Increase in Americans playing British roles

M

Manjula R

New member
No wonder British actors moan about the lack of opportunities

Renne Zellweger is currently playing Beatrix Potter

The Other Boleyn will star:
Eric Bana - Henry VIII
Scarlett Johansson - Mary Boleyn
Natalie Portman - Anne Boleyn

Mary Queen of Scots will also star Scarlett Johansson

Bronte - will star Michelle Williams

and thats just the tip of the iceberg.

We definately have actors capable of playing these roles and most of the above names are not big enough names to guarentee a film's success so there's no excuse in picking americans for these roles.
 
Anne Hathaway is also playing Jane Austen :)

I don't get what the big deal is. British actors play Americans all the time and no one complains. Actors often play different nationalities that they can pass for; it's part of being an actor.
 
It works both ways. Look at the cast of Batman Begins (mainly British), and the X-Men trilogy (Equally British, Canadian, Australian and American).
 
Yes, but the difference is, they are playing fictional characters, the Americans pointed out in the first post are playing people who are British icons well known in our history! Surely there are enough British actors to play them?
I bet the Americans wouldn't like it if they had a British actor playing George Washington or some other 'American hero' :rolleyes:
 
Banana:

I think the problem is this: that in order for any vaguely large film to be made,it seems that an American must be involved.

This despite the fact that world box office long ago outstripped US in importance to the studios.So why are we pandering(it seems) to American audiences who so we are told seem to dislike non-american accents?.

Case in point: Enemy at the Gates,despite three or four huge British stars and being afilm about one of history's defining battles,could NOT get American money because no major US star(ie an A or A+ star) was interested....

Ditto for the excellent 'Grey Owl'......this despite starring the then James Bond(!),Brosnan, AND with Sir Richard 'oscar winner for Ghandi and world famous director' Attenborough as director......
 
It seems to be no different in the movie world to how it is in Amateur dramatics! The people who know the people who are casting get the parts. The people who are casting are usually the people backing the show, and they decide who gets the parts. These are usually frienRAB of the director/casting director. The director/casting director often prefers to work with people they know or have worked with before. Others don't get much of a look in, and suitability for a part has little to do with it because a decent actor can mould themselves to fit the part. In am. dram. the miscasting often borders on the riduculous, but the luvvie network must be appeased :)
 
I can't speak for the populace as a whole but I could care less who plays the role as long as they play it well. George Washington was an English-American anyway so why would I care if an Englishman played him? Casting would only be controversial to me if they cast someone of a different race who couldn't possibly accurately portray the historical icon.
 
Well we are a country of 300 million in a world of over 6 billion but make up 1/2 of their box office revenues so I disagree that foreign markets are more important (I'm not denying they are important, Hollywood counts on that money to finance the huge bugets.)

I don't think it has to be a big American star either just a big star. There are plenty of British, Australian and Canadian actors mostly who are very well known here. They just must not have thought that Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley etc were right for the roles (or they could have declined the roles, you never know).
 
I have no problem with people from different countires playing characters from other countries, that's what actings about. As long as they do the role well and put on a good british accent ( or whatever accents relevant to the character) I don't mind at all. I for one thought Johnny Depp in Finding Neverland was inspired casting and can't picture a british actor doing it as well.
 
Renee Zellweger is very good in her English roles and is an acclaimed actress. I saw Miss Potter and she was well cast. All the other actors are British. Ewan McGregor, a Scot, plays an Englishman! It's a slight film.

But the idea of Scarlett Johansson playing Mary Queen of Scots is laughable. I know they don't always cast someone who looks exactly right but she is totally wrong for the role, although about the right age for the big events of Mary's short reign. I'm just reading a biography of MQOS now and I simply cannot see it. :rolleyes:
 
I was about to start a thread on the Bronte film but thought I'd add my comments on here instead.

My problem with the casting of Michelle Williams isn't the fact she's American - it's her beauty! Charlotte Bronte was well known for being plain - the well-known portrait of her was flattering, a photograph showed her to be even plainer than that. A large inspiration for Jane Eyre was the fact Charlotte wanted to write a heroine plain like herself, so the beauty aspect is very relevant to her character.
 
yeah well when it comes to depicting Greek films like Troy, Alexander, etc.. i dont see hollywood signing up well known Greek-american actors or Greek actors for their roles.. they get american actors to pass off as being Greek and talk like them when clearly in Alexander - Colin Ferrell had a british accent and was totally off! [that movie in general was just horrid] but i understand where you guys are coming from!
 
At the end of the day, movie making is about making money - not artistic credibility. So I guess the producers feel that having a big name in the movie is more important than having Brit actors playing Brit roles.

And these days, with so much movement of actors between countries and roles (e.g. the already cited Aussies Eric Bana and Hugh Jackman playing American in, say Hulk, or Canadian in X-Men and that chap in Batman Begins), does it really matter anymore the provenance from which an actor comes?

(Not sure that last sentence was quite grammatically correct - but you get the drift!)
 
Never gonna happen that you get a plain actress playing a role. Even in TV's Ugly Betty, the main character isn't at all ugly - they've had to work hard to add braces, thick glasses, extra eyebrow hair, bad hair and wardrobe, to make an otherwise not-unattractive actress look bad.

The day you get an ugly actress playing a lead role is the day you get average, un-airbrushed models on the front of magazines!
 
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