August 30, 2008 | posted by kathyv | in
Messages
- Damian Lewis’s associate Melissa sent a message saying that Damian is very busy right now and “rushed off his feet.” She also said that baby Gulliver Lewis has dark, brown hair “but there’s not much of it yet!”
- The season 2 premiere of Life starring Damian Lewis will screen at the Paley Center for Media’s “Fall Preview Parties” in Los Angeles on September 8th and in New York on September 11th. These screenings are open to the public but advance reservations are required.
- Chris Ball of Cleveland.com reviewed the soon to be released season 1 DVD for Life and said:
“Crews is underplayed nicely by English actor Damien Lewis, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for the excellent HBO mini-series “Band of Brothers.” Lewis as Crews evokes a little bit of Jimmy Stewart from “Destry Rides Again,” as the Old West sheriff who disarms bad guys with his witticisms instead of six-guns. The difference is that Crews doesn’t hesitate to use his gun when necessary.”
Click here to read the full article.
- Tirdad Derakhshani of the Philadelphia Inquirer had this to say about the upcoming, season two debut of Life and the soon-to-be-released season one DVD:
‘Life’ gets a reprieve
NBC will premiere the second season of its little-watched, yet brilliant Zen-meets-Polanski cop show, Life, on Sept. 29. The smart, complicated drama stars Damian Lewis (Band of Brothers) as a cop who served 12 years in prison for a triple murder he didn’t commit. Now he’s back. But he’s not angry: He practices Zen. Then again, he is totally out to get the dirty cops who set him up. And he eats a lot of fresh fruit. (Watch the first season with Life: Season One, due out on DVD Tuesday from Universal Studios.)
- While Glenn Teichman of the Albany TimesUnion.com had this to say about Life:
Life,” about a cop, Charlie Crews, who has just been released from prison for a crime he didn’t commit, had a great star turn by Damian Lewis (“Band of Brothers”) and a compelling mystery about who framed him. At the end of the season, Crews had found one of the men involved in the frame-up, but the conspiracy apparently goes further. The show returns with a special airing after “Heroes” on Monday, Sept. 29, before moving to its regular time slot on Fridays.
- Writer/director Rupert Wyatt is a business partner of Damian Lewis and Adrian Sturges in Picture Farm, the British independent film production company. According to Hollywood.com two of Rupert Wyatt’s next films will be produced by Picture Farm. Brian Cox has been cast in the Fourth Wall and Adrian Sturges will produce. Another Picture Farm partner, Ben Freedman, will produce The Trail.
- Click here for a review of The Escapist with Damian Lewis from Jacob Powell of New Zealand’s Lumiere Reader.
- AlexxiaMcElroy has posted 2 new Band of Brothers music videos on YouTube titled Whispers In the Dark and Candyman.
August 29, 2008 | posted by kathyv | in
Uncategorized
- Thanks to Michelle for the news that The Escapist featuring Damian Lewis will be theatrically released in Australia on November 20, 2008; click here for more information.
- Sadly the Hollywood Reporter reports that no US release date for The Escapist has been confirmed.
- Click here for an interview with Brian Cox about the recent screening of The Escapist in Nairn, Scotland.
- Click on the links below for more cities and dates scheduled to screen The Escapist during the New Zealand International Film Festival:
» Napier
5 Sep | 3:45pm | Century Cinema
7 Sep | 6:15pm | Century Cinema
» Tauranga
10 Sep | 3:45pm | Rialto Cinemas Tauranga
10 Sep | 8:00pm | Rialto Cinemas Tauranga
» New Plymouth
16 Sep | 3:45pm | TopTown Cinemas
17 Sep | 8:00pm | TopTown Cinemas
» Nelson
24 Sep | 3:45pm | Suter Cinema
25 Sep | 8:00pm | Suter Cinema
» Greymouth
TBD (October 2-8)
» Masterton
TBD (October 15-29)
» Queenstown
TBD (October 23-Nov 5)
» Levin
TBD (October 28-Nov 12)
» Gisborne
TBD (Nov 6-19)
» Whangarei
TBD (Nov 13-26)
- Maureen Ryan, “The Watcher” for the Chicago Tribune, said this about Life starring Damian Lewis:
“Life” (returns Sept. 29 on NBC): Donal Logue (“Grounded for Life”) has joined the cast as Capt. Brian Tidwell, Detective Charlie Crews’ new boss. Tidwell brings a “brash, no-nonsense, New York sensibility into a department that is very much Los Angeles,” executive producer Rand Ravich told critics at TCA in July.
