Categories A Spy Among Friends BFI London Film Festival Print Media Review

Review: A Spy Among Friends – Deadline

Damian Lewis With His Mona Lisa Smirk

by Stephanie Bunbury | Deadline | October 7, 2022

Nothing has quite the same screen allure as a secret world. Espionage is so secret, by definition, that we have to take even its existence as a matter of trust; all we know about what goes on behind the intelligence agencies’ closed doors is what is relayed to us through books, films and series like A Spy Among Friends, based on Ben Macintyre’s book about the British double agent Kim Philby. Presumably, a certain kind of person is drawn to that world where nothing can be let slip outside it. To work for both sides, one must constantly be aware of who said what to whom, who knows what, who saw you where, who remembers you there — that anyone should want that life is a mystery in itself.

A Spy Among Friends – two episodes of which are screening as part of the London Film Festival – reunites Alexander Cary, a writer and producer on the long-running espionage series Homeland, with actor Damian Lewis, who also steps up as an executive producer of the new series. Lewis is best known on both sides of the Atlantic as Homeland’s Nicholas Brody, the Marine Corps sniper imprisoned and possibly “turned” by Al-Qaeda. Here he enters another secret world, but in a very different guise: He plays Nicholas Elliott, an operative with foreign security agency SIS, who also is the closest friend of Philby (Guy Pearce).

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Categories A Spy Among Friends BFI London Film Festival Print Media Review

Review: A Spy Among Friends – The Telegraph

A Cerebral and Fiendish Remix of the Kim Philby Tale

by Jasper Rees | The Telegraph | October 7, 2022

Damian Lewis and Guy Pearce are magnificent in a satisfyingly complex drama which focuses on Philby’s escape to Beirut in 1963.

Nothing illustrated the length of the journey made by Kim Philby from West to East, from British mandarin to Soviet icon, than his funeral. The casket, in the Russian style, was open, enabling his widow to lean in for a final caress of that infamous poker face. (You can watch the footage for yourself in Adam Curtis’s compendious forthcoming BBC series about the death rattle of communism.)

In a sense the lid will never close over the coffin of England’s most notorious traitor. Like other enigmas – see also Albert Speer – the story of a third man with two paymasters and four wives can never be definitively told, the case never closed. Hunting for the real Philby among the false fronts and double lives is like wandering around a maze uncertain if you’re looking for the entrance or the exit. From every new angle glint more questions.

Continue reading Review: A Spy Among Friends – The Telegraph

Categories A Spy Among Friends BFI London Film Festival Film Festival Gallery Red Carpet Screenings

Damian Lewis Attends ‘A Spy Among Friends’ World Premiere at BFI London Film Festival 2022

World Premiere and Red Carpet

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | October 7, 2022

A Spy Among Friends starring Damian Lewis received its World Premiere at BFI London Film Festival Friday, October 7, 2022. Damian spoke with press for interviews and walked the red carpet before the screening. Episodes one and two of A Spy Among Friends premiered at 6:30 p.m. on screen one at Curzon Mayfair to a sold out crowd. The drama will consist of a total of six episodes. Not only is Damian in one of the lead roles, but he also served as a producer. A Spy Among Friends is set to air in November 2022 on the new streaming platform ITVX in the UK. US release pending.

In 1963, MI6 agent Kim Philby (Guy Pearce) was revealed to be a KGB spy in one of the most humiliating chapters of Britain’s involvement in the Cold War. This adaptation of Ben Macintyre’s best-selling book explores the impact of this notorious betrayal of the British establishment. It focuses specifically on what happened during the final meeting between Philby and his close friend and fellow MI6 agent Nicholas Elliott (Damian Lewis), in the days leading up to Philby’s defection.

Outstanding performances from Lewis, Pearce and Anna Maxwell Martin bring to life the layered and deeply intelligent script by showrunner Alexander Carey (who previously worked with Damian on Homeland). Part gripping spy thriller in the Le Carré mould, part incisive dissection of the British class and power structures still in place today, A Spy Among Friends is, above all, a moving portrait of friendship and betrayal.

The 66th annual festival took place in venues across the UK capital beginning Wednesday October 5 and will go through Sunday October 16, 2022. Video clips:

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Categories A Spy Among Friends BFI London Film Festival Film Festival Screenings

A Spy Among Friends World Premiere at BFI

BFI London Film Festival 2022

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | August 31, 2022

A Spy Among Friends starring Damian Lewis will receive a World Premiere at BFI London Film Festival this October. The 66th annual festival will take place in venues across the UK capital on Wednesday October 5 through Sunday October 16, 2022 and will host 22 feature films, three episodic selections and several documentary cinema. Episodes one and two of A Spy Among Friends will premiere on Friday, October 7, 2022 at 6:30 p.m. at Curzon Mayfair, screen 1. The screening is sold out.

