Fan Fun Movie of the Month: Our Kind of Traitor

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Adaptations of le Carré books on big and small screen, as far as my experience goes, are my kind of movies. They are not typical action/fantasy movies with lots of stunts and special effects. They give you intricate story lines, clever conversations, fishy agendas and gray areas instead. If you have seen The Constant Gardener, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy or The Night Manager you know what I am talking about. And if you have not seen any le Carré earlier, Our Kind of Traitor is a good place to start!

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Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis at Time Out London Spy Weekend

We all know Damian Lewis is not a stranger to spy stories. He played Hector Meredith, an MI5 agent, in John le Carre’s Our Kind of Traitor on big screen. Our beloved Nicholas Brody was a double agent in Homeland. Damian narrated real-life spy stories in the docu-drama Spy Wars with Damian Lewis. And we have now seen him as cold war era MI6 agent Nicholas Elliott in the fantastic  mini-series A Spy Among Friends. And today I will take you all back to “Time Out London Spy Weekend” in 2016 where Damian read from le Carre’s memoir The Pigeon Tunnel.

ENJOY!

One of my best friends from high school, who lives in Istanbul, and I, who live in the US, make a decision to meet somewhere in between and choose London as sort of a mid-point. We buy our tickets in February for our very anticipated London trip in May. And now that I am back from the trip, I just can’t help congratulate myself for randomly choosing the BEST week in May to be in London! Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis at Time Out London Spy Weekend”

Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis at Times Talks

source: Times Talks Program
source: Times Talks Program

Time flies! Damian Lewis was the guest of celebrated Times Talks at Directors Guild Theater six years ago. And I would love to take this opportunity to travel back to that day and re-live the wonderful conversation Damian had with Cara Buckley, a New York Times culture reporter and celebrate the sixth anniversary of a beautiful friendship with Paige and Joyce with whom I clicked as soon as I met them in the line!   Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis at Times Talks”

Fan Fun Movie of the Month: Our Kind of Traitor

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A new Fan Fun series in 2021 is the Movie of The Month. And we kick off the series today with Our Kind of Traitor, a movie adapted for the big screen from a John le Carre book. This review is our tribute to the great author who passed away in December 2020. RIP.

Adaptations of le Carré books on big and small screen, as far as my experience goes, are my kind of movies. They are not typical action/fantasy movies with lots of stunts and special effects. They give you intricate story lines, clever conversations, fishy agendas and gray areas instead. If you have seen The Constant Gardener, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy or The Night Manager you know what I am talking about. And if you have not seen any le Carré earlier, Our Kind of Traitor is a good place to start!

Continue reading “Fan Fun Movie of the Month: Our Kind of Traitor”

Following Footsteps of Damian in London

Taking inspiration from Vicky’s fun retelling of walking in the footsteps of Milo Shakespeare, here’s me walking in some of the footsteps taken by Damian in his home town. Enjoy!

Gotta love it when a passing thought from one post leads to an entire new fully-fleshed-out post. I had remarked, during my two-week tour in London, I was reminded often of places I’d seen Damian in images and film. In particular, when I was walking from Shakespeare’s Globe west towards Blackfriars Bridge along the Thames Path I looked down to the river and saw the moss covered walls where Damian and Helen leaned and loafed for a photoshoot, as well as the pier under which Hector made a phone call in Our Kind of Traitor.

That bit of Proustian mind-wandering lead Damianista to the thought, “Hey, why not do a post where we follow along in Damian’s footsteps throughout London?” “Isn’t that a bit stalkery?” I worried. “Nah,” we both concluded. Happily, Damian knows we are the most harmless variety of stalkers he could ever have. So, here it is, a catalog of all the places and sites where we “saw” Damian, characters he’s played, and stories he’s been a part of in his beloved home town.

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