Inside the 'Life' Finale with Damian Lewis and Rand Ravich by Troy Rogers
After two seasons, the questions surrounding why Charlie Crews was sent to prison get answered in the season finale of NBC's life, which airs April 8 at 9pm. One of the most unique dramatic cop concepts that sees a wrongfully imprisoned officer return to the force, Life creator Rand Ravich planted the seeds of mystery surrounding Damian Lewis' character Charlie Crews as he returned to active duty to investigate a string of murders in Season 2 while learning of affairs, disappearances, and dealt with gangsters as he also saw his father turn up to complicate his problems. Although TV is in a state of economic flux, Rand Ravich and his Life team have answered a lot of questions for fans in the event that Life doesn't return for a third season.
Leading up to the Life finale, we hopped on a conference call with several outlets to get the scoop from actor Damian Lewis and creator Rand Ravich on the end of Season 2 and what fans can expect to learn about the back story of Charlie Crews.
Ravich on the challenges of getting Life off of the ground:
"Creatively, I have to say there were very few challenges. Once - it happens very rarely - but there was a great moment in my life where that character of Charlie Crews appeared and I think everybody saw him the same way I saw him. As long as people realized he was not static, that it was about the contradiction of transcendence and revenge, I think everybody thought, ‘I understand that.’ And it was a really blessed process right from the start.
"The challenge, honestly, has been being true to that. You’re not getting ground down into week to week machine of episodic television, which I love, but remembering that’s what the show is about. Because I do think that with Crews and with the good fortune of Damian Lewis, I think there’s so many places to discover, to explore the human condition with that character and that actor. So I think it’s remembering. And we do this when we sit down to write. We remember who Charlie Crews is and what’s great about him and what we love about him and keeping open to where he would go. It’s less about taking him to new places and it’s more about remembering who he is to begin with."
Damian Lewis on why people continue to tune in to Life:
"Well, I think there’s a lot of procedural cop drama. We’re a cop show that has a bit of difference to it. It has themes which are a little bit more ambitious than your average show, to do with transcendence and second chances. I think people respond to the Zen Buddhists elements of it. But it’s not laid on heavily, it’s done playfully, and it’s interesting for people to watch. And I think the show is constantly conflicted with itself. There are opposing, magnetic forces in the show within the main storyline and within each character. So I think there’s just a bit more for people to get their teeth into and that’s why they stick around and watch it."
Rand Ravich on Life returning in the fall:
"I’m being very Zen about it. My feeling is it’s a crazy time in television and NBC is kind of figuring itself out, and those questions are certainly above my pay-grade. But I do feel, like I always felt, like creatively we get tremendous support at the studio and network. But I think they got pilots coming in, honestly, and I think they’ll judge us with everybody else."
Lewis on what we can expect from the finale:
"I think that’s a question for Rand as much as it is for me, but things - plotlines that people have followed the whole way through in terms of Charlie’s own story, come to a very satisfying conclusion, on the one hand, while one or two of them are left unresolved in a satisfying and tantalizing way, on the other hand. In fact, a lot of the show concentrates almost entirely on that element of the story."
Rand Ravich on whether the show is over once Charlie finds out everything that put him in jail:
"No. The show is not done, because what happened to him, and we’ve gotten back to that - what happened to him on that day twelve years ago, and what happened to him in those twelve years of prison. We perhaps did stray a little bit in mid-season, but those things will be with him forever and he will take that into every situation. And the conspiracy of the exact things that set him up and sent him there are resolved on one level here, but it does go beyond that. So in the immediate, mechanical sense, the conspiracy itself can go on, certainly from this, but also what happened to him will go on forever. We thought this from the first season; people go through events in their life that change them forever on a daily basis. So, absolutely not. When he finds out what happened to him, he’s got to deal with it and he’s got to integrate it into his life. And I feel like it’s a gift to get that character because it does keep growing."
Damian Lewis on whether he’s sad at the thought of maybe not playing Charlie next season:
"Three of the major studios are currently in a holding pattern waiting to hear. You get attached to characters the longer you play them. Working in network TV, completing a season of network TV is a huge accomplishment, whether it’s good or crap as far as I’m concerned. It’s an endurance test. You have to fight very hard just to create a little bubble around yourself. Just to give yourself enough space daily in which you can be creative, because there’s a constant clamor around you. If you’re a writer/creator, like Rand, you’re never left alone."
Damian Lewis on whether he always wanted to be an actor:
"Yeah. I wanted to run a bingo hall but I ended up acting. I always acted in school productions, that kind of meddle. I wasn’t a child actor. I wasn’t a performer or anything like that. In fact, the kind of schools I went to would suggest that would not be the path one would take. But I suppose my road and aspirations lay in theater, because I grew up in London where our theater tradition is very strong and it didn’t really involve filming TV. And the more I really worked in film and TV is when I became to appreciate it. I love doing both now, love having that opportunity to go to, and I slide backwards and forwards between the two."
After two seasons, the questions surrounding why Charlie Crews was sent to prison get answered in the season finale of NBC's life, which airs April 8 at 9pm. One of the most unique dramatic cop concepts that sees a wrongfully imprisoned officer return to the force, Life creator Rand Ravich planted the seeds of mystery surrounding Damian Lewis' character Charlie Crews as he returned to active duty to investigate a string of murders in Season 2 while learning of affairs, disappearances, and dealt with gangsters as he also saw his father turn up to complicate his problems. Although TV is in a state of economic flux, Rand Ravich and his Life team have answered a lot of questions for fans in the event that Life doesn't return for a third season.
"Creatively, I have to say there were very few challenges. Once - it happens very rarely - but there was a great moment in my life where that character of Charlie Crews appeared and I think everybody saw him the same way I saw him. As long as people realized he was not static, that it was about the contradiction of transcendence and revenge, I think everybody thought, ‘I understand that.’ And it was a really blessed process right from the start.
"Well, I think there’s a lot of procedural cop drama. We’re a cop show that has a bit of difference to it. It has themes which are a little bit more ambitious than your average show, to do with transcendence and second chances. I think people respond to the Zen Buddhists elements of it. But it’s not laid on heavily, it’s done playfully, and it’s interesting for people to watch. And I think the show is constantly conflicted with itself. There are opposing, magnetic forces in the show within the main storyline and within each character. So I think there’s just a bit more for people to get their teeth into and that’s why they stick around and watch it."
"I think that’s a question for Rand as much as it is for me, but things - plotlines that people have followed the whole way through in terms of Charlie’s own story, come to a very satisfying conclusion, on the one hand, while one or two of them are left unresolved in a satisfying and tantalizing way, on the other hand. In fact, a lot of the show concentrates almost entirely on that element of the story."
"Three of the major studios are currently in a holding pattern waiting to hear. You get attached to characters the longer you play them. Working in network TV, completing a season of network TV is a huge accomplishment, whether it’s good or crap as far as I’m concerned. It’s an endurance test. You have to fight very hard just to create a little bubble around yourself. Just to give yourself enough space daily in which you can be creative, because there’s a constant clamor around you. If you’re a writer/creator, like Rand, you’re never left alone."