“Indulge your imagination in every possible flight.” — Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1813.
Hello, Everyone!
Damian Lewis inspires fans in several different ways and we do our best to show this daily on Fan Fun with Damian Lewis.
We cannot be more different. We span different generations, time zones, cultural backgrounds and life experiences.
We cannot be more similar, either. We are all strongly opinionated women, inspired deeply by Damian Lewis, that do not shy away from expressing ourselves openly 🙂
In this fantastic mix of differences and similarities, each of us has her own perspective and voice to bring to the blog – making it a more exciting and colorful forum to think, write and talk about Damian and his work. And, we hope you ENJOY reading it as much as we LOVE writing it!
We are obviously NOT representing Damian’s views here. Our main purpose mission is to engage fellow fans and try to involve them in all things Damian. The support we have received from you all has been overwhelming. Having the opportunity to write on what we love and the support we have received from YOU, the fans, keep us going and going! You are making our dream come true. THANK YOU.
Hope you keep having Fan Fun with Damian Lewis a FUN part of your life, get engaged, send feedback, share your favorite pieces with your friends and fellow fans, and spread the word!
Finally, BIG THANKS go to Damian for the constant inspiration and for telling us he reads us and for his shout out. He could not have made us happier.
With Love,
Fan Fun Team
Damianista:
I am a fake-redhead academic moonlighting as a blogger. I have no kids so I am still the spoiled brat at home! Super fan of all things I like: Fiction. Running. Jazz. Theater. New York. Football. Wine. Travel. Did I mention Damian Lewis? Thought keeping a fan’s diary on him would be fun and here we are. Every post I write about Damian is also a piece of me — my life, my ideas, my dreams. Damian is the BEST procrastination ever. EVER.
Read Damianista’s Fan Story here.
JaniaJania:
I’m just a dilletante fluttering around from obsession to obsession. I took to twitter when 140 characters of creativity at a time was all I could manage. You know that scene in River Runs Thru It when the English teacher preacher tells his son to write an essay, and every time the son comes back thinking he’s finished, the father tells him to cut it by half and come back, then by half, then by half again, until there is that perfect economy of words that say exactly the right thing? That’s been my approach to twitter, pretentious as it sounds. And it’s been fun. But some obsessions require more than that perfect 140. And that’s where Damianista found me. Thankful as all heck that she’s given me this forum to discuss my love for this actor and the characters he plays. If there is any such thing as artistic justice in this world, Damian Lewis is not going anywhere. Thankfully, he’s giving us lots of material to think about and write about. And, thus, we’re not going anywhere. Welcome to the blog. Read, stay, comment, and feel free to love Damian Lewis and his work as we do.
Read JaniaJania’s Fan Story here.
Lady Trader:
Born and bred in Brooklyn, NY and not afraid to say it! I am very fortunate enough to be able to say that my job is something I love to do: trade! Hence, the name Lady Trader. I’ve been working on Wall Street since 1988 at the tender age of 17. From starting as a secretary, to finally running my own money, it has been a wild ride, and a great learning experience! However, I also love reading, sports, music, politics, sci-fi, history, and watching good solid acting! And you can’t get better than the namesake of this blog. My enjoyment of Damian Lewis’ acting and characters (Brody, Charlie Crews & King Henry VIII) led me to find Damianista and the group. With Billions being set in the world of high finance I volunteered any help or insight that would help. And the rest, as they say, is history! I hope you enjoy my contributions as much as I enjoy writing them!
Read Lady Trader’s Fan Story here.
Holliedazzle:
A life long lover of gingers, Holliedazzle hails from the midwest and spends her free time cosplaying, indulging in all her geeky interests, and also on the stage as a burlesque performer! Also a mother to one sweet little boy, and wife to her own foxy ginger man She discovered Damian through her husband’s recommendation to try out this new show “Homeland”, who starred an actor that had been on his radar since “Band of Brothers” became one of his all-time favorite shows. So, really, its all his fault that she’s here! 😛
Read Holliedazzle’s Fan Story here.
Gingersnap:
Oklahoman. Native American Indian. Partial New Yorker by proxy. I am a Management Analyst and part-time Adjunct Professor by day and Damian Lewis aficionado by night. Film buff, wine connoisseur, theater-arts admirer, football fan (the American kind), traveling Wilbury (the touristy kind), game night host, amateur party planner and avid reader. Muggle-born.
