Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory read from Romantic poets as part of The Josephine Hart Poetry Hour at the Hay Festival on Wednesday. Click below for pics. Special thanks to the wheresmyshoe and awholecountrysaysrahzberries tumblrs for their pics!

Gallery Link:

Here’s a short article from The Times on The Prince’s Trust with mention of an event Damian and Helen McCrory attended on May 23rd.

Last Thursday I sat in on a visit to the Prince’s Trust by two of that organisation’s ambassadors, the actors Helen McCrory and Damian Lewis. They were there to listen to — and encourage — some of the young people supported by the Trust’s Enterprise programme, which offers advice and low-interest loans to disadvantaged young people hoping to start their own business.

There were seven such beneficiaries present, aged between 25 and 36, five men and two women. Each gave a potted version of their lives — seven different stories from different towns and cities, each with a sad start yet each, thus far, with the happy outcome of a life turned around and a business venture established.

Most of the stories had something else in common, something you hear all too often. As children, most of these young people were struggling with physical or mental impairment and/or a difficult or dangerous home life. Yet, when the state had its best chance to improve their lot, ie, when it had them in its care for the 11 years they were in school (or at least supposed to be) not only did the state fail to make their lives better, it made their lives worse.

Read the rest of the article here at our gallery.

Thanks to Kaz for the scans!

A few more in HQ.

Gallery Link:

Damian Lewis took a break from Homeland to come to Cannes to promote The Silent Storm, in which he will star opposite Andrea Riseborough.

Corinna Villari-McFarlane writes and directs the feature, which will shoot on the Isle of Mull in Scotland from late June.

The Silent Storm follows the story of an overbearing husband and his wife, who meet a young delinquent. Villari-McFarlane says her script is influenced by anything from Carl Jung to Celtic myths: “It is a strong, simple story with universal emotions.

“The main thing was to get great actors who come to it for the right reasons and who have real depth,” the writer-director told Screen on Tuesday.

Lewis was her first choice but she thought his schedule would be busy; thankfully Homeland is on hiatus this summer, which allows him time to shoot in Scotland.

Lewis says he was drawn to the script because “it is an intimate character piece. I loved it and it’s not just bleak, gritty British reality, it has scale and it also has hope.” He says her script is in the same school as masters like Ingmar Bergman or Werner Herzog. Indeed, his character undertakes a Fitzcarraldo-like physical challenge during the story.

Lewis’s character is a Second World War veteran who comes home to a changing community. “He is a man of a bygone era; he¹s beaten down, he’s pent up and repressed, and he crushes the women around him,” says Lewis.

But don’t let that put you off: Lewis also notes there are “moments of joy” in the film.

Bond producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli are executive-producing alongside Marc Samuelson, Steve Milne and Hani Farsi.

Nicky Bentham (Moon) of Neon Films produces.

Bentham said: “It is a tempestuous, brooding drama but full of life and full of colour,” and, of Mull, she added: “It is just one of those magical places.” Bentham and Villari-McFarlane are also working on a very different project: a screwball sex comedy called Monk’s Apartment.

Source: Screen Daily

Gallery Link:

He’s the Hollywood A-lister more accustomed to the red carpet than life in rural West Wales.

But yesterday Homeland star Damian Lewis was the star attraction at a tiny Carmarthenshire village, where he spoke proudly of his Welsh heritage.

The Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning actor was present to officially open the Aberglasney Mansion at Llangathen, near Llandeilo.

The 42-year-old, whose grandparents were both Welsh, has links to the area having been a regular visitor since his youth.

“We’ve actually had a house down here in the area for 30 years,” he said.

“My father is Welsh through his blood line and I support the Welsh rugby team, otherwise he would have taken the belt to me.

“My wife Helen has a Welsh speaking mother that lives in Cardiff and she has a grandfather who was the Welsh boxing champion no less, Bobby Morgan.”

Lewis, a friend of local artist William Wilkins, cut the ribbon to mark the official opening of the mansion since its £600,000 restoration.

“One of the things that I learnt being here was what an extraordinary amount of hard work has gone into, first and foremost, the garden, which was really initially the area of historical note,” he said.

Yesterday’s event came 14 years after the gardens opened to the public and is the latest milestone in a remarkable transformation of the historic site.

“I love coming to Wales,” added Lewis.

“My father is 100 percent Welsh. On both side of his family, like so many of the Welsh did, they went across to Liverpool and Birmingham looking for work and all fell into Welsh communities and all married each other.

“My grandmother was a Welsh speaker. It’s in the blood.”

Source: Wales Online