Hot Trailer: ‘Don Jon’ 
Billy Crystal-Starring Comedy From Matt Nix & Larry … 
UPDATE: Toronto Lands World Premiere Of Godfrey … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Dancing With The Stars’ … 
CBS Reups Tony Awards Through 2018 
HBO, FX Lead Critics’ Choice TV Awards — But … 
Hammond On Cannes: A New Day Comes To The Fest As HBO and … 
Cannes: Lionsgate Acquires U.S. On Guillaume Canet’s … 
Cannes: Radius-TWC Buys Keanu Reeves’ Helming Debut … 
Cannes: Fleming Reflects And Finds Talented Trio A Breath … 
Hot Trailer: ‘Man Of Steel’ 
Former Digital Domain CEO & Auditors Sued For Fraud By … 
Fox Acquires ‘Narc’; Zac Efron Attached To Play … 
ABC’s ‘Nashville’ Undergoes Production … 
CBS Wins Season & Ties Sweep In Demo; ABC Tops Adults … 
Mike Lobell Adds Cast To ‘Eisner,’ Plots … 
Sony Shares Rise On Report That It Will Consider … 
Alki David Agrees To End Name Games With Aereo And Barry … 
Next-Gen Xbox One Unveiled With Content Including … 
UPDATE: Apple CEO Challenged For Moving “Crown … 
ESPN Layoffs Could Reach 400 As Part Of Latest Disney Cuts 
EXCLUSIVE: Showtime’s drama pilot Homeland has assembled a pretty solid cast. Former Life star Damian Lewis has been tapped to star opposite Claire Danes in the pilot from 24 executive producers Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa. Lewis will play the male lead in the project, which centers on Marine Sergeant Scott Brody (Lewis), who returns home after spending eight years as a prisoner of war in Baghdad, and Carrie Anderson (Claire Danes), a driven CIA officer who suspects he might be plotting an attack on America. Scott, who was discovered during a U.S. attack on an enemy base, was brought to the U.S. with much fanfare and is happy to be home with his family, wife Jessica (Laura Fraser), and two kids, but still carries with him the trauma of his imprisonment and torture. Lewis, a British screen and stage actor, is best known in the U.S. for his roles in the NBC quirky drama Life and HBO’s Emmy-winning World War II mini-series Band of Brothers.
Also cast in Homeland is another British actor, David Harewood (Blood Diamond). He will play David Estes, the the youngest Deputy Director of Intelligence in CIA history, decisive, political, professional, but ultimately self-serving who is frequently exasperated by Carrie’s obsessive determination to follow up any lead, no matter how small or politically inconvenient. Production on the pilot, whose cast also includes Mandy Patinkin, is slated to begin Jan. 10 in Charlotte, N.C.
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
Loading ...
So lame.
lets get all british actors to play an american story….nowhere in america is their an american actor to fill these acting roles..
you gotta be kidding me..
DAMIAN LEWIS to play STEVE MCQUEEN in a biopic!!!
Oh God, don’t I wish it! That would be amazing!!! And whoever doesn’t think that Damian would be great as an American soldier is obviously a fool who has never seen Damian portray the absolutely inspiring hero that was the late great Major Richard Winters in Band of Brothers!! I hope this show is a great success!
Too tall.
But maybe they could squash him in a digital fashion.
Didn’t know Lewis was British. Understand the urge for protectionism, but he’s a great actor and it’s an interesting storyline.
Perfection?
Casting Americans only in American roles? How one-dimensional.
Exactly my thought. A country of 300 million with a network of regional theaters and a dozen top flight training schools and who do they cast? It’s the same colony mindset that hires a Brit – named Piers no less – to be the American voice on cable. The trouble is the same old Mastepiece Theater crowd who think anytime a character is educated – particularly on sitcoms – he must be British. Can you imagine the situation reversed? HaHaHaHa.
Homeland is pretty far from the “old” Masterpiece Theatre as many people remember it — besides, this isn’t Masterpiece Theatre.
Also, let’s face it, the English are the best actors.
what do you mean? It’s wonderfully post-ironic to cast Brits in top American roles;
after all, where do you think we Americans learned about Jingoism??
‘Lame’ casting British actors for American roles? What is seriously ‘lame’ (as you so quaintly and inarticulately put it) is casting an American to play Margaret Thatcher.
Lewis is a force of nature. I’ll watch anything with him in it. “Life” was a tough sell, but a wonderful bit of TV, if a little too tidy in wrapping up everything in 60 minutes. Great cast in that, as well.
Very happy for Damian Lewis. He was lovely to the actors on Life, and I thought he was very intense and interesting on that show. I’m now really looking forward to watching him on this show.
