Categories Helen Interviews Magazine Print Media Spy Wars

Radio Times Magazine Interview – Oct 2, 2019

Could the Next James Bond Be Ginger? The Famous Redhead Rules Himself Out

by Kristy Lang | Radio Times Magazine | Issue: October 5-11, 2019

In a five-star hotel suite high above the City of London, Damian Lewis and I have a ginger bonding moment. As a fellow redhead, I’ve long admired his rise through the acting world. Not many gingers get leading-man status, but after starring in series such as Band of Brothers, Homeland and Billions, Lewis is big in American.

We’re meeting to discuss his first venture into the world of documentaries, fronting and producing a series about spies on the History channel.

Lewis, now 48, was born in London but was sent to boarding school at a young age, which, he thinks, would make him a very good spy.

“If you are sent away from your family at the age of eight, it gives you a rigor, a dissociative quality that is extremely useful for spies because they have to be able to shut down parts of their emotional life. That’s why the British secret services actively recruited public schoolboys. Guy Burgess is the most extreme example of that. He was flamboyant, charming and mostly drunk – how he didn’t reveal what he was doing is a mystery to me.”

Continue reading Radio Times Magazine Interview – Oct 2, 2019

Categories Interviews Print Media Screenings Spy Wars

Damian Tells of His New Docudrama Series Spy Wars and His Take on Ian Fleming’s Hero – Sept 21, 2019

The World of Espionage: Traitor or Hero?

by Dalya Alberge | The Guardian | September 21, 2019

His award-winning performances have included the hit espionage drama series Homeland and he is among actors tipped to take over from Daniel Craig as James Bond. Now Damian Lewis has taken on his first role in a television docudrama about spies, whom he describes as “often quite grubby and banal”, a world away from the glamour of 007.

The Hollywood star presents and produces the eight-part show about some of the most significant espionage operations of the last 40 years. The series features undercover agents – some still identified only by their code names – who were persuaded to tell their stories for the first time.

“I find the different reasons for turning traitor or being a hero, depending on your view, are often quite grubby and banal. I’m interested [in] the motives of these spies. That’s the series we’ve tried to make,” Lewis said.

Continue reading Damian Tells of His New Docudrama Series Spy Wars and His Take on Ian Fleming’s Hero – Sept 21, 2019

Categories Appearances Interviews Print Media Screenings Spy Wars

Damian Lewis Looks at Real Life Spies in History’s New DocuDrama – Sept 12, 2019

From Our Kind of Traitor to Spy Wars

by Matthew Bell | Royal Television Society | September 12, 2019

Having played a fictional spy in the John le Carré adaptation Our Kind of Traitor and a turncoat in long-running US thriller Homeland, Damian Lewis has turned presenter for History’s new espionage series.

The actor was initially reluctant when his brother, Gareth ­­– one of the executive producers of Damian Lewis: Spy Wars – asked him to present. “I hadn’t done factual [before] and I don’t consider myself a presenter.

“But I enjoy the [spy] genre and I thought it was an opportunity to look behind these popular stories and see if we could unearth something a bit more intimate about the people themselves, and the ramifications on global politics of very personal decisions taken by individuals.”

Lewis was talking after a screening of an episode of Damian Lewis: Spy Wars at the British Museum in mid-September.

Continue reading Damian Lewis Looks at Real Life Spies in History’s New DocuDrama – Sept 12, 2019

Categories Appearances Broadcast Media Interviews Media Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Radio Spy Wars Video

Damian Lewis on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show – Sept 11, 2019

The Beard Is Back!

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | September 11, 2019

Damian was the guest on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show this morning on Virgin UK Radio. You can watch the interview in its entirety below. ENJOY!

