Sabrina about The Baker...re reading

The Baker

I think the Baker is one of the loveliest project Damian Lewis has done. It has comedy, romance and a beautiful guy in the title role. I was in love with Milo the first sight. He is a charming sweet man with a longing for a true and honest relationship and that is a thing we all longing for in the end. But Milo has a problem most of us don't have…he is a professional killer and that makes it a bit tough to get a girl.

The slight awkward way he goes through life is funny and attractive the same time, and the fact that he is a bit of a loser in the assassin business doesn’t make the whole situation better because after he made again kind of a mistake the “company ” is ready  to get rid of him, only his father like friend takes his side and allows him to escape to Wales in a nice but small village. It's that kind of village there is nothing to write home about except that the villagers are a little bit quirky but loveable, the  town needs a baker and Milo is happy to take the part and you see a quite funny way to learn to make bread and bake a cake but unfortunately you the villagers get to know about Milo's real job and suddenly almost everyone has a person he would love to kill and orders “a cake” at the new bakery… Everyone is in the view about Milo and the real wishes of the villagers. Everyone except Milo who really start to love his new job and the local vet a tough but nice woman.

 

It’s a sweet British comedy with the focus on charming dialogs and a beautiful landscape. It shows wonderful postcard like Wales moments and it really has quirky but also everyday moments,

that kind of moments every man or woman in the thirties experienced, it's sometimes a funny and kind of awkward road until you ready to settle down with the right person.  

The Baker is a charming production with a sweet and beautiful performance from Damian Lewis and a brilliant totally British humour performance by Michael Gamblon in a guest role. Don't miss it!!     

I think the Lewis brothers with Damian in front of the camera and his brother Gareth behind did a great job.

 

Tea and a Mag... Today Gareth Lewis speaks about....

• Gareth Lewis
• The Guardian, Friday 22 February 2008

 
Damian Lewis and Kate Ashfield lie at my feet, all but naked, covered in flour, eggs, jam, custard, cake mix and glacé cherries. From the shadows, a group of men and women stare at the bodies on the floor. In this cramped room, the temperature has risen to that of a Swedish sauna; sweat trickles down the inside of my shirt. I put my hand on the table to support myself and inadvertently squirt cream all over my trousers. Looking down at the mess, I find myself wondering, not for the first time, how I got into this position. More importantly, how did they get into that position? And will we be able to untangle them?

The answer has its roots in a conversation that took place a couple of years ago between myself and the lead actor in this scenario, Damian Lewis - my brother. It went something like this:
Me: You want to be in my film?
Damian: Sure.

A taut and dramatic scene, full of pathos, I think you'll agree. At that point it hadn't really occurred to either of us what it would be like to work together. We'd mooted the possibility as a sort of "wouldn't it be fun one day to work together on something?" - but hadn't actually considered what that might mean for us, either personally or professionally. It just seemed like a good idea: Damian was perfect for the role, he liked the script, liked me, I liked him, I bought him another beer and thrust the contract under his nose. It was a beautiful moment.

In the cold, grey light of dawn, we started to understand what we'd got ourselves into. He was going to commit to saying words I'd written, under my direction, on film, a film that was going out into the big, wide world to have a life of its own beyond our control. I was going to be responsible for keeping his reputation as an actor intact.

I wondered if I hadn't just muddied the waters of my first feature film experience by getting family involved. Would there be an added level of emotional tension? I was going to have to tell him what to do on occasion, and he was going to have to do it. That would certainly be a first - at least since he was 10 and I was eight and I had the moral authority of our mother behind me when I asked him to stop sitting on my head.

We got to work on the script, and as Damian got his teeth into the role, I started to get a feeling for how the character was going to play out in his hands. This was before we got anywhere near production, or even full finance. By the time we got to the first day of the shoot, we seemed to be working well together. So far, so good. But now would come the real test: working under the intense pressure of a film set, in the public gaze, as it were, of the crew and cast. How would it play? If we disagreed, would we do it nicely, through gritted teeth, or just shout and scream at each other? Would he sit on my head again? Would I sit on his?

I'm from the school of gritted teeth, with the occasional explosive release under (semi-)controlled circumstances. As it turned out, my teeth were no more worn down at the end of the shoot than at the start. It seemed to me that the same was the case for Damian. He was loving it. Wasn't he? Well, he's a great actor, and when he tells me he had a great time, who am I to doubt? So he had to go for long walks, clenching and unclenching his fists and chanting a mantra he'd been given by his yogi, to help him calm down. But otherwise it was like being kids playing make-believe again - only with more expensive toys.

There was still the small matter of the sex scene. Was it going to be weird directing my brother getting semi-naked with a beautiful woman? It's hard enough to direct a sex scene without inviting your family to get involved. Put it this way: in the end, it was weirder filming him getting knocked unconscious by a sheep's head. Read that how you like.

In Pictures...

Last round...Wales and The Baker...

Let's watch some videos!

In Pictures...

Welcome back to Wales and Baker week...

today you will read our opinions about...our Baker:-)

lets get started...

In Pictures...

Meet The Baker...

 

 

The Baker...

Milo (Damian Lewis) is a dissatisfied professional assassin. Cornering his latest target at his home, Milo has a change of heart and offers the man the chance to escape and assume a new identity, only for Bjorn (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), a rival assassin working for the same organization, to arrive and kill the man anyway. Bjorn makes it clear that he plans to use Milo's lapse in protocol to have his bosses order Milo's termination; they do so, assigning the kill to Bjorn. Milo narrowly escapes Bjorn's first attack, and after a conversation with his fellow assassin and friend Leo (Michael Gambon) heads to Leo's country property in Gwynfyd, Wales to hide out while Leo works on making things safe for Milo.

