Is it a cat-and-mouse game?
A showdown between boxing champs?
A kings war of clashing castles and countries?
Credit: Jeff Neumann/Showtime
Its almost like, why is he so fing obsessed?!
Debauched, yet with all these virtues underneath all the fat.
But does one cheer for Javert or Valjean?
Were trying to get underneath the monolith of the billionaire and the federal prosecutor.
I dont really play the guy whos in charge like this, says Giamatti.
Hes sort of been written a little bit like a superhero.
He lives in a rarified atmosphere where he seems to outperform and outthink everybody.
These are people who self-mythologize and recast themselves as heroes, says Koppelman.
A big way that hedge-fund people get investors is by building the story of who they are.
Either choice might suggest more of the audiences political views than they might expect of a pulpy television show.
Is making money intrinsically bad?
Are cops any less corrupt than the robbers?
Were in that world of grey in this show.
Levien and Koppelman wont swear to either Rhoades or Axe; neither will Giamatti and Lewis, of course.
We all talk about it a lot, laughs Siff.
We have Monday morning watercooler conversations every day.
Im talking to Paul and hes like, Theyre going to hate me.
Theyre going to love Damian, and theyre going to hate me.
It should be complicated all the time.
If we do our job well, it wont matter where people come down week to week.
Billionsdebuts Sunday at 10 p.m. on Showtime.
A version of this story appeared inEntertainment Weeklyissue #1399, on newsstands now