Read Gingersnap’s Fan Story here.
Contributors
London Spy:
Of course, I can’t say that I’d never heard of the name Damian Lewis, he’s a bit of a national treasure here in the UK. And of course, I had heard of Homeland, I’d just never taken the time to watch it until lockdown.
I was blown away by the show and binge watched through to the end, but my favourite seasons were those that included Brody. What an amazing job Damian did with the character. The next thing I know I’m binge watching this actor in what was his current series at the time, Billions. And lo and behold, I’m now a fan of Damian Lewis 🙂
NotLinda:
I’ve lived in Kansas, the San Francisco Bay Area and Indianapolis. About 20 years in each so you do the math! Soon I’ll be settling in Florida. Really I’ve been an unintentional product of my times. From Catholic girls school to dropping out to California, marrying at 30 and subsequently moving to the midwest. Now to Florida! Rather predictable but it’s been veeery interesting.
It was much to my amazement and my chagrin that I found myself in love with a character on TV. I devoured him. That being done I searched for signs of him and discovered the artist who created him – Damian Lewis. Through following him I found Fan Fun with Damian Lewis. It’s been a surprising enrichment to my life: learning who people are, hearing their particular takes and opinions and exploring Damian’s work including Life, Wolf Hall, Keane, Forsyte Saga with them has been brilliant. On top of that being given the opportunity to contribute! Well, I’m just grateful.
Oh, did I mention my TV lover? Nicholas Brody. Always Brody.
Read NotLinda’s Fan Story here.
Misfit:
I’m a twenty something Taurus with an English degree, curly hair, and an old soul, and I take misfitting to a whole other level. When I’m not writing (both fanfic and freelance) or catching up on my shows, I’m procrastinating, reading, sleeping in, or spending way too much time online. I fell hard for Damian Lewis thanks to Homeland, and feel very fortunate to have found this blog and a few amazing folks to chat and gush about this amazing actor with. 🙂
Dark Horse:
I am what Damian himself would call a “Dark Horse” – I loved Soames Forsyte. Though, to be honest, there aren’t many Damian characters I haven’t fallen in love with! I first became a fan when I saw him in Band of Brothers in 2001, and spent many years obsessing over a blue-eyed redhead my friends had never heard of, until Homeland happened… Haha. Favourite character to date is still Charlie Crews (Life) & I dream of one day meeting the man himself. In “real life”, I’m a teacher, so this website gives me a place to escape with like-minded people; hope you enjoy reading my ramblings!
Read Dark Horse’e Fan Story here.
The Tail that Wags the Dog:
I am a high school math teacher – mostly focused on AP Statistics. I also run the theater program at my school. None of this is even remotely interesting or relevant except that the school I do this at also happens to be the school that I went to, which is also the school that David Costabile went to. David was a year ahead of me in high school and I was a part of five shows with him. I say “was a part of” because I was an ensemble player back in the day while David was, quite naturally, the star. I have followed his career from when he left Tufts and moved to NYC onto Broadway, then to TV, then movies, then back to TV and now here on Billions. Having found this show, I am now completely enraptured by the brilliant writing and acting of this show, and my newest bucket list item is to be able to have a drink with Dollar Bill, or maybe even get Kelly AuCoin to follow me back. 🙂
Former Contributors
Tbkwrm:
Proud ginger and a very big fan of a fellow red head, a certain Damian Lewis, who has so much to say whether with or without words.
When we are young we are told what we will be learning. When we are older we can choose. Still, it is safe to say that I never expected to be attempting to navigate stock market jargon. When we are younger we may complain about having to learn. When we are older we recognise that learning can be fun.
Hooked on reading and writing Fan Fiction. I am literally a Bookworm. Matilda is my idol. Glue the hat, every time!
Read Tbkwrm’s Fan Story here.