When attempting to bury his case of weapons, Milo is knocked out by the remains of an exploding sheep, detonated by the unseen Eggs (Dyfan Dwyfor), a young conspiracy theorist who steals Milo's weapons while he is still out. The unconscious Milo is found and taken home by Rhiannon (Kate Ashfield), the town veterinarian, who ensures he's healthy before returning him to his car. In town Milo meets town barkeep Bryn Morgan (Steve Spiers), who mistakes Milo for the town's new baker, as Leo's property is a former bakery. Not wanting to raise suspicion Milo goes along with this, and adopts the alias "Milo Shakespeare", inspired by a bust of William Shakespeare found in the pub.

Milo stays in hiding while Bjorn attempts to track his location using a photo of the bakery left behind by Milo. With Leo's efforts taking time, Milo commits to learning how to bake to fit with his inadvertent cover identity. However, unknown to him, Eggs has correctly (if illogically) concluded that Milo is really an assassin, but erroneously assumes that the bakery is really a front for his assassination business. Before long the rumor has spread throughout most of town, save for Rhiannon and a few others. Believing the rumor, local chips shop owner Rhys Edwards (Anthony O'Donnell) comes to Milo and asks him to "bake a cake" for his domineering wife Martha (Annette Badland), Milo completely missing the intended subtext. 

The next day, Rhys unknowingly leaves a gas burner open and unlit before he leaves for work, and Martha is killed by the ensuing explosion when she goes to use the toaster. Gwynfyd's residents assume Milo was responsible, proving the rumors true in their minds.

Over the next weeks Milo's business picks up considerably, with several people ordering "cakes" for others in town. Eggs has started working for Milo as his assistant, wanting to become an assassin himself. One night Milo prepares for a date with Rhiannon, while Eggs prepares for a "date" with Bob (Brian Hibbard), a local man in dispute with his neighbor Stan (Robert Page) over the annual "best garden" award. Eggs arrives at Bob's house as he eats dinner and, nearly losing his nerve, fires a silenced shot into the house blindly. When Bob clutches his stomach in agony Eggs panics and flees.

Milo's date with Rhiannon goes well, but is interrupted when Eggs arrives, drunk and distraught over his first murder, though he passes out before he can explain. Milo and Rhiannon take the unconscious Eggs back to the bakery, then have sex. Afterward, Eggs regains consciousness and explains what happened to Milo, who is stunned to realize the pleasant townsfolk who visited his bakery were actually ordering assassinations on each other. Rhiannon overhears the conversation and leaves, angry; Milo later tries to apologize for his past and not telling her sooner, but is rebuffed.

The next day Milo prepares to leave town, only to see Rhys fleeing the chips shop, stripped to his underwear and covered in various condiments; Milo and Eggs follow him to the pub. After a brief interruption at the arrival of Bob, who explains to a stunned Eggs that he merely burned his stomach when something knocked his hot dinner onto it, Rhys tells Milo and the rest of the town that a blond man - Bjorn - tortured him for information on Milo, and has now kidnapped Rhiannon to draw Milo out. Milo explains the truth behind Martha's death and his ignorance of their intent when placing cake orders with him to the now-ashamed townsfolk, then goes on to say that he wanted to get away from his life as an assassin and vows to rescue Rhiannon. He burns the list of "cake" orders in front of the townsfolk, explaining that "everyone deserves a second chance".

Milo confronts Bjorn, who reveals that his hatred of Milo stems from him rejecting Bjorn's desire to run away together with him, which Milo reminds him, not for the first time, "is not possible for so many reasons." Milo challenges Bjorn to fight "properly" rather than just killing Rhiannon; the two duel with foils, which seems to reach a climax until they discover the weapons are safety-tipped and unable to wound. They then switch to staffs, which quickly break, then bare hand-to-hand, where Milo bests Bjorn. As he goes to free Rhiannon, Bjorn pulls a gun, but stops when the townsfolk appear and surround him, demanding he release "our baker". After some talking Bjorn finally decides to let Milo be in the hopes that Rhiannon will break his heart, whereupon Eggs knocks him out with a shovel.

Some time later Milo is preparing a cake at the bakery, assisted by Eggs who has developed significant skills as a baker, eclipsing Milo's own. Leo arrives while Milo is alone in the kitchen; he explains that he used Milo's exile as an opportunity to stage a "hostile takeover" of the company, and as he is now in charge Milo is free to return to work without fear of being killed. To Leo's surprise Milo turns him down, saying he intends to remain a baker and will pay him fair price for the shop. Leo is confused until he sees Rhiannon enter the shop, and leaves silently when Milo steps away to greet her. The two then go out to greet the entire town, there to enjoy the grand opening of Milo's bakery, "Shakespeare's Cake".

Welcome to Wales and Baker Week

Croeso Mawr.... a warm welcome to our Wales and Baker week!!

Come with us and discover a wonderful landscape and one of the most charming projects Damian Lewis ever did.

Hope you enjoy beautiful pictures, clips and information.

Wish you all a perfect start to the week!!

the pictures for this week's adventure are from:
damian-lewis.com, citytrips,telegraph.co.uk, walespics.com,travelpod.com
tripadvisor.com and irondonkey.com
thank you!!