Sunday, April 21, 2013
The British Are Taking All the Best Hollywood Parts[VIDEO]
WSJ.com: Daniel Day-Lewis, the son of an English poet laureate and a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, just won his third Academy Award, this one for a stunning performance as Abraham Lincoln. I didn't think twice about a Brit playing our most American of presidents because Mr. Day-Lewis had already been our last Mohican, led our gangs of New York and drained our California oil fields.
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4 comments:
Aside from the fact that this article is hilarious, it does make some intriguing points. I was unaware that so many of our "Americans" in film were actually British. But that really a reason to be concerned. Meryl Streep was in "Iron Lady" and she played the part of a brit just fine. Not to mentions that James MacAvoy, one the rising British stars almost always plays and englishman even though he's Scottish. There is really nothing to worry about and no need for our actors to jump ship and hop across the pond. An American actress did win the academy award for best actress after all. I think we can hold off on a full scale British invasion (or should I say American invasion of Britain) until the British claim all the academy award. Then we really have something to worry about.
All joking aside, I firmly believe that the people who get the parts are the ones that deserve them (in most cases). The Brits are taking our roles, great. Maybe it's a case of better acting than their voices and accents making our casting agents swoon. Rather then sending our actors across the pond, lets take a page out of the Royal Academies acting book. What are they doing that's making their actors more desirable?
But hey, if all else fails, we can just have our American actors walk into the casting room with flawless British accents. That will really throw the casting agents for a loop.
I do have to wonder if this has been the case since it became much easier to cross the Atlantic, or if this is a more recent phenomenon. I also wonder why this is, if like Jenni said this is a case of better acting. And if so, is the better acting because of they way they are trained or is it just the fact that only the really good actors try to come over. I've never really paid attention to this, but I have to wonder if American actors are, overall, as good at accents not their own as British actors seem to be, and if that somehow contributes to their success.
Is it just me or is the interviewer taking this much more seriously than Rob himself? It's quite humorous actually. When it comes to determining American identity, it's almost impossible. Aside from indigenous tribes which make up about 0.94% of the population, the rest of us are all immigrants. So what if another country is better at acting? This nation should take from its roots as a melting-pot of diversity and create a new generation of actors with chops to kick British butt. It seems silly to freak out about it when it just gives an opportunity for friendly competition, something this country thrives on.
I think this is not at all surprising. With actors out there like Judy Dench and Maggie Smith it is very difficult for American actors to keep up. I think that there is some cross over like others have said with the Iron Lady and Streep doing that role. I do think that a lot of times British actors are considered more versatile. For example take Angela Landsbury she has crossed over in a variety of roles some with an accent some not. She has played in Murder She Wrote as well as Mame. It is hard to compare with actors like that.
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