As mentioned, Gosford Park has a huge cast, many of the actors being academy award winners and/ or nominees. But the film also had a relatively small budget- 19.8 million in total- so it was clear that no one could get paid their accustomed salary. Altman offered the 17 first tier actors the same fee, and the 24 secondary actors a lesser but also equal payment. Considering the size of the cast and the budgetary restraints, this couldn't have worked out to a huge amount of money for anyone, but the actors all signed up eagerly to work on the project, no doubt recognizing its quality. And Gosford Park is very good, reminding me variously of an Agatha Christie mystery, Clue, Upstairs Downstairs, and Remains Of The Day.
OK, having now discussed the upstairs/ downstairs denizens separately, in my next post I'll consider the interactions between the two groups... as well as a few other things.