As for the conspiracy Crews was investigating—he was unjustly imprisoned for murders he didn’t commit—Ravich says that will be part of the new season. Last season, “we found the guy who did the actual killing, but that will just be the tip of the iceberg. The people who put [the killer] into play, the larger forces at work, are still out there,” Ravich said.
A programming note: “Life” airs twice a week when it returns, on Mondays and Fridays—but only for two weeks. Those dates are Sept. 29, Oct. 3, Oct. 6 and Oct. 10. Then the show airs only on Fridays.
- Mike from Pop Critics had this to say about Life:
“… Lewis is a fantastic actor and is the single reason Life works. Charlie Crews (Lewis) has unique style of solving crimes with a Zen attitude (sometimes), which was refreshing amongst the staleness of procedural dramas. I also loved his partner Dani Reese, who is beautiful but doesn’t act like it. She has some serious flaws she’s working through, and it’s done in a more realistic way than other shows. This season the series adds comic Donal Logue from Grounded for Life.”
August 28, 2008 | posted by kathyv | in
Uncategorized
- Latin America’s AXN Network has posted a new page for Life in anticipation of the September 3rd premiere of the program. Click here to view the video promo on AXN’s home page.
- Thanks to Linda for the news that season 1 of Life will premiere in Belgium starting this Sunday evening, August 31st at 22:30 on Flemish channel VT4.
- There’s a new article in USA Today about Life starring Damian Lewis that includes quotes from Damian Lewis and executive producers Rand Ravich and Far Shariat:
NBC’s ‘Life’ is revived; but question is, can it thrive?
Cop on a mission: Damian Lewis stars as the complex Charlie Crews in Life.
August 28, 2008
By Gary Strauss, USA TODAY
In life, one seldom gets a second chance. That’s the premise behind NBC’s Life, the cop drama that gets a second chance of sorts when its new season opens Sept. 29 (10 ET/PT). NBC is giving viewers ample opportunity to sample the series after the writers’ strike cut its freshman run to 11 episodes. Three more shows air on Oct. 3, 6 and 10, when it rests in its Friday slot.
“NBC understands the difficulty of selling this show,” says creator Rand Ravich. “The first episode needs to serve as a pilot, as if you’ve never seen it.”
Indeed, new viewers may need a refresher course on the characters and complex back stories. British actor Damian Lewis (Band of Brothers) stars as Charlie Crews, an L.A. cop who is back on the force after serving 12 years for homicides he has been cleared of, and he’s tracking the conspirators who framed him. Crews emerges from prison as a Zen disciple, challenged by modern conveniences and partial to fast driving and fresh fruit.
A financial settlement made Crews a multimillionaire. Adam Arkin (Chicago Hope) takes the role of Ted Early, the paroled financier who is Crews’ housemate and money manager. Sarah Shahi (The L Word) co-stars as Crews’ reluctant, sobriety-challenged partner, Dani Reese, and Jennifer Seibel plays his ex-wife, Jennifer, with whom sparks still fly.
Lewis relishes the complexity of Life’s story line and his character. “He was in maximum security most of that time, fighting for his life, the rest in solitary confinement,” Lewis says. “You have a character who is wild and imaginative and poetic and cracked and warped as you like. The world has changed.”
Anticipating the strike, Life’s writers shortened some story lines but stuck to their game plan of Crews identifying who actually carried out the murders in which he was implicated. This year, Crews will delve into the bigger conspiracy, which “will have answers every episode,” says executive producer Far Shariat. “We won’t wait until the end of the season to hit those milestones.”
