“…Thanks to the hallucinatory multi-flashback structure, you’re kept wondering if they’ll get away and whether you can cling onto the storyline. Wyatt shot on a shoestring in London and Dublin and wrapped it in a hectic 26 days, having successfully created a hellish ‘prison that time forgot’, all sweltering heat and claustrophobia. It’s a world away from big budget movies like Bourne and X-Men that dot his CV, but clearly the kind of vital, energised film making Cox responds to.”

“I have seen 2 separate screenings of this film now. The first time I thought it was very good, but the second time I thought it was a truly great film. I sat there through the whole film with goosebumps the second time around. You start to see more and more on the screen that you missed the first time round. I can’t wait to see it again when it gets released. It really is one of the best films I have seen for a very long time. This could well be a classic in the waiting!”

» The Escapist opens theatrically in the UK on June 20th and the list of cinemas that will be playing the film is now available on the movie’s official site.

Calling all Damian Lewis fans in the UK and Ireland! It’s very important that the movie does well during the opening weekend (to keep it running in the theatres and to earn a wide theatrical release in other countries) so please go to see it on the weekend of the 20th – and if you like the film be sure to tell your friends and family to check it out!

» Spoilers! Click here for a Metro interview with Joseph Fiennes.

» In July The Escapist will screen in Auckland for the New Zealand International Film Festival.

» (Minor) spoilers! Click here or here to read a report from an attendee at the film’s premiere benefiting Diabetes UK.

» Here are some of the early press quotes for The Escapist:

“The Escapist: A ‘spectacular feature film from Rupert Wyatt” Aesthetica

“…an impressively pumped up Joe Fiennes, while Damian Lewis is icily threatening as the prison’s calculating big shot.” Red

“A compelling yarn that’s told with timeline trickery… If you loved The Shawshank Redemption and Escape from Alcatraz, this nail-bitter is for you.” FOUR STARS Loaded

“At last a British crime movie that’s as good as its pitch sounds: Brian Cox trying to break out of prison. Do you need to know any more to want to see it?” FOUR STARS Empire

“Director Rupert Wyatt allows the thrill of the chase to set the film’s pace. The film is snappily edited and makes superb use of sound too…the ensemble cast are excellent too.” Clash

“I love Life. I mean, “Life.” And I think it has the potential to take off this year, once it returns. I hope people check it out. Lewis is great. If the first season hadn’t been abbreviated by the strike, Lewis might have been a more serious contender for an Emmy nomination.”

» Director Rupert Wyatt gave an interesting interview to the Telegraph about his highly anticipated new film The Escapist featuring Damian Lewis.

» Diabetes UK has posted a report and pictures from the film’s premiere on June 10th benefiting the organization; Brian Cox, Dominic Cooper, Steven Mackintosh, and Rupert Wyatt participated in the event.

» The Escapist will be released theatrically in the UK on June 20th.

» Canada’s Global network has unveiled an exciting a new page for Life starring Damian Lewis.

» Richard Keller of TV Squad is urging NBC to re-run season 1 episodes of Life this summer!

» According to the Hollywood Reporter, television critic Ed Bark selected Damian Lewis as his best choice for an Emmy nomination as “Lead Drama Series Actor” for his portrayal of Detective Charlie Crews.

» Click here for a video clip of Brian Cox, Stephen Mackintosh, and Dominic Cooper on the red carpet at last night’s UK premiere of The Escapist held to benefit Diabetes UK.

» Click here and here for articles about the film and the premiere.

» Residents of the UK and Ireland can download the Paul O’Grady Show with guests Brian Cox and Dominic Cooper discussing The Escapist.

» Alex Strachan of CanWest says of Life:

“As hard-luck but hard-driving homicide detective Charlie Crews in the heartfelt, deeply textured character drama Life (Showcase, 10 p.m.), Damian Lewis is both easy to relate to and hard to understand. Life is a wonderful series, a prime example of how network television can take a tired, shopworn genre – the cop show – and reinvent it as a probing portrait of what it means to be a man in a sometimes cruel world. It’s unafraid to be subtle, and equally unafraid to pack an emotional punch…”

» Movie Net News included Life in their discussion of “Freshman drama series in Emmy contention.”

» Detective Charlie Crews once said that he wanted to be reincarnated as a “Giant Flemish Rabbit” so IrenaK created this adorable ”15 lbs of Pure Bunny” icon! Click here to view a clip of the “big bunny” scene from Dig a Hole (episode 1×10 of Life) at NBC.com.

“…Who doesn’t want a brother like Bill Weasley? Smart enough to be a curse breaker for Gringotts Bank, brave enough to fight werewolves, resourceful and true enough to be the friend of goblins, cool enough to marry Fleur Delacour. And, best of all, he doesn’t ask questions. (How rad is that?) The best physical match of any would be actor Damian Lewis, who proved capable of embodying all those qualities as Dick Winters in “Band of Brothers.” And he wouldn’t even have to dye his hair…”