Happy Labor Day! I am hoping most of you have had the chance to make that last beach trip before the summer ends while I have been sitting at my desk writing about Damian’s summer, the third in a row he has enjoyed fully!
Damian constantly worked all summers between 2011 while he was shooting Homeland to 2016 when they were starting the Billions shoot in summer. So, when asked by a fan at The Goat stage door back in May 2017 about what he would be doing between The Goat and Billions, whose shoot would not start until September, he responded promptly:
And it seems he was pleased with the results that he has been doing it for three years in a row! And I strongly suspect the real reason behind it is what Helen shares in a recent interview with The Telegraph:
“When we go back to work we’ll get somebody in, but I turn a lot of work down because I am aware that they are going to be out of here soon.”
Thanks to numerous news articles, social media posts, a few interviews with Helen as well as Damian’s own tweets, we know what he has done this summer — so come join us in visiting Damian between Memorial Day and Labor Day also known as summer on this side of the pond! 🙂
Damian and Helen kicked off the summer festivities in style at the Virgin Media British Academy Television Awards (BAFTA) at the Royal Festival Hall in London. And Helen’s presentation of the Best Actor Award was the coolest ever or what?
We all wish we were as cool as Helen McCroryhttps://t.co/hWVfTKeUdA pic.twitter.com/NpcF1bOxgy
— Radio Times (@RadioTimes) May 12, 2019
Yet, my favorite photo of Damian and Helen from that evening is not the kind of picture you would expect 😀 😀 😀
Huge thanks go to Helen’s stylist for taking this picture. Yes, these two are real stars in public but they are first mom and dad feeding the kids before a date night at the BAFTA Awards! And, hey, whose feet are they in the background? LOVE IT! You can visit our gallery for more pics from the BAFTA TV awards.
The summer continued with other performances, one at the opening night performance of English National Ballet’s “Cinderella” at Royal Albert Hall…
…another at the Press Night for the brilliant play Lehman Trilogy (I saw the play at Park Avenue Armory in NYC last spring!) at London’s Piccadilly Theatre…
…and yet another press night for Lynn Notage’s Pulitzer- winning play Sweat at the Gielgud Theatre in London.
And they danced to Fleetwood Mac at the band’s long awaited comeback concert in Wembley Stadium.
We found Damian and Helen late June at the Serpentine Gallery and Chanel Summer Party that raises funds for exhibitions, architecture, education, live and digital programs and celebrates all those who enable the Serpentine Galleries’ work. You can visit our gallery for more pics from the party.
And one summer highlight for our favorite couple, at least for Helen, was the Bob Dylan and Neil Young’s British Summertime Concert, a truly historical double bill, in Hyde Park. Well, what Helen says about her VIP wristband as she was wearing it 5 days after the concert speaks volumes:
“I am never taking it off.”
😀
Next was a star-studded night at The Hunt at the Almeida Theatre in London where they both had pictures taken with the play’s child actor Abbiegail Mills!
Then came the Peaky Blinders Season 5 BFI TV Preview held at BFI Southbank! While Helen got the spotlight with her fellow kick-ass actresses on the show, thanks to a fan photo, we know Damian was supporting his wife at the screening and the after party!
If you cannot wait for Peaky Blinders Season 5 like me, the new season has already premiered in the UK and it is coming to Netflix in the US on October 4!
Our favorite couple put an end to their busy July at the UK Premiere of highly anticipated Once Upon A Time in Hollywood in which Damian brings to big screen Steve McQueen, a true Hollywood icon. The premiere took place at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square.
Damian and Helen looked absolutely gorgeous on the white carpet…
…Damian mingled with the film’s lead actors and director Tarantino…
…and he gave a fun interview!
The tipsy looks our favorite couple had as they were leaving the after party attests to the amount of fun they had! <3
You can see more pictures from the premiere here.
Damian very kindly gave his time to charity again this summer. Firstly, he gave a priceless performance in NBC’s Red Nose Day Special as one of the celebrities performing Hall and Oates’ “You Make My Dreams.”
