Categories Billions Print Media Video

Video: Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti Discuss Billions – March 23, 2018

A Modern-Day Tom and Jerry

by Samantha Lear | TV Insider | March 23, 2018

The cat-and-mouse chase that makes watching Billions so thrilling is about to up the ante in Season 3.

Ahead of the March 25 premiere, the stars of the Showtime series, Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis, gave TV Insider a heads up about what’s to come for their respective characters, U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades and hedge fund manager Bobby Axelrod.

Continue reading Video: Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti Discuss Billions – March 23, 2018

Categories Billions Print Media Review

Billions is Still TV’s Most Addictive Show – March 23, 2018

…And its Sharpest Critique of Donald Trump

by Steven Hyden | Uproxx | March 23, 2018

Source: Twitter @KellyAuCoin77

What defines a great TV show? Acting, writing, cinematography — everybody knows you’re supposed to say those things, and each is undoubtedly important. But, on a practical level, what truly matters to the average viewer?

I propose a simple metric: How long does it take you to watch a new episode once it shows up on your DVR or favored streaming platform? If you let episodes of a show accumulate to the point where you actively feel guilty for not keeping up — even though the show is brilliantly acted, impeccably written, and exquisitely filmed — it does not satisfy this specific metric for greatness. It is “great” TV, but it might not necessarily be great viewing.

For me, the current champ at swiftly clearing out my “To Watch” queue is Billions. It’s not even close, really. I consume this show each week with the eagerness of Dollar Bill scooping up shady insider information. (That’s a Billions reference. Referencing pop culture while talking about Billions is a very Billions thing to do.)

Continue reading Billions is Still TV’s Most Addictive Show – March 23, 2018

Categories In Development/ Pre-Production Print Media Rumored

Pre-Production: Flags Over Berlin – March 23, 2018

The Lewis Brothers At It Again?

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | March 23, 2018

In an article published in The Astana Times, scriptwriter, producer and director Aidiye Aidarbekov stated, “I wrote the script for the Flags Over Berlin film produced by Dauren Toleukhanov. British filmmaker Gareth Lewis and actor Damian Lewis will join the project.”

Research indicates the film will be directed by Damian’s brother, who is a writer, producer and director. The film The Baker (2007), also known as Assassin in Love, starring Damian himself, was written and directed by Damian’s talented brother and business partner Gareth Lewis, a joint project produced under their production company at the time, Picture Farm, Ltd., along with partner Adrian Sturges. At the world premiere of The Baker at Canada’s Tremblant Film Festival, Gareth was named Best Director. Damian and Adrian Sturges also produced the Gareth Lewis written and directed short film Normal for Norfolk featuring the one and only Helen McCrory. It’s all in the family!

So what is Flags Over Berlin?

Continue reading Pre-Production: Flags Over Berlin – March 23, 2018

Categories Billions Print Media Review

Billions Season 3 Finally Shows Real-World Consequences for What Its Bad People Do – March 23, 2018

“Billions Has Never Been Subtle”

by Liam Mathews | TV Guide  | March 23, 2018

Warning: There are light spoilers for Billions Season 3 ahead.

In its first two seasons, Billions — Showtime’s elevated soap opera about a crooked hedge fund billionaire and the U.S. Attorney determined to bring him down — was almost exclusively focused on the interpersonal manipulations of its characters. It avoided examining the larger world in which its titans played and how their petty feuds and reckless actions trickled down to the little people who bear the consequences of financial and political malfeasance.

There were brief flashes of it. Bobby Axelrod’s (Damian Lewis) brutal treatment of an already economically depressed town after his plan to build a casino there fell through is the most notable example, but mostly the show existed in a vacuum. It presented Bobby Axelrod as a bad guy because he’s a vindictive cheater and not for the real, broader reason, which is that the ruthless capitalism he engages in profits off the suffering of people he has the luxury of not thinking about.

That changes in Season 3, which premieres on Sunday, March 25. It’s not the Bernie Sanders Show all of a sudden, but it develops a political conscience it previously lacked. Which is good, because even though he’s a cool, smart guy who loves his kids, you’re not supposed to root for Bobby Axelrod.

