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Today's Golfer, September 2009
Damian Lewis:
The New Black Knight
Hollywood star Damian Lewis -- hero of war drama Band Of Brothers -- might dress like Gary Player ... but could he grab the TG20 glory?
by Kevin Brown, Today's Golfer, September 2009
It seemed rather peculiar behaviour from one of Britain's finest actors. Damian Lewis was flat on his back on the practice ground at The Grove, performing a series of stretches that brought tears to TG's eyes just watching them.
The Band Of Brothers actor had insisted on a lengthy warm-up on the range of the classy Hertfordshire venue and after his stretching he started hitting some shots.
No ordinary shots, though, because each one was followed by a loud grunting noise more associated with a ladies' second-round tie at Wimbledon than a golf facility.
Just as TG was about to enquire as to the health of Lewis, the shining star of epic World War Two mini-series Band Of Brothers, he offered an explanation.
"I've got to go through this routine, otherwise I'll be totally knackered when I get out onto the course," he reveals.
Lewis, a 12-handicapper, looked to be taking things seriously as he prepared for his crack at the TG20, so it was time to distract him with some questions about playing war hero Major Richard (Dick) Winters in Band Of Brothers.
The Emmy Award-winning series was produced by the celebrated and dynamic duo of Steven Spielberg and Tom Hansk, so it was unlikely to fail.
Its success meant that in no time at all Old Etonian Lewis went from appearing in a shoestring British TV series (Hearts And Bones) About twentysomethings' relationships to playing the main man in a blockbuster created by Hollywood royalty.
It was some transformation and Lewis, 38, admitted he initially didn't believe he had much of a chance of landing the plum role.
"I was a bit naïve because I didn't realise to what extent it had been hyped in Los Angeles and that every young American actor wanted to be in the show, which was the most expensive TV show to be made at that point," he recalls.
"I went for the audition and just assumed I was going to gather dust on some shelf in LA even though it was later revealed that I was the guy they were always going to cast from the first audition."
Apparently Hanks had already seen Lewis perform in Hamlet and liked what he saw.
Band Of Brothers put Lewis on the road to acting fame and fortune, and he has nothing but fond memories of that magical period in his life.
"It was a fun passage, very heady days and, for the most part, the cast were -- and still are -- incredibly close. In fact we have a reunion every year, the 10th one is coming up next year."
"We kind of re-live the experience of making Band Of Brothers in the same way a lot of the original heroes re-live their time in the war, although of course they're not really comparable.
"It was a huge part of my life and continues to be," added Lewis, who often pulls out his box set -- much to actress wife Helen McCrory's disgust!
"If she catches me watching it, she says I'm the saddest person she's ever met. I respond with something along the lines of 'watch it with me, your husband's a hero and is winning the Second World War'.
"Actually, that is a bit of a problem, because I do meet people who think I did win the war, and I have to say, 'look, I'm an actor ...'"
Lewis really hit it off with Spielberg and Hanks -- particularly the latter, who tipped the Brit to become "the first red-haired movie star."
"It was fabulous working with them. I had my 30th birthday party in LA a year or two after Band Of Brothers but unfortunately Tom couldn't make it," he says.
"I went to pay for the bar at the end of the night only to be told it had been taken care of ... 'Mr. Hanks says Happy Birthday'. Very nice man, that Thomas Hanks.
"Tom sends me a $2 bill every year following the saying 'queer as a two bob note'. Many Americans, you see, think that English people are gay -- there's so much emphasis on machismo in America, you know.
"Like they nearly didn't vote in Obama because they know he likes cappuccinos: what's the matter with some spare ribs and a beer? Or maybe they just think I'm gay," he grins.
Not all Band Of Brothers memories are good ones, though.
"The food on set was disgusting," recalls Lewis, as a sour look suddenly appears on his face.
"Rather too fittingly, it was like army slops. Afterwards, we'd all pile into a convoy of cars and head for the nearest McDonald's."
Band Of Brothers thoroughly discussed, it's time to get serious about the battle for the TG £20.
But unlike the hit series, Lewis is not enjoying such good fortune on the manicured fairways of the Hertfordshire venue, host of a WGC event in 2006, despite a promising opening couple of holes.
Lewis reveals he's been playing golf since he was eight and admits, "I should be a lot better than I am."
His driving in particular has gone AWOL, and at one point he admits -- in industrial language he's never uttered on stage or screen -- he felt like a spot of club-throwing.
Nevertheless, the man from north London with the highly credible American accent still managed to hold a two Stableford points lead at the halfway stage.
Unlike his driving, Lewis was straight down the line when it came to discussing the crazy world of Hollywood.
"LA is a lot of fun, though at the same time a maddening place," he reckons. "It's a big contrast and a second-rate city compared to London -- it's a suburban, rather provincial beachtown, actually.
"Another thing is that in America, people are terrified about being held responsible for every decision that is made, so decisions always get made by committee. That's a chronic condition of Hollywood -- a palpable and pervasive fear that spreads through the whole industry.
"No one wants to take too much of a risk in case things go wrong."
Throughout the summer, Lewis regularly appeared on our TV screens, firstly in the second series of smash-hit NBC LA cop drama 'Life' and then, again on ITV3, in a re-run of the classic Forsyte Saga, in which he portrayed the dastardly Soames.