But Life will experience ample lighter moments, too. “Crews was constantly battling the forces of revenge and transcendence. We’re resetting that to where it’s a brightly lit world — money, cars, girls that want him,” Ravich says. “It’s all about wish fulfillment.”
Ravich and Shariat previously developed a procedural cop series and one about witness protection; neither aired. They hope Life endures. “We talked about our favorite shows —House, Dexter, Sopranos— they were all character-based. That’s what we wanted for Life. We hope we offer more than just a cop show. The (genre’s) a little tired,” Ravich says.
“It’s so hard to find original beats and colors in the cop genre,” Lewis says. “It’s an ambitious show.”
CATCH UP ON ‘LIFE’
Life
(NBC, Fridays, 10 ET/PT)
Returns Monday, Sept. 29
-Last season: 8.1 million viewers.
-Where we left it: Detective Charlie Crews (Damian Lewis) learns who committed the murders for which he was wrongly imprisoned.
-Where it’s headed: Crews continues to hunt for the conspirators who framed him. “There’s plenty of unfinished business,” Lewis says. “There are five or six conspirators involved in setting up Charlie. We’ll go to each one of them. The plot will thicken.” Donal Logue joins the cast as Crews’ supervisor.
August 27, 2008 | posted by kathyv | in
Uncategorized
- Damian Lewis and the other cast and crew of Life will not participate in the season 2 “sneak peek” screening at the “New York Television Festival” on September 15th!
The Director of Communications for the festival kindly shared this information:
“Unfortunately, NBC has told us that the cast and creators of “Life” are in production that day and are unable to make it to the screening. It is disappointing, but I hope your NY contingent will still turn out to support the show’s second season premiere. Tickets to the screening will be available starting September 2nd at the NYTVF Web site. There will be free giveaways of several DVD copies of the show’s first season at the screening as well.”
The Life season 2 debut is free and open to the public. Tickets will be available at the Box Office starting September 2, 2008.
- This lucky fan reported seeing Damian Lewis at a Peet’s Coffee and Tea shop in Los Angeles just recently!
The picture below is provided as consolation for the rest of us who are not as fortunate. It was taken at a Starbucks in Santa Monica, California long ago on July 28, 2001! Click here to view additional photos from this set at the Warehouse.
- Damian Lewis fans in Latin America are eagerly anticipating the premiere of Life on AXN starting September 3rd!
Erica sent this message:
“Hola!! Acabo de ver en AXN el anuncio de LIFE inicia el 03 de septiembre, estaré atenta de ver nuevamente a Damian. EC”
- Firthgal reports that she has been notified by Deep Discount that her Life – Season 1 DVD was shipped today in anticipation of the September 2nd release!
- News from the neighborhood!
» Grimorie has discovered a more comprehensive version of Sarah Shahi’s Star TV interview in the Malay Mail; including this comment about working with Damian Lewis on Life:
Question: “What’s it like working with Damian Lewis on and off set?”
Sarah: “Horrible (laughs)! He’s one of the most charming fellows I have ever met! I love working with Damian. We got along very well. We bicker with each other. He is a wonderful actor to work with, and all of the co-stars are. I work with him and I learn from him. We have a great chemistry together and I think it shows on-screen. We really have a great time working with each other. You know, Damian really likes me! It’s hard because he has such a big crush on me (laughs) and I have to reject him so many times! I’m just kidding! I don’t want to get him into any trouble.”
» Ryanne shared the links for scans of Damian Lewis news clippings and for the Charlie Crew’s conspiracy wall.
» Ann has created 2009 calendars for Damian Lewis, Helen McCrory, and Gareth Lewis.
- New music videos!
» Thanks to Barkley for sharing this link to download Life Begin Again, a gorgeous Charlie Crews music video.
» Click here or here to view a beautiful music video by jagwriter78 featuring clips of Sophia Myles and her co-stars in 3 different films including Colditz with Damian Lewis and Thomas Hardy.
August 25, 2008 | posted by kathyv | in
Uncategorized
