Damian Lewis will use a break in the middle of shooting the third series of hit TV drama Homeland to preach the gospel.

The award-winning actor has signed to play a puritanical pastor who believes he has become God’s true messenger in a crumbling community in the westernmost islands of Scotland.

He will star in the film The Silent Storm, opposite Andrea Riseborough as a sensual, free spirit whom the priest rescues when she’s washed up on the beach. ‘They have a relationship, but he so adheres to the disciplines of the Christian faith that she suffers and he crushes any life out of her,’ Lewis explained about the film, to be directed by Corinna McFarlane from her own screenplay.

Added to the problems at the vicarage, the local mine has closed and the pastor’s flock are moving to the mainland — plus there’s a tragedy that affects the couple’s future.

A delinquent teenage lad is sent from Glasgow to live with them and, well, the tale heats up. McFarlane’s story is set in a Fifties world. ‘But before it becomes apparent that you’re in the 20th century, you could very easily be in the early 19th,’ Lewis said.

‘It’s very Ibsen-esque, but I don’t think the palate of the film will be granite grey. It’s got something that’s a bit more uplifting than that,’ Lewis stressed. McFarlane and Nicky Bentham, the film’s producer, has been championed by James Bond film executive Barbara Broccoli. She was shown McFarlane’s script and was determined to back the picture.

‘It’s really important to have original, fresh female voices out there, and Corinna’s incredibly talented. She has a vision and has something to say, and I want to support that,’ Broccoli, visiting Cannes, told me. Filming will start on June 23.

Lewis said his Homeland schedule has a natural gap, with time enough to shoot The Silent Storm. He told me his character in the hit show, U.S. veteran-turned-terrorist Nicholas Brody, is ‘on the run and he’s public enemy Number 1 in the world and we will find him somewhere surprising’.

Lewis continued: ‘We will find Brody in a Brody-esque state, which usually means an unhealthy one. He’s a survivor, a cockroach. You can’t kill Brody. What’s emerged in him over the first two seasons is he’s a victim of war, he’s been poisoned and he leaks his poison wherever he goes. Damaged people are dangerous to be around because he damages others.’

In the middle of his crazy filming schedule, audiences will see Lewis as Lord Capulet in a new film of Romeo And Juliet adapted by Downton Abbey writer Julian Fellowes.

Source: Daily Mail

The 3rd annual Critics’ Choice Television Awards will be held on June 10th and will be webcast live on UStream.

BEST DRAMA SERIES
• The Americans – FX
• Breaking Bad – AMC
• Downton Abbey – PBS
• Game of Thrones – HBO
• The Good Wife – CBS
• Homeland – Showtime

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
• Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) – AMC
• Damian Lewis (Homeland) – Showtime
• Andrew Lincoln (The Walking Dead) – AMC
• Timothy Olyphant (Justified) – FX
• Matthew Rhys (The Americans) – FX
• Kevin Spacey (House of Cards) – Netflix

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES
• Claire Danes (Homeland) – Showtime
• Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel) – A&E
• Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife) – CBS
• Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) – BBC America
• Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men) – AMC
• Keri Russell (The Americans) – FX

Source: Critics’ Choice Awards

Damian Lewis was in Cannes on Tuesday to promote The Silent Storm with director Corinna MacFralane and producers Barbara Broccoli and Nicky Bentham. Click below for HQ pictures from the portrait session.

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Here’s what Damian had to say about Homeland and The Silent Storm:

“Homeland” without Sgt. Nicholas Brody? Damian Lewis says it’s possible.

The British actor has become an American television star playing the U.S. Marine-turned-conflicted al-Qaida terrorist in the award-winning thriller series.

He’ll soon start filming the third season, which begins with Brody at large and the world’s most wanted man, hunted by his adversary and sometime lover, CIA agent Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes).

Whether Brody will be run to ground – and how long the character can avoid what seems like inevitable doom – the actor can’t say.

“I think `Homeland can go on forever,” Lewis told The Associated Press in Cannes. “Whether Brody can go on forever is a different matter.

“We’ll just play each season as it comes. Writers write themselves into interesting positions, sometimes not wholly expected positions. So it’s a continuing surprise for everybody.”

The show has won a packet of awards, including an Emmy and a Golden Globe for Lewis, and has managed to maintain its momentum even after resolving the is-he-or-isn’t-he-a-terrorist mystery of season one.

Lewis says making “Homeland” is still enormous fun, but he’s confident the show’s creators will know when to call it quits.

“I know they won’t flog it,” he said. “I think once it stops being interesting they’ll leave it alone.”

Lewis is in Cannes to talk about “The Silent Storm,” a poetic romantic drama set in a remote Scottish island community. Lewis will co-star with Andrea Riseborough (“W.E.”, “Oblivion”) in the movie, due to shoot this summer.

“I just thought this was a superior piece of writing,” Lewis said. “It also happened to fit around my family and `Homeland.’”

That’s a key consideration. Lewis tries to arrange his schedule to spend as much time as he can with his wife, actress Helen McCrory, and their young son and daughter.

“Once you have kids – and if you’ve made a decision that you’re going to parent them and not just have them and hand them over to someone else – then it becomes very significant what work you choose,” he said.

“The Silent Storm” is a first feature from writer-director Corinna Villari McFarlane but it has some heavyweight backing. The film’s executive producer is Barbara Broccoli of EON Productions, the company behind the James Bond series.

“The writing has an authenticity and sincerity, and also an ecstasy in it that you rarely find in smaller films,” Lewis said. “I love the idea of getting in front of the camera with Andrea. I think we’ll have lots of fun.”

Source: AP

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It’s official: Homeland‘s Season 2 finale was not — we repeat not — Brody’s swan song.

Damian Lewis will return for the Showtime smash’s upcoming third season, executive producer Howard Gordon confirmed to TVLine Sunday night following the show’s big Golden Globes triumph.

“He’s alive so of course he’ll be back,” Gordon said at Fox’s after party. “One of the great challenges of next [season] is how he’ll be back. But there’s no doubt that he will be back.”

Homeland‘s second season ended with Claire Danes’ Carrie helping Brody embark on his new life as a fugitive. At the time, exec producer Alex Gansa said Lewis’ involvement in Season 3 was very much “an open question,” adding, “We had a much clearer picture of what the first two seasons would be than we do of what the third season would be…. Damian’s involvement and [the actors who fill out Brody's family] is very much up in the air.”

Just last week, Showtime president David Nevins sidestepped questions about Lewis’ future on the show, telling reporters, “It’s perfectly fair to ask, but how fun would it be if I gave you any of those spoilers?”

For his part, the Emmy- and now Golden Globe-winning Lewis told Entertainment Weekly last year that his seven-year Homeland contract is essentially worthless. “[It] doesn’t mean anything,” he told the mag. “They can kill me whenever they want.”

Homeland‘s third season launches Sunday, Sept. 29 at 9/8c.

Source: TVLine