Damian Lewis played real-life veteran Major Richard “Dick” Winters in Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ World War II miniseries, Band of Brothers. The series was developed based on Stephen E. Ambrose’s book of the same name, but Hanks also met with Dick Winters who contributed largely to the book.
Winters and other Easy Company survivors were guest attendees when the series premiered at Normandy in 2001. While the series impressed Winters with its realistic depiction of the war, Damian Lewis’s performance had a few shortcomings in the veteran’s eyes.
Damian Lewis’s Band of Brothers Role Didn’t Fully Impress Dick Winters
Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg‘s Band of Brothers was a fictionalized story of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. The series begins with their training and follows their participation in the war for the Allied Forces.
Major Dick Winters was the commanding officer of the company and he had been largely silent on his experiences in World War II. When Stephen Ambrose approached him to write his book, Winters became a major part of Band of Brothers since he wanted to tell the story authentically.
Hanks had seen the WWII veteran before adapting Ambrose’s book into the miniseries. When Winters saw the series at a premiere organized exclusively for the Easy Company’s surviving members, he believed the film captured the essence of their fight in the war.
He shared his opinion on the film and the actor playing his role with Patriot-News. Winters shared that Damian Lewis, the British actor who played him, was a “nice young man who is smart and talented.” However, he had a few pointers for Lewis. He shared that Lewis should’ve been more forceful at the beginning of the series.
Winters understood that Lewis became a soldier with only a few days of training, unlike his years of training. Winters told Patriot-News (via pennlive.com):
At the beginning he should have been more forceful, but he got better as the film went on. He only had a few days, while I had five years, to learn to be a soldier.
Winters also revealed his favorite part of the series. The series featured interviews with the real-life Easy Company paratroopers at the end of each episode. Winters shared that the documentary part, where men talked about their memories from their hearts, was his favorite.
Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg Had Faith In Damian Lewis To Carry The Role of Dick Winters
Damian Lewis appeared in Jonathan Kent’s production of Hamlet, which caught the attention of Steven Spielberg. Lewis auditioned for a role in the series and a month later, he was called for a second audition. He was told that he was being considered for the role of Dick Winters (via Daily Mail).
After the second audition, he revealed that he had to undergo training in an American accent. After the third audition, Lewis’s agent called him to inform him that he was Hanks and Spielberg’s only consideration for the main role. After a fourth audition, he was offered a chance to meet Hanks and Spielberg in LA.
Lewis even recalled cracking a joke when he met Hanks for the first time and believed that he had lost the role. However, Hanks had faith in the actor who eventually cast him in the lead role in the series.
Band of Brothers is now available for streaming on Max.
