Peachie Keane

Damian Lewis does man on the edge to perfection in gritty new indie psycho-drama Keane.

by Carlos Fandango, Marmalade, Winter 2006

Think Damian Lewis and you think sexy, posh rogue ... or at least that's what most women seem to say. Should one be intimidated by the knee-wobbling effect he has, or the overflowing passion he spills on audiences with every role? Does he knew the effect he has on the women? "No. ... That's nice to hear. It's nice to be desired, but really, I resist labels." He ducks the complement with sliding modesty, a modesty that has seen the stage actor comfortably take on William Keane, a schizophrenic father trying to come to terms with the loss of his abducted seven-year-old daughter, in forthcoming indie flick, Keane. Directed by Lodge Kerrigan and set in New York City, it has the grim reality of early Ken Loach and Mike Leigh.

Damian's career began at the Royal Shakespeare Company, where discipline contributed to an effortless transition onto TV with passionately played characters like World War II platoon leader Richard Winters in Spielberg's excellent true story, Band Of Brothers and solicitor Soames Forsyte in ITV's mammoth adaptation John Galsworthy's novel, The Forsyte Saga. "I try to be diverse in the roles I choose. There are too many limitations on what it means to play a lead role. Actors who are less conventional end up playing the smaller roles, when actually it would be far more interesting to see those sorts of actors and actresses in the lead roles."

On working with Lodge Kerrigan on his forthcoming role as William Keane: "Lodge was very concerned if we'd get on. He came to London and stayed in my house after he'd offered me the role. We went out and had a few beers, and we talked through the script and just made sure we were on the same page. It was a luxury to have time to do that. That rarely happens." The result is an intense and intimately honest portrayal of a man in despair as he teeters on the edge of his sanity.

"Acting can be very therapeutic, like meditating. You go somewhere and you imagine yourself as part of a world that is not yours. You escape. Even if it's into a chaotic or tragic world, it still has a meditative quality. It still has the quality of removing yourself from the realities of everyday life."

There can't be many thesps who compare playing Hamlet at the RSC with getting stuck into a game of footie: "Once you're in character, you're so focused and blinkered it's like playing football. You zone out everything around you, and you just concentrate for ninety minutes. When I worked with Larry Kasdan on Dreamcatcher, he said actors were like athletes. You sit around in trailers for a long time and then you come out after being delayed for six or seven hours. It's quarter to midnight and you might have been sleeping, but you have to be primed. Like a hundred metre sprinter, you've just got to hit it and be focused and concentrate." It's a good analogy. "Band Of Brothers was like a marathon, filming for eight months." He laughs.

So then, what would be the dream job now for this all rounder: "I think Philip Seymour Hoffman is a really interesting actor. I'd love to work with Al Pacino and Meryl Streep. I don't think I'd shy away from anything; Ian McKellen did Coronation Street and  loved it! It didn't do his reputation any harm!"

Keane is showing in cinemas now.