Damian Lewis interview: the Homeland star unleashes his inner James Bond for Jaguar, The Telegraph, March 12, 2013

I ask Hirst: was Lewis “fight-ready” after two seasons playing a battle-scarred former US marine in Homeland? “Yeah, he was very easy to teach,” the no-nonsense former British military officer shoots back. “When he went into the first move from the dialogue, even though I hadn’t had time to give him a brief, Damian had the step-to-one-side and control-the-weapon routine pretty straight up. So I think he’s probably done that before.”

^{Damian Lewis, as Nicholas Brody, and Claire Danes, as Carrie Mathison, in “Homeland”. Credit: Capital Pictures}

Director of photography Ben Davis winces at Lewis through his viewfinder. “I don’t know if Damian’s complexion is quite suited to the temperatures out here,” he says of the pale-faced, lightly freckled star. “Where possible I try and take the sun off him. But I’d do that with any actor, no matter what their complexion. The direct sunlight on top of someone’s head is never attractive.”

As actor and crew shoot and reshoot the scene, a crowd of colourfully dressed locals has gathered outside the white adobe walls of the adjacent church. Throw in the shadowy outline of a whistling figure in the bell-tower and the David Lynch-goes-spaghetti-western picture would be complete.

But the town of San Pedro, 1,000 miles from Santiago, is not the location of a new film noir starring a man who, courtesy of his Emmy and Golden Globe-winning portrayal of former US marine Nicholas Brody, is currently the biggest British actor on American television. This is Desire, a 12-minute mini-movie based on a script idea from writer/director Rowan Joffé (Brighton Rock), produced by Ridley Scott Associates, directed by Adam Smith (Doctor Who) and soundtracked by Lana del Rey. Its purpose is to promote the F-type, Jaguar’s first true sports car in 50 years.

^{Actor Damian Lewis poses with Emmy Award, 2012. Credit: Getty Images}

So it’s a short film, or a long advert, depending on your viewpoint, featuring a beautiful new car. For his leading man contribution Lewis is being paid handsomely, in cash and, it seems, in kind. “There might be a little something,” he will reply when I inquire as to whether he’s also being rewarded with a high-end roadster whose UK starting price will be £58,000. “Only if I talk about the car nicely…” So, that aside, why is Lewis here? When I put this to him, we are being driven through the desert, en route to another filming location. He pauses only briefly before beginning his spiel.

“I’m here because I was approached to do what I thought was a rather nifty short film, based on a slice of Americana that we see probably mostly in Coen brothers and David Lynch-type films… And I was also interested because Jaguar is – even though I’m not personally endorsing the car,” he interjects hastily, “I’m playing a character in a film – I did like the fact that Jaguar was an almost totally failed British company that is now making a bit of a comeback. So,” he shrugs, “it just seemed like an interesting, fun little package. And it wasn’t always going to be Chile,” he adds of a four-day shoot that was originally planned for Spain, then California, “but actually has become a real adventure.”

Read the rest of the article at the Telegraph

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Lewis is a long way from his north London home and is separated once more from his wife (actress Helen McCrory) and their two young children. All this a scant three weeks after he finished the long haul of transatlantic PR in support of the second series of Homeland, which he shoots in North Carolina for five months each year. Lewis, a choosy and savvy professional who clearly doesn’t need the money (although obviously it’s nice), insists he agreed to make Desire for purely creative reasons.

^{Damian Lewis and wife Helen McCrory arrive at White House for the State Dinner hosted by President Barack Obama. Credit: Associated Press}

Still, this is a job that clearly springboards from his post-Homeland fame. Lewis professes to be uncomfortable with his new-found celebrity — he says he hates the word, but Homeland’s topicality has made him part of the “national conversation” in the United States. For long stretches of his career he didn’t even have a publicist (he is now represented by a big New York firm). “I’ve always had an uneasy relationship with publicity,” he says, “and that element is still there. What always seemed to be this rather grasping desire to sell yourself always seemed at odds with just doing the work. So I’ve always tried to control the levels of silliness that go on around it.”

He admits that the commercial elements surrounding Desire did give him pause. He’s never previously appeared in an advertisement, “and I have rationalised this to a certain extent – this was a compelling narrative piece that would survive as a short film with some interesting film-makers and actors making it,” he nods, referring to his co-stars, American actress Shannyn Sossamon and Spanish actor Jordi Mollà. “Also, there is a – I don’t want to overemphasise the point,” he again interjects, overemphasising the point, “but there is a clear distinction between a personal endorsement of a product, and being hired as an actor to be in something. Jaguar just showed up recently rather splendidly in Skyfall, but Daniel Craig isn’t endorsing Jaguar.”

Realising that he’s perhaps protesting a little too much, Lewis steps back. “So, you know, am I here because my vanity was just pumped a little bit?” he ponders. “Probably almost certainly – it was flattering that they wanted me to play the lead in it.”