You are a certainly different. so I will not endeavor to try to become a part. I do not tweet, I have never seen Homeland, I fell in love with this awesome redhead in The Forsyte Saga,and then loved him on “Life”, I am 78 years young and I have white,not grey hair, I am very opinionated and critical and selective., I am a huge Jane Austen Fan ,have been on the P & P Tour in
England from the 1995 version. And to Bath to visit the Crescent where captain Wentworth the most gorgeous Rupert Penry Jones was in Persuasion. I love all British Period Drama, which is the obsession I now have for Wolf Hall, with our hero in it, and repeatedly post about it. I hope we can have fun on this page as well as get involved in our opinions and not offended, I have experienced that in other groups, don’t want that here. A bit old fashioned, don’t text, don’t tweet, so don’t expect it. I don’t use instagram or any of those other cyber stuff. My son pioneered Internet art and is one of Time Mazines 100 innovators for ther 21st century, he is an author, a speaker and a tenured professor at U. Of Colorado. He was the guy I asked once, “What does digital ” mean, so I am not technically , well I am challenged in that respect but my life experiences and my likes and dislikes are very different than others in this group, I owe that to my using of the brain, not the latest progress. I am happy to be on this site and glad we met, wish you all the very best and wish great success to Damien Lewis in his new venture. But for those of you have no knowledge but Homeland, get a copy of the Forsyte saga, it is not cheap, but the libraries have it. Ciao-LOIS LUV <3
Welcome to the blog Lois!
My post on Soames Forsyte is coming up this week on Wednesday! Loved the series myself. In fact, my first exposure to DL’s face, way before Homeland, was in the opening credits of PBS’ Masterpiece Theater. A gorgeous portrait of Soames flashes by, and I wondered for a long time who the actor was and kept meaning to look him up. Now I know, and there’s no going back. 🙂
As for Wolf Hall, stay tuned for two posts a week, one from Damianista, another from me, every week it airs in the US. So excited to see how it’ll be received on this side of the pond. 🙂
Dear Lois, you are absolutely one of the GREAT Damian Lewis fans, I ADMIRE you so much — I want to be like you when I am 78 years young, you are fabulous! Just a surprise for you: we have a little trivia tomorrow on Forsyte Saga and JaniaJania is writing a fab piece on Soames for Wednesday — we hope you will enjoy them. And, we will keep visiting Damian’s earlier work — Forsyte Saga, Band of Brothers, Life, and others… By the way, believe or not, I am also a tenured prof like your son, but moonlighting as a blogger 🙂 Lots of love and we are so happy you enjoy your time here! <3
I love Damian since I saw him in the French tv,LIFE! What a nice guy !! What a great actor!
And since I bought all his DVD, and I follow his career with passion!
With an actor like that Damian, we are lucky that he works a lot, and we can see the very beautiful photos!
Being a fan of an actor like him,, it is a treat!
Monique
Absolutely, Monique! That’s exactly what motivates us to write daily on Damian Lewis and his work — he inspires us in different ways! We love Damian in Life, in Homeland, in Forsyte Saga, in Band of Brothers… and We now love him in Wolf Hall 🙂 Looking forward to having him weekly on TV again in Billions 🙂 Thanks so much for visiting the blog, and for your comment!
Thanks all for the kindwords and the one for all, all for one blog. I have been a bit out of sorts lately, and unfortunately mised al the posts about Sommes also Charlie Crews I manaed to pick up a bit. I have quite an overwheimg platefu at this time, but I am deeply impressed with all of the intelligence and commitment here. I am so far, not having areal interest in Wolf Hall, as it has not gotten too me yet, so to speak, I have 3 more episodes before I give any opinions, critical or critically acclaimed. I am hoping all will be better by the the time “Billion” hits Showtime. I try to get a post on the group once in a while, but until I can get my own issues resolved, your blog has to be put on hold.I thank you all for being so understanding and keep going, you will grow,you have a great actor to follow, and after his new venture comes about, your blog will surely grow, with admirers of Damien Lewis, “Our Guy”! Luck and my best wishes, until we meet again.LOIS
Dear Lois, thanks so much for YOUR kind words! Yes, we are fully committed to promote Damian Lewis and his brilliant work and the support we get from great fans like you keep us going and also make our dream come true! We are looking forward to your opinions on Wolf Hall — and yes, we will have helluva party for Billions, too, can’t wait for it to arrive on TV early next year! Hope you will sort all on your plate very soon and we’ll be together here! Lots of love!
Congratulations girls.! I am an admirer of your work on the blog, on Twitter, and Tumblr Faceboock! I learned to admire Damian in Life. Homeland confirmed the amazing actor he is! I’m just someone on the other side of the world trying to communicate. Sorry if I messed up. I do not speak English!
Good luck!
