This blog has had an interesting relationship with Billions. I launched the blog only two weeks before they started shooting the pilot in New York and I have been very lucky to catch up with Damian on the set once every season since. I do not know how many times you need to do a thing for it to become a tradition, but catching up with Damian on Billions set once a year certainly felt like a tradition.
And when I saw Billions signs on Park Avenue on a Saturday evening in December 2018, I thought I could continue the tradition. The signs hint that they might shoot at Eleven Madison Park where I could easily imagine Axe eat with other billionaires, and was happy that I could continue the tradition.
Not too fast, Damianista!
When I arrived on the set which I thought would be in full swing I see no Haddad’s trucks. Besides all the signs I saw over the weekend were removed! Did they shoot very early in the morning and leave? Did they reschedule the shoot? Bummer. Bummer. BUMMER!
Well, having watched Episode 7, I know that they actually filmed at Eleven Madison Park where we see Rebecca and Brian Dana having lunch. I think they filmed at the restaurant very early in the morning and they were done way before I arrived.
On the subway ride back home, I saw another tweet saying Billions would be shooting on Metropolitan Avenue in Middle Village on December 17-18 but there was no Billions sign picture attached to the tweet. But I certainly knew the location the tweet was talking about: Capparello’s aka Bruno’s pizzeria which Lewisto and I visited two summers ago! So thoughts flew in my mind:
“There is no picture… Could it be that 17th is the day people need to move their cars and 18th is the shoot day? (see the sign above for clarification!) It is an hour-long subway ride followed by an Uber ride to the pizzeria. Is it worth it? But today was my last full day in the city because we are leaving tomorrow for a vacation. If they are really shooting there and if I do not try my chances today, won’t I regret later? So, I am going, aren’t I? Yes, I am. YES, I AM!”
So I changed trains and arrived at Bruno’s in an hour and a half. I saw Billions signs all over the street saying they would shoot here for two consecutive days. There is a “Closed for Private Event” sign on the front door of the pizzeria and the Billions crew already transformed Rosa’s Pizza into Capparello’s!
I asked a crew member and found out the filming would start in a few hours. This meant I took more than 15K steps on a single street in a few hours because it was the only way to keep warm 😀
But, hey, the real challenge was not the weather. It was to find a restroom when I need it! 😀 And I am eternally grateful to the manager at C-Town nearby for being so kind and letting me use the restroom they do not typically let customers use because it is dangerous to go there — very steep stairs to the basement — and telling me to come back when I needed to use the restroom again! Besides, when he found out why I was waiting there, he said he loved the billionaire guy on the show! Yeah, me, too!
While I constantly walked up and down the block — Metropolitan Avenue is a long avenue — I missed Damian’s arrival. They were shooting inside the pizzeria but one could see what was going on in there thanks to the large windows and so I saw Damian talking to Arthur Nascarella who played Bruno, and they were laughing. While we already knew these people enjoyed each other’s company, it was very lovely to witness it!
When Damian left the building unexpectedly in a few minutes, I was sort of glad my fan girl self was there because she had the confidence to call his name loudly as he was getting into a big black car. Damian turned and called my name:
“Bahar! How are you?”
He came and gave me a hug. He said he needed to leave now to get ready for the shoot but would come back soon.
“Wait for me here.”
Yes, sir! And it was a good feeling to be able to tell the crew member whose job seemed to be keeping people away that Damian Lewis told me to wait for him right here 😀
When he arrived back on set as Bobby Axelrod, Damian told me he needed to be on set right away but he would come find me during his breaks!
YAY to that! Because this meant I could watch them shooting! It is absolutely thrilling to see a show being shot… especially if it is your favorite show, and you stand just a short distance from some of your favorite actors and see them in action.
So here is what I saw! Axe and Bruno came together to the table where Wags, Dollar Bill, Ben Kim, Bonnie, Helena, Axe’s old friends from the neighborhood and a blonde young woman that I did not know were sitting… Hmmm…
It looked like a celebratory event. Axe looked genuinely happy, he said a few words, made a toast and melted my heart when he gave a big hug to Bruno.
Then he took off his jacket and sat next to the blonde which we did not see in the episode… Hmmm…
And the blonde touched Axe’s shoulder in a way that hinted there was something romantic going on between them which we did not see in the episode, either… Hmmm…
😀 😀 😀
Here’s a couple of things I noticed on set. Some of it is a repeat of what I observed last year when I was very lucky to see one of the most hilarious scenes from Episode 3 A Generation Too Late being shot around the corner from my apartment!
Damian carries a chapstick in his pocket and uses it often.
Damian drinks a lot of water between takes.
Damian talks a lot on the phone between takes.
Damian takes a puff from a cast member’s cigarette.
Damian has presence on set. So much fun to see him calling out to David Costabile “Costy!” and to Kelly AuCoin, who is literally standing in front of a Dollar Tree store, “Dollar Bill!” 😀 I wish I could have taken pictures but I did not even touch my phone on set not to risk getting kicked out for inappropriate behavior!
And when Damian got out for the break, he called my name loudly from across the street:
“Bahar! How can I help you?”
I just love how he pronounces my name with almost no “r” at the end 🙂 And I told him how happy I was to be able to spend a bit of time with him because there was so much I want to tell him and so little time.
“Tell me whatever you want.”
