Tag: New York

An Englishman in New York 2017 Edition

Contrary to prior seasons spent on our side of the pond, Damian seems to have spent these months of filming season 3 of Billions in New York hard at work. In between takes, he’s been jetting back home just as soon as wheels are able to leave tarmac. He doesn’t have the family with him this year, so he’s very much a commuter.

Thus, not many views of bike rides thru Central Park nor many sightings in various theater productions or sipping lattes curbside, nor papp captures out and about at parties, award shows, and whatnot. Which leaves us to guess that this season filming Billions has been all work and no play for Damian. Either that or he has integrated so seamlessly into the fabric of New York that seeing him around no longer warrants a gawk and not-so-surreptitious selfie. Or he’s invented a clever disguise? Or New Yorkers are themselves heads down in the muck that life has become for anyone who keeps up with the news, so much so they don’t notice the flashes of beauty still walking amongst them.

Whatever the case may be, the paucity of sightings can’t deter us from compiling what has now become an annual tradition: a visit with our Englishman in New York, 2017 edition.

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What were you doing in 1995? Cynthia’s Story *UPDATED*

Hello all! Damianista here. Welcome to Fan Story Tuesday!

We are publishing Cynthia’s story for a second time today because we have LOVELY updates to share! ENJOY!

copright: Cynthia Canty

Those of you from Michigan may know Cynthia from her program Stateside on Michigan Radio, part of the NPR digital network. Cynthia has had work experience in radio and TV for more than 35 years.  She has been a popular radio host, a TV news anchor, producer and a medical and consumer reporter. She has won a number of awards for her writing and reporting — including an Emmy! And, in addition to all this, Cynthia is a Damian Lewis fan. Big thanks go to her for being one of the first to respond to our call for fan stories and sharing this very special story.

Without further ado: What were YOU doing in 1995? This is Cynthia’s story.

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Behind the Scenes with Damian Lewis: The Making of Keane

Alex Gansa knew he had the actor to play Nicholas Brody in Homeland once he saw Damian Lewis’ performance in Keane.

“Every ounce of me wanted to go home and pour a gin-and-tonic, but I thought, let me see if it’s streaming on Netflix. I looked on my computer and put on my headphones and opened my laptop and there was this little movie. The first forty-five minutes of the film are essentially Damian on camera. I hit pause and picked up the phone and called the studio head and said, ‘This is just an incredible performance—a damaged person on camera holding the frame. ”

Well, we blogged earlier about how Keane gave us Brody here and both JaniaJania and I wrote our reviews of the movie here and here. But how did Damian get to work on Keane? How did he prepare for his wonderfully gripping but extremely consuming part? How did the filming go? How did it all come together? Continue reading “Behind the Scenes with Damian Lewis: The Making of Keane”

Happy Father’s Day to Damian Lewis!

No doubt many people get married and start families because it’s the thing to do, a natural progression in life. Not everyone takes the time or effort to really think about what it means to bring new life into the world or go forth on the venture with conscious intentionality. How many times have we heard (or ourselves thought) David Byrne’s immortal refrain:

And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife. And you may ask yourself: Well…How did I get here?

Following Damian as we do on this blog, we’ve seen at every turn that he seems to have entered his current life with full intentionality. You sense, in his various relationships prior to Helen, what we know of them, that he was always quietly in search of someone to settle down with, someone to have children with. Not all men think this way, I’m guessing, particularly attractive men who have no shortage of female attention. A lot of guys fantasize about the attention that Damian has always gotten, right? So, if you’re lucky enough to be Damian Lewis, why settle down? Why let a woman and the resultant children cramp one’s playboy style? But, no, Damian, even though he IS Damian, wanted the wife and the house and the family. And how beautiful the stories we hear and the images we get of him in arguably the most important role of any man’s life, the role of father. Here are some of our recollections of Damian being a Dad.

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Billions at Split Screens TV Festival

It is a pleasure to see, in this golden age of television, new TV-focused festivals are popping up around us every year. IFC Center in New York recently launched its Split Screens Festival celebrating the art of television  with a program curated by Matt Zoller Seitz, the editor-in-chief at rogerebert.com as well as critic for New York Magazine and vulture.com. The long-week festival had appearances by stars, producers, directors and show runners of several popular TV shows, including Billions!

Lewisto and I attended Close-Up: Asia Kate Dillon in Billions panel to see the brilliant Asia Kate Dillon, who brings Taylor Mason to life in our favorite show, and show creators and show runners Brian Koppelman and David Levien discuss the first gender non-binary character on TV and much more.

The evening started with the most pleasant surprise for us: we ran into wonderful Kelly AuCoin aka Dollar Bill who was in the audience. Well, Kelly and I had “met” online and we have been Facebook friends for over a year, and he also very graciously gave us an interview, but I did not meet him until that evening. And, yes, he is a great actor but he is also a sweet, sweet guy! Continue reading “Billions at Split Screens TV Festival”