Hi Iza! Thank you, as always, for your kind words! I found out about Damian later than you did — in Homeland! We love our communication with you, your English is very good, please do not underestimate yourself! You are a great fan, and who knows, maybe you will start Damian Lewis Fansite in Brazil! Big hugs! <3
Hey gals! Just recently learned re: your site (thnx to Fb grp on “Billions”). I’ve added you to my blogroll.
Thank you, Emma! We are four inspired fans writing all about Damian Lewis and guess what Billions is our new obsession 🙂
Hope you come visit and read us! We LOVE Billions Family on Facebook Cheers!
when i watched your movie (band of brothers) i was inlove with the movie! i couldn’t stop watching it over and over… -Damien was the most interesting actor in the move, anyways i searched Damien Lewis and watched almost all the movies he starr and ever since then im a huge fan!!!! i really want to meet him. i wonder if there’s any chances of meeting Damien??? like for free, or something? it would be an honor if i met him…
Hi Charlene, thanks for visiting us! We are four inspired Damian Lewis fans writing daily about him and his work — including Band of Brothers, one of the best, if not the best WWII series ever made. And Damian certainly stands out as Major Winters. We really hope you get to meet him one day. He’s very nice and gracious with his fans. And, Happy Birthday, hope you have a wonderful day!
oh and tomorrow is my birthday… im wondering if “Damien” can send me something?
Hi,
I am an editor for Luxury London.
I hope you are well. I wanted to share our interview with Damian Lewis, in case you might like to share it with your fans?
http://www.luxurylondon.co.uk/article/damian-lewis-talks-billions-new-york-donald-trump
Look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you so much for your message and the link. We are a fan blog and we write all our content ourselves. We do not share entire interviews on the blog. However, I will read it carefully and will link to it in a post. I have just shared the interview link on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/fanfunwithdamianlewis/
All the best.
Hello!
My name is Alex and I’m an Acting for Film student at the University of Chichester, England. I’m writing a study, which will later become a video essay on “the Acting of predominant male characters in similar, true war scenarios depicted on screen and their effect on the audiences” using Band of Brothers and The Pacific (more precisely Damian Lewis’ character and James Badge Dales Characters an comparing them). i decided to undertake this due to my fascination with both the scenario and the acting, especially in Damian’s performance.
But I digress, I was wondering if you know of any interviews or articles where Damian talks about his undertaking of the roll, how he prepared, what he found challenging ect. as although his character has to be quite reserved and in control, he still managed to portray emotion fantastically and subtly.
If you don’t happen to know of anything of the sort, I simply thank you for taking the time to read this!
Best Regards,
Alex
Thank you for your question, Alex! What a wonderful project to overtake; as a comparative scholar in Political Science, I love the comparative aspect of it, too.
We have done quite a few blog posts about Band of Brothers linking to interviews Damian gave about BoB over the years, and some of these interviews have bits and pieces of answers to your questions.
The first few that come to mind:
https://www.fanfunwithdamianlewis.com/?p=5157 (this one has a link to an interview where he talks a bit about preparation)
https://www.fanfunwithdamianlewis.com/?p=5216 (this has parts of Damian’s diary from the boot camp for Band of Brothers – I believe you should be able to find the long version online – let me know if you can’t. This post also has links to a couple of interviews)
This is a podcast of an interview Damian gave two years ago at Chalke Valley History Festival. Again, you can find bits and pieces of what you are looking for here.
https://www.acast.com/chalkevalley/damianlewis-bandofbrothers
This is a quick answer. Hope the links help you to get a start. Please feel free to send a message if you need more help.
Good Luck with your project!
Love your blog and tweets. I am a busy professional, old enough to retire, but not quite ready for it yet! So I’ll stick to 140 character tweets, but Damian is one of two extracurricular theatre/movie/tv current passions. Keep up the good work!
Keren, thanks so much! Ha! Who is the other passion? Curious! I am so glad you were able to see The Goat in London and enjoyed it, too!
Please keep your feedback coming whenever you can. We will keep up the good work.
Hello all, I’m not sure if this is the right spot to put this comment but will anyway. While remembering Damian’s past works, during this Billions drought, what else can one do, I thought of The Situation. Perhaps I am missing it, but I don’t think I have seen it listed in this blog’s list of his work (along the right side of the home screen). Can’t recall when it came out, but do remember thinking it should have had wider release since it was on such a timely topic. Any comments on that?
