musings about the actor and the characters he brings to life
I admit (*choking with emotion) that I have been waiting for this day for some time.
Fan Fun with Damian Lewis is TEN years old today!
TEN years?!?!?!
Yes, TEN years! So I think I deserve my crown 🙂
And I give you our TEN Years in (almost) ten minutes…
“It seems fairly redundant to say “Damian Lewis is a good actor”, but, well, here we are: his Henry is outstanding, the biggest guy in the room in name and stature if not ever actual presence, something flawed in the hull and he knows it.”
– The Guardian
Wolf Hall is one of the best things that ever happened to TV. A slow-cooking, dark, and witty political drama, it has a contemporary feel. Peter Straughan’s script is wonderfully condensed, with most of the conversation coming directly from Mantel’s pen. Hearing some of the best lines I have ever read spoken by the characters is delightful. Peter Kosminsky’s directing is flawless. Every shot feels like a painting. And while some characters needed to be recast, the continuity is beyond impressive that you don’t feel the nine-year interval between the two productions. The entire cast gives a masterclass in acting. Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis, as the two leads, are electric together. So yes the long wait was entirely worth it.
Continue reading “TOP Damian Lewis Moments 2024: Henry VIII in Wolf Hall The Mirror And The Light”
“Valentines, sorceries, purple doublets. Any jury would laugh you out of the court. But then there won’t be a jury, will there?” – Thomas Cromwell
No jury. No trial. Only an interrogation team, perfectly convinced about Thomas Cromwell being a traitor, asking ridiculous questions. And an Act of Attainder which Cromwell himself also used against others.
Upon arresting him, Kingston brings Cromwell to the Tower, to the very room that Cromwell himself built for Anne Boleyn before her coronation. It is also the same room the late queen spent her days before her execution. Now, in his solitary confinement, it is inevitable for Cromwell to reflect on his past. And characters from that past, varying from Anne Boleyn to Cardinal Wolsey to Dorothea to the French executioner haunt his dreams. Continue reading “Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light – Episode 6 Light”
“He’s a genius – all the information is in his paintings.” – Joanna Eatwell, Costume Designer, Wolf Hall
I had written about the authenticity of the costumes in Wolf Hall as well as how much the series’ brilliant costume designer Joanna Eatwell values Hans Holbein the Younger’s work in achieving this authenticity here back in 2015.
It turns out that Eatwell digged into the paintings of Holbein for research. From Lucy Worsley’s interview with Eatwell in 2015:
He’s a genius – all the information is in his paintings.
He not only painted members of the court, he also painted merchants and even some of Henry’s courtiers and staff, so we have a complete cross-section which is incredibly important for a piece like this.
Eatwell argues, in an audio interview with the BBC Academy, Holbein is a “master in his craft” and his paintings are realistic but also propaganda. The paintings make a statement about the person in the painting which she calls the “photoshop” of the times.
Continue reading “The King’s Painter: Hans Holbein The Younger in Wolf Hall”
“Have you not read it in The Book Called Henry which I wrote for you? Never say what the King will not do. – Thomas Cromwell
In the penultimate episode of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light, everything that could go wrong goes wrong for Cromwell, reminding us what the Imperial Ambassador Chapuys tells him in Episode 1 Wreckage:
“For when all is said, you are a blacksmith’s son. Your whole life depends on the next beat of Henry’s heart and your future on his smile or frown.”
We have seen Cromwell guiding the King’s thoughts in the direction that he prefers for a long time. However, as his tasks pile up, Cromwell is not able to spend as much time with the king as he would like. He is well aware of his vulnerability: that he has more enemies than friends in the court and there is a lot of conversation going on without him especially after Gardiner’s return from France. And the fever that keeps Cromwell away from Henry for some time gives Gardiner enough time to get closer to the King and poison him against Cromwell. Continue reading “Wolf Hall: The Mirror and The Light – Episode 5 Mirror”