Almost doing anything for Damian Lewis

When I'm in-season at my job and for my own sanity, I generally stick to my regular schedule -- Fridays and Saturdays off -- so I can rest and recuperate. There are precious few things that make me divert from that course. Damian Lewis at TimesTalks would be one of those.

My first exposure to Damian came during the inaugural season of his Emmy-winning role as Nicholas Brody in Homeland. After that, I went back and saw everything I had missed ahead of that, including the amazing mini-series Band of Brothers and the offbeat procedural Life. I love all three of these to bits and pieces, and any given day of the week, I would probably tell you that any of them was my favorite.

Now there's a new one in the mix I haven't seen yet -- Damian is back on Showtime in Billions with Paul Giamatti. On the TimesTalks waiting line, I felt like the only one who hasn't seen it yet. Lots of glowing testimonials. Maybe enough to prevent me from waiting for the box set to come out and pay to watch it streaming. Of course, in the meantime, I could just continue my Homeland and Life rewatches, as well as Wolf Hall and a variety of movies that I already own.

There's something to be said for getting there early so you have a front-row seat. I met some very fine people who have many of the same tastes that I do. First, there was the artist known as Damianista -- she writes and coordinates the Fan Fun with Damian Lewis blog and companion Facebook group. She knew who I was the minute I got there. And we made a new friend, Joyce, who doesn't do the social media thing. We spent about 90 minutes discussing everything under the sun.

Until ... we saw Damian walking into the building. Holy crud, he's yummy. Anyway, when we got let in, Damianista, Joyce and I quickly slipped into the three seats in front of the stage.

Being a New York Times evening, it didn't seem too off the mark that the discussion started on a political note. (On "Brexit," he's in favor of staying.) I think most people who know of Damian Lewis do know that, although his American accent is flawless, he's actually a Brit. From there, moderator Cara Buckley delved into Lewis' personal history and his own opinion of the hedge-fund managers he researched for Billions, which prompted him to quip, "I was hoping it was going to be an easier evening than this. ... I just wanted to talk about what sort of [makeup] I was wearing on my skin. Whether or not I wore waterproof mascara or not during rainy scenes."

He had a great explanation about why he has been tapped to play working-class American roles, even though he comes from a privately educated background in another country. He called it a "genetic fluke," but I think that's seriously downplaying what he has to offer. He pinpointed it more clearly in regards to his casting on Band of Brothers. His demeanor meant he was well-suited for the maturity and bearing inherent in Richard Winters. And then once Hollywood saw he could do that convincingly, it became a lot easier to nab those kind of intricate roles.

Damian said he does identify with the characters he's been played, adding maybe his red-headed Irish blue-collar look helps him land some of those parts. But in Brody, Winters and Charlie Crews from Life, he appreciated their American sense of drive and desire, of wanting to build or achieve something with their lives.

Homeland became something of a zeitgeist, not in small part because he said the show "reeked of quality and class," mirroring real-life situations -- minus the part in which a CIA operative and a suspected terrorist get personally involved -- while still being able to entertain. Lewis nabbed the Emmy and the Golden Globe that first season. "I didn't know people could get that famous," he said.

He made us laugh quite a bit, whether it was talking about wearing a thong to get his character's walk right in The Escapist -- "it was a little divisive." He also detailed different groups of Homeland fans, including those who watched just to see the relationship between Brody and Carrie (Claire Danes) develop -- "They should have ginger babies, it's going to be so exciting" -- or liberals discussing what made for a terrorist act.

Damian's descriptions of his roles were as piquant as the parts themselves. Henry VIII from Wolf Hall was deemed "the lovable genocidal maniac." Brody from Homeland was described as "tumbleweed blown across the bleak landscape of his life," while Bobby Axelrod from Billions is "blowing the tumbleweed ... kicking it about."

He'll soon be seen on the big screen in Our Kind of Traitor, based on a John LeCarre novel. He considers his role of Hector to be the ambiguous LeCarre character in the story, he's exacting revenge for personal reasons but softened by Stellan Skarsgard's bid to save his family. The idea of Damian taking over as James Bond was not referenced, but the idea of him playing Steve McQueen in a biopic was brought up. "I consider it a lot, but I'm not sure anyone else has."