A decade after Band of Brothers first made his name, and via projects like The Forsyte Saga (2002), Homeland has anointed Lewis as one of the biggest British stars in the world. He’s aware that with great fame comes great responsibility, particularly when your show deals with issues of patriotism and religious faith. Sgt Nick Brody came back from his seven years’ imprisonment both a radicalised jihadist and a practising Muslim. Throughout Homeland’s two seasons, Lewis has sought reassurances from the scriptwriters and producers that the two are not linked.

“I did make very clear and say early on that if there were going to be any parallels drawn between Islam and violence, I wouldn’t do it. I just wouldn’t be interested in telling that story. Because it’s not a fair reflection of what’s actually going on, and so I thought that would be irresponsible.

“And they kept to their word. They worked really hard to [portray] the Islamic faith as a nurturing, sustaining force for good for Brody. It was a salvation for him while he was being brutalised in captivity. So I don’t feel we’ve done anything that people can blow us up for,” he says, again lapsing into the jokey mode that has made him a regular guest host onHave I Got News For You. “Fingers crossed.”

None the less, was he concerned about how the series might affect the opinion of the more hard-of-thinking viewers? He’s playing a traitorous American, after all. “I think my wife was more concerned than I was. She was worried that…” he begins. “We actually had a…” He stops again. “There was a scene written for the [second] season – I’m not going to tell you what it was – but it was very controversial. And it was the one time that we would have been seen doing something overtly provocative because of the imagery. And it involved Islam. So finally at the eleventh hour that was withdrawn.”

His US success no doubt comes with a topspin of added satisfaction given Lewis’s earlier, cancelled-after-two-seasons tilt at US television, in the detective drama Life. Now he’s in a show that, famously, is top of Barack Obama’s Tivo list. This time last year, Lewis and McCrory were invited to the White House for a state dinner marking the official visit of David Cameron. Other big-in-America Brit stars were invited too – Idris Elba, Hugh Bonneville, Mumford & Sons. But only Lewis was seated at the top table.

He and the leader of the free world discussed viewing habits. “I said to the president, ‘When do you watch Homeland?’ He said, ‘Well, Michelle takes the girls out to play tennis on a Saturday afternoon, and I pretend I’m gonna go work in the Oval Office, and I turn on the TV and I watch Homeland.’ So Saturday afternoon is his slot!”

At the time of our meeting in Chile it is December, and at home in the UK Homeland season two still has four episodes to go. When I ask Lewis if he’s due to start filming season three in May, his normal volubility dries to a trickle. “Uh, well, they start again, we start again. I may not be there. So you’ll have to wait and see.”

Is he saying that he may not be in season three? “There’s a very high bodycount on Homeland,” he says. He’s referring to the cataclysmic explosion that would wipe out half of the CIA in the finale. As we talk he refuses to be drawn on whether he’ll be returning. But as anyone who saw that closing episode knows, Brody is now on the run, suspected of planting that bomb. In January, Homeland’s producers confirmed that Lewis would be returning for season three.

After Chile, he insists he’s having some time off at home. He has some UK-based work to attend to, including some producing projects, and “hopefully even directing my first thing”. Also on the horizon is the release of a new, film version of Romeo and Juliet, written by Julian Fellowes, filmed in Italy last year and staring Lewis as Lord Capulet. He pronounces the shoot “absolutely delightful. But, you know, I’m sure people will have something to say about the fact that the original Shakespeare has been played with in places. But we’re all sticking to our guns!”

And Lewis has work to do on the home front too. He needs to reacquaint himself with son Gulliver, six, and daughter Manon, five. “The kids are at an age where they notice when you’re not around. I think it upsets them. But anyone who has a job where you travel, it’s never going to change. It will always be a juggling act. And now’s my time to go home.”

It’s also McCrory’s time to work. Last year she appeared in The Last of the Haussmans, at London’s National Theatre, and has been filming a new six-part television drama called Peaky Blinders, about a razor gang who operated in Edwardian-era Birmingham. Lewis beams with pride at mention of his wife’s small role, as a politician, in Skyfall. Lewis, who narrates the audiobook of Diamonds are Forever, notes approvingly the fact that the film’s second half functions as something of a James Bond “origins” movie, taking 007 back to his family home and his roots. “Paving the way perfectly for a red-headed Bond! As he now has Scottish heritage – I can’t believe they worked that in especially for me.”

He is, of course, joking. Anything to duck more questions about Homelandseason three. And right now, Lewis is saved by the bell. Well, by the fast-paced, against-the-clock Desire shooting schedule. He’s due back on set, back in the driving seat, and back in the sun. “There have been times on this shoot,” he reflects as the scarlet F-type is manoeuvred into position on a remote highway, “where I’ve been standing out here with my red hair and an autumn line suit, with 32 degrees of heat and sand whistling up my nose and in my ears, thinking: ‘should I really be here?’” He reflects for a moment. “Vikings weren’t built for the desert.”

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