Since he’s certainly not the obvious choice for the role of Nicholas Brody, what was it about Damian Lewis?
GORDON: I don’t know how to say this without sounding sexist, but he is a man. There aren’t that many men. Aside from being this phenomenal actor, he has an everyman quality, but he really is also immensely likable. What was important about this character was that he had to be someone who the political powers that be grabbed onto, not just because of his circumstances, but because this guy is a hero and they want to promote him as that to the public. Rather than just having this obviously model-handsome guy, there’s a ruggedness, an everyman-ness and a manliness to Damian that really hit us, in terms of our casting process. And, in everything I’ve ever seen him in, he has been spectacular. With one movie in particular, Keane, which is an independent movie he did, the camera is on him, almost silently, for 30 minutes and you can’t stop watching him. We knew that this had to be a guy who could grab a camera and is simply compelling to watch, even when he was doing nothing.
Read the full interview at Collider.com