Hi everyone! Damianista here. The screenwriter and casting director we have today is Lourdes, a lawyer and a writer, all the way from Peru! I was so lucky to visit Lourdes’ beautiful country a couple of years ago and I would recommend everyone to travel there. As I leave the word to Lourdes, huge thanks go to her for sharing her dream role(s) for Damian with us.
I grew up in a little city near Lima, the capital city, in Peru. That is why the cultural offerings were limited when I was a kid, there was no big theater or cinema around, so the TV and the books worked just fine for me. The internet was a cool change back then.
It’s not by chance then that the first medium that I came across Damian Lewis’ work was TV – Homeland. I had just started college and traveled weekly to my parents’ house to do laundry, then I found this Showtime series about spies. It was a surprise to find Damian Lewis in this role that is so different and compelling. Something funny happened then, Homeland became the show that I watched at my parents’ house, my dad even started to watch it with me eventually and make popcorn for us.
Yes, it was awkward sometimes, but mostly it was a lovely time I spent at my favorite place, with my favorite people, and watching my favorite show. That´s a brief story of how I became a fan of Damian Lewis, enjoying his work as leading man of American TV, no less…
So, for me, when I think about Damian Lewis, I’m sure he is an actor that can do everything.
My dream roles for him are actually classics, because I love books and well-done adaptations of the books I love for movies and TV. For example, I love John le Carré and it was fantastic to see Damian in Our Kind of Traitor.
I recently read Richard II by William Shakespeare and I imagined Damian immediately as Henry Bolingbroke (aka King Henry IV). A strong presence, determination of the spirit. I think Damian can seamlessly deliver the character’s determination, ambition and complexity. So, I’m sure Damian would be the perfect Henry Bolingbroke.
The other role I have in mind is more romantic. I love Jane Eyre, it is my favorite romantic novel because it feels truthful to its era and also modern and yes, feminist. I actually re-read it every year – just for fun.
I believe there’s no more powerful message for these days as the romantic story of Jane and Mr. Rochester. It’s such a classic, because it has everything: ghosts, mental health issues, empowered messages for women’s social and economic independence… I think that what grants a classic its status is the ability to be adapted and evolve in different ways, so a new vision of Jane Eyre’s story can be done and for me there’s no better choice for Mr. Rochester than Damian Lewis, because it is such a classic literary figure and so well written – a character that is self-confident and so rich of emotions but is also reserved and constantly challenged by his own conscience. I believe Damian Lewis is a perfect fit for the role.
Great post! Damian did play Bolingbroke once, in a radio play https://www.amazon.co.uk/BBC-Radio-Shakespeare-Richard-Dramatised/dp/B002SQ978A You may also be able to find it through your local library, definitely worth a listen 😀
Rochester would need to have this Ralph Fienies energy which is not my energy, Fassbender did ot so well, remember he closed his forst wife in the attic which is the most bad fan fiction move I’ve read in 19th denturies novels. Personally I stick to “good old fashioned matital rape” fantasy in Forsite saga. I would say it’s time for the role of George Smile in Smiley’s people, the 70s reboot.