Categories Interviews Personal and Family Life Print Media

Helen on Peaky Blinders and Why Damian Lewis Isn’t Asked How He Juggles It All

Ageing, Sexism, and the Joy of Family Holidays in a Camper Van

by Julia Llewellyn Smith | The Times | August 12, 2019

Gosh, but having lunch with Helen McCrory is a daunting experience — a bit like sitting down with a more intelligent version of Princess Margaret or the seventh, undiscovered Mitford sister. Even though she’s a dainty thing, McCrory has extraordinary presence, crackling with the energy that has suffused her stage performances at the National, the Donmar and the Almeida and that underscored film roles such as Harry Potter’s Narcissa Malfoy. It has also made her the star of TV dramas such as Penny Dreadful and Peaky Blinders, the long-running BBC period crime drama that we’re here to discuss.

Her commanding aura is boosted by her Pathé-newsreel husky tones and by her marriage to another superstar, Damian Lewis, of Homeland and Billions fame. The couple are self-described “party animals”, frequently photographed looking Burton-and-Taylor glamorous on red carpets, and I imagine she would make the most brilliant hostess — fun, engaged and full of droll bons mots and anecdotes.

Continue reading Helen on Peaky Blinders and Why Damian Lewis Isn’t Asked How He Juggles It All

Categories Interviews News Peaky Blinders Print Media

Helen McCrory reveals the Peaky Blinders scene that was just too much for TV

Aunt Polly’s original reaction when son Michael came home was very different in Peaky Blinders

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Remember that scene where a hungover Polly (Helen McCrory) stumbled home in her party outfit from the night before, only to find long-lost son Michael (Finn Cole) waiting on her doorstep?If McCrory had her way, the reunion would have been a lot more stomach-turning – but the actress’s first take was vetoed. Continue reading Helen McCrory reveals the Peaky Blinders scene that was just too much for TV
Categories Damian Lewis Interviews Peaky Blinders Print Media Quiz

Helen McCrory: ‘ I don’t think I’m deep enough to have mental-health issues’

On Badass Women and Being Married to Her ‘Best Friend’

by Gavanndra Hodge | The Telegraph | August 9, 2019

She’s straight-talking, hates housework, dresses to kill, and lives life her way – convention be damned. Turns out Helen McCrory has plenty in common with her badass Peaky Blinders character Polly.

Helen McCrory, the multiple-award winning actor, is holding what looks like a moist slice of turkey. ‘What is that?’ I ask. ‘It’s a face mask, darling. £1.99 from Superdrug,’ she says, rubbing it against her neck. ‘It’s going to make me look like a teenager.’

We are standing outside a café on the Regent’s Canal, cyclists and prams whizzing by. McCrory is wearing a floral tea dress, silver Zadig & Voltaire boots, sunglasses and a VIP wristband from a Bob Dylan concert she went to, five days ago. ‘I am never taking it off,’ she says.

There is a sort of rock-star swagger to Helen McCrory, 50, a charismatic, don’t-give-a-damn cool with her chipped red nails and posh-voiced sweariness. She likes to party, to wear top hats and vintage frocks, and there is the inevitable doubling of glamour that comes from her marriage to the actor Damian Lewis (Brody from Homeland, more recently Bobby Axelrod in Billions), with whom she lives in a tall, narrow house in Tufnell Park with their children Manon, 12, and Gulliver, 11.

Continue reading Helen McCrory: ‘ I don’t think I’m deep enough to have mental-health issues’

Categories Interviews Peaky Blinders Print Media

Helen McCrory on why she loves playing Peaky Blinders’ Polly Gray

Plus, why Aunt Polly is Misunderstood

by Megan Sutton | August 8, 2019 | Good Housekeeping

Although in real life most of us strive to be good citizens, for actors there’s lots of fun to be had in pretending to be someone with a darker side. That’s certainly true for Peaky Blinders star Helen McCrory, who much prefers playing a baddie.

“It’s much more fun, it’s loads of fun playing the baddie,” she told press including Goodhousekeeping.com/uk at a preview ahead of Peaky Blinders season five.

Categories Damian Lewis Gallery Premiere Red Carpet Screenings

Damian Lewis and Helen McCrory Attend UK Premiere of Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood

Steve McQueen and His Queen

by Gingersnap4Helen | helen-mccrory.com | July 30, 2019

Damian and Helen attended the Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood UK Premiere at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on July 30, 2019 in London, England. Co-stars Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lena Dunham, Costa Ronin, and David Heyman were also present, along with writer/director Quentin Tarantino and his wife Daniela Tarantino.

Experience Quentin Tarantino’s vision of 1969 Hollywood in UK cinemas on August 14, 2019.

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