Tag: Cheltenham Literature Festival

A Treasure Rediscovered: Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory Bring Magic To Poetry

source: gloucestershireecho.co.uk

I was there in the room when Damian and Helen read love poems to each other from The Love Book, a brilliant collection of classic and contemporary love poems that vary from Shakespeare to E.E. Cummings to Maya Angelou coming together in a book as well as in an app. It was a moving and intimate hour with a powerhouse husband and wife team reading poems, teasing each other, and sharing their dynamic chemistry with the audience. And could there be anything better to share with the fandom on World Poetry Day?

It turns out that when the festival inquired about a possible video recording of the reading in 2014, Helen and Damian said no. Damian tells The Sunday Times:

Continue reading “A Treasure Rediscovered: Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory Bring Magic To Poetry”

11 Years Ago Today: Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory at Cheltenham Literature Festival

source: gloucestershireecho.co.uk

11 years?!?! Whaaaat? It feels like yesterday.

I was very lucky to be there in the room when Damian and Helen read love poems to each other from The Love Book, a brilliant collection of classic and contemporary love poems that vary from Shakespeare to E.E. Cummings to Maya Angelou coming together in a book as well as in an app. It was a moving and intimate hour with a powerhouse husband and wife team reading poems, teasing each other, and sharing their dynamic chemistry with the audience.

It turns out that when the festival inquired about a possible video recording of the reading in 2014, Helen and Damian said no. Damian tells The Sunday Times:

Continue reading “11 Years Ago Today: Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory at Cheltenham Literature Festival”

Happy Birthday, Homeland (Or How Brody Turned My Life Upside Down)

Prologue

At a recent dinner party, we played a game where everyone had to talk about three things they thought changed their lives. I had two moments from my early life: one being the Live Aid concert back in July 1985 (I was 13!) that got me thrilled that the whole world, all of us, were watching it together, and the other was a political assassination of a journalist in Turkey in January 1992 (I was 20!) that taught me that a state can get rid of its citizens who insist on looking for the truth. And the third moment I mentioned was Homeland. Because I was a regular academic attending to my own thing until a certain “pesky Brit” disguised as an American POW showed up and turned everything upside down! Homeland made me a Damian Lewis fan for life and I launched a blog in his name almost a decade ago. Go, figure!

Homeland, the show that started it all, premiered on Showtime on October 2, 2011, exactly fourteen years ago today. Continue reading “Happy Birthday, Homeland (Or How Brody Turned My Life Upside Down)”

My Decade Long “Wolf Hall” Journey Came Full Circle

Henry VIII is a monster, but he’s our monster. We’re perversely proud of Henry. -Hilary Mantel

My decade-long Wolf Hall journey came full circle at the BAFTA TV Awards on Sunday. It was especially lovely to see that it was a true family affair for Damian — his daughter Manon, his son Gully, and his father, Mr. Watcyn Lewis, were all there to support our favorite guy. And I couldn’t help but be moved seeing the two kids who once adorably called the Emmy Award “Emma” now grown into such poised, beautiful young adults. I just love this family.

I’ll be honest — I always dreamed, perhaps selfishly, that my Wolf Hall journey would come full circle with Damian receiving one of those iconic masks for his phenomenal portrayal of Henry VIII in Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light. That recognition wasn’t in the cards. But my decade-long Wolf Hall journey has been nothing short of magical and so all is good.

What follows is my way of saying thank you. To everyone behind and in front of the camera: thank you for bringing us the sharpest, smartest, most brilliant historical drama ever made.

THANK YOU.

Continue reading “My Decade Long “Wolf Hall” Journey Came Full Circle”

10 Years of Wolf Hall: A Personal Journey

Henry VIII is a monster, but he’s our monster. We’re perversely proud of Henry. -Hilary Mantel

Now tell me… what are the odds your all-time favorite actor plays your all-time favorite historical monster in a mini-series based on your all-time favorite book?

I know! 🙂

In celebration of  Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light arriving finally on BBC, I would love to share my own very personal Wolf Hall journey with you. ENJOY!

Continue reading “10 Years of Wolf Hall: A Personal Journey”