An Exclusive Fan Fun Interview with Kelly AuCoin and Stephen Kunken

Last week I had the absolute privilege to conduct a Zoom interview with Kelly AuCoin and Stephen Kunken while they were holed up in New York City, on hiatus from the filming of Season 5 of Billions. In the interview we talked about how they are dealing with the COVID crisis in NYC, which has been at the center of the crisis, as well as how they got their start in Billions, what it’s like working with Damian Lewis, and a certain scene involving a minivan and a Porsche, as well as a host of other topics. While it is hard to tell from just the written word, it was abundantly clear in the interview how much they genuinely care for each other, how much they truly enjoy working with each other, and how much they appreciate working on Billions.  That bromance we see between Dollar Bill and Spyros is not just a creation of the writers (we talked about them, too), but it is a real reflection of the affection and respect these two very talented actors have for each other, the show and their fans.

Continue reading “An Exclusive Fan Fun Interview with Kelly AuCoin and Stephen Kunken”

Billions ‘Bridged: A Billions Parody by Kerr Avon

Greetings, ladies and gents. Welcome to my inaugural post on Fan Fun with Damian Lewis. Before we start with our little treat for you today, I should probably give you some background on myself and the type of parody I’m presenting here.

My name is Sebastian, but my alias both here and on Twitter is Kerr Avon. I am a longtime fan of Billions who up until now mainly contributed to the fandom with quippy tweets during the supporting cast’s live-tweet events and comedic parody scripts like the one seen here.

What I’m presenting today is an abridged series, which is a super-compressed retelling of a property — in this case, the pilot episode of Billions — with funnier dialogue. It’s most well-known in video format, typically satirizing anime, but there exist captioned versions for live-actions series which use screenshots what’s being presented below. Continue reading “Billions ‘Bridged: A Billions Parody by Kerr Avon”

Wags by the Dozen Part III

Wags Words of Wisdom – Season 4

Wags, and bracelets

Guess what time it is? It’s time for Wags Words of Wisdom, Billions season four. Did you miss our first two dozen that covered seasons one through three? Catch up by reading them here and here.

As I pointed out last time, Mike “Wags” Wagner, played by David Costabile, is my second favorite character on the Showtime hit series Billions-Axe being the first of course. Sure, he’s an acquired taste for some but we gladly claim Wags as our rapacious scumbag. He’s still that pinky ring-wearing, Michter’s whiskey drinking, vintage Mercedes driving, petite handlebar mustache sporting, sharp-dressed man with a childhood affinity for Yosemite Sam, as proven by his ass tattoo of said gun-slinging cartoon outlaw.

Wags continues to be the Chief Operating Officer at Axe Capital-that formidable attack dog, financial consigliere, valet, and leader of the minions. He’s the right-hand man to Bobby Axelrod and just as loyal as the unsullied soldiers are to the mother of dragons.

Continue reading “Wags by the Dozen Part III”

A Tribute to Everyone’s Favorite Billions Moment: The Fake Fight

“Pretend we’re having an argument.” —Bobby Axelrod

source: Showtime

Well, back-to-back tweets from Damian Lewis and Kelly AuCoin last January — and on my birthday of all days — made this re-post inevitable! 😀

https://twitter.com/KellyAuCoin77/status/1087820075321708545

I mean, a broken rib, a busted knee, what is next? It seems these two are not pretending anymore!!! 😀

And with the hope that both Damian and Kelly have had a full recovery by now, we share our tribute to everyone’s favorite Billions moment one more time.

ENJOY!

A good hour of television absolutely starts with good writing and I pride myself in calling Willie Reale, the writer of Billions Season 1 Episode 10 Quality of Life, a genius way before I find out that he is, in fact, one! I don’t know if you are familiar with MacArthur Fellowships also known as “Genius Grants” but Mr. Reale is a recipient of this fellowship “in recognition of his ingenuity in creating theater and theater education programs for young people.” Bravo!

Quality of Life, with Donnie’s memorial service being at its heart, has a number of moving parts; however, Mr. Reale delivers the story seamlessly with a number of timely back and forths between the memorial service and all else going on and the episode’s director Karyn Kusama perfectly translates the writing into action. And, in my humble opinion, Brian Koppelman’s tweet sharing with us that the fake argument scene between Axe and Dollar Bill was Reale’s idea alone deserves standing ovation for this brilliant writer! Continue reading “A Tribute to Everyone’s Favorite Billions Moment: The Fake Fight”

Wags by the Dozen Part III

Wags Words of Wisdom – Season 4

Wags, and bracelets

Guess what time it is? It’s time for Wags Words of Wisdom, Billions season four. Did you miss our first two dozen that covered seasons one through three? Catch up by reading them here and here.

As I pointed out last time, Mike “Wags” Wagner, played by David Costabile, is my second favorite character on the Showtime hit series Billions-Axe being the first of course. Sure, he’s an acquired taste for some but we gladly claim Wags as our rapacious scumbag. He’s still that pinky ring-wearing, Michter’s whiskey drinking, vintage Mercedes driving, petite handlebar mustache sporting, sharp-dressed man with a childhood affinity for Yosemite Sam, as proven by his ass tattoo of said gun-slinging cartoon outlaw.

Wags continues to be the Chief Operating Officer at Axe Capital-that formidable attack dog, financial consigliere, valet, and leader of the minions. He’s the right-hand man to Bobby Axelrod and just as loyal as the unsullied soldiers are to the mother of dragons.

Continue reading “Wags by the Dozen Part III”