Also, I watched some of the BoB episodes on the marathon today on HBO and thought for not the first time, that if a viewer didn’t know any better, and had never seen Homeland or Billions, he/she would likely not recognize Major Winters as being the same actor as Nick Brody or especially Bobby Axelrod. Of course 17 years does make a difference in all of us I suppose.
You are absolutely right, Connie, we did not write on The Situation. Now that Billions is over — since it has been taking a lot of our time — summer is a good time to re-visit some early work and The Situation is certainly on the list. And Lina mentioned “An Unfinished Life” today — yet another good work that we need to talk about!
Damian was not even 30 when he made Band of Brothers, right? OMG! Good news is he ages very well! 😀
Another piece to re-visit is Dreamcatcher. I know it was not a critically acclaimed success, but for the most part, it is not mentioned that Damian did such a fine job jumping back and forth (and very convincingly) between Jonesy and Mr. Gray. Dreamcatcher and An Unfinished Life are the only two of his films I’ve seen on the big screen so I am a bit biased.
Great idea — it seems we will have our plate full this summer!
Damianista, FYI, your replies are hitting my mailbox as they are supposed to, but when I try to link to “reply” or “comments” from there, as I usually do, I get the 404 Not Found Error. Thought you might want to know that. I have no idea what to do about that, but I’m betting you do!
Thank you so much for letting me know! Ah, the joy of technological glitches! Can you try one more time? It may be that the site was down (it sometimes happens) for a short time so it did not work or it may well be a more complicated problem… which is on me to figure out 🙂
I just tried again, from my inbox and still won’t work. Perhaps it is something on my end? Anyway, I can respond by going to this main site and clicking on “About Us” to answer you. Don’t lose sleep over it!
It could be anything and that is why it is hard to figure out. I will look into it and see if I can understand what’s going on.
Horror in London! It’s awful!
Today in Nimes it is the “féria”, people drink sing and dance, and in front of the restaurant where we eat, musicians, played English hymn, people were silent, and applauded very strong! ‘Was very moving !!
I think a lot in London to the English, and Damian!
Monique
We all do think of Damian and all others in London.
He tweeted today. He is considerate as always.
https://twitter.com/lewis_damian/status/871344253343076353
I am also taking a day off from everything just to get myself together.
We were in London a week ago. It could be us. It could be anyone of us.
I don’t know if this will be seen by the man himself or not, but I just wanted to say that, you sir, are among the best at your craft. I have seen the passion you have through some of your most masterful performances. Brilliant work. No other word comes closer than brilliant. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to enjoy drama at its finest. I’m a true fan.
Thank you, Evan! Damian has said repeatedly that he reads our blog but I have no idea if he reads the reader comments. No matter what though he appreciates the work we do and he is always very gracious with his fans and does not take it for granted. Hope you come visit our blog.
Hi, Damianista! I love reading your blog! I would like to write a big comment, but I don’t know English very well. I write and read with a translator. I’m afraid to make a lot of mistakes that will distort the text. Is it worth trying? ))
Regards, Irina
Thank you!!!!!!! It is certainly worth trying, Irina! Your English is very good. But if you want to write in your own language, that is fine, too; I can translate using Google translate. Cheers!!!!
I very much appreciate your explication of A Spy Among Friends which I am enjoying – to my surprise, since I thought Philby had been done to death. I am not a Damian zealot, and a guy, and but I always appreciate this fine actor in something well written and produced.
Because you make me think about nuances and complexities in the story I also have to complain, because I care: Your style is breathless – too many exclamation marks – with sloppy grammar / sentence that detracts from the details. I’m only saying this because of the drama and story being so complex and should be done justice.
But thank you very much all the same and all the best.
And yes, please excuse my sloppy writing. 😉
Haha no worries! 🙂
Thank you for reading, your kind words and constructive feedback. Well, a few things: I am not a native speaker. I am not a professional writer. I do not have an editor. I do this all voluntarily , and enthusiastically, in addition to my full time job (my enthusiasm may partially account for the “breathless” style you point out :)) to help fans understand the intricacies of the episodes they are watching. If I were of some help there, I would be very happy. All the best to you.
Oh, well, then I stand corrected and I’m full of admiration for you. Thank you very much for all your detailed synopses.