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After “Homeland,” Damian Lewis Looked To His Past To Plan His Future

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Damian at the 2015 TCA Winter Press Tour

The Homeland alum relied on two decades of invaluable Hollywood lessons to tackle lead roles in a pair of new television projects, BBC Two’s period drama Wolf Hall and Showtime’s high-finance pilot Billions.

When Damian Lewis faced the press on Jan. 19, for the first time since he was killed off Showtime’s Homeland in December 2013, the 43-year-old still bore an uncanny resemblance to Sgt. Nicholas Brody, thanks to his close-cropped hair, rigid posture, and clean-shaven face. But it quickly became clear that, on the inside, he couldn’t be more different than the man who signed on to the series in 2011.

Thanks to Homeland, Lewis — who calls himself an “autodidact” — was afforded some incredibly unique learning experiences. “I love doing projects where there’s something to be learned,” Lewis told BuzzFeed News, sitting at the far end of a long, empty dining room table of an ornate hotel conference room in Pasadena, California. To properly bring Brody to life, he studied the Qur’an and learned about the Islamic faith and the experiences of U.S. Marines deployed in Afghanistan. “The wonderful thing about acting is you can be on a 40-year university course.”

But Lewis has also grown through the wisdom gleaned from his own professional mistakes — again, most recently through his role on Homeland, for which he won an Emmy Award in 2012.

Lewis’ character, Nicholas Brody — an American prisoner of war who was rescued and returned home a changed man (not so spoiler alert: He was a sleeper agent for the enemy) — was not designed to remain on the series indefinitely. But when the show clicked with critics and fans took a shine to Brody’s burgeoning relationship with CIA agent Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes), the creators’ initial plan was scrapped. But by the third season, many viewers had grown weary of the duo’s increasingly operatic romantic entanglements and the character was, as initially planned, killed off in a brutal and shocking death scene.

“He had to go,” Lewis said, without hesitation. “When I took the show, I was really of the understanding I would only be there for two years. I stayed for a third season because TV rollover came into play: ‘This is our show and we can’t get rid of him.’ I think the one area of the story the writers weren’t clear would work was this relationship. So when it worked, they were ambushed by success of that central storyline and they had a problem because people were now tuning in to see this relationship.

“We set out to make a different drama: a show about the flawed characters at the center of a flawed central intelligence agency that is protecting the interests of a flawed country in the name of a flawed idea — which is called democracy — against a bunch of radical, violent people. This was our big central idea and [then we had] people tuning because they want to see if these people are going to get together or not.”

A Brody-less Season 4 of Homeland premiered in October 2014 to promising reviews, as hopeful critics noted the show looked to be returning to its roots. That promise paid off — in spades — as Homeland experienced a complete creative resurrection. “I think they did a brilliant job of just extricating themselves, tiptoeing away from the situation,” Lewis said of the fourth season, which went on to earn rave reviews. “What they’ve been able to do in Season 4 is get back to the nuts and bolts of the CIA and this great, brilliant, flawed character, the manic-depressive at the center of it all.”

Homeland’s presence is still felt in Lewis’ life. “It can be aggressive, that kind of adulation,” he said, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. “People can go a little bit crazy, so there’s quite a lot of manhandling in the streets. Now I know what it must have been like to be Brad Pitt for an entire lifetime, ever since he did that scene in Thelma and Louise where he took his top off — I’m straight and that scene did it for me as well. There’s a very small group of people who have lived at that elevation and at times it was overwhelming, but I’ve enjoyed slightly calmer waters subsequently.”

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After “Homeland,” Damian Lewis Looked To His Past To Plan His Future, Buzzfeed, January 20, 2015

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After “Homeland,” Damian Lewis Looked To His Past To Plan His Future

The Homeland alum relied on two decades of invaluable Hollywood lessons to tackle lead roles in a pair of new television projects, BBC Two’s period drama Wolf Hall and Showtime’s high-finance pilot Billions.

Categories Wolf Hall

Damian Lewis: Playing King Henry VIII Is His Perfect Post-‘Homeland’ Role

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PBS TCA Winter Press Tour

“If ever there was a masterpiece on ‘Masterpiece,’ this is it,” Rebecca Eaton, exec producer of PBS’ “Masterpiece,” said at Monday’s Television Critics Assn. panel for “Wolf Hall.” The six-part miniseries, based on Hilary Mantel’s book and its sequel “Bring Up the Bodies,” stars “Homeland’s” Damian Lewis, Mark Rylance and Claire Foy.

Lewis, whose character, Nicholas Brody, was killed off in Showtime’s hit, for which he won an Emmy, said King Henry VIII is a part he’s excited to tackle.

“My vanity will always relish a challenge,” Lewis said. “In fact, that probably encourages me.”

