News and Updates
Saturday, 26 April 2008
- Listen online to Damian Lewis’s portrayal of Sammy Rice in Nigel Balchin’s play The Small Back Room on BBC Radio 4; visit the new Project Preview page for more information about this production.
- Yesterday, lucky Kristen had the opportunity to attend the US premiere of the The Baker at the RiverRun International Film Festival in Winston-Salem, NC; she said that director Gareth Lewis “…was wonderful and the film is amazing…The writing, direction and cast were fabulous;” click here to read her message.
Posted by kathyv
Friday, 25 April 2008
- This article in the Winston-Salem Journal states that the first screening of The Baker today at the RiverRun International Film Festival was sold out!
A festival attendee named Alextris filed this report:
“Saw this movie today at the River Run Festival in Winston-Salem NC. Gareth Lewis was answering questions after the showing and said that negotiations were underway for a US release. He didn’t give any further info…but if you have the chance to see this movie, do it.”
- In a Comedy Centric interview actor Adam Arkin had this to say about his role as Ted Earley on Life starring Damian Lewis:
“… Acting on the show has been a lot of fun, primarily because most of the acting I get to do is with Damian, who I have felt a great deal of camaraderie with and I like to think we have similar approaches to the work. We are serious about the work but we don’t take it seriously, which translates to being able to relax, have a good time, and get the work done.
Any time you get a chance to work with live animals and have horses on sound stages and swim with coyotes, how can you not be having a good time? And I also have to give a shout-out to Sarah Shahi, who has been doing fantastic work on the show. She’s both a terrific person and professional”
Arkin’s comments about the new Friday night timeslot on NBC included:
“First of all, we haven’t been working together as a company since we got the news. We’ve been on hiatus since the writer’s strike began, and we don’t start working until June. But that being said, there are pluses and minuses to the schedule change. The minus side is that it’s not considered a hot night, and it’s a night that’s traditionally considered for a lower number of viewers.
But there are two additional pieces of information in response to that. Number one, because of the preponderance now of people using their TiVos, and the amount of people watching shows online or recording and streaming video, the scheduled night is not as important as it once was.
And the other issue is that being on Friday night also means that the network doesn’t have as much vehement competition on that night. It’s a night on which we may have a very long life (no pun intended), so I don’t think anyone’s overly upset about it. The fact that we were picked up by NBC is a much bigger deal than what night we air on. …”
- Click here for a new Life music video from hani273nhk on YouTube.
Posted by kathyv
Thursday, 24 April 2008
- Click here for a Fabulous Picture Show interview with Joseph Fiennes and director Rupert Wyatt at a special screening of The Escapist on April 19th. The Escapist footage runs for the first 8 minutes of the program which ends with the scene between Brian Cox and Damian Lewis that is featured in the trailer. The clip includes several intriguing and exciting scenes from the movie and during the interview Rupert Wyatt reveals that 300 ex-convicts were hired as extras for the the big fight scene!
- The British Board of Film Classification has given The Escapist a rating of “15”. As a frame of reference for American viewers, Keane was rated at 15 in the UK and given an “R” rating in the US.
Posted by kathyv
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
- The Baker, produced by and starring Damian Lewis, screens at the RiverRun International Film Festival in Winston-Salem, NC on April 25th and 26th; click here for clips from festival’s films (scenes from The Baker run from start at 5:15 minutes.) Click
here for The Baker’s UK playdates and cinemas.
- On Saturday BBC Radio 4 will broadcast Nigel Balchin’s play The Small Back Room starring Damian Lewis. Jane Anderson’s Radio Times review had this to say about the programme:
The Saturday Play: The Small Back Room
Saturday 26 April
2:30pm - 3:30pm
BBC Radio 4
Sammy Rice is a British back-room boy. He and a couple of other scientists work tightly together to test inventions that might prove useful in the war against Germany. When Rice is asked to help another department investigate the workings of a new rash of enemy bombs he’s happy to assist, but his greatest problem turns out to be the battle with inter-departmental bureaucracy rather than scary Nazi technology. Damian Lewis as Sammy explodes with invective ire at his superiors and you can feel his internal combustion hitting danger level when he is finally faced with a real bomb to defuse. This thriller is as taut as a stretched wire - and one that hasn’t been earthed, at that.
On Thursday, April 24th BBC Radio 4 will air a feature about the play’s author Nigel Balchin.
- Reminder! Two Damian Lewis films will broadcast on the US Sundance Channel this Friday night April 25th: The Situation at 7pm ET and Keane at 10pm ET.
- This article in the Official London Theatre Guide states that The Almeida is offering £10 tickets for theatergoers under the age of 25 for Helen McCrory’s new play Ibsen’s Rosmersholm which opens in May (previews starting May 15th.)
Posted by kathyv