Damian Lewis is Charles Doughty-Wylie in Queen of the Desert

cdwcollage2

By now, you all know that one of the highly anticipated Damian Lewis projects this year is Queen of the Desert, directed by celebrated director Werner Herzog and starring Nicole Kidman, Damian Lewis, Robert Pattinson and James Franco. The movie had its World Premiere at Berlinale 2015 and will be coming to the US movie theaters in winter 2015 according to the official movie website.

Queen of the Desert is essentially a biopic of Gertrude Bell, a traveler, writer, archaeologist, explorer, cartographer, political attaché and a spy for the British Empire in the Middle East in the early 20th century. She shaped the politics of the Middle East and drew up the borders of modern Jordan as well as Iraq. Think of more or less  a female Lawrence of Arabia.

source: Vogue
source: Vogue

Nicole Kidman stars as Gertrude Bell, and Damian Lewis takes on the role of Lieutenant Colonel Charles Doughty-Wylie, who is considered to be the love of Bell’s life. He was married, and the two had a romantic, yet unconsummated relationship; they exchanged love letters between 1913-15 until his death. Continue reading “Damian Lewis is Charles Doughty-Wylie in Queen of the Desert”

Actors and Hope for Humankind: Damian Lewis and Nicole Kidman

Damianista and I are always batting around the idea of serendipity: Our mutual love of finding gems in places where we weren’t looking for them, and then making luck where we find it. We also have a way of finishing each other’s thoughts or typing the same ideas or observations at the same time. That’s probably more happy coincidence than serendipity, but, in either case, it’s a welcome sign of working with someone who is sympatico: that not exactly rare but always welcome thing of having a working relationship with a kindred spirit.

Whether it’s serendipity or a happy coincidence or good old fashioned brilliance in casting that Nicole Kidman and Damian Lewis got to work together in Queen of the Desert, the more revealed about this film and this team of actors, the more anxious we become to see it all played out on screen. Reading Vogue’s article on Nicole Kidman revealed bits about her approach to her art that bear an uncanny resemblance to another fine actor we all know and love, Damian Lewis. Nicole Kidman’s spread in Vogue replete with pics from Queen of the Desert whets my appetite even more.

Continue reading “Actors and Hope for Humankind: Damian Lewis and Nicole Kidman”

Trivia Tuesday: How did Damian Lewis Become Dick Winters?

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source: HBO

We talked about “American” Damian earlier here. From Dick Winters to Nicholas Brody, Damian Lewis gave us a wide portfolio of American characters all of whom we have fallen in love with. And now that he’s filming the NEW Showtime drama Billions in New York (Have you seen the first Billions teaser yet?) we cannot wait to meet Bobby Axelrod in January 2016 when Billions is supposed to hit TV Screens!

Now… Given that Damian Lewis is probably more well-known for the American characters he has brought to life, one just wonders about how this all started… which takes us to 1999, and in Damian’s own words to “auditions in damp Soho basements.” Continue reading “Trivia Tuesday: How did Damian Lewis Become Dick Winters?”

Jointly and Severally

Back in April, we posted a short crossover story together which can be found here http://wp.me/p5uTBg-Ig. We are currently working on extending this into something more. This is another layer of the fan fiction world where people ’co-author’ stories. This month’s blog is focusing on this aspect of fan fiction and is a discussion about it.

We wondered how others who co-author might go about it.

Does one person do one chapter and the other does the next?

LilMisfit:

I’ve read fics in the past that have been co-authored and I feel like they’re written beautifully, and I have been in writing workshops where I’ve written a piece and then handed my work to a partner so they can write the next installment and likely take the story in a new direction. I think if writing a comedic or “fluff” fic, working that way would be particularly fun. But in a more dramatic fic with lots of plot points and twists and such, I think plotting it out ahead of time and knowing exactly what your partner plans to contribute to the story, would work better.

TBkWrm:

I’ve heard of others doing it this way, but I doubt I could work like this  as I think if you are doing a story together, it has to be mapped out together across all chapters. Continue reading “Jointly and Severally”

Throwback Thursday Into the Woods

I told you earlier about the American Buffalo programme booklet that has fun questions asked by fans and answered by Damian Lewis!

americanbuffaloprogramme

Here is another question from that booklet! Claire Bartlett asks: “I saw you playing the Wolf in Into the Woods at the Donmar in the late 1990s. Any more musicals on the horizon?”

Oh, yeah! Way earlier than being the big, bad wolf Henry inWolf Hall, Damian Lewis was the Wolf in Into the Woods. 

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Damian was cast as the Wolf/Cinderella’s Prince in the 1998 London revival of Into the Woods, one of Stephen Sondheim’s greatest musicals. The revival opened at the Donmar Warehouse on 16 November 1998, and closed on 13 February 1999.

Here is a lovely pic along with his theater, TV and film credits from the 1998 London Playbill for the musical.

source: ebay.ca
source: ebay.ca

Continue reading “Throwback Thursday Into the Woods”