Then he participated in Park Theatre’s Whoddunit (Unrehearsed) play to help raise funds for the theatre so they could keep their doors open. In the two-week production, a surprise celebrity actor or actress who did not rehearse or even see the script took the stage with the theater company and, as the inspector, tried to solve a mystery. Damian was the second evening’s guest celebrity and I STAND BEHIND MY WORDS in the tweet below!
https://twitter.com/FanFunDamian/status/1152888125162700800
And how sweet it is that Damian also took the time to send a special message to the students in a school theater production in his inspector trench coat!
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bz_buynh5LA/
Given that Damian is a sports guy through and through, we need to have a special section on sports when it comes to his summer!
I believe his beloved Liverpool going to the UEFA Champions League Final again this year was the TRUE sports highlight for Damian! No wonder the music video he made and shared on Twitter before the championship match in Madrid is incredible. How many guys do you think can play the Liverpool tune “You’ll Never Walk Alone” with his teeth?!?!
https://twitter.com/FanFunDamian/status/1134577470420783109
Oh yeah I take that wink very personally! 😀
Well, while they did not play their best game, Liverpool scored two goals, one very early in the match (minute 2, penalty shot by Mohamed Salah) and the other very late (minute 87 by Divock Origi) against Tottenham Hotspur and won its 6th Champions League title. Congratulations!
https://twitter.com/LFC/status/1134926833734918144
Here is Damian posing for selfies in the stadium as he is cheering for his beloved Red Men, then tweeting his “morning after” look that says itwas some after-party as well as his favorite moments of the championship final match weekend!
Morning after. GET. IN. pic.twitter.com/UCIxpuwOPB
— Damian Lewis (@lewis_damian) June 2, 2019
I cannot be happier that I was able to high-five Damian as I was screaming “You’ll Never Walk Alone” on the top of my lungs just a few days after Liverpool’s victory when our guy appeared on Live with Kelly and Ryan. And, no, I am not crazy, I have just been a Liverpool fan as long as Damian has been! And as he was very lucky to be physically in the stadium, I was glued to the TV in a NYC pub rooting for LFC!
https://twitter.com/FanFunDamian/status/1135562988998537216
Oh, and, Damian gave us a little summary of his Madrid weekend on Live with Kelly and Ryan — complete with mimicking Klopp’s German accent. Thank you, mate!
During his brief trip to New York, Damian spent a day in Central Park and stopped to chat with his adoring fans…
…and he appeared on Billions Emmy For Your Consideration event at Paley Center NYC with the show creators and fellow cast members. You can read JaniaJania’s detailed account of the event here and see more photos from the event on our gallery.
Back in London, Damian enjoyed an afternoon at Lord’s Cricket Grounds watching the Group Stage match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 between England and Australia with his brother Gareth. Well, I admit I do not even know what ICC means… and if someone asks me about cricket, I first think about the insect, not the sport. Sorry, Damian 🙂
In case you want to dive deeper in Damian’s earlier experiences playing cricket at Lord’s, please see JaniaJania’s post from a few years ago here! She certainly knows a lot more about cricket than I do.
While she always attends the games that Damian plays in, Helen repeatedly says she is not as sporty as her better half. She tells Telegraph in 2008:
“Damian and I have separate interests. I don’t care if Liverpool win or lose. Nor could I explain any of the cricket scoring.”
😀
But, hey, it seems tennis is an exception!
Damian and Helen attended Wimbledon again this year to watch men’s semi-finals! And the matches they saw from the Royal Box did not only last four sets each, but the one between Nadal and Federer became an instant classic! You can see more pics from Wimbledon at our gallery!
Next, our “fair weather cricketer” as he calls himself attended a cricket match, day one of the 2019 Ashes Series, England v Australia test match, at Lord’s in London, during bad weather! \While our guy chatted with other attendees and sipped some wine and waited for the delayed start time, there was no match in the end due to torrential rain in London.
And if he cannot watch it, he plays it himself! So we have Damian as the captain for the cricket match between the Actors and their long time rivals the Authors at Eton College, Damian’s alma mater.
And we owe huge thanks to Ben Wilbond, Damian’s Actors teammate, for his hilarious tweets about the match and the captain!
Team talk. @lewis_damian giving us our orders. It’s basically Capt Winters so happy to listen.
— Ben Willbond (@benwillbond) August 22, 2019
— Ben Willbond (@benwillbond) August 22, 2019
Pure Captain’s innings from @lewis_damian
— Ben Willbond (@benwillbond) August 22, 2019
Actors victory!
