An Actor is Always Reinventing Himself Through his Characters: An Interview with Damian Lewis – April 23, 2017

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An Actor is Always Reinventing Himself Through His Characters

by Staff | London Calling | April 23, 2017

Having ventured from the hallowed halls of England’s most historic school to the very top of transatlantic television, Damian Lewis is returning to the city – and the stage – of his youth with a starring role in Ian Rickson’s revival of the Edward Albee-penned The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

As much as some people may find it a step too far to have a ginger James Bond, Damian Lewis has seen his name thrown into that ring many times. But while with his Old Etonian credentials it may seem like a natural fit, for the past few years the flame-haired thespian has owed his career to starring roles on the other side of the pond.

Continue reading An Actor is Always Reinventing Himself Through his Characters: An Interview with Damian Lewis – April 23, 2017

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Damian Lewis on Why He’s Happy to be a Heart-Throb and Those James Bond Rumors – Feb 2, 2017

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His blockbuster TV roles have made him a global star but Damian Lewis’s heart will always belong to north London. He speaks to Charlotte Edwardes

by CHARLOTTE EDWARDES | The Evening Standard | 2 February 2017

GIEVES & HAWKES jacket, £795 (gievesandhawkes.com). Zadig & Voltaire jumper, £245 (zadig-et-voltaire.com). Maurice Lacroix watch, £3,245 (mauricelacroix.com). HUGO BOSS T-shirt, £59 (hugoboss.com). Boots, £195 (russelland bromley.com) Source: Tomo Brejc/Evening Standard

Damian Lewis is not as charming as he first seems. And I mean that as a compliment. Sure he can schmooze: he remembers everyone’s name, their kids’ names, their mum’s name — given half a chance he’d ask after hip ops and bunions — and he’s a great giver of bear hugs, back slaps and pumping handshakes. After 10 minutes in the pub where we meet, he has the room eating from his paw. Not because he’s a Hollywood actor, a veritable red-carpet ‘celeb’ with blockbuster TV shows such as Homeland and Billions under his belt, but because he engages everyone. For instance, he identifies the indie rock on the sound system and turns towards the bar, arms wide, crying: ‘Oh my God, who likes The Shins?’ A busboy steps forward and is congratulated. It’s great theatre.

But in truth, Lewis is a bit angry. And no I’m not reducing him to the cliché of the fiery redhead; he says this himself. He’s angry about big things: greed, selfishness, prejudice. But also smaller things, such as bad driving (‘Makes me crazy!’) or the street lighting in Tufnell Park (‘Why can’t we have lovely charming ones like Canonbury?’) or litterbugs (which he would definitely argue was a big thing). ‘I’m not averse to telling people off,’ he says. And do they reply, ‘Hold on aren’t you…?’ ‘Ha! No. It’s more: “Who the hell are you and why are you telling me what to do?”’

Continue reading Damian Lewis on Why He’s Happy to be a Heart-Throb and Those James Bond Rumors – Feb 2, 2017

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Damian Lewis is Accompanied by Proud Wife Helen McCrory as They Celebrate the Opening Night of his Play American Buffalo – April 28, 2015

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American Buffalo Opening Night

By Ryan Smith | Daily Mail | April 28, 2015

After shocking fans with his radical new moustachioed look, Damian Lewis took to the stage for his West End play American Buffalo‘s opening night on Monday.

And his wife of eight years, Helen McCrory, was there to cheer him on as he wowed the audience with his lead turn opposite John Goodman and Tom Sturridge at London’s Wyndham Theatre.

Once the curtains were closed on the star-studded night, the couple were seen lovingly linking arms as they made their way to the nearby National Cafe to kick off celebrations.

Continue reading Damian Lewis is Accompanied by Proud Wife Helen McCrory as They Celebrate the Opening Night of his Play American Buffalo – April 28, 2015

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Damian Lewis and John Goodman Head Up This Starry West End of David Mamet’s Classic Play About Small Time Crooks – April 28, 2015

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Damian Lewis and John Goodman head up this starry West End of David Mamet’s classic play about small time crooks

It would be mean, cheap and generally a bit dickish to say that Damian Lewis’s big post-‘Homeland’, post-‘Wolf Hall’ return to the London stage is overshadowed by some comedy facial hair. Nonetheless: if you think the above photo of his moustache is a bit on the distracting side then seriously, you should see the thing live.

David Mamet’s classic 1975 play ‘American Buffalo’ is a three hander, and in Daniel Evans’s enjoyable but busy production, Lewis, rising Brit talent Tom Sturridge, and old American hand John Goodman each sort of do their own thing to entertaining if not entirely cohesive effect.

Continue reading Damian Lewis and John Goodman Head Up This Starry West End of David Mamet’s Classic Play About Small Time Crooks – April 28, 2015

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American Buffalo Star Damian Lewis Says Wife Helen McCrory is a Fan of His Seventies Porn Star Moustache – April 28, 2015

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American Buffalo star Damian Lewis says Wife Helen McCrory is a Fan of His ‘Seventies Porn Star’ Moustache

by – LOUISE JURY – Evening Standard – April 28, 2015

Double act: Damian Lewis with his wife Helen McCrory at the opening night party (Picture: Dave Benett)

Damian Lewis showed off a substantial Seventies moustache at the opening night of his latest play – and claimed his wife was fine with it.

