, whereas those other guys are.”

As Cecil is a viscount, did Umbers do any research into members of England’s upper classes?

“Well, I’ve played quite a lot of them in my career,” Umbers points out, “so I’m familiar with that, and I’ve encountered quite a lot in my life as well, in terms of that extreme sense of entitlement. It’s the hereditary thing that I find so interesting. Obviously, there are always people who are arrogant, and just expect you to do things for them,” he laughs, “but when it’s passed down a family line, I think that’s quite unusual, unless you’re a Kennedy or something like that.”

What kind of research did Umbers do into the period, the costumes and other aspects of Cecil’s life?

“I must say, I’ve done a fair bit of ‘20s and ‘30s stuff before, so I’m very familiar with those kind of costume choices and the way those costumes make you carry yourself. So, there wasn’t really anything new. I did read a little bit about the Boer War, because that was, again, in terms of the Victorianism, that was the last time he fought in a war, which seemed to be such a long time before, but really wasn’t.”

As to whether Cecil has combat-related PTSD, “Well, it’s a bit of a gray area, Cecil’s war record,” Umbers laughs. “One can only imagine that he was probably a coward. I don’t know. It’s never really been discussed. I think there’s a sort of circularity with the trauma that goes on in that family. So, I think everything that’s happened to Lucian in some respect has also happened to Cecil, which makes it even more reprehensible that he fuels that loveless marriage. Yeah, he’s been through a horrific war, but he just wasn’t [physically] injured.”

What does Umbers find to be the differences between playing a period character and a contemporary one?

“Well, there’s the obvious Imperial accent from that period, which is very, very different to how we speak today. I don’t know whether people can tell much of a different abroad, but certainly in England, it’s a big difference. The vowels get very clipped and forceful. But really, it’s largely to do with the playing of the dialogue, is that nobody shows their hand. So, it’s quite guarded – it’s like doing a subtitled drama, in that there’s the social nicety that you play on the line, and there’s the [metaphorical] subtitle as to what you really think.”

Does Umbers have a preference for period or contemporary material?

“Well, they’re just so different, it’s really difficult to compare. I like contemporary drama. It enables you to be a lot more behavioral – not to the extent of mumbling your way through the lines, but you can behave like an ordinary human would. Whereas in period drama, as I say, there is a code to the delivery of speech, which is very interesting to play, too.

“I think it just depends where you are. There were certainly days in Croatia when I’m in a thick wool suit and it’s nearly forty degrees [Celsius, the equivalent of 104 degrees Fahrenheit] outside, and I’m like, ‘Why did I think this was a good idea?’ But apart from that, it’s a joy to do, because it’s just so different from everyday life that it’s very easy to get into character.”

What does Umbers feel are the major differences between doing a character on stage, with the same script being done night after night but the performance may vary, and playing a character in a television series, where consistency must be maintained even though the scripts are different every week?

“Actually, my experience of theatre is that the whole point of having four weeks of rehearsal is that you explore all the options during that period, and then, once you’re up on stage and there are paying audiences, the show is to some extent locked. I know some actors do switch it up every night, but I’ve never worked with one, thank God,” Umbers laughs.

“You have to keep it the same, what you’ve rehearsed, but within those parameters, you have to convince the audience that you’re saying it for the first time every night. So, the challenge is to keep it alive and fresh, without actually changing it. And of course, in TV, you really just don’t get rehearsal at all these days, so it’s much more instinctive and impulsive.”

This means that, in TV, actors can surprise one another. “Absolutely. Pasquale as Danioni always surprises me with what he’s doing.”

Umbers says that he and costar McElhone didn’t have much time to discuss their characters’ dysfunctional marriage before production began. “We chatted on the phone briefly, but more to do with hair and makeup, but we had to figure it out as we were going. I’d say it was last minute, but it was still COVID, so there was a mad scramble to get a crew and heads of department, and then suddenly, we were there filming the show and trying to make it work.”

While HOTEL PORTOFINO is set in that Italian city, Umbers explains, “We shoot in the Adriatic [region] of Croatia, and then they do various exteriors in Italy that don’t involve the actors, but do involve Italian extras.”

Croatia and Serbia, Umbers notes, have both become major hubs of production for films and television. “There’s so much going on in Croatia. A friend of mine, Liv [Olivia Morris], who plays my daughter Alice in the show, has just been doing this series [THE LIBRARIANS: THE NEXT CHAPTER] in Serbia. So, I think the crews are amazing over there, and the studio space.”

What does Umbers like to do in Croatia when he’s not filming?

“We live in a town called Opatija, where we’ve patronized every single restaurant there, having been there for three years. There’s an incredible little village called Volosko, which is just a little way up the coastal path, and there’s a beautiful restaurant there called Valle Loska, which is our favorite place to go.

“But in Season 1, when it was still COVID, we filmed in Rovinj for a while, which is just over the water from Venice, an absolutely beautiful coastal city, and it was empty. There were no tourists there. We filmed in the old town. We had the place to ourselves. That was a magical time.”

The first season of HOTEL PORTOFINO was shot in 2022, when COVID safety protocols were at their height. “We were filming in an actual house. We were tested every three days. We had to wear masks in certain situations, and I do remember one day, one of the endless dining room scenes, where the whole cast were in this very stuffy room with the crew, and obviously, the windows weren’t open, and it was like, ‘If anybody’s got COVID …’ and we were all a bit nervous,” Umbers laughs. “But nobody got it.”

As in the U.S., the COVID protocols have since been relaxed. “There are rules if you get it, but we don’t have to wear masks and we’re not being tested every three days for it.”

What are some of Umbers’s favorite moments as Cecil?

“There was a great scene with Natascha and I had toward the end of Season 2, after the casino. I loved having the showdown with Oliver, who plays Lucian, at the end of Season 1, where we were shouting at each other in the garden. I really enjoyed that one.

But this year, in Season 3, I loved doing the scene in the kitchen when Cecil’s been beaten up by Jack and Bella comes to mop him up. I love the showdown scenes with Natascha. I think they’re always great. We always build up to those each season, when everything gets to a crunch point between them. I like doing the stuff with Danioni as well. Pasquale is an amazing actor. It’s just a pleasure to play someone so arrogant being brought low so consistently. It’s a real gift for an actor.”

So, does Umbers feel that Cecil’s repeated comeuppances are a vehicle for audience satisfaction?

“I think so, but I think they sympathize – that’s what’s so great about the character, is that the audience slightly, secretly want to see him succeed as well. If you get a charming villain like that, especially when Cecil’s enemies are genuinely evil people, you do sort of want to see him succeed in some way.”

What other projects does Umbers have coming up?

“I’m doing two more shows in the U.K., both for the same production company. One is called BOOKISH, which is written by and starring Mark Gatiss, who’s an incredible actor, and also a show called PATIENCE.”

And what would Umbers most like people to know about HOTEL PORTOFINO Season 3?

“It’s going to be tragic,” Umbers warns. “You will cry.”

Follow us on Twitter at ASSIGNMENT X
Like us on Facebook at ASSIGNMENT X

Article Source: Assignment X
Article: HOTEL PORTOFINO: Actor Mark Umbers on Season 3 of the PBS Masterpiece series

Related Posts: