I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoyed the first season of Showtime’s Homeland. It was a really, really great show with wonderful writing and incredible performances by the two leads, Claire Danes and Damian Lewis. I rarely get a chance to discuss Lewis, mostly because I feel like most people don’t know who he is. I’ve followed his career since Band of Brothers, through the underrated and too-early-cancelled Life, and now on Homeland, where he is simply excellent. I never really knew that much about his personal life, just that he’s English, married and the father of two kids. I wish I could go back to that place, because I just read this interview with him, and now I kind of think he’s a douche. Maybe I’m being hyper-sensitive (it happens), but it seems like Damian is bragging about being a giant brat to President Obama!

Despite the mixed reviews about its season finale that had viewers across the world on the edge of their seats, it proved to be one of this year’s smash-hit dramas. And Homeland can also boast one of the world’s most powerful men among its fans – according to its leading man.

Damian Lewis, who wowed viewers and critics alike with his portrayal of troubled Marine Sergeant Nicholas Brody, said President Barack Obama told him that it is his favourite show.

As he posed for a smouldering shoot for Mr Porter, Lewis told the men’s retail website about being a guest at the White House state dinner.

He said: ‘I thought we were going to be sitting by the kitchen or something. Next to the revolving door that would repeatedly hit us on the back of the head, as waiters came in and out. But when we got to the marquee on the South Lawn we found that out of 396 people at this dinner, we had been put at the President’s table. I was opposite Obama. He said Homeland is his favourite show.’

He said the President also asked him how he got the part in Band of Brothers, which was not only his big break, but the first time he had to portray an American.

He said: ‘He thought it was because I looked like the guy I was playing. So I made a joke – I said, “No Mr President, it was because of my outstanding leadership qualities and moral probity.” And he wasn’t sure for a minute – he was like, “Who the f*** is this guy?”. It’s not as if I come from a military family or anything. My dad did national service in the 1950s, but he wasn’t very good at it. He lost his platoon in the woods.’

He said: ‘I knew we were doing something a bit better than your average TV show or movie for that matter. But there was no telling the way in which it touched a chord. People get a strange thrill out of being made to feel anxious and worried!’

Damian is about to start filming the second series of Homeland in two weeks time in North Carolina, which doubles as Washington DC.

He said: ‘It’s great. I’m closer to home. And I don’t have to work so hard because it’s more of an ensemble cast. So I just jump on a plane if I get a few days off. And the kids can come out and see me for the summer holidays, jumping in and out of the pool all day. It’s perfect, basically. All I have to do is get the acting right – make sure I’m not the tosser that lets it all down!’

His family – actress wife Helen McCrory and their children, daughter Manon, five, and four-year-old son Gulliver – are back in the UK, Islington, north London to be precise and are staying in Hugh Laurie’s old house. Hugh has been a huge success across the Pond in House and Damian said: ‘That’s how it works, you’ve got to be English on a popular show and then you get to sell each other property.’

[From The Mail]

CB thinks there’s a good possibility that Damian was just being very “English” and attempting to be funny/self-effacing. But it just sounds like Pres. Obama asked him an innocent question (“How did you get cast in Band of Brothers? Did you look like the real dude?”) and instead of answering simply, Damian decided to “take the piss”. I mean… I’m not saying everyone has to genuflect around the President of the United States, but if you’ve been invited to a state dinner and you’re sitting at his table, don’t “take the piss” when the president asks you a question! RUDE.

Photos courtesy of Mr. Porter/The Mail.