Check out this gorgeous new photoshoot accompanying the interview posted at the men’s fashion website MR PORTER.

Gallery Link:

Photoshoots > Session 052

Mr Damian Lewis needs no convincing that Homeland is a huge hit, perhaps even a career high. Not because of the critical praise or the awards, or even his Best Actor nomination at the Golden Globes last year. But because in March he was invited to dinner at the White House, along with Mr George Clooney and main guest Prime Minister David Cameron.

“I thought we were going to be sitting by the kitchen or something,” he says. “Next to the revolving door that would repeatedly hit us on the back of the head, as waiters came in and out,” he continues, slapping the back of his head to demonstrate. “But when we got to the marquee on the South Lawn we found that out of 396 people at this dinner, we had been put at the President’s table. I was opposite Obama. He said Homeland is his favourite show.”

Mr Lewis plays the troubled marine Sergeant Brody, who returns home from Iraq a national hero after years of torture as a prisoner of war. But was he indoctrinated there; is he a terrorist now? An equally troubled CIA agent (Ms Claire Danes) wants to find out. It’s the kind of intricate, high-stakes drama that raises the bar on what’s possible on television – the first show to capture America’s conflicted feelings about the war on terror.

“I knew we were doing something a bit better than your average TV show, or movie for that matter,” he says. “But there was no telling the way in which it touched a chord. People get a strange thrill out of being made to feel anxious and worried!”

We meet in Los Angeles, under a bridge downtown, like in the Chili Peppers song. Only in this case, we’re on a cosy tour bus eating chips and salsa, with a couple of Newcastle Brown Ales on the go.

“Well, you’ve got to don’t you,” he says, looking at his wrist. “It’s beer o’clock!”

People get a strange thrill out of being made to feel anxious and worried!

And to be fair, the drink is well earned. Mr Lewis has spent the day getting his picture taken in various outfits all over town, and it’s the first day of the May Day protests in the city so traffic has been murder. But he’s in good spirits. Life is sweet these days, as he tells me more than once. And besides, he likes a spot of fashion.

“I like that 1960s Mad Men thing that’s going on,” he says. “Equally I can get a bit Burt Reynolds if I wear the right shirt – a few too many buttons undone. It’s not a good look but I just can’t avoid it happening!”

Read the full interview at MR PORTER.

I’ve added more pics of Damian and Helen at the “Schiaparelli And Prada: Impossible Conversations” Costume Institute Gala last night.

Gallery Link:

Public Appearances > 2012 > 2012/05/07 Met Costume Institute Gala

Gallery Link:

Candid > 2012/05/05 Biking in Venice

Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory attended the “Schiaparelli And Prada: Impossible Conversations” Costume Institute Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC on Monday. Click below for pics!

Gallery Link:

Public Appearances > 2012 > 2012/05/07 Met Costume Institute Gala

Damian meeting with fans backstage at a Paul McCartney concert at the Royal Albert Hall in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust on March 29.

Source: @michaelelphick

Damian Lewis made an appearance on the PBS late-night talk show Tavis Smiley on Friday, May 4th. You can download the interview in mp4 format here from our media archive. The interview should be posted on the Tavis Smiley site by Monday. Update: Added screen captures from the interview to the gallery.

Gallery Link:

TV Appearances > Tavis Smiley HD Screencaps (04 May 2012)

Update: Here’s the interview posted on PBS.

I hadn’t been doing this, but Season 1 of Homeland ended in the UK on Sunday, so here’s sample of reviews from the finale. Spoilers ahead!

The Guardian – The scenes in the bunker, with Brody’s malfunctioning vest, were made slightly less tense by knowing that a second series featuring Lewis and Danes had already been commissioned, but nevertheless it was a remarkable and excruciatingly tense performance.

CultBox – The scene where she walks in on him praying in Arabic is a heart-stopper; the moment the ex-marine can’t hug his daughter because of the bomb strapped to his chest is another jolt to the cardiovascular system; and Brody’s side of the phone conversation between the two of them, the camera right up in Lewis’s face to capture every drop of sweat and anguish, is as fine a performance as we’ve seen for some considerable time.

Digital Spy – After weeks of jumbo-sized twists and head-spinning switcharoos (Brody’s good, no he’s not, yes he is, oh who knows!), Homeland’s season finale delivered a hefty, heavyweight punch that didn’t disappoint. Thankfully there was no ridiculous last-minute twist or reveal. Instead, we were given sweaty vest-tugging tension, resolutions and an electric-shocking final, which didn’t just open the door to season two – it held the door open, greeted us with flowers and chocolates and invited us in with the promise of a three-Michelin starred, six-course dinner.

Telegraph – A drama that looked like it had the ingredients of straightforward, even racist patriotism at first (whites: good, browns: bad), now has corrupt US politicians at the highest levels, a deeply sympathetic terrorist (Brody) with a teenage daughter complicit in his new identity, and a part-lobotomised heroine with dreams that might just be telling her the truth. I, personally, can’t wait.

The Guardian – Homeland then moved into different sections – quieter, slower, more thoughtful moods. It allowed themes to develop, more complex than the black-and-white, good-v-evil of 24. Here were shades of grey – hey, maybe even as there are in the real world. And it allowed characters to develop, too. Not just Brody and Carrie (brilliantly portrayed by Damian Lewis and Claire Danes throughout, though she possibly slightly overdoes her bipolar disorder at the end – no one ever underdoes mental illness, do they?).

ACTOR Damian Lewis has backed calls to help millions of children caught up in West Africa’s food crisis.

The British-born star of Homeland and his family sponsor 11-year-old Marie in Burkina Faso, one of the countries affected, through Plan UK. Aid workers for the global children’s charity warn 13 million people are at risk across the region as food supplies run out.

“It’s hard to get a grip on the sheer scale of this crisis,” says Damian. “What we do know is that in Burkina Faso alone, more than two million people are at risk.

“Poor rains have decimated the cereal crop on which families depend for meals – the last harvest only produced half the amount they’d normally expect.

“Sadly, things will get worse over the coming months as food stocks run low and families struggle to feed themselves.”

Sponsorship helps fund projects to benefit entire communities, including schooling and preparing for droughts.

But the severity of the current food crisis, stretching thousands of miles from Senegal to Chad, is affecting even the best prepared.

“As ever, children are the most vulnerable. Marie’s family has been hit hard by the poor harvest,” says Damian.

“Child sponsorship helps with long-term projects to help families stave off hunger – like school feeding and rainwater harvesting schemes – but families need help now to survive.”

Plan is also hoping to help children and their families in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali and Niger with grain and other emergency supplies.

“Our work so far has focused on providing food and supplies for school canteens to ensure children are getting the nutrients they need,” says Plan’s country director in Burkina Faso, Mark Wentling.

“But families’ supplies are fast running out and they need help now to avert a catastrophe over the coming months.”

Source

Plan UK

Damian Lewis will be a guest on the PBS late-night talk show Tavis Smiley on Friday, May 4th! Airtimes for the show vary depending on your PBS affiliate; click here to check your local listings. Interviews are posted on the Tavis Smiley website and on iTunes – we’ll try and have a download available, too.