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In praise of Billions' foodie nature as it returns for Season 5

  • "Billions is a show about finance, but it’s also a love letter to hospitality, food and the power of connecting over meals and drinks," says Elva Ramirez. She adds: "There’s one element of the show that always changes, yet remains the same. In nearly episode, New York’s vibrant food scene is lovingly showcased. The locales may change, based on the characters and plot points, but the love of food and dining is clearly present. The foodie nature of the show is hardly an afterthought; entire scenes and dialogue have been scripted around the meals characters are having, with special appearances from real life chefs, including from Vaucluse’s Michael White, Ivan Ramen’s Ivan Orkin and a personal tableside greeting at DANIEL from Daniel Boulud himself."

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    • Billions Season 5 is an improvement on Season 4
    • How Damian Lewis became one of the most thrilling actors of his generation: "By some combination of happenstance and aptitude, Damian Lewis has become best known for playing memorably imposing American characters on premium-cable TV shows," says Chris Heath. "Most recently he has been the toxic financier Bobby Axelrod on the hedge-fund drama Billions... nearly a decade ago he was Nicholas Brody, the Marine returning from eight years as an al-Qaida prisoner, on Homeland; a decade before that he portrayed Major Richard Winters, the central character on Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg's celebrated World War II drama Band of Brothers. The most obvious irony here—that these men who, in their very different ways, seem so fundamentally and viscerally American are played by a man as quintessentially British as Lewis is—has been much remarked upon, though in some ways it's amusing how startled we continue to be each time we discover that an actor is good at acting. But there are other reasons, Lewis acknowledges, why his story is an unlikely one. Although he did set his sights on becoming an actor from a fairly young age, his plan wasn't to become the kind of actor he is."
    • Corey Stoll calls Billions "very theatrical": "You can tell that everybody shows up really prepared. It’s not always like that on a TV show, a lot of actors treat TV scripts as a suggestion," he says with a laugh. "But it’s very clear as soon as you read this script, it really just makes sense to be as close to verbatim as possible, because it’s so well thought out and it’s just really good writing."
    • Read an oral history of Chuck Rhoades' BDSM reveal

    TOPICS: Billions, Showtime, Corey Stoll, Damian Lewis, Paul Giamatti, Food and TV