Damian Lewis would turn down the role of James Bond if he was offered it.
Damian Lewis
The 'Billions' actor - who has two children with wife Helen McCrory - has long been linked with the role of the suave spy but he insisted it isn't a part that he would be keen to take.
He said: "I don’t want to play Bond. I’m ambitious for different things. I don’t know who they’ll choose – he’ll be fantastic, or she will be fantastic. But I don’t want to play Bond – even if I was asked!”
The 49-year-old star insisted he is far less "alpha male" than many of the roles he is famed for, such as conflicted soldier Brody in 'Homeland' or gangster Bobby Axelrod in 'Billions'.
He told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: "It makes everything I’ve done sound incredibly old-fashioned, doesn’t it? There’s nothing macho about me at all.
"[It's more that] I seemed to have a look that suited blue-collar Americans – ironically as I’m not a blue-collar Brit. So I’ve had this odd sort of duality in my career, but I think I’m much less rigorously alpha male than any of the characters that I play."
'Billions' launched in 2016 and the British actor thinks it took the election of Donald Trump to "sharpen" the show - which also stars Paul Giamatti as lawyer and 'Axe''s nemesis Chuck Rhoades - to where it is now.
He said: "It’s had an interesting journey in terms of its cultural impact.
“I suppose the first season was two alpha titans in the world of law and the world of finance swinging their willies at each other, frankly. And then Trump came in, and he sort of sharpened the cultural commentary of the show.
"It is the most Trumpian show on TV. It’s so reflective of a certain milieu, of high-achieving competitive men who drive our lives with their immense wealth and their political power – and sometimes their petty rivalries”.
And Damian doesn't find playing the billionaire businessman particularly fun.
He said: "I do find him a bit wearing after a while, to be honest with you. That world is a depressingly cynical one.
“There’s a slightly worrying tendency in the States to back the winner, and to love the winner, and to not ask too many questions about how he won. That’s how Trump got to the White House.”
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