— Ben Willbond (@benwillbond) August 22, 2019
Lessons learned today: cricket balls are HARD.
— Ben Willbond (@benwillbond) August 22, 2019
Well, you cannot go wrong with Captain Winters, can you? Here is the Actors celebrating in style!
So we have music, theatre, charity and lots of sports! But how about family vacation?
Helen tells in an interview with The Times that the kids are spending most of the summer in the family’s second home on the Suffolk/Essex borders.
“It had been on the market for a long time. You’ve got to be very careful with the second-home thing that you’re not buying somewhere someone else might have wanted. Now it’s just full all the time. Either we’re all there and we invite people or we give people keys to use it. There’s nothing in there, a sofa and a record player — we literally just gutted it, moved the furniture out and painted it white. The decorators were, like ‘What kind of white?’ and we were, like, ‘Just white.’ I don’t care about things like paint charts. For some people a home is a reflection of who they are; to me it’s just where I am.”
The family’s ideal vacation is renting a camper van with Damian on the wheel. Helen tells The Times:
“It’s just the best. All the chickens are in the nest around you and you can just stop and say, ‘OK, let’s have lunch here or see what’s down there.’ “
One of the major stops this year was the Latitude Festival in Henham Park, Suffolk, an annual festival offering music, theatre, rides and games, street food markets, yoga workshops, art installations, and swimming in a closeby lake. Thanks to Damian’s several tweets, we know a few of the performances the family attended at the festival…
Thought I saw you in my audience… then thought I was imagining it but this tweet has reawakened the possibility…
— Mark Watson (@watsoncomedian) July 20, 2019
Then your short sighted material wasn’t just schtick you really are. I was the person sitting directly in front of you…! I’m a big fan and you were fantastic.
— Damian Lewis (@lewis_damian) July 20, 2019
@lewis_damian great seeing you at the show yesterday!
— Low Island (@lowislandmusic) July 22, 2019
Also a highlight was having @lewis_damian over. Played it cool, but huge fanboy moments !!
— O.P.M (@OriginalPattyM) July 22, 2019
…but what is sweeter is what Helen shares about how the family picks and chooses performances to attend at the festival:
“We are taking them [Manon and Gulliver] to Latitude next weekend, and the deal is everyone chooses two things [to see] and we all have to go. There will be no walking out halfway through Drake because it is not the clean version!”
Long live democracy! 😀
Oh, and by the way, the family may have spent some time in Italy again this summer but we have no proof except for the following two tweets, one from Pisa airport and the other from Heathrow airport pointing to the same day in August. And I am truly sorry Damian cannot even pee without us knowing 🙂
Fairly confident I got on the shuttle that @lewis_damian got off at #pisa yesterday so there’s a chance I also saw #polly #PeakyBlinders
— Richard John Swift (@mrswiftesq) August 14, 2019
I just saw @lewis_damian in the London Heathrow baggage claim. I didn't believe it at first but it was him.
I panicked and didn't say anything. I could have said hi but he was in the toilet peeing and thought, "Best not." pic.twitter.com/qItimA17R7
— Harrison Fidler (@harrison_fidler) August 13, 2019
For the last three years, Damian came to New York just after Labor Day to start the new season shoot for Billions. Yet, they are taking a longer break than usual this year and the Season 5 shoot is starting in November. So our guy has two more months to spend time with family and friends in London, play a bit more sport and maybe attend a match or two at Anfield. Well, LFC kicked off the EPL extremely well this season! Best of luck, Red Men!
https://twitter.com/LFC/status/1168191281916448774
I find the first photo captivating. A certain unseen quality. Do I see a cigarette in his right hand in the Actors Team photo? Shocking if true as they say in the tabloids. Thanks for being our eyes Damianista!
Thank you!!! The first photo is from the “bad weather, no cricket” day. It seems he had a glass of wine and a good chat. While I love Damian’s short hair better, I love it that he lets it be during summer – he is probably feeling free! And yes you are seeing a cigarette in his right hand. I am hoping he is only a social smoker. I hate cigarettes because they killed my dad when he was only 44. But he used to smoke 2 packs a day! That is why I did not even try one in my entire life!!!
I was a “unicorn “ for many years, i.e. a social smoker but the desire fell away several years ago. Don’t know why. So have hope!