It’s Dream Role Day!
Today’s dream role story comes from a very special fan, Christine Wilson. You know we always talk about the inspiration Damian constantly provides for us to write about him and his brilliant work. And, in Christine’s case, this inspiration turned into a book that you may have heard earlier: Meeting Damian Lewis. JaniaJania wrote a wonderful review of the book here and we highly recommend you to read it — it is brilliant! It was our true pleasure to have Christine share with us how she became a Damian Lewis fan and how the book idea came about, well, over a bottle of wine, maybe two, with a friend a few years ago! And today she is here to cast Damian in the film version of, well, her book, of course! ENJOY!
The idea of suggesting a role that our acting hero Damian Lewis could be in played right to my strengths as a former TV production worker and a mega fan of long standing. I had always fancied myself as a bit of a casting director. And let’s face it Damian is so incredibly versatile as an actor that he could be put in highly charged emotional drama or he could play a comic lighter role with equal ease. There are no parts that Damian could not take on – and he has reached an age where he can play across a wide range. Ok so no longer the very young lead – but those parts are rarely interesting. We want to see our idol play a role where he can truly shine and a part that we would enjoy watching him play. I believe it’s over -due for Damian to play a light role with a touch of sending himself up – and giving us a much needed laugh.
So I want to suggest my very own penned Meeting Damian Lewis (available on Amazon). I’d love to see Meeting Damian Lewis adapted for a TV screenplay. In the story we see Ruby – played by Sheridan Smith -living a rather lonely and dreary life after divorce.
She works in a wine bar/cafe/restaurant which happens to be in East Sheen – a part of London where many TV workers live. She has developed a crush on Damian Lewis after seeing him in Band of Brothers and she tries to work out a way to meet him as she believes her fate is interlinked with his. Written in 2004, Damian Lewis is as yet unmarried and has not yet appeared in Homeland.
After seeing a film one afternoon Ruby declares that she could have written something better and her friend dares her to do so. So, an idea takes shape in Ruby’s head ‘I’m going to write something and invite Damian Lewis to be in it’! And with the help of Jack – a documentary producer (to be played by James Nesbitt) – she sets about to make this a reality.
The screenplay would switch between Ruby’s real life and Ruby’s fantasies – so we’d see Damian nuzzling her neck lovingly – until reality takes over and we see a child dropping sticky ice cream down Ruby’s tshirt … We’d see clips of Damian Lewis from The Forsyte Saga and Band of Brothers as Ruby tries to dream her way into sharing her life with him.
Without giving too much of the plot away it would give Damian a chance to appear in Ruby’s fantasies – and that could be hilarious – as well as ‘appearing’ in what might be her screenplay – as it is being written and made. Does she get to meet him in real life? That I can’t say – you’ll have to read her story.
Well a girl can dream can’t she? It is something I share with my character Ruby – thinking of how I could meet Damian Lewis – and this could be one way. We’d be on chat shows together, on book review platforms sitting side by side and I’d be on one of those canvas chairs on the set with ‘writer’ on the back – and I’d place it very near to Damian Lewis’s chair…
But failing a miracle happening and someone seeing my book’s full potential as a wonderful vehicle for a bit of fun – I’d suggest a remake of the wonderful Thomas Crown Affair.
Damian Lewis has an uncanny resemblance to Steve McQueen – let’s just not mention the film Once Upon A Time in Hollywood which dressed him in silly clothes and made him look not- at- all- like Steve McQueen! Damian’s resemblance to the 70s love God is far more subtle than a passing resemblance. It is more to do with his acting style and the way he uses few words to convey pages of dialogue. The way his eyebrow’s become thespians all by themselves and his eyes tell a thousand stories. The mouth too and the shape of the face.
So don’t stick him in a cameo role wearing silly flared chords and looking less like Steve McQueen than the ubiquitous David Tennant. But in the Thomas Crown Affair he gets to play the charming and charismatic millionaire – a man bored with wealth and recently taken to stealing works of art. When a beautiful insurance investigator comes after him – perhaps Angelina Jolie? Antonia Kidman or Halle Berry? – sparks really start to fly and come to a climax – (intentional double entrende) over a sexy chess game. This gives our man a chance to act like crazy using just his eyes and eyebrows ….
