Damian Lewis, from “Homeland”, on his new series: “The best thing about Bond is how much of a spy he is”

The documentary series Spy war, which premiered on the History channel this Saturday, January 16, tells true stories of 40 years of international espionage. It is an eight-part docudrama which, in its first season, deals with intelligence operations in Moscow, London and Israel, with the collaboration of experts and former spies from the CIA, Mossad, M16 or the KGB.

The funny thing is that the host of the series is actor Damian Lewis, famous for playing a spy in the first seasons of the famous fiction series. Country, in which it was Sergeant Nicholas Brody. Bobby “Ax” Axelrod also worked on the series Billons.

Spy war he uses dramatic reconstructions, archives and expert witnesses, including former CIA chief and US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to tell his stories.

The beginnings

At first, Lewis was reluctant when his brother, Gareth, asked him to host the new series. “I hadn’t done anything ‘factual’ before and I don’t consider myself a presenter. But I like the spy genre. I wanted to get involved because I was in Langley, the CIA headquarters. for Country … but I wanted to see the intimate personal decisions people made. I thought this was the opportunity to look behind these popular stories and find out something else, ”he says in a production interview for History.

“I’ve always enjoyed being on a project from the start. It’s a much more difficult job, which is why you end up playing because playing is the icing on the cake. But I really enjoy the process. The challenge with these types of jobs is that there is no scenario or model, the fun part is the research, especially in this documentary series, as these are real cases rather than cold cases.

Lewis showed a keen interest in the history of espionage, including the formation of the CIA after World War II, and competition between different countries, as well as agencies within the country.

“I have done a lot of research to fulfill my role in Country, played a fictional spy in the adaptation of John le Carré Our kind of traitor, and I read John le Carré like everyone else. … I like the spy type and Spy war it’s an opportunity to look behind these popular stories and see if we can unearth something a little more intimate, a little more personal about the people themselves and the ramifications of world politics through personal decisions. and intimates taken by these individuals. “

Referring to Ian Fleming’s creation, James Bond, Damian commented: “Of course it takes stealth and the ability to be an undercover spy otherwise you would be a James Bond. The best thing about Bond is how much of a spy he is and how brilliant he is at getting back to his job. Bond makes endless mistakes and that’s where the two hours of the film spend – he’s the one who comes out of the huge mistake that ‘he did earlier. It’s fun. ”

Speaking about the motives of the spies, Lewis said: “There is an acronym that all intelligence agencies use: MICE … Money, Ideology, Coercion, Ego (for its acronym in English: Money, Ideology, Coercion, Ego) . These are generally the four ways you can subvert and lead an agent. If you think you can identify a vulnerable person for any of these reasons, target that person. In our spy series, Gordievsky only really acts with it. a purer ideology. “

Lewis is thrilled to be able to present first-hand testimonials from key actors who have never spoken publicly about the show before. Among them is the delivery of Vladimir Vetrov, one of the most important spies of the Cold War, a high-ranking KGB officer and a secret agent of the French intelligence services. With the codename “Paul”, he was unable to appear on camera, but recorded his testimony.