Bobby Axelrod: A Man of Two Worlds in Billions, Part II

source: Showtime
source: Showtime

Last week we left our discussion of Bobby Axelrod curious about the distance he would go to protect what he has… which brings me to his better half Lara and Team Axelrod! In an earlier post about Team Axelrod, one question I had was whether Lara was involved in the business, and, in fact, how much she knew about what’s going on. So, If we drop a few familiar names for convenience, the question is whether Lara is some kind of a Carmela Soprano (knows and looks the other way), Skyler White (she doesn’t want to know first but then is buried up to her neck) or Claire Underwood (an equal partner from day one).

I am happy to report that, in a nice YouTube interview, Malin Akerman gives a few hints about Lara that, in fact, answer my question: “Great character… Strong female character… just what I was attracted to… You know, it’s, instead of standing behind your man, standing beside your man in this show…” So, yes, even though we don’t know the extent to which she is involved we know that Lara is INVOLVED in business. You can see Malin Akerman’s interview about Billions in its entirety here. Continue reading “Bobby Axelrod: A Man of Two Worlds in Billions, Part II”

Ready, Steady, Write!

As you know we are all about fun over here and we thought that, on our sixth Fiction Friday Blog, maybe it was time to get you all involved as well. Fan Fiction can be lots of fun and it is even more fun when several people with a common like all join in on a ‘prompt’. A prompt can simply be a phrase, a few words or more around which you must base your story.

Examples from LilMisfit

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10492635/1/Sergeant-vs-SEAL

This prompt was given to me by a fellow Homeland fan via Tumblr, and was simply the words “Big Game”. At the time the World Cup was in full swing and while most of the fics I read were centered around that, I took my story in an alternate direction and wrote a one-shot involving Brody, Carrie, and the tall, dark, handsome and bearded Navy SEAL team introduced in S3, all playing pool together on base before Brody loaded out for Tehran. I found the dynamic between Brody and the SEAL team that trained him to be an interesting one, and wanted to see that camaraderie and friendship developed further.

Continue reading “Ready, Steady, Write!”

Throwback Thursday to an ’80s Cultural icon: SONY Walkman

"I remember going to work with one of those enormous, 
brick-like Walkmans that we all used to have..." 
- Damian Lewis on NPR
source: LA Times
source: LA Times

One of the great things about writing on Damian Lewis is that he’s from my generation. This essentially means I very easily relate to a lot of things about him, from the football team he supports, the pop culture references he makes, his sense of humor or the music he likes — I know some people have found his music taste “unsophisticated” on Desert Island Discs, but hey, we both grew up in the 80s, cut us some slack please ☺ And so some of the stories I write are mine as much as his… like… this one!

Today’s throwback takes us back to 1980s, to a big cultural icon and a real coolness symbol when we happened to be teenagers: SONY Walkman… And to some “tasteful” 80s music as well! 🙂

Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to an ’80s Cultural icon: SONY Walkman”

Revisiting Dick Winters

A week or so short of the 14 year anniversary of the airing of the first episode of Band of Brothers, let’s revisit my second post on this blog, “Before Nicholas Brody, there was Dick Winters”. Seems the love for this series has never abated and in the months since I published this post, the remembrances of Damian Lewis as Dick Winters are still steady and strong. Enjoy!

Damian Lewis’ first role as an American was in the role of Dick Winters in Spielberg/Hanks’ Band of Brothers. (Fun fact: the title Band of Brothers is taken from Shakespeare, from Henry V’s speech to his troops: “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother”)

Source: HBO
Source: HBO

Continue reading “Revisiting Dick Winters”

Bobby Axelrod: A Man of Two Worlds in Billions, Part I

“What’s going to be interesting about this story is specifically this story… So who will Bobby Axelrod turn out to be? And what is he prepared to do to retain power?”

– Damian Lewis, TCA 2015 Panel on Billions

source: Getty Images
source: Getty Images

In case you missed it, I did a first sketch of Bobby Axelrod a few weeks ago here using the little information we had in hand at the time from interviews with Damian Lewis accompanied with a few hints from the first 60-second long teaser. Now we had the Billions panel with the show creators and the cast at TCA 2015 in which Damian Lewis gave more than a few hints about Bobby Axelrod, the first full-length series trailer is out and we have a premier date, too! Billions is coming to Showtime on January 17, 2016 — just a few days before my birthday! Well, I happily accept the best gift ever from my favorite actor and expect it to be repeated for a number of years. Thank you, Damian 😀

So… With the new information at hand, it’s time, my friends, to form and re-form opinions and do a re-sketch of Bobby Axelrod! And given that how much I could write with the little information I had last time, this one should be a two-part post! Continue reading “Bobby Axelrod: A Man of Two Worlds in Billions, Part I”