Continue reading Billions Season 3 Finally Shows Real-World Consequences for What Its Bad People Do – March 23, 2018

Categories Band of Brothers Billions Homeland Keane Our Kind of Traitor Print Media Wolf Hall Your Highness

Damian Lewis’ Path from Band of Brothers to Billions – March 23, 2018

Damian Discusses His Most Pivotal Roles

by Emily Zemler | LA Times | March 23, 2018

Source: LA Times – Photo by Genaro Molina

“I am interested in the imperfections in people,” Damian Lewis says. “I’m interested in the contradictions and in the moral struggle that often exists in all of us.”

This sensibility threads through many of the actor’s film and television characters, particularly his current role as shrewd hedge fund manager Bobby Axelrod on “Billions.” The Showtime series returns for its third season tonight, bringing us even closer to understanding what exactly makes Bobby tick.

“He’s a fiercely loyal man,” Lewis says about Bobby. “He’s ruthless. He’s extremely competitive. For him, the game is everything. The playing of the game is the thing — and it is a game, so winning the game is paramount. He enjoys it.”

The role is a big shift for Lewis, 47, who got his start on British television before coming to the attention of American audiences in Steven Spielberg’s World War II epic miniseries “Band of Brothers.” Although Lewis has since had several career-defining roles, particularly as Nicholas Brody in “Homeland,” that project lingers as one of his most important projects.

“Some jobs are just gigs, but some jobs have the ability to be life-changing,” he notes. “They just alter you in some small way. ‘Band of Brothers’ was definitely one of those.”

Here Lewis discusses several of his most pivotal roles:

Bobby Axelrod, “Billions” (2016-2018)

“What attracted me to Bobby Axelrod was to get to play a man who is willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants and see where that takes him personally. To find out, during the course of the show, how corrupting that is on a man who is prepared to cross one line after another. What does it do to one’s soul? I saw that as potentially where it was going. And it’s enormous fun. He’s a form of gangster and it’s fun playing that kind of guy.”

Continue reading Damian Lewis’ Path from Band of Brothers to Billions – March 23, 2018

Categories Billions Print Media

Billions: Salvation and Damnation – March 23, 2018

From the Stock Market to the Court House

by Justin Burke | The Australian | March 23, 2018

Source: Showtime

Billions probably deserves the prize for the Best Drama that people are not watching. And that’s a pity. The larger-than-life Wall Street tale is loosely based on the real-life pursuit of hedge fund manager Steven A. Cohen by the then US attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara.

The cast is led by Oscar-nominated actor Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis (Homeland). They are joined by a deep bench of talent including Maggie Siff (Mad Men), Malin Akerman (Watchmen) and David Costabile (Breaking Bad) among many others. Season three returns this week on Stan; creator Brian Koppelman recently told Forbes that the show has now been “distilled down to its essence”.

“The third season starts out with opponents Axe (Lewis) and Chuck (Giamatti) each under an enormous amount of pressure,” he said.

Continue reading Billions: Salvation and Damnation – March 23, 2018

Categories Billions Print Media Review

Your Spoiler-Filled Preview of the New Season of Billions – March 23, 2018

Axelroad and Rhoades Take a Break, Sort Of

by James Tarmy | Bloomberg | March 23, 2018

Source: Showtime

For filmmakers who want to dramatize the finance industry, one of Wall Street’s main appeals is that most people don’t understand how it works. In The Big Short, actress Margot Robbie explains subprime mortgages while sipping champagne in a bubble bath. Other movies—Margin Call and Wall Street come to mind—use fast-talking men in power suits screaming into cell phones to accomplish their exposition.

 Typically, very little of the actual mechanics of working in finance ever come into play.  (To be fair, it would be hard to dramatize an earnings call, and to be clear, nobody should try.)
 When Showtime’s Billions first aired two years ago, one of its initial draws was that it talked the talk. The story was woven around a surprisingly sophisticated debate about the parameters of insider trading, and the show gave a fairly accurate depiction of a hedge fund’s workplace culture, with analysts and traders and managers and compliance officers. There were even Bloomberg Terminals.