I do think his feathers got a little ruffled when his success was mentioned in connection with that of Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston and Eddie Redmayne. As he pointed out, that is a tiny minority of actors who hailed from "posh" schools in Britain doing well at the moment. "There is every reason for you to fail, mostly because of typecasting. ... There are also a handful of actors, contemporaries of mine, who are doing very well as actors and they're wonderful and talented actors, but aren't big, big stars like Tom and Eddie, Benedict. [And some of them have taken the point of view that,] 'Oh, now, they're getting in on the act. ... I was going to be that star, but that got taken by a guy who got a nice education.'"

He told two very touching stories about Band of Brothers, one about the episode in which Winters and his company discover a concentration camp. Lewis and the rest of the cast were not prepped or rehearsed for it, as he explained, their harrowed reactions were very real. The other was about watching the final ep and seeing Winters' lip quiver. "It was the first time I had seen him express any emotion about the second World War. ... When he recounts the story of one of his co-veterans being questioned by his grandson, and his grandson says to him, 'Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?' And his grandfather says, 'No, but I served in a company of heroes.' It's difficult not to well up now, and Dick, his lip just quivers and his voice chokes, and it's epic. ... It's like a crack in a slow-moving glacier. It's an extraordinary moment when he just shows that little bit of emotion, because he's not given to that as a man."

After it ended, Damianista approached the stage to talk with him while the rest of us hung back and watched. And she said one thing and another and he nodded and she said another and another. And then ... "Paige'll do it." And I said, "I don't know what it is, but Paige'll do it!"

At that point, I went up to them at the stage. Bless her heart, Damianista introduced me as a "big fan." I think then I tilted my head, so he could see I was wearing my Life cap (the title being on the back of the hat). Damian extended his hand, saying, "Hi, Paige, thank you for coming." I think I got a two-handed shake on that.

Anyway, I found out that the "it" was a quick video they wanted me to shoot for the anniversary of Damianista's blog. It was arranged that she would go to the lobby and be taken to Damian from there. Great! Except for the fact that she disappeared in the throng of the exiting crowd and I couldn't find her again.

Now I wasn't exactly panicking during this time, because Joyce was with me and we were marveling over my unexpected introduction to Damian. I really didn't feel I should push my way through the crowd, so we just made our way to the lobby when we could, and then looked all around without success for Damianista.

Eventually I did find her, and the video had already been shot. So that was kind of a bummer, but I will never think of this night as anything but a big win. Especially since Damianista is my walking .gif -- repeating "Hi Paige, thank you for coming" -- at will. Won't tire of that any time soon.

P.S. from P.S.: Click here to read the fab Fan Fun blog of the evening, and below, the interview I almost recorded. I have to say, I am quite sure this person did a better job than I would have, since my heart certainly would have been beating double-time and my hands shaking even more than that.

Cuddling up with 'The X-Files'

Just some words of wisdom to Wizard World attendees. You have someone you absolutely must see? Make sure you do the VIP treatment. Otherwise your day will be filled with stress and loathing.

Public service announcement over. And rest assured, our trek to Wizard World in Philadelphia ultimately has a happy ending. It was just the getting there that took some work and patience.

We were going to see The X-Files trio of David Duchovny (whom I had never met), Mitch Pileggi and William B. Davis. The latter two I have crossed paths with at other smaller cons, so David was the big get. I was a little nervous about him, he's so smart -- and as Mark rightfully says -- doesn't suffer fools lightly. I didn't want to be one of those irritating fans that makes him roll his eyes.

But I have to say, in all that I saw, David was warm and thoughtful with everyone who came up to him. Which was some feat, since it was hundreds of people in an hour span, with lightbulbs going off every 30 seconds in the photo op and items being thrust at him to sign every 30 seconds after that.

First was the photo op. And the VIPs lined up -- hundreds of them -- to go ahead of the regular folk like me. I was about 10th on the plebeian line, waiting patiently for my turn. At least until some ballsy woman stopped David after her picture was taken to have him sign his new book for her. The handlers tried to stop him, the photographer wasn't thrilled about the delay, everyone on line moaned and groaned. But he did it anyway.

So I might not have been in the best mood when it was my turn, especially with little time to get everything done according to David's show schedule. But that all dissipated in an instant. I think he said hello before I even could. And then I gave him some instructions -- "Cuddle ... cuddle!" And cuddle he did, that man can take direction. "Don't leave until I get your autograph," I said only half-kidding as I bid farewell.