Continue reading American Buffalo Star Damian Lewis Says Wife Helen McCrory is a Fan of His Seventies Porn Star Moustache – April 28, 2015

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Review: American Buffalo Four Stars – April 28, 2015

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Review: American Buffalo, Wyndham’s Theatre

David Mamet’s muscular comedy, starring John Goodman, Tom Sturridge and Damian Lewis, is revived with style

By Lucy Brooks – Culture Whisper – April 28, 2015

American Buffalo cast, photo by Johan Persson

American Buffalo is typical David Mamet: a taut three-hander that’s all talk. The dynamic between the have-a-go-hustlers is testosterone-heavy, meaty and littered with expletives. Action is sparse and the characters are dissatisfied outliers of the American Dream.

This revival brings the shabby clutter of a Chicago junk shop to London with loving attention to detail and the stylish touch of assorted Americana suspended from above, penning in a claustrophobic stage. Within this shop interior we see the rhythms of everyday life, full of gripes over money lost in poker and what to eat for breakfast. But when the titular American Buffalo, a 24-karat bullion coin minted in 2006 by the US government, gives a chance to make a quick buck, a convoluted plan emerges, warps and collapses.

John Goodman, superbly cast as long-suffering shopkeeper Don, negates a contradictory mixture of self-seeking ambition, caution and sympathy as he is persuaded to evolve his petty criminal plans and replace the dopey sidekick Bobby with smooth-talking Teach. His expressiveness ekes out the comedy between the lines, and as the only American on stage, Goodman’s natural cadence makes Mamet’s script feel the most vivid.

Already under the spotlight thanks to a starring role in Far From the Madding Crowd, Tom Sturridge as Bobby holds his own on stage, keeping the spacey slur just subtle enough to leave us guessing over his sobriety. And while there is plenty of humour, there is nothing parodic about his portrayal of a recently recovering addict; vulnerability and pathos stay close to the surface.

But Damian Lewis stole the show. Oozing seventies sleaze with a flared burgundy suit, handlebar ‘tache and sideburns, he masters the gift of the gab. As the charismatic but usurping Teach he had not just the characters but the audience eating out his hand. And for all the flashiness, Lewis also reveals underlying insecurities. All the insidious self-promotion and confidence in talking down others is offset by a deep discontentment, conveyed in a rare moment of wordlessness and flash of frenzied action.

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American Buffalo Proves the Perfect Vehicle for Welsh Director – April 28, 2015

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American Buffalo proves the perfect vehicle for Welsh director Daniel Evans

Homeland star Damian Lewis and American actor John Goodman have teamed up for the London production

by Philip Fisher – Wales Online – 5 April 2015

In the hands of Rhondda-born actor/director Daniel Evans , David Mamet’s gritty drama American Buffalo about small-time cons in Chicago 40 years ago is the perfect star vehicle.

The cast of three consists of Homeland’s Damian Lewis , a major star on both sides of the Atlantic, John Goodman of Roseanne and Coen Brothers movie fame plus Sienna Miller’s real-life partner and up-and-coming movie heartthrob, Tom Sturridge.

Goodman plays Donnie, the affable but gullible proprietor of a junk shop that he probably believes is an antique store. Designer Paul Wills not only fills it with worthless detritus but wittily has much more of the same symbolically suspended above the hapless trio.

Lewis is unrecognisable but excellent as Teach, a wannabe gangster with Shaft-style 1970s facial hair and evil inclinations.

Read the rest of the original article at Wales Online

American Buffalo Interviews Radio

BBC Radio 4 Front Row Interview

On April 23, 2015April 11, 2023 By mokulen Comments Off

American Buffalo

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | April 23, 2015

Damian Lewis and director Daniel Evans were on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row on Thursday to discuss American Buffalo. Click here to listen to the interview on the BBC website. Click here to download it from the Media section.

American Buffalo is at the Wyndham’s Theatre in London until June 27th. Visit the Delfont Mackintosh Theatres website for more ticket information.

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Damian Lewis: Red Hot, Sunday Times, April 12, 2015

On April 12, 2015October 8, 2017 By Site Administrator Comments Off

Original article at the Times

Red hot

Back on the London stage after years of top TV, what could the thoughtful actor Damian Lewis possibly have to worry about?

Bryan Appleyard
April 12 2015, 1:01am Continue reading Damian Lewis: Red Hot, Sunday Times, April 12, 2015

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Backstage Secrets of American Buffalo: ‘We’re acting out hidden desires’ – April 11, 2015

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Backstage secrets of American Buffalo: ‘We’re acting out hidden desires’

Damian Lewis, John Goodman and Tom Sturridge tell Mick Brown why they’ll be grappling with ‘primal issues of manhood’ in a new revival of the David Mamet classic

By Mick Brown – The Telegraph – 11 April 2015

Band of brothers: Damian Lewis, John Goodman and Tom Sturridge in rehearsal for the London revival of David Mamet’s American Buffalo Photo: Jenny Lewis

It is a week into rehearsals for the new production of David Mamet’s American Buffalo, and the play’s three actors, John Goodman, Damian Lewis and Tom Sturridge, have been getting to know each other. They have been to lunch. They have been playing poker. (Who won, I ask? “Becca,” says Sturridge ruefully, referring to the production’s youthful assistant stage manager, who has been ruthlessly cleaning them all out.) And, of course, there have been long and earnest discussions about the text.