Categories Helen Interviews Personal and Family Life Print Media

Helen Dishes More About the Lewis-McCrory Household – Aug 29, 2018

An Interview with Helen McCrory

by Tom Hodgkinson | Idler Magazine | August 28, 2019


I have met Helen McCrory before. She and her husband Damian Lewis are often to be seen at festivals, going to talks as everyday punters. In fact she gave me a compliment one year after I’d given a talk at Port Eliot Festival. I didn’t recognise her at first and just said “thanks”. As I wandered off I suddenly realised, “hang on, that was Helen McCrory!” Mutual friends told me that she and Damian were fans of my books, and I do remember them mentioning The Idle Parent in an interview. So I was delighted when her PR called and asked if we’d like an interview.

Tom Hodgkinson How did you get involved with Peaky Blinders?

Helen McCrory When they first approached me, they said: ‘Would you like to play Aunt Polly in this gangster drama set in Birmingham?” And I was like: “No.”

TH It sounded unappealing?

Continue reading Helen Dishes More About the Lewis-McCrory Household – Aug 29, 2018

Categories Helen Interviews Personal and Family Life Print Media Summertime

Helen McCrory: The Joy of Family Holidays in a Camper Van – Aug 12, 2019

The Family’s Holiday House and Why Damian Isn’t Asked How He Juggles It All

by Julia Llewellyn Smith | The Times | August 12, 2019

Gosh, but having lunch with Helen McCrory is a daunting experience — a bit like sitting down with a more intelligent version of Princess Margaret or the seventh, undiscovered Mitford sister. Even though she’s a dainty thing, McCrory has extraordinary presence, crackling with the energy that has suffused her stage performances at the National, the Donmar and the Almeida and that underscored film roles such as Harry Potter’s Narcissa Malfoy. It has also made her the star of TV dramas such as Penny Dreadful and Peaky Blinders, the long-running BBC period crime drama that we’re here to discuss.

Her commanding aura is boosted by her Pathé-newsreel husky tones and by her marriage to another superstar, Damian Lewis, of Homeland and Billions fame. The couple are self-described “party animals”, frequently photographed looking Burton-and-Taylor glamorous on red carpets, and I imagine she would make the most brilliant hostess — fun, engaged and full of droll bons mots and anecdotes.

The regal effect is further enhanced by the fact that, in the pleasant but unglamorous surroundings of the British Film Institute restaurant on a baking-hot day (“I’m starving,” she barks before ordering asparagus, followed by a cobb salad with truffle fries), McCrory is in a long, flowery dress and full make-up for that evening’s London premiere of Peaky’s fifth season. “It’ll look good when it gets dark. For now it’s like, ‘My God, she’s like Liz Taylor the wheelchair years,’ ” she drawls.

McCrory doesn’t do traditional interviews, where she talks and I listen. Instead, she expects a conversation with topics ranging from how all young women today look identical (“Our generation had so many more styles to choose from. I really wanted to look like Debbie Harry — obviously quite a leap — then Siouxsie Sioux . . .”); to the recent resignation of the British ambassador to the US (McCrory’s father was a diplomat in countries such as Tanzania and Cameroon); to Peaky-related philosophical questions such as: “Is an act of goodness still good if you do it out of badness?” (She decides no.) It leaves me quite anxious that I haven’t been stimulating enough company.

Continue reading Helen McCrory: The Joy of Family Holidays in a Camper Van – Aug 12, 2019

Categories Helen Interviews Personal and Family Life Print Media Summertime

Damian and Helen Together On Stage Again? Hints Were Dropped! – Aug 9, 2019

Damian the Husband: Organizing Road Trips, Planning Surprise Birthday Parties

by Gavanndra Hodge | The Telegraph | August 9, 2019

She’s straight-talking, hates housework, dresses to kill, and lives life her way – convention be damned. Turns out Helen McCrory has plenty in common with her badass Peaky Blinders character Polly.

Helen McCrory, the multiple-award winning actor, is holding what looks like a moist slice of turkey. ‘What is that?’ I ask. ‘It’s a face mask, darling. £1.99 from Superdrug,’ she says, rubbing it against her neck. ‘It’s going to make me look like a teenager.’

