Damian lewis plays the role of Bobby Axelroad in the biggest show of 2016, Billions on AXN in India. Excerpts from an interview
How did you get involved with this projectIJ
Showtime called me up and said would you like to play Bobby Axelroad who is a hedge fund billionaire in the show called Billions where Paul Giamatti is playing your rival, a US attorney. I read the script and loved it. I keep saying this but I wasn’t ready to get into a long running TV show but this script was the strongest script I have read in a while and so I wanted to be a part of it.
What is Billions aboutIJ
It is a show about the wealthy and powerful. There is a prominent, well-loved but suspiciously rich hedge fund manager Axelroad, who I play, and there is a US attorney played by Paul. Part of his day to day job is prosecuting fraudulent insider trading, anything that is illegal on Wall Street. They get a sniff that something might be going on at Axelroad which is my company in the show. That sets it up. We like to deal with greys and not blacks and whites and hence you will get to see a great deal of ambiguity in this show.
Tell us about Chuck Rhoades and the faceoff between you two in the show.
Chuck Rhoades is played by the delightful and the brilliant Paul Giamatti who I have worked with before. Rhoades is the opposite of Axel. He is more Ivy league, more attorney kind of background. He is old fashioned and lives in Brooklyn. He is as ambitious as Axelroad but he is more about power than money. So there are two flawed anti-heroes in the show.
How do you see these two offices coming together for a faceoffIJ
It’s not unlike the shocks and the jets meeting each other in the alleyway. Bobby’s team has a faceoff with Chuck’s team. There’s deep suspicion from the attorney’s office that this man can’t be getting the returns he gets without some kind of information from somewhere that he probably shouldn't have. So Chuck goes after me in the show.
Who is Bobby Axelroad and what can we expect from himIJ
He is a hedge fund billionaire. He has got a finger in every pie which means he will invest in everything, any company across the whole spectrum globally, not just American companies. He has got people in his office who are up all through the night to keep a check on the global market. He owns an enormous house somewhere right out of town, bigger than some small villages. On the face of it you might not think you’re going to like them, but their enthusiasm, their conviction, their passions make you like them. Axel has great warmth and generosity but he is a competitive, alpha male, billionaire for a reason. His wife is also similar to him. He brings up his children with a good set of values. Yet he manages a hedge fund that’s worth $10-15 billion.
What does a billion mean to youIJ
Billion has lost its meaning in the last four to five years. We have heard of trillion dollar bailouts. It is nothing to be a millionaire now. Billion is just a number these people trade in as they are used to billions and billions of dollars. It is like the GDP of some small country. I met a guy sometime back, whose company in 2008 made $15 billion in one year. That’s the culture we are talking about in the show.