The miniseries explores MI6 agent Kim Philby’s defection to the Soviet Union and stars Guy Pearce and Damian Lewis, the latter reuniting with showrunner Alexander Cary following their previous collaboration on Homeland. Above all, it is a moving portrait of friendship and betrayal. Other UK debuts launching at the festival include Fridjof Ryder’s dark thriller Inland, starring Mark Rylance.  Some key dates:

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Categories BFI London Film Festival Gallery Personal and Family Life Screenings

Damian Lewis Attends Viewing of Icelandic Spoof Film While at BFI London Film Festival

Cop Secret

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | October 9, 2021

On October 7, 2021 Damian Lewis attended a viewing of the Icelandic spoof film titled Cop Secret, directed by Icelandic goalie Hannes Halldorsson while at the 65th BFI London Film Festival. Damian is pictured here with the film’s art director Gus Olafsson. The film is about a cop who is in denial about his sexuality and falls in love with his new partner, while investigating a string of bank break-ins.

View more photos of the event in our Gallery here.

Categories BFI London Film Festival Gallery Personal and Family Life Screenings

Damian Lewis and Stephen Kunken Attend BFI London Film Festival

The Hand of God

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | October 9, 2021

On October 7, 2021 Damian Lewis and Stephen Kunken of Billions attended the “The Hand of God” AMPAS / Tastemaker Reception during the 65th BFI London Film Festival at Charlotte Street Hotel in London, England. Others in attendance were Charles Finch, Lorenzo Mieli, Daria D’Antonio, Paolo Sorrentino and TCharles Finch, Lorenzo Mieli, Daria D’Antonio, Paolo Sorrentino and Tom Hooper.

View more photos of the event in our Gallery here.

Categories Helen Screenings

Damian and Helen Attend The Irishman Special Screening – Oct 14, 2019

London Film Festival Gala

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | October 14, 2019

Source: Instagram @finchandpartners

Last night marked the closing of the London Film Festival Gala but not before hosting an intimate screening and Q&A of The Irishman on Friday, October 11, 2019 in London.  Special guests from the film included Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel, Emma Tillinger-Koskoff and SandyPowell. A cocktail reception was followed by the screening and guests included, Andrea Riseborough, Lady Amelia Windsor, Barry Keoghan, Bianca Jagger, Bob Geldof, Damian Lewis, Dexter Fletcher, Fiona Shaw, Helen McCrory, Ophelia Lovibond, Stephen Frears, Will Poulter and Yorgos Lanthimos. Charles Finch and Edith Bowman hosted the event.

The film is Director Martin Scorsese’s epic saga of organized crime in postwar America as told by a mob hitman who recalls his possible involvement with the slaying of Jimmy Hoffa. The film stars Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, Bobby Cannavale, Ray Romano, and Anna Paquin.

You can catch The Irishman on Netflix November 27, 2019 (USA release).

Categories Events Helen Media Print Media

Damian Lewis Attends ‘Loving Vincent’ Premiere – Oct 9, 2017

Damian Lewis Attends ‘Loving Vincent’ Premiere 

by Julia Pritchard for MailOnline – Daily Mail – October 9, 2017

Damian Lewis at Loving Vincent Premiere, Getty

Damian Lewis was back in London to attend the Loving Vincent UK Premiere and live broadcast at the National Gallery on October 9, 2017.

The film,  Loving Vincent is presented as part of the BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express®, which runs from 4–15 October 2017; bringing the world’s best new films to venues across London.

Starring Helen McCrory, the film encapsulates the life and troubling myths surrounding the controversial death of Vincent van Gogh as told by his paintings and by the characters that inhabit them.

Helen was  joined by her co-stars and husband Damian Lewis at the screening in London.

The flagship Loving Vincent Exhibition will open in Noordbrabants Museum on 13 October 2017. The exhibition will contain 119 oil paintings from the film Loving Vincent, 10% of the paintings remaining after the filming process. 

Loving Vincent will be in cinemas 13 October 2017. For more information, please view the Loving Vincent UK premiere announcement and see our updated gallery.

There’s something familiar about Vincent…

Source: Loving Vincent Film & Getty

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Categories Broadcast Media Helen The Silent Storm Video

Damian Lewis on the Red Carpet for The Silent Storm Premiere at BFI London Film Festival – Oct 15, 2014

Damian Lewis Celebrates the “Powerful Women” in his Life at the London Film Festival

by HELLO! TV UK | October 15, 2014

As his new film Silent Storm premieres at the London Film Festival, Homeland star Damian Lewis tells HELLO! that powerful women are his “specialty” and that he’d love to work with his wife Helen McCrory. His co-star Ross Anderson and director Corinna McFarlane also chat to HELLO!

Read more in HELLO! Magazine issue 1351, on sale Monday 21st October.

Source:  HELLO! TV UK’s YouTube Channel