MovieChat Forums > The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising (2007) Discussion > A Hollywood View of England yet Again

A Hollywood View of England yet Again

posted 15 years ago by pineleigh
38 replies | jump to latest

As someone who lives here in the UK, why must we have this idea of what Hollywood thinks our country looks like in film. When Will leaves school
for the Christmas vacation it could be England, but then the film cuts to
the school bus going thru' what looks like German or East European countryside
& the buildings are nothing like the ones here in the UK, this view of the UK
is so inaccurate why can't Hollywood get it right set these films in some other country if they can't make it accurate, at least they don't show us shroaded in fog anymore(I hope).

[–] pbarnes-9 15 years ago

Good call; if I remember correctly after all this time, this neglible film was shot mostly in Romania.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] pbarnes-9 15 years ago

LOLOL

[–] vlcupper1 15 years ago

Because they don't care about being accurate. They just want to make money. It's the same with parts of the States. In A Time to Kill, they made people from Mississippi out to be slow, dimwitted imbeciles with no air conditioners or mops.

I expect nothing from Hollywood anymore. The last DVD I bought was Closer. Movies just aren't worth it anymore.

"The truth is never flattering, Dr. Adams."
"You fine, foxy lady."

[–] vanity6_2000 15 years ago

LOL

[–] Joannakathryn 14 years ago

>>Because they don't care about being accurate. They just want to make money. It's the same with parts of the States. In A Time to Kill, they made people from Mississippi out to be slow, dimwitted imbeciles with no air conditioners or mops.<<

Exactly. And anything set in Texas will include horses, cowboy hats, and a desert setting, or Dallas with mountains in the background.

Dallas barely has any hills. Very few of us own horses and cowboy boots pretty much went out of style, unless you're a real cowboy, in the 80s after the Urban Cowboy craze.

Women who are supposed to be graduates of major universities will use improper English---"It don't," "Mama don't 'low (allow)." Or women will have names like "Birdie" or "Bernice," when we've got as many Ashleys, Madisons, or Megans as Hollywood--maybe even more.

I love Jesus, but I drink a little.

[–] Eve_French 15 years ago

The director is from Switzerland, so you can't blame Hollywood.

[–] james-mac 9 years ago

He's not the Producer however. And being from Switzerland doesn't mean you don't know what England looks like.

[–] different-drummer 15 years ago

On the other hand: it's also annoying when they have to include stock shots of the Changing of the Guard, Houses of Parliament, red buses, "bobbies" on the beat etc, just to prove that it's England (see e.g. Woody Allen's Match Point).

she wants to be flowers but you make her owls

[–] fairbairn 15 years ago

Lack of respect. Austin Powers took the piss out of the woeful tendency brilliantly with his fake 'London' set in the middle of some Californian desert land.

Esse est percipe, probably.

[–] MeanerWithTheScenery 15 years ago

"It's amazing how the English countryside looks in no way like southern California"

.

[–] beckyvowles 15 years ago

If they had filmed this on the moon then it would have probably looked more like England.
This was so blatantly filme in central Europe, that it would have made far more sense to simple change story so Will went to an International school in Bucharest, or Budapest. Nothing about either countryside or any of the buildings even suggested the UK. Even the manor house looked like it was in the US. I really cannot see why it really matter if it was in the UK, and as they couldn't be ar**d to actually film anything in the UK why didn't they just change the setting?
The stock footage of police, etc was funny, as was the odd inclusion of UK road signs. However what was possibly funniest was the insanely high police presence in the small "english" villiage, all in the name of making sure there was something English in all of the scenes.

[–] pbarnes-9 15 years ago

They pretty much changed everything else in the story, they might as well have changed the location to Romania (where the movie was shot).

[–] cell0097 15 years ago

Or they could at least have filmed this movie in the bowels of hell where it belongs.

[–] FaulkHugh 15 years ago

Eh, no big deal. What do you care, if it was for Hollywood your UK ass wouldn't have a single decent movie to watch. HARRY POTTER INCLUDED!!! hahahaha, but seriously, all you UK folk do is bitch about the states. Most Americans will never see the UK in person, therefore will never know the difference. Most of Hollywood makes movies for release in the US, and if they seep into other countries....great. They don't really care, we as Americans don't care, just be thankful you have a halfway decent movie to watch every once and a while.

[–] pbarnes-9 15 years ago

And sometimes we Americans make tripe of something wonderful, such as this wonderful story gifted to us by British writer, Susan Cooper. Its a hella big country, ya'll; leaves room for a lot of dopes.

[–] hubble-hallow 14 years ago

I cant believed they bastardized this story so much by introducing the most boring yank family imaginable.

[–] pbarnes-9 14 years ago

I don't think there was anything about the story that they DIDN'T "bastardize."

[–] Timos 14 years ago

“Most of Hollywood makes movies for release in the US, and if they seep into other countries....great.” Wow that’s ignorant; you do realize that US box office usually only accounts for about 30% of total worldwide gross!

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] El_Farmerino_Esq 14 years ago

http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=avatar.htm

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Timos 14 years ago

FaulkHugh: Did you read the boxofficemojo link? Domestic: $720,189,000 28.1%
+ Foreign: $1,839,000,000 71.9% It's well known that domestic audience is small compared to worldwide. Look like you're the one talking out of your ass! Now you've been proven wrong you can move along.