Technology being what it is, people can pick up those photos upon exiting the booth. Well, we're supposed to anyway. I looked for mine and looked and looked and didn't find it. Then the worker pulling them out of the printer looked and looked, and then he had the guy at the computer looking for me to print it out again. He couldn't find it. Kept asking questions like "Did you have your glasses on or off?" and "Were you with someone else?" Finally it popped out one of the printers ... and it was good! I was shocked that it's one of the better ones I've taken.

But if I was cool and collected for the photo op, I probably was pretty much the opposite for the autograph portion of the program. Although Mark had staked out a place 10th on line while I waited for the picture, he was displaced for the VIP line. No matter long how he waited, we weren't going to be able to get a signature until all the VIPs went through, even if they arrived at the last second.

With everything so tightly managed -- photo op, followed by an hour of autographs, followed by the X-Files panel -- there wasn't a lot of time if things got stretched out. Since I had prepaid for the autograph and David wasn't signing after the panel, it was then or never. It started feeling like it was going to be never.

But eventually we did get to snake our way toward him. I did snare a nice 8x10 photo of David and Gillian from the table. Because I paid for an autograph and had my own item, I figured, hey, I paid for a photo, might as well get one, even if it remains unsigned.




I told David my name and as I was spelling it, he said there wasn't time for personalizing on my book because they were running late. That I understood. But it drove the rest of my prepared speech right out of my brain. I tried to say I was happy to get to meet him, but that came out in a jumbled mess that even I rolled my eyes at. He was such a gentleman, not bursting into laughter on the spot. And he did say, "Thanks for coming, Paige" as we departed.

Mark and I made our way to the Terrace Ballroom for the panel, which started late, ostensibly because David was busy wrapping up the other hundreds of autograph seekers. When he, Mitch and Bill finally took the stage, Mitch cracked everyone up by quipping that he had to pee. Which I also had to do by this time.

There wasn't a lot of new information (for me anyway) imparted during the panel, but the guys had a really nice rapport with each other that made it a lot of fun. They were each asked how they got their roles. David quickly piped in that he was having an affair with Mitch and that's how the latter became Skinner.

Bill told a story about how he originally was up for a role that had a couple of lines, but when he got his, it had no lines. But it all worked out for the best, Bill said. Except for the other guy, David added. Bill shot David a mock look of exasperation and berated him for stepping on the punchline.

Two kids were induced to ask questions by people who brought them to the event. They both showed some attitude and made everyone laugh. So much so, that David invited the second one, Max, to sit on the stage with them. And Max proceeded to make faces and react to things being said like a pro. David said someday when Max is on stage at a convention, someone will ask him how he got his start and he'll tell the story of being part of The X-Files panel.

Remember the David "doesn't suffer fools lightly" thing? Well, when a woman tried to get the trio to flesh out an answer by restating what she'd already said, David lightly chided her that her "question hadn't gotten any better." That was the kind of stuff I was looking to avoid.

And I was on one of the microphone lines soon after the session began, but alas, I wound up being too late. I was still about 10 questions away (five people in front of me on my side, five at the other mic) when the Q&A ended. I was fine with that, other than wishing that instead of the  gobbledygook that I said on the autograph line, I had told David how much his tribute to late director Kim Manners in the revival's "Mulder & Scully Meet the Were-Monster" episode meant to me.

Our last task of the day was to get Bill Davis to sign my X-Files yearbook, since I came up with that idea after I had already met and gotten his autograph elsewhere. The book's looking pretty sharp now, despite the absence of Gillian Anderson (who I have seen in person twice, both again before the yearbook project started). So I picked out the best Cigarette-Smoking Man pic I could find in the book and had him sign for me once again.

Truth is, though, it was a lot cooler to converse with him at that other convention, rather than push my book toward him and make a banal comment about his reactions to Max during the panel. The former drama teacher reiterated that actors should never work with children or animals. But more truth, we sure got a clear picture of the reasons why that's the case during the Q&A.

Only now do I realize that I should have pointed out the awesome Veronica Cartwright autograph in the book and asked him about working with her. That would have been a far better question.

What's next for The X-Files yearbook project? I truly hope it's the Lone Gunmen ... and I truly hope it's at Monster Mania or Chiller.