Damian's Desire

Damian Lewis and an F-type – the chaps at Jaguar know how to get the top slot on Woman Driver Blog. 
   The Homeland star will play the lead in a short film called Desire created by Jaguar and Ridley Scott Associates. The breathy, almost Donna-Summer-naughty, music is by Lana Del Rey, the track Burning Desire being inspired by (or commissioned for, perhaps) the F-type. In my book it’s better that Adele’s Skyfall.
   Desire starts filming on location in the Chilean desert at the beginning of December, and will be directed by Adam Smith, the man who called the shots on Matt Smith’s debut season as Dr Who. The female lead is Shannyn Sossamon, I’m afraid the only film I’d seen from her bio was A Knight’s Tale, but she’d done lots of indy films. The baddy is Jordi Molla, who is famous in Spain, and was in Bad Boys II, (I haven’t seen it, but I have seen Hot Fuzz, so I’m impressed).
   In the press release Damian Lewis commented: "When Jaguar approached me about the F-TYPE Desire film I was really intrigued. I then got to read the script and decided it was definitely a project I wanted to be a part of. Working with the director Adam Smith from Ridley Scott Associates, it promises to be an adventure. Jaguar cars have played some iconic roles in film for many years and I'm looking forward to being the first to drive the F-TYPE in film."
   The film tells the story of Clark, played by Lewis (Lewis and Clark - was that deliberate?), who delivers cars for a living, running into trouble after a chance encounter with a mysterious, young woman in the middle of a lawless desert. It’s billed as a story of betrayal, retribution, passion and greed.
   Despite the casting of a Brit in a car with British heritage, the film seems angled at the other side of the pond, from the moment it opens with a suitcase full of US dollars being blown away on the wind. Jaguar still needs to fight hard to win over American buyers. The unreliable E-type was a big joke in the last series of Mad Men. Spoiler alert! One character can’t even kill himself in one because it won’t start.
    Jaguar has promised to release exclusive content from the set itself in Chile’s Atacama Desert, I’ll keep an eye on it.

See the teaser and a car-racing video at www.ftype.com/desire

Click here for a list of E-type appearances on film