musings about the actor and the characters he brings to life
All Rhoades lead somewhere and if Senior doesn’t stop trying to help Junior soon the only thing he will be watching is his son’s career go down the drain and he will be doing it from a prison cell.
Many thanks to Lady Trader for her help ensuring we have it right. It is greatly appreciated.
There is so much going on in this episode but Damianista and JaniaJania have that covered. Let us talk about the episode title. The short squeeze.
What is a short Squeeze?
Yesterday, we said happy 45th Birthday to Damian. Today we’re having some fun.
As of today Damian has been 45 for one day or, if you prefer, 46 T– 365 days and yes that is correct because this is a leap year. Take that 46!
On 11 February 1971:
Damian’s mother and father would have been counting Pounds, Shilling and Pence…well maybe not specifically on this day as clearly they had more important matters, but you get what I mean. There were 240 pence in a pound, twenty shillings in a pound and 12 pence in a shilling. Interestingly the shilling was first minted during the reign of Henry Vii – you think I’m going to miss a chance to get sort of screen Dad in here too? Ha! Four days later on 15 February 1971 the UK went decimal. Continue reading “Damian Lewis, 45 in numbers”
Welcome to Damian’s Birthday Party! We may not have a real cake and candles but we certainly have our color pencils and crayons and markers ready to go and color Damian in as we wish him a happy birthday and a wonderful year! Come join the party!
But they are not the Me myself.
Apart from the pulling and hauling stands what I am,
Stands amused, complacent, compassionating, idle,
unitary,
Looks down, is erect, or bends an arm on an impalpable
certain rest,
Looking with side-curved head curious what will come next,
Both in and out of the game and watching and wondering
at it. —-Walt Whitman, Song of Myself
Billions, episode 4, Short Squeeze set the bar for pacing and it set the bar for tension and for all that, the writer, Young Il Kim, deserves to be called out. Bravo, for finding that astounding sweet spot to so perfectly show the anxiety of Bobby Axelrod as he becomes a hunted man.
Witness the military precision as he gets out of bed to answer a call, his feet firmly on the ground. Axe has so many layers of insulation around him protecting him, that when he gets a call at the wee hour of morning he knows it’s going to be serious, and he is on his toes before even answering the phone. Or else, with all the data in his head at all times and a refusal to leave a paper trail for fear of entrapment, he’s just constantly vigilant, even in sleep.
We see in Short Squeeze, a Bobby Axelrod wound tight. Not tight like a fetal ball or a pretzel, but more like a twizzler, on tiptoe, sometimes leaning against a wall to keep from keeling over with the long lean tension of being a targeted man. And a guilty man. Bobby’s body doesn’t hold the same tension as Brody did, in his broken man trying to force his skin to hold together his brokenness one fleeting minute at a time. Bobby’s body is more like a spring, ready to pounce, ready for action, perpetually ready for self-preservation. He’s a survivor (something Brody was decidedly NOT). It’s in the camera shots and the direction and writing, this twisting thing, but it’s remarkably there in Damian’s body as well. Continue reading “Billions ep 4 : Short Squeeze”
Welcome to the most special week of the year: Damian’s Birthday Week! We plan a cute little Birthday Party for our favorite guy on the blog on Thursday and Friday but why not kick off the celebrations today with a lovely trivia about Damian’s 30th Birthday?
We all know Tom Hanks played a major role in making Damian an internationally known actor. We blogged earlier about how Spielberg and Hanks cast Damian Lewis as Dick Winters in Band of Brothers.
Damian tells Independent that, once he was cast for the role, he had the opportunity to hang out with Steven Spielberg as well as Tom Hanks for a while, and in his own words, got to know, “what kids they are.” 🙂 Continue reading “Trivia Tuesday: Tom Hanks’ Surprise for Damian Lewis on his 30th Birthday”