He enjoyed virtually every minute of Life even though it involved "75-hour weeks and was pretty close to non-stop."
Again he played the starring role -- Detective Charlie Crews, who was wrongly convicted of a triple murder and who serves 12 years behind bars before eventually being released.
"Life was defined by its writing. It had a light comedic touch, and when it needed to go darker, it did. There was also a lot of fun people on it (no doubt including his glamorous partner Reese, the lovely Sarah Shahi)."
But it hasn't been all plain sailing in Lewis' career: he's had to take the rough with the smooth.
"I've had some great experiences in TV, theatre and films," he says. "But I've also made some big budget movies such as Dreamcatcher, a big Stephen King film with lots of special effects, which haven't been successful. That's very frustrating, and you think 'what a waste of money that was' and 'I've worked my nuts off for nothing'.
"In a way, actors are like athletes. You've got to wait all day till your 100m race, and when you come out, you better be on it because you've got under 10 seconds to blow everyone away!"
Back on course, Lewis starts the back nine with a bang and a couple of pars before his game disintegrates over the vital closing stages, his fortunes not helped by a couple of bad breaks. TG, for once, managed to take advantage and celebrate a rare victory.
Afterwards, in between mouthfuls of Caesar salad, he confessed. "I love acting, though I'm quite picky what I do. I don't always choose the most obvious commercial thing -- I turned down Blackhawk Down because I didn't want to play another soldier and be stuck in a Moroccan desert for five months.
"Robert de Niro is bang on when he says 'acting is about choices'. It is about making intelligent choices, and I mean that in terms of how you interpret the character and the story."
The conclusion of this story included TG driving off with Lewis' sand wedge after this most amiable of stars stuck it in my buggy-mounted bag.
This TG20 experience started with the surreal and ended with the bizarre.
Road to Hollywood
From Eton to Los Angeles ...
Born: Feb. 11, 1971, St. John's Wood, London.
Family: Wife Helen McCrory, daughter Manon (2) and son Gulliver (1).
Career: 2000 - Appeared in TV series 'Hearts And Bones'. 2001 - Major Richard Winters in 'Band Of Brothers'. 2002 - Soames Forsyte in 'The Forsyte Saga' and starred in TV special 'Jeffrey Archer: The Truth'. 2003 - Gary 'Jonesy' Jones in 'Dreamcatcher'. 2004 - William Keane role in movie 'Keane'. 2005 - Appeared in three TV productions of 'Colditz' (Capt./Lt. Nicholas McGrade), 'Much Ado About Nothing' (Benedick) and 'Friends And Crocodiles'. 2006 - Yassen Gregorovich in 'Stormbreaker' movie. 2008 - Milo in comedy film 'The Baker' (directed by his brother Gareth) and LA cop Charlie Crews in TV series 'Life'.
Did you know?
Lewis' heroes
Tale of the scorecard
A rare win for TG as Lewis' wayward driving costs him dearly.
Hole 1: First blood to Lewis after a solid drive down the centre of the fairway while TG's dismal effort finds the jungle.
Hole 3: The first chink in the Lewis armour as he pulls his drive into trouble. TG fares slightly better at this tough hole.
Hole 4: TG luckily avoids the stream guarding the green and Lewis pulls off a great recovery from the bushes.
Hole 5: Disaster for both players as their under-hit chips fail to hold the tricky raised green and need a second attempt!
Hole 6: Lewis bounces back by recording his first par of the day. In fact he missed an easy eight-footer for birdie.
Hole 10: TG finds serious timber trouble on the left, but Lewis hits a great drive to set up another birdie chance.
Hole 16: TG, finally showing form, gets back on level terms after a fine approach secures par and three welcome points.
Hole 18: Lewis regained the lead with a bogey at 16 but blobs the last two, and a good chip from TG secures a decisive par on 17.
The birth of a classical actor
Lewis was educated at the independent Ashdown House School in the village of Forest Row in East Sussex and at Eton College. He first decided to become an actor at the age of 16 and graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1993. From there, he served as a stage actor for the Royal Shakespeare Company. During his time with the world-famous RSC, he played Borgheim in Ibsen's Little Eyolf as well as Posthumus in Shakespeare's Cymbeline.
Nearest the pin ...
Celebrities take the TG challenge.
To be fair, The Grove's four par 3s are all pretty tough nuts to crack, and Lewis made his nearest-the-pin effort at the far-from-easy stroke index 18, a 173-yard uphiller.
He struck a solid enough 6-iron and, although it didn't seriously threaten the hole, it did finish pin high -- albeit about 20 ft. on the left.
Lewis kindly donated a signed paperback copy of Stormbreaker -- which he starred in on the big screen -- to the TG charity vault.
It will be auctioned off along with other TG20 goodies from the various celebrities we've taken on.
Proceeds will go to the chosen charity of the star finishing nearest-the-pin. Ben Ainslie leads the way!
Caption: Ball hunters: TG and Lewis start searching. Again.
Caption: Testy stuff: Lewis drives as TG studies the takeaway menu for tonight. ...
Caption: Great escape: Lewis extricates himself from a bush to make a bogey on the par-3 4th.
Caption: Glory at last: TG celebrates a long overdue TG20 win.
Caption: On the job: Lewis in action in 'Life'.
Caption: "I understand the critics, they just don't appreciate what we do. Many people tell me it's their last chance."
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