I’m really looking forward to this show now
Perfect. Hollywood portraying our soldiers as psycho terrorists.
Is there some place stupid people in Hollywood get together to plot to squander money on stupid stuff like this?
Lewis is tremendous. Who cares what nationality he is?
I’d give anything Lewis is in a chance.
If Damian Lewis is in it, sign me up. LIFE was one the great underrated shows and he and Sarah Shahi were great in it. If NBC was too stupid to know how to keep a wonderful show with such an amazing cast afloat, then let the other networks at least benefit from the talent of the actors involved.
Harewood is brilliant. Saw him at the national this summer.
I LOOOOOOVE Damian Lewis! I even watched “Life” just to see him. He is always interesting and magnetic. I can’t get enough of him and now I can’t wait for Homeland!
I, too, will watch everything Damian Lewis is in. Of course, you’ve seen The Forsyte Saga.” I have, over and over and over. I love him. He has such depth, and I have a feeling that he’s is a wonderful human being. Hope he wins awards and fame and fortune.
Strong cast, script must be good and Lewis is great. Can’t wait, I didn’t really understand why Showtime gave up with dramas in recent years and went with dramedies. So far good calls by Nevins.
Very happy for Damian Lewis. He was lovely to the actors on Life, and I thought he was very intense and interesting on that show. I’m now really looking forward to watching him on this show.
Jeff, something happened a couple hundred years ago (which, unless you’re a member of the indigenous US population, is the reason you’re living there) called GLOBALISATION. This means that because of aeroplanes and an advanced open Market we can recruit the right person for the job no matter what their nationality is.
Why should he industry cast an American actor or actress simply for the reason that they are American even if they are not the right person for the job.
Lewis and harewood are fine actors and their being British doesn’t mean that they aren’t qualified to play American characters. They are ACTING to be fair.
Please take your xenophobic views and comments elsewhere
I’ve been hooked on Damian Lewis since I saw him on Broadway in “Hamlet” opposite Ralph Fiennes in ’95. He was stellar in “Band of Brothers” and made “Life” great. Who cares whether he’s a Brit: he’s awesome and this show sounds really promising.
jeez that ginger is sexy sexy!
Sounds like an updated version of “The Manchurian Candidate”.
Damian Lewis is brilliant…and now I am intrigued.
Lewis is great, was fantastic in “Life.”
This series sounds monumentally stupid, a PC-projection. Let me see, now who was it that was shooting fellow soldiers, at Fort Hood? Trying to blow up Times Square? Shooting Army Recruiting personnel? Planning to blow up Portland Christmas tree lighting attendees?
Was it POWs? Nope. In fact, we have no POWs held by Iraqi or Afghan forces (US captives are soon killed). All those folks killing or trying to kill Americans were not “bad White guys” but something else. It slipped my mind. Maybe they were Methodists or something. Those Methodists are always flying planes into buildings.
Pathetic that a PC-dogma lecture is being made to be “edgy” instead of a real look at the real terrorism around us. And that an actor of Lewis’s stature is just wasted (and his role plays off his signature performance as Captain Winters in Band of Brothers). Again, Hollywood cannot handle the truth. PC displacement.
I’m glad that Ru Paul still has a job! Those there was a question if shem was an American citizen after years of living in Britan. But I can tell you yes… Virgina Rue Paul is back from exzile in the UK! She’s gonna work it girl! But she looks like a man in the above picture!… Her stage name is David now!
If Hollywood can’t find US actors too fill, next all the roles will go to illegal aliens….Hola Hollywood!
America isn’t the centre of the world
I’m sure “Homeland” will be a hit… And I still want to be an extra or something in this presentation. I signed up, but no call. Can I still get in??? Help anyone.
["Jeff, something happened a couple hundred years ago (which, unless you’re a member of the indigenous US population, is the reason you’re living there) called GLOBALISATION. This means that because of aeroplanes and an advanced open Market we can recruit the right person for the job no matter what their nationality is."]
Most of the non-Americans in this cast – Lewis, and David Harewood are not only British-born, but still citizens of the U.K. Laura Fraser is the exception. She is married to an American citizen and lives in New York. The reason many of them are constantly being hired for American roles is that hiring outside of the U.S. is cheaper for the Hollywood industry.
So, if we have a choice of free market capitalism or [xenophobic] protectionism, which would best encapsulate American values?
I think,this role is a role made for damian it goes being fantasy as usual A great Actor!
NBC is so dumb. Should have moved life to USA network. would have been a perfect fit.
Damian Lewis is great in Homeland. I hope he makes it al the way the serie. And I hope that they wil bring Life back with Damian. Was a great show. I love that man.