Continue reading Your Spoiler-Filled Preview of the New Season of Billions – March 23, 2018

Categories Billions Media News

Billions Season 3 Set for Greece – March 22, 2018

Damian Lewis Fandom Has No Borders and Now, Neither Does Billions

by Kristin Brzoznowski | World Screen | March 22, 2018

Ντέμιαν Λιούις = Damian Lewis

Source: Showtime

The third season of the Showtime hit Billions will be airing in Greece exclusively on Cosmote TV.

Starting March 26 at 9 p.m., immediately after its U.S. premiere, Cosmote Cinema 4HD will be airing season three of the drama, which stars Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis. After the broadcast, each episode will go on-demand through the Cosmote TV Plus service.

For more information, please visit Business News Greece
Source: World Screen

Categories Billions Print Media Review

Showtime’s Billions Maintains Creative, Clever Energy – March 22, 2018

 The Intersection of Philanthropy, Politics, Finance and Family, and How They Can Poison and Enrich Each Other at the Same Time

by Brian Tallerico | Roger Ebert.com | March 22, 2018

Source: Showtime

There’s a flow to “Billions” that’s not quite like anything else on television. The quick pace of the dialogue is often reminiscent of prime David Mamet—as is the examination of male power roles—but it’s also a refreshingly modern show (you might want to bone up on what cryptocurrency is before the new season). The first two seasons built to the kind of wonderful climax that justified any plot holes or narrative speed bumps in the nearly two dozen episodes that came before it. They gave fans the feeling that the writers of the show had been working to that moment from the very beginning, and that “Billions” had just moved to another level in the pyramid of quality TV. I’m happy to report that the third season maintains that high quality level. The breakneck pacing of the end of season two can’t be maintained (and we wouldn’t want it to be), but the characters have arguably grown even richer and more complex as the team behind this show explores how its two power players respond when that power is stripped away by the systems around them.

That pair is U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) and financial genius Bobby “Axe” Axelrod (Damian Lewis), mortal enemies in every possible way. For two seasons, the two played three-dimensional chess, moving pieces around as Axe attempted to avoid prosecution by Chuck, who sacrificed everything to get his man. The unfolding drama introduced us to a number of key players in the world of Rhoades and Axelrod, including their wives, Wendy (Maggie Siff) and Lara (Malin Akerman). Wendy happened to work for Axe, pulling her between the two power players. And we also met key soldiers on both sides of the war, including Bryan (Toby Leonard Moore), Wags (David Costabile), Sacker (Condola Rashad), Chuck’s father (Jeffrey DeMunn), and Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon). I’m being intentionally vague about how all of these characters intertwine because the joy of “Billions” is in how the show’s creators define the complex relationships within the construct of their show, and you really should catch up if you get a chance.

Continue reading Showtime’s Billions Maintains Creative, Clever Energy – March 22, 2018

Categories Billions Print Media Review

How Realistic is Billions? – March 22, 2018

For the Love of Trading

by Tom Teodorczuk | Market Watch | March 21, 2018

Source: Showtime

We asked Anthony Scaramucci and other financiers: How realistic is Showtime’s hedge-fund drama ‘Billions’? Is the hit show on the money when it comes to Wall Street?

This story contains some plot details about season 3 of “Billions.”

Things have been busy recently for Anthony Scaramucci. Prior to serving as President Trump’s White House Communications Director for just 11 days, “The Mooch” founded hedge-fund investing firm SkyBridge Capital and a hedge-fund conference known as SALT.

Continue reading How Realistic is Billions? – March 22, 2018

Categories Billions Print Media Review

Billions: The Cobra and Mongoose Dance – March 22, 2018

Barnyard Analogies and Music Department Choices

by Brad Newsome | The Sydney Morning Herald | March 22, 2018

Photo by: Jeff Neumann

Two whole seasons on, the cobra-and-mongoose dance between dirty billionaire hedge-fund king Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) and his pathologically driven nemesis, US Attorney Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti), remains as delicately poised as ever.

As the third season begins Axelrod is out on bail and more determined than ever to destroy Rhoades, just as soon as he gets his frozen fund back in business.

But new complications abound for both of them. A new president has appointed a new attorney-general (the wonderful Clancy Brown), who has flown in from Texas with a particularly horrifying barnyard analogy and non-negotiable orders for Rhoades to go soft on corporate crime.

Continue reading Billions: The Cobra and Mongoose Dance – March 22, 2018