Damian Lewis | My Camden

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Damian Lewis

Profession: Actor
Place/Date of Birth: St John's Wood, London, 11 February 2021

Damian: I’m panic-stricken - Dec 12 2007
His US drama, Life, may be hugely successful, but Damian Lewis insists he’s still nervous.

"I’m panic-stricken," says the English actor. "You desperately want what you are in to be successful and then at the same time I am part of a machine that is much bigger than I am."

"The hours are brutalising - they work 15 to 16 hours a day here and it is part of the culture here, so no one moans about it," he adds.

"People wish we had shorter days but no one moans about it because that is what we do. I keep pointing out that we shoot six or seven pages a day in British TV and it takes 12 hours but that normally falls on deaf ears. I draw blank looks and then I shut up. We’ll be shooting here through until May."

The 36-year-old - who is next up in Martha Fiennes’s movie Chromophobia - confesses that he is enjoying the challenge of staying true to his art.

"It’s fascinating to be at the heart of the system, how it works, and the daily struggle is to retain and keep some sort of artistic fire whilst being gently bludgeoned with a telephone directory by corporate Hollywood," he laughs.

"I guess that’s part of the skill you acquire out here."

Chromophobia opens on Friday December 14.

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