Dad brainwashed us on Welsh rugby, says Damian Lewis
ACTOR Damian Lewis says the strength of his dad’s Welsh roots saw his family “brainwashed” into supporting the Wales rugby team.
The star jokingly made the comment when speaking to Radio 2 film expert James King about his feelings about being Welsh and his connection to the country.
The interview – among the first since his beloved actress wife Helen McCrory died in April – was to promote the new Welsh-based film, Dream Horse, which he said was “so much fun” to make.
He explained that his grandparents were Welsh, with his grandma a Welsh-speaker, and he laughed: “My dad very proudly says that he’s totally Welsh and in terms of the bloodline he is, but, I’ve never heard a more English-sounding Welshman. We always support the Welsh rugby team, we were brainwashed, so we support them in the Six Nations and World Cup.
“My family’s had a house in Wales for generations, we spend a lot of time there. I do feel partly Welsh, I will always say I’m British, not English, a bit of everything.”
In Dream Horse, Lewis plays Valleys accountant Howard Davies, who was part of the Cefn Fforest syndicate which bred a racehorse, Dream Alliance, on an allotment and the steed went on to win the Welsh Grand National – with a few ups and downs.
The star of Billions and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, said: “[It was] a really charming script with the added bonus of it being based on a true story. You can screw these films up and they can not quite work, but Euros Lyn has done a beautiful, beautiful job with it. And it was so much fun to b be in, quite apart from anything else. It’s a feel-good charmer.
“The hwyl is a very Welsh word meaning an effervescence and joy and longing and spirit and the character says, I think it’s mine, about halfway through ‘do it for the hwyl,’ do it for the fun of it.
“It’s been a funny old year, we’ve been looking for things that are meaningful and fun and not worry about where it’s going to take you because none of us are going anywhere.
“The film is in that spirit.”
■ Dream Horse is out tomorrow