British actor takes on American lead role

HATFIELD, England -- Damian Lewis smiles wryly as he thinks back on the reaction he got as an English actor taking the American lead in HBO's new series "Band of Brothers."

"Everyone was watching me," says Lewis, "because I had this added pressure of playing The Man; everybody was curious as to who had been cast as this American hero."

The answer is a 29-year-old Londoner trained in the theater who -- on the back of his career-making performance in "Band of Brothers" -- seems poised for screen stardom.

Based on the Stephen Ambrose best seller, "Band of Brothers" casts Lewis as Dick Winters, a key member of a World War II parachute infantry unit who goes on to become commanding officer of Company E -- otherwise known as the Easy Company -- and, later, its battalion officer.

The 10-part series is airing Sundays at 8 p.m. through Nov. 4.

In an interview with The Associated Press while the $120 million project was being filmed last year, Lewis spoke candidly of his own doubts about how he would fare.

"The first two days I was way off the pace," said Lewis, dressed for a day's work in the appropriate military apparel -- a green tunic shirt and jump boots included. ("I'd feel good going down the King's Road like this," he laughed, referring to one of London's trendier thoroughfares.)

Early in shooting, he said, "I sat back and tried to take it all in, to assimilate information. But I wasn't assimilating it yet mentally and physically; I wasn't toughening up to the task."

'Foggy-headed Damian'

What's more, some of the American actors "had come in with three months preparation and actually demanded of me that I behave like Winters -- that I was already in character, that I was prepared to give orders."

"The Americans wanted Winters from day one, and he wasn't there." Instead, said Lewis, "what was, was this slightly foggy-headed Damian for the first couple of days."

Scott Grimes, from television's "Party of Five," was among the American actors whose initial skepticism was allayed.

"Damian is terrific," he said. "Sometimes, he's got to talk us into he's British. It's not just about the accent; it's about an American way of holding yourself -- totally no frills."

Tom Hanks, with Steven Spielberg, is executive producer of "Band of Brothers," W hile emphasizing that "we were always going to try to cast as many Americans as humanly possible," some, he said, were reluctant to sign on for a 10-month shoot. So Hanks felt comfortable casting a Briton as his lead. (English actors came more cheaply, too.)

"We were lucky to be in a place where there's this fabulous talent pool of actors who are facile when it comes to dialects, which we would not have enjoyed if it had been the opposite thing," he said.