We are standing outside a café on the Regent’s Canal, cyclists and prams whizzing by. McCrory is wearing a floral tea dress, silver Zadig & Voltaire boots, sunglasses and a VIP wristband from a Bob Dylan concert she went to, five days ago. ‘I am never taking it off,’ she says.

There is a sort of rock-star swagger to Helen McCrory, 50, a charismatic, don’t-give-a-damn cool with her chipped red nails and posh-voiced sweariness. She likes to party, to wear top hats and vintage frocks, and there is the inevitable doubling of glamour that comes from her marriage to the actor Damian Lewis (Brody from Homeland, more recently Bobby Axelrod in Billions), with whom she lives in a tall, narrow house in Tufnell Park with their children Manon, 12, and Gulliver, 11.

But what is most thrilling about McCrory is not the husky wit, the famous friends (‘Have you seen Andrew [Scott] doing Present Laughter? Now that is how you do Coward’) or the fact that she ran an acid jazz club in Islington one summer in the early 1990s – it is her talent.

She brings a furious precision and intensity to the roles she takes: Medea and ‘Lady M’ on stage; on screen, Anna Karenina, Narcissa Malfoy, Cherie Blair and the gangster matriarch Aunt Polly in Peaky Blinders, the fifth season of which is soon to start on BBC One. Critics compete for the glowing adjectives when describing her performances – ‘superb’, ‘majestic’, ‘simply wonderful’. In 2017 she was awarded an OBE for services to drama.

Continue reading Damian and Helen Together On Stage Again? Hints Were Dropped! – Aug 9, 2019

Categories Helen Interviews Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Red Carpet Screenings Video

Video Interview of Damian at the UK Premiere of Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood – July 31, 2019

Live From the White Carpet, it’s Steve McQueen!

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | July 31, 2019

Damian was interviewed on the white carpet during the Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood UK premiere on Tuesday, July 30, 2019 and he spoke about what it was like to play Steve McQueen (it all starts with the wig!), the overall movie theme, and hanging out with Quentin Tarantino. Watch three videos and the white carpet arrivals here:

Video #1:

Continue reading Video Interview of Damian at the UK Premiere of Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood – July 31, 2019

Categories Audio Guest Appearances Interviews Podcast Radio

Actor Damian Lewis Explores A World ‘Of Ego And Power’ On Showtime’s ‘Billions’ – June 10, 2019

Damian on NPR’s Fresh Air

by Damianista | damian-lewis.com | June 10, 2019

Damian was Dave Davies’ (sitting for Terry Gross) guest on NPR’s acclaimed (and my personal favorite!) program Fresh Air!

“The classically-trained British actor plays a ruthless hedge-fund manager on Billions, which recently ended its fourth season. Lewis describes his character as “the embodiment of the American dream.”

You can listen to what Damian has to say about Billions, Bobby Axelrod, and more. ENJOY!

TRANSCRIPT:

Continue reading Actor Damian Lewis Explores A World ‘Of Ego And Power’ On Showtime’s ‘Billions’ – June 10, 2019

Categories Billions Interviews Print Media

The Billions Showrunners Explain Why They Turned the Tables on Us — Again: Vulture – June 9, 2019

An Interview with Koppelman and Levien

by Sarene Leeds | Vulture | June 9, 2019

Photo: JoJo Whilden/SHOWTIME

***This interview contains spoilers from the season four finale of Billions.***

Just as we were getting used to the idea of New York State Attorney General Chuck Rhoades Jr. (Paul Giamatti) and hedge-fund billionaire Bobby “Axe” Axelrod (Damian Lewis) playing nice with each other, Billions responded with, “Eh, not so fast.”