“There are few things that are more revealing about someone than the way that they talk about a piece of literature or a play,” Sturridge says. “You very quickly come to have a much deeper understanding of someone than you would if you just mingled together in a pub saying, ‘All right, how are you?’ Very quickly we were talking in an intimate way about how people feel.”

Continue reading Backstage Secrets of American Buffalo: ‘We’re acting out hidden desires’ – April 11, 2015

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Red Hot Interview – April 11, 2015

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Acting: A Leap of Faith

by Bryan Appleyard | The Sunday Times | April 11, 2015

There’s no easy way of saying this, but the man who has just walked into the rather funereal sitting room in the West End’s Noël Coward Theatre has red hair.

It’s not carroty red, but it is indisputably red. I’m no reddist, but I still feel we need to get this out of the way — after all, he has bravely tackled this fraught subject in the past.

“People find it very difficult to be indifferent to red hair,” he once said. Emboldened, I plunge in.

“So, Damian Lewis, what is it about red hair?”

“Well, I was never bullied at school because of it. I was lucky because I was sporty, and I had status and profile within the school [Eton]. Now I get letters from children who get teased about their red hair and they ask how I managed.”

Having survived childhood unscathed, it wasn’t until he found himself working with the Royal Green Jackets on the television drama Warriors that he first endured the full force of institutional reddism in the military — “I experienced witty and scatological abuse all around, being a redhead.”

Times have changed, however; red rights are widely accepted. Maybe he is destined to be the redheads’ Martin Luther King. “The redhead stock is very high at the moment. This might be a unique moment in recent history: redheads everywhere are doing well — Prince Harry, Ed Sheeran, Julianne Moore, me, Lily Cole…”

Continue reading Red Hot Interview – April 11, 2015

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Still Hungry for the Wolf? Where to See Your Favourite Wolf Hall Actor – Feb 25, 2015

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Still hungry for the Wolf? Where to see your favourite Wolf Hall actors in the cinema and at the theatre in London

by OLIVIA WILLIAMS – Evening Standard – 25 February 2015

Wolf whistles: (clockwise from top left) Damian Lewis, Mark Rylance, Jonathan Pryce, Mark Gatiss, Claire Foy, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Tom Holland and Jessica Raine

We are going to miss the drama of Wolf Hall, all whispered threats, candlelit stares and Henry VIII’s alarming mood swings. Hilary Mantel’s bewitching tale was a televisual feast but now the final episode has aired, where will we get our fix of all those fine British actors?

Luckily, many of the key Wolf Hall players will be treading the boards across London this spring. You’ll be able to experience Damian Lewis’s husky repartee and Mark Rylance’s brooding looks in the flesh. Failing that, you can head to the cinema to watch Mark Gatiss continue his sinister streak in Victor Frankenstein, or Tom Holland still having a hard time — on an 1820 whaling trip in In the Heart of the Sea.

Here’s a rundown of where you can see your favourite Wolf Hallers next.

Damian Lewis (Henry VIII)

See him in: American Buffalo, Wyndham’s Theatre, Apr 16-Jun 27
What to expect: From blue blood to blue collar as Lewis swaps his tights and codpiece for worker’s overalls in David Mamet’s 1970s drama. He’s dusting off his Homeland-perfected American accent to play a small-time Chicago crook planning a heist. There won’t be quite the wheeler-dealing of Henry’s court, but expect betrayal and dark comedy in Lewis’s first West End performance since he starred in The Misanthrope with Keira Knightley in 2009.
More info: americanbuffalotheplay.com

Read the rest of the original article at The Evening Standard

An Actor is Always Reinventing Himself Through His Characters

His blockbuster TV roles have made him a global star but Damian Lewis’s heart will always belong to north London. He speaks to Charlotte Edwardes

American Buffalo Opening Night

Damian Lewis and John Goodman head up this starry West End of David Mamet’s classic play about small time crooks

Review: American Buffalo, Wyndham’s Theatre

David Mamet’s muscular comedy, starring John Goodman, Tom Sturridge and Damian Lewis, is revived with style

American Buffalo proves the perfect vehicle for Welsh director Daniel Evans

Homeland star Damian Lewis and American actor John Goodman have teamed up for the London production

American Buffalo

Red hot

Backstage secrets of American Buffalo: ‘We’re acting out hidden desires’

Damian Lewis, John Goodman and Tom Sturridge tell Mick Brown why they’ll be grappling with ‘primal issues of manhood’ in a new revival of the David Mamet classic

By Mick Brown – The Telegraph – 11 April 2015

Acting: A Leap of Faith

Still hungry for the Wolf? Where to see your favourite Wolf Hall actors in the cinema and at the theatre in London

ON STAGE