Assuring the room of reporters he’s not afraid to take on such a weighty role, Lewis said, “There’s a real opportunity to look differently at a period of history that is loved and well known.” He’s also excited to bring new light to the “syphilitic, philandering Elvis people think [King Henry VIII] is.”

“Henry, as a brand, is right up there with Coca Cola,” Lewis said. “In terms of brand recognition, you have to go look at other things, and I think we have.”

“Wolf Hall,” exec produced by Colin Callender and directed by Peter Kosminsky, debuts on PBS April 5. The drama runs through May 10.

Source: Variety

More from the PBS TCA Winter Press Tour:
Deadline – Damian Lewis Says Henry VIII As Big A Brand As Coca Cola

Categories Appearances Media Press Conference Print Media Wolf Hall

Damian Lewis Says Henry VIII “As Big A Brand As Coca-Cola” – Jan 19, 2015

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Damian Lewis Says Henry VIII “As Big A Brand As Coca-Cola,” While Plugging PBS’s ‘Wolf Hall’

Television Critics Association Press Tour, Winter Tour, Panel Discussion

by Lisa de Moraes – Deadline – January 19, 2015

Damian Lewis speaks onstage during the ‘MASTERPIECE “Wolf Hall” panel discussion at the PBS Network portion of the Television Critics Association press tour at Langham Hotel on January 19, 2015 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

“Henry [VIII] as a brand, is right up there with Coca Cola,” Damian Lewis said, of the oft-portrayed Tudor king he plays in PBS’s six-part miniseries Wolf Hall.  “My vanity will always relish a challenge,” Lewis said, of trying to turn in a fresh performance of the historical figure. “In fact, that probably encourages me.”

Not so fresh, maybe, were his answers to question about his character, on stage this morning at Winter TV Press Tour 2015; his “syphilitic, philandering Elvis” line, in re how Henry VIII is most often perceived/portrayed, is getting a little worn out as Lewis make the press rounds to promote the project.

Continue reading Damian Lewis Says Henry VIII “As Big A Brand As Coca-Cola” – Jan 19, 2015

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PBS’ Wolf Hall Starring Damian Lewis Could Be TV’s Next Great Antihero Story – Jan 19, 2015

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PBS’ ‘Wolf Hall’ Starring Damian Lewis Could Be TV’s Next Great Antihero Story

by Ryan Lattanzio – Indiewire – 19, January 2015

Will Henry VIII be Emmy winner Damian Lewis’ first, great post-Nick Brody role? Directed by Peter Kosminsky and written by Peter Straughan (one half of the Oscar-nominated “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” duo), this six-part BBC drama adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s hit novels “Wolf Hall” and “Bring Up the Bodies” will broadcast stateside on PBS April 5.

Lewis plays the eighth Henry opposite top-shelf Shakespeare thespian Mark Rylance, playing the King’s ruthless counselor Thomas Cromwell. Claire Foy, Mark Gatiss, Charity Wakefield, Joanne Whalley and Jonathan Pryce, who was recently seen as a narcissistic asshole professor in Alex Ross Perry’s “Listen Up Philip,” head up the sprawling cast.

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Damian Lewis’ Henry VIII in Wolf Hall Has Killer Calves – Jan 19, 2015

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Damian Lewis’ Henry VIII in Wolf Hall Has Killer Calves 

by – Variety – 19 January 2015

Henry VIII, infamous King of England in the sixteenth century, is often remembered for his gluttonous form, his string of wives, his disharmony with the Pope and his brute beheading spree. But Damian Lewis, star of the BBC’s new miniseries “Wolf Hall” — a six-part adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s prize-winning novels that will premiere in the UK on January 21 and on PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre on April 5 — plans to introduce you to a different sort of monarch.

LOS ANGELES, CA – JANUARY 18: (L-R) Producers Colin Callender, Rebecca Eaton, actors Damian Lewis, Mark Rylance, director Peter Kosminsky, and British Consulate-General LA Christopher O’Connor attend an afternoon tea at The British Consulate celebrating “Wolf Hall” Airing On Masterpiece On PBS at The British Residence on January 18, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images for Masterpiece on PBS)

“He was generally regarded as the preeminent sportsman of his era,” said Lewis on Sunday afternoon, at a quaint tea held at the British Consul-General Chris O’Connor’s Los Angeles home to honor the series. “He was one of the best hunters, horsemen, jousters, archers. And he was an incredibly trim, fit man — very proud of a fine pair of calves that he had. He used to boast that his calves were better than Philip the Fair’s of France.”

How did Lewis, fresh off of “Homeland,” hone his own physique for the role? “I stuck handkerchiefs down there,” he joked (of his calves), before adding, “No, I wore boots to cover them up.” He also grew a beard and donned square-toed boots, which he thinks “might set a new fashion.”

Continue reading Damian Lewis’ Henry VIII in Wolf Hall Has Killer Calves – Jan 19, 2015