Damian Lewis appears as a vampire for the horror film “The Radleys”.

The Radleys is Damian Lewis as audiences have never seen him before. The award-winning actor is known for intense, often intimidating roles like the hapless Nicholas Brody in Showtime’s frenetic drama Hometownor the ruthless businessman Bobby Axelrod billion. But in the horror film he plays an over-the-top vampire… and his twin brother.

CBR spoke with Lewis about what drew him to the British horror comedy based on Matt Haig’s novel of the same name. He discussed the challenges of playing both Will Radley and Will’s no-nonsense brother Peter, who just wants to raise his family in peace (and of course gets a lot more than he bargained for). Plus, find out why Lewis thinks about it The Radleys much more than a vampire film.

CBR: Your most famous roles are very serious characters in projects like Hometown, billion And Wolf Hall. How much fun was it to break away from that and play something lighter and crazier? The Radleys?

Damian Lewis:
Really a lot of fun is the short answer. I played Bobby Axelrod there for a while
[the Showtime series] Billions, and he’s basically a criminal.
It was really fun to play a vampire and then these twins – two different sides of our psyche that are inside each of us, so to speak.
I really identified with the script when it was sent to me…that it had this very weird premise that this family had moved to the suburbs to essentially get into a vampire program, which you don’t know anything about at first knew, and then you discover it yourself. I thought it was a good imagination. It’s funny.

What are the logistics of having one actor play both twins and your workload practically doubles?

You’re right. But I really enjoyed it. I didn’t like the quick makeup wig swapping, but other than that it was a lot of fun. You have to stay focused – just remember that you are Will, not Pete. [or] Pete and not Will. They were obviously very different and look very different, but their voices are not fundamentally different.
I just made a small change to their voices to give Will a bit of a rockstar vibe.
But otherwise brothers are often very similar and they often sound quite similar, so I wanted to keep them very close to each other.

It was pretty wild fighting against myself when the other me wasn’t there. That was pretty wild.

The director of The Radleys is Euros Lyn, known for his science fiction and horror films, including the acclaimed “15 Million Merits” installment of Black mirroras well as installments of Doctor Who And Torchwood. How much did it help you as an actor to have someone so familiar with the genre?

I’ve worked with Euros before and find him fantastic under pressure. There is never enough money and never enough time and he is just incredibly focused.

And he has a wonderful lightness to his touch. He allows the comedy to be the comedy. He allowed the vampire, who was a little scarier. frightening aspects of the film, to live. He just let the romantic parts of the film live and breathe. I just think he’s very adept at doing light touches. He knows the story he’s telling and he knows when the story is important. He just lets it happen. That’s why I always feel very safe with him.

On the other hand, this is your first time on screen with Kelly Macdonald, even though you are both two of the most famous British actors. How would you describe working with Kelly?

I know! We’ve both been here for a while and you’d think we might have bumped into each other along the way,
But the truth is, I’ve never met Kelly. I’ve always been a fan of hers.
And she is absolutely adorable. She has funny bones. She understood where the comedy lies. She is also a great dramatic actress. She was just so much fun to play opposite. She just did it.

The Radleys has so many different aspects that are unique. Is there anything you think you’d like viewers to know about the film if they get to see it?

I haven’t heard anyone say that they didn’t really enjoy it when it comes out – and I think that’s great. I think that’s exactly what this film is supposed to be.
It’s supposed to be funny. It should be touching. It contains two really beautiful love stories.
It should be sexy and vampiric at the right moment. And there are actually a few scary moments, but it’s really fun. It’s a really fun ride.

The Radleys is now streaming on Apple TV and Prime Video.