In its season four finale, the Showtime drama recalibrated the positions of several of its main players, most notably by shifting the dubious alliance between Chuck and Axe back into a full-on rivalry. After celebrating a victory over season-long foes Attorney General Waylon “Jock” Jeffcoat (Clancy Brown) and U.S. Attorney Bryan Connerty (Toby Leonard Moore), Chuck needs someone new to take down, and he has set his sights back on Axe, who he feels has been pulling the strings of his life for far too long.

The episode “Extreme Sandbox” also saw Axe’s relationship with venture capitalist Rebecca Cantu (Nina Arianda) become collateral damage in his ongoing war with former protégé Taylor Mason (Asia Kate Dillon). Meanwhile, Chuck’s marriage to Axe Capital performance coach Dr. Wendy Rhoades (Maggie Siff) is in tatters again, the lowest blow being Axe using his monetary muscle to get Wendy’s medical license reinstated. Both Axe’s and Wendy’s newfound singledom also begs the question as to whether this platonic relationship is about to move into something more romantic.

Continue reading The Billions Showrunners Explain Why They Turned the Tables on Us — Again: Vulture – June 9, 2019

Categories Appearances Billions Broadcast Media Football/Soccer Guest Appearances Interviews Video

Damian Lewis was the Guest at LIVE Kelly and Ryan – June 4, 2019

Damian Talks Billions and Football

by Damianista | damian-lewis.com | June 4, 2019

Damian was the guest at LIVE Kelly and Ryan in New York City and talked about Billions and his weekend in Madrid for the Champions League final.

In case you missed, here are a few clips. ENJOY! Continue reading Damian Lewis was the Guest at LIVE Kelly and Ryan – June 4, 2019

Categories Billions Interviews Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Print Media

Damian Lewis Gets His Movie Star Moment – Apr 17, 2019

The Billions Star Tells Playboy About Wealth, Mixed Morals and Playing Steve McQueen For Tarantino

by Daniel Barna | Playboy | April 16, 2019

Damian Lewis is not American, but he plays one on TV. In fact, he’s played many. Since breaking out as the gutsy U.S. soldier Dick Winters in Steven Spielberg’s sprawling World War II miniseries Band of Brothers, the London native has almost exclusively built his career on exploring this country’s rich history of heroes and villains. After the singularly heroic Winters, Lewis muddied the moral waters with Homeland’s Nicholas Brody, another Army man whose allegiances were tested after returning home from an extended stint as a prisoner of al-Qaeda.

Showtime had originally planned to kill Sgt. Brody off in season one, but Lewis’ role as the POW-turned-terrorist became so integral to the show’s DNA that the network decided to keep him around until season three, no matter how many rules of logic they needed to bend along the way. The performance earned Lewis an Emmy and a Golden Globe, and made him one of television’s biggest stars. It also showcased Lewis’ preternatural ability to play men steeped in moral ambiguity.

So when it came time to cast the lead for its glossy new prestige drama set in the high-stakes world of hedge funds, the network didn’t flinch. Now in its fourth season, Billions stars Lewis as Bobby “Axe” Axelrod, a self-made Wall St. billionaire with the hubris of Kanye West and the ruthlessness of Vladimir Putin. The show, which pits Axelrod against Paul Giamatti’s U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades, has become an obsession for Wall Streeters and wealthy athletes like Kevin Durant (who made a cameo in season three), who identify with its depiction of the luxurious kind of lifestyle that comes with being obscenely rich.

But as Lewis tells PlayboyBillions is about more than very fast cars and really big boats. Lewis believes that at its core, Billions is a story about the intersection of money and power, which is especially timely given that the wealth gap in America is wider than it’s ever been before. “There’s no question that some of these billionaires operate like nation states. They have the ears of prime ministers and presidents around the world, and they influence policy,” he says. “It’s a problem that the gap between the wealthy and the poor has increased, when the political project for the last 20 to 30 years has been to reduce that gap. I’ve got no problem with individuals amassing enormous amounts of wealth. The critical questions are, How did they make it, and how do they use it?

Continue reading Damian Lewis Gets His Movie Star Moment – Apr 17, 2019