Ben Stiller Grilled Dan Stevens About ‘Downton Abbey’ On ‘Night At The Museum 3’ Set

Apparently funny man Ben Stiller is a huge Downton Abbey fan, he took the opportunity to nag former cast member and Night at the Museum 3 co-star, Dan Stevens about it. Cousin Matthew — for those familiar with the period drama — recently revealed that he was grilled about the show’s gossip.

Stevens, who left the show after his contract ended, following Season 3 — much to the disappointment of millions of fans — has moved on to completely different roles. He stars as a psychopatic former soldier who visits an unsuspecting family in The Guest and also plays a sinister character in A Walk Among the Tombstone alongside Liam Neeson.

Ben Stiller will share the big screen with Dan Stevens in the third installment of the franchise, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. The production was shaken with the news of Robin Williams’ untimely death, which will no doubt bring added attention to the latest chapter.

Stevens plays King Arthur’s famous knight, Sir Lancelot and is seen in part of the first trailer released last month. This time around the action moves to London, where night guard Larry Daley takes a job.

According to Dan Stevens, Ben Stiller wouldn’t miss a chance to ask questions about Downton Abbey, just like any other fan:

He’s a huge Downton fan, yeah, I didn’t realize this. I knew he was a fan, but I didn’t realize quite how big until I got on set, and every opportunity he just wanted to know about all the Downton questions that every fan asks, it was very funny.

The blue-eyed Brit also admitted that even though he decided not to continue with his role in Downton Abbey, being part of the production as such a main character opened many doors in Hollywood.

It certainly opened the door to go and do a play (The Heiress) in Broadway in New York, which happened a couple of years ago, and that really opened the door to a lot of other things.

Scott Frank, the director of A Walk Among The Tombstones, came and saw that in Broadway and offered me a role unlike any I’d ever played before alongside Liam Neeson in a rather grisly thriller and that then led to The Guest, a much darker world that I’d been able to take on before. So it’s interesting just seeing what comes up.

Night At the Museum 3 starring Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Dan Stevens, Owen Wilson, and Ben Kingsley among others opens in theaters December 19. Season 5 of Downton Abbey comes to the U.S in January.

[Image via 20th Century Fox]