THAT Vanity Fair bit with Damian Lewis & Michelle Dockery GOT me thinking…

source: Vanity Fair
source: Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair has a series of videos and a special March issue about how the British actors have invaded — and maybe even conquered — Hollywood.

Well, Hollywood has always, and rightly so, admired and respected great British actors, say Jeremy Irons, Judi Dench, or Michael Kaine. But the on-going invasion is mostly done by a new generation of Brits who have now become “household names”  in the US — some more than the others in my household 🙂 They sometimes fascinate us in British movies and TV shows, and sometimes play Americans in American movies and TV shows. And, thanks to their perfect American accents, some fans may actually find out much later that they are, in fact, British!

Just to drop a few names… some of them may be surprising! Let’s start with our own boy, Damian Lewis, but also Dominic West, Idris Elba, James Purefoy, Benedict Cumberbatch, Eddie Redmayne, Dan Stevens, James McAvoy, Tom Hiddleston… And, the ladies… Keira Knightley, Michelle Dockery, Amy Adams, Felicity Jones, Rosamund Pike, and many, many others. Continue reading “THAT Vanity Fair bit with Damian Lewis & Michelle Dockery GOT me thinking…”

Holbein in Wolf Hall

source: farfarawaysite.com
source: farfarawaysite.com

We earlier discussed here the authenticity of the costumes in Wolf Hall as well as how much the series costume designer Joanna Eatwell values Hans Holbein the Younger’s work in achieving this authenticity.

It turns out that Eatwell digged into the paintings of Holbein for research. From Lucy Worsley’s interview with Eatwell:

‘He’s a genius – all the information is in his paintings,’ she says.

‘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 — she calls it the “photoshop” of the times.

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Wolf Hall Episode 5: Crows

source: farfarawaysite.com
source: farfarawaysite.com

Wolf Hall is getting darker by the minute in its penultimate episode. Henry is moody. He is capricious. He is obnoxious. He is EXPLOSIVE… And, then he turns into a little boy trying to make amends to his best friend. Damian Lewis owned Wolf Hall tonight, and gave some acting feast for us! The Independent, in its review of the episode, says “Damian Lewis is so good as the capricious king that you want to slap him.” I don’t want to make a case for Henry but I admit he has his reasons — it is all about his obsession with a male heir. And, add to this, his being very aware of his own mortality, and Henry makes a decision to move on… well, to the next wife.

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Damian’s Inspirations for Wolf Hall

source: BBC
source: BBC

As we continue to get inspired by Wolf Hall in several different ways, I am also pretty curious about the ways Damian Lewis was inspired as he worked on bringing Henry VIII to life.

In a recent interview with the Telegraph, Damian actually revealed some “usual” and “unusual” inspirations he drew from as he took on the role of Henry VIII in Wolf Hall:

“He said he had “drawn on the essential source material” of Mantel’s Booker Prize-winning novels during research, pointing out the story is still a “piece of fiction” despite its rigour.”

Continue reading “Damian’s Inspirations for Wolf Hall”

On the Horizon: American Buffalo

“There is business, and there is friendship…”

-Don Dubrow, American Buffalo 

source: londontheatre1.com
source: londontheatre1.com

Damian Lewis is making a wonderful comeback to stage in the West End revival of David Mamet’s American Buffalo this spring. He is headlining the play as Walter Cole “Teach” along with the great John Goodman as Don Dubrow, and Tom Sturridge as Bobby. Daniel Evans, whom Damian Lewis trained together with at Guildhall School of Music and Drama is directing the play.

Damian tells Guardian about how the stars aligned for American Buffalo: “I’ve tried about three or four times in the last couple of years and things have fallen apart. With theatre, you have to plan almost a year in advance. But we got lucky – a theatre was available.”

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