Well, I said, first of all, I was extremely happy I could catch up with him on set today since I was leaving town for a trip tomorrow night. So he asked about our trip. We were going to South East Asia. He asked if I’m going with my husband and for how long. Yes, him, and two of our best friends. 4 countries in 17 days! He asked if we made detailed plans. Well, I said, I knew he would understand me because we, the Aquarians, are typically obsessed about perfection and I also knew that he said in an interview once that he even wanted a trip to the zoo to be perfect! And, yes, I am the kind of aggressive tourist who plans every second with no real break so I always need a vacation when I come back from a vacation.
His turn.
“Are you still doing game theory?”
Yes, I am, and I just published a paper in the top journal in my field. It was incredible to see that he was genuinely interested. He could have said “Bravo, Bahar!” and moved on, but instead he asked:
“What’s the paper about?”
So I told him my co-author and I studied how the bargaining between a government and a rebel group works in a game theoretic model. We derived and empirically tested the conditions under which the rebels were able to receive concessions from the government. It turned out that the civilians, especially the middle class, showing support for the rebels via peaceful protests or marches made it more likely for the government to grant concessions to the rebel group.
“So direct action doesn’t work. You need sponsorship.”
WOW. I later told my husband, who is also an academic, that I would not have been able to summarize my own work as precisely as Damian.
They wanted Damian back from the set and I got to watch a little bit more of the same scene filmed for several times. When they took another break, Damian came back and we talked about, well, football! 😀
“I am a Liverpool fan, too.”
I told him how much I loved it that he loved and played football and how it was my dad who gave me the love of football like he gave it to his own son. I told him about the Sunday afternoons at our home with my dad sitting on the sofa and me sitting on his shoulders watching football together. And while my dad passed away when I was young I still felt that football was my connection to him. Oh, and I was finally able to ask Damian how he became a Liverpool fan! It turns out we became fans exactly the same way: Liverpool won pretty much every cup when we were kids! And he added how nice it was that my dad gave me the love of the sport and that his dad was not an influence when it came to football. Damian’s dad is a rugby guy 😀
And I told him it was a very happy moment for me when I received an email from a sports reporter inviting Damian to the UEFA Championships Liverpool – Manchester City game last year (yes, we receive such emails from reporters and interviewers who did not know the contact information for Damian’s representation) and it was a true pleasure to forward the message to Damian’s PA because I knew deep down that he would do it.
And HE DID.
Damian said that he and Gully might again go to Liverpool – Manchester City match, this time an EPL game in Manchester early January. We later found out, thanks to a fan on Twitter, that father and son watched the match at a pub in London.
Son and I watching City – Liverpool game in pub, in walks dad with kids, says hi, orders food, roars on the reds, just a decent normal dad, good work @lewis_damian
— Simon Coll (@bozcoll) January 5, 2019
The conversation turned to his kids. I told him how much we loved the pictures of him with Manon and Gulliver from Mary Poppins Returns European Premiere blue carpet.
Damian’s eyes are lit when he talks about his children. He thinks Manon may become an actress, she seems to have it in her. Gully is preparing for his next school and he has been doing very well in his interviews for very competitive schools. And he protested when I said it seemed the ginger gene has dominated in the kids. It should be the light in the pictures because it turns out neither of the kids is a red head. So this lovely family picture Gully drew when he was little is accurate with dad being the only ginger in the family 😀
It was Damian’s turn to ask the questions. How come do I get to spend so much time in New York? I am an academic so I can be anywhere when I am not teaching. We have a tiny apartment on the Upper West Side and the kind of things this city has to offer, from food to theater to music to art, is second to none. Does the university pay for our housing in North Carolina? Oh, no, this is not Oxford 😀 Some universities in New York, Boston, and California have subsidized housing for faculty to attract more academics to places where living expenses are considerably higher, but not in North Carolina. We have our own house there. Does my husband do consulting? I love this one! Damian definitely knows how academics, especially economists, make some extra money. Yes, he sometimes does 😀
They needed Damian back on set. So he went, they shot the same scene again, and when he came back, we talked about the scene! I told him that Axe broke my heart when he broke Bruno’s so I was very pleased to see Axe and Bruno together again. He told me (this conversation occurred before the official announcement) Season 4 will premiere on March 17 but that I must not tell anyone. And I toldhim, well, I have seen something else that I probably cannot tell anyone, either. “What did you see?, he asked, and I told him “Well, that blonde woman was touching you in the scene” and he went “Ha! That! No, you cannot tell anyone about it, either!” 😀
Time for some business! I told Damian how great both the blog and the site were doing and it was all thanks to having the best team in the world. When he heard it will be our 4th birthday on January 5, he made a little video for the fandom to celebrate our anniversary that he called “amazing.”And it turned out he was as good a stage manager as he was an actor 😀 I noticed later when I watched the video that he had his jacket collars raised for the video. FUN!
And look at me! Can anyone smile bigger? But I mean, what other actor would hang out with a fan on set, make her feel like his guest, and play along to make a video for her website? Thank you for everything, Damian! Thank you for your time, your kindness and your generosity. We are proud to be Team Damian!
As we said our goodbyes, Damian said the filming will probably go very late that night. And he walked, hands in his pockets, to the catering service set up next to the set, to have a bite. He was not able to eat so far because he was busy nannying me. Sorry!
The first question Lewisto asked when I came home was:
“Did he comment on your new coat?” 😀
I know this question makes some of you smile, and those of you who did not know about the story may find about it here. But, no, he did not comment on my new fancy coat 😀
LOVED reading this blog! I’d totally be right beside you if I was in the area! Such. Fan of Damian! Thank you for bringing us along on the meetup! Pj
Thank you for reading and for your kind words! It was such a lovely experience that I will savor for a long, long time. Damian is the best <3