Lily Collins has hinted she would love a role in the upcoming Downton Abbey film.

The actress, 28, who is the youngest daughter of singer Phil Collins, was raised predominantly in Los Angeles but born in the United Kingdom.

During a recent interview with Radio Times, she also spoke about how she still spends Christmases in the English countryside at the family’s Surrey house.

Lily Collins interview
Phil Collins with his daughter Lily (PA Archive)

“Oh, believe me, I have looked into that!” she said, when asked if she’d heard about the Downton film, adding: “I’ve said to my agent: ‘How can I be involved in that movie?’ Big houses in the countryside? I’ve done research for that all my life! It just goes to show, you can take the girl out of the Home Counties…”.

Michael Edelstein, the president of NBCUniversal International Studios, which distributes Downton, was recently quoted as telling American news outlets that a film has been “in the works for some time”.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit Gala – New York
Lily Collins attending The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit Gala in New York (Aurore Marechal/PA Wire)

The ITV period drama’s creator Julian Fellowes also said this month that a film was “pretty likely”.

Crawley family matters aside, Collins will soon be seen in Netflix’s controversial offering, Ojka.

The heartwarming fantasy, with an important environmental message, follows a little girl in South Korea and her best friend Okja, a species of “superpig” bred for livestock.

The film’s inclusion at the Cannes Film Festival caused a furore because it would be streamed simultaneously alongside a limited theatrical release.

In mid-July she’ll be catapulted into the news again when her second Netflix project, To The Bone, is released.

The film tells the story of a young girl battling anorexia.

Collins has documented her own battle with eating disorders in her debut book, Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me, which is a collection of personal essays published earlier this year.

The trailer for To The Bone, which also stars Keanu Reeves, shows Collins looking very gaunt and received a backlash on social media, with many saying there was a danger it could “trigger” eating disorders.

Asked if she had been concerned about losing weight for the role, she told Radio Times: “That was a conversation that we had. There never was a ‘goal’ weight, but I knew that hair and make-up and wardrobe could only do so much. And that to pay tribute to the girl that I was when I was younger, and also to the character, I wanted to do it in a way that really went there – but was also healthy. But, yeah, there’s always a fine line.”

:: Read the full interview in this week’s Radio Times