Hi everyone! Damianista welcomes you to a NEW Fan Story Tuesday.
We have another lovely “short and sweet” collective today from three wonderful fans, Christine, Joanne, and Julie, who “discovered” Damian in his early work, namely Band of Brothers and The Forsyte Saga. They certainly have one thing in common: they will watch whatever Damian is in 🙂
I really need to say a few words about Christine before I give you these wonderful fan stories. Christine is running a Facebook Page called Historical Fiction Miscellany. And if you like historical fiction I would highly recommend you to follow the page because here is some great conversation going on there. And I cannot thank Christine enough for letting us share our Wolf Hall recaps on her page when the mini-series was on PBS. JaniaJania and I had a real ball there and we cannot wait for Hilary Mantel finish the third book, we get our Henry and Thomas back for one more season, and more importantly, we pick up the great discussion with historical fiction aficionados on Historical Fiction Miscellany!
Massive thanks go to Christine, Joanne and Julie for taking the time to share their fan stories with us. Cheers!
Christine
I certainly do like Damian, but am not a mad fan by any means. I will say that anything he’s in, I’ll watch. Dick Winters was the first time I noticed him, and he was brilliant in the role.
Then, of course, as Brody. Damian’s performance was of his usual high standard. I watched it for him, as, personally, I couldn’t stand Claire Danes’ character. Not her fault, but the writing around her character, was pretty abysmal, I thought. Damian deffo got the better part. When his part was over, I stopped watching.
I love him in Billions, playing a character I can’t quite make my mind up about, same as Brody. It’s his acting skills that draw me in. I don’t really “like” either of these two characters, but Damian’s performance, nevertheless, makes them mesmerising to watch. He, and Paul Giamatti are wonderful foils for one another. Just sublime to watch those two. For me, Damian’s best yet.
So, Damianista, there you have it. For what they’re worth, lol.
Joanne
I first saw Damian in The Forstye Saga and was hooked. I have been a
fan for many years now but am not as fortunate as others to have met
him. Maybe someday I will get lucky and meet up with him like the
bunnies did on the yahoo group. Till that day I can only dream. Love
his acting, he is the best.
Julie
I first became a Damian Lewis fan when I watched Band of Brothers – my favorite mini-series of all time. But when I first watched it, it was some years after it premiered. I also own the complete DVD set.
I was taken in by Damian’s performance. He portrayed an American hero so well. The perfect role for him. Damian can hide his British accent so well, that, you can’t fault anyone for thinking he is American.
It’s not just his ability to hide his accent, but whether as Winters or Crews, Brody or Axelrod, he is that character for that hour or so. The ability to transform into whatever character he is portraying is amazing. You know it because you believe it.
Of course, can’t forget about my favorite thing about Damian: the red hair. An absolutely handsome red headed man. How can you not love the guy? He’s perfect.
I will always enjoy watching Damian Lewis.
Thanks to all three of you for sharing, but I must say a special shout out to Christine because I couldn’t stand Carrie in Homeland either. I do think we are in the minority though. I also dislike the Wendy character in Billions, mostly because I can never figure out why she thinks she is so vital to Axe Capital. Well, okay, Bobby thinks so too apparently. Maybe I just don’t care for any role that takes the lime light away from Damian’s character, although Chuck does not affect me that way. I wonder if it is because I was already familiar with Paul G. but had never seen either Danes or Siff in anything before. The truth is, I watch very little TV (and even less before Damian burst on the scene in 2001), except for a few specials or movies, but too will watch Damian even if he just sits and stares at the ceiling!
Connie – I, too, do not care for the Wendy character as much as others do. I watched Maggie Siff in Sons of Anarchy (SOA) and I didn’t care for her character on that show either. On SOA, I didn’t find it believable that her character would be with one of the main characters, nor in that particular situation. I think SOA gave me a bad taste in my mouth that has carried over to Billions.
I agree with Gingersnap that first impressions matter. I have never seen Maggie in SOA. I know the show has rabid fans but from what I have read I don’t think it would be a show I would enjoy. I LOVED Maggie as Rachel Menken in Mad Men — my most favorite show ever — and was sad to see her go! I think she got the Tara part in SOA (yeah I know her character’s name!) and left Mad Men. I missed her and so I was so excited to see her in Billions. Wendy may be the only character I can really identify with in the show and I think her presence will play a major role, again, in Season 3 — can’t wait!
Glad to read other fans also started noticing Damian in Band of Brothers…how could one not notice him in that charismatic character??. I personally think that of all the characters Damian has played Major Winters is one I would love to have met personally. So lucky Damian could actually get to know the real heroe
🙂
Good choice Eli cole. The few minutes I had with Major Winters back in 2004 are a treasured memory.
Love Carrie. Find Wendy absurd. Only watch Billions for Damian though I dislike Bobby. I take that to mean Damian’s done a good job with him.
So obviously YES I’ll watch anything with Damian Lewis. In fact a copy of The Situation is sitting on my console awaiting viewing even though I’m sure it takes an alternative world view (to use Damianista’s discreet phrasing) to mine.
Did I say that? 😀 I like it that The Situation does not show the war in Iraq in a black and white way, but in a gray way with good and bad people on both sides. I am looking forward to hearing your take on the movie.