MovieChat Forums > The Conspirator (2011) Discussion > Foreign Actors in American Roles

Foreign Actors in American Roles

posted 13 years ago by TimMeade
23 replies | jump to latest

It seems more and more that in many major films produced, a high proportion of the roles are filled by actors from Britain, Ireland and Australia. Not just character or 'baddie' parts any more but leading roles.
I know Hollywood has a long and honorable tradition of welcoming foreign actors. One can think of the likes of Cary Grant, David Niven, Errol Flynn and so many more from the golden era onwards.
But I would like to hear views, especially from Americans (I am English, domiciled in Australia) as to what they think of this and why they think it should be so. America has produced so many great film actors you surely can't be short of them.

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[–] TimMeade 13 years ago

Thanks mk

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[–] StillAtMyMoms 13 years ago

Tom Wilkinson is like the go-to British actor to play American roles. He does a superb job and is immensely underrated. Cases in point: In the Bedroom, that one HBO movie about the 2000 election voting scandal as James Baker, and most recently: The Conspirator.

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[–] tstraton 13 years ago

The best actors and films are, and have been in the past, from the U.K. English films are to made for the best entertainment value possible as opposed to most American films that seem to aim for the biggest box office results.

[–] daimposter 13 years ago

While I agree that "English films are to made for the best entertainment value possible as opposed to most American films that seem to aim for the biggest box office results.", I still think you are incorrect to say the best films are from the UK. Perhaps if you are referring to only % of films from each country, you would be correct, but the US puts out soooooooooo many films, they will have most of the best films year in and year out.

The difference is that you may have two or three bad english films for each really good film while US films might be 5 or 6 bad films to each really good film. The reason is as you pointed out, US film industry is more concerned about box office rather than quality.

[–] martin-669 8 years ago

I wonder if British films would make a difference, not really sure that England makes any purely English films. If you look at films like say, Harry Potter it is pretty much full of Welsh, Irish and Scottish actors alongside English actors (and I suppose, other nationalities too) however, it's not an English film...Oh Wait! Ah I see now, You lot still think England is an island, that England is the UK. Silly Me...!

[–] DenLilleHavfrue85 13 years ago

He's so good I couldn't remember if he was British or American TBH.

"I don't want to make money. I just want to be wonderful."

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[–] howdytwo 13 years ago

TimMeade ~
There are times when quality is preferred over nationality, and fortunately Mr. Redford chose quality. Great cast, and McAvoy shone. I've been watching him for a long time and hope more producers/directors here, stateside, take notice. I appreciate your observation.

[–] [email protected] 13 years ago

I never thought Sam Worthington was Australian when I saw The Avatar until I read it on IMDB.

[–] pete2141 13 years ago

Hi Tim,

I'm American but I really don't care where an actor is from as long as they do the part well. In fact I think it a good trait for actors to do different accents. My favorite has to be Brad Pitt in Snatch. I had to watch the subtitles the first time so I could understand him. One movie I found strange was Ememy at the Gates. They had Ed Harris portraying a German but using his own American accent, Jude Law played a Russian but used his English accent, then Ron Pearlman, an American, played a Russian but used an English accent. I don't know what they did that.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute. You ain’t heard nothin’ yet!”

[–] TheSummer2012 13 years ago

Pete2141 makes a few good points there: It may be weird to see a Scotsman cast for an American role but it's certainly a lot weirder to cast Americans or Brits for German, Russian, etc. roles. But, hey, if you really go down that route, you'd need to have Schindler (as in Schindler's List) speaking German and Captain Ramius (in Hunt for Red October) speaking Russian. So, maybe, let's just try and get the best actors for the job and not worry so much about the authenticity of their accents.

On a wider note, I think it is wrong to regard Hollywood as purely "American". It technically is, of course, but it's also a melting pot of international talent. It's a bit like the Premiership (that's the English soccer league, for you Americans) or the Spanish La Liga: The best footballers from all over the world play there and Hollywood is similar with regard to the movie industry.

[–] knight1192a 13 years ago

John Hillerman played the role of Higgins in Magnum PI. The story goes that an English fan once wrote Mr. Hillerman and told him that he was a credit to the British Empire because he was a fine example of an English actor in the same mold as Sir Laurence Olivier. Intrestingly, Hillerman was a Texan who developed his English accent for the show by studying Olivier. Yet folks thought he was an Englishman.

So what's my point? I've heard actresses and actors from England, Australia, and New Zeland who I would have sworn were Americans when seeing them in a movie or on a TV show. Then I hear them speaking in their native accent and am surprised to learn they might not be an American. I turn to IMDb to discover the accent I hear them using is in fact their native accent, which may raise my opinion of their abilities.

I'm more impressed by an actor or actress who can actually pull off an accent not native to them and be very believable in speaking it. If they are believable in that accent and those mannerisms then it should not really matter what country they are from.

[–] GMVintage 13 years ago

I'm looking forward to Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln in "Lincoln" directed by Steven Speilberg. Will no doubt bring an Oscar nomination to DDL and possibly his third win.

Is there a case, on film where an American is playing a British Monarch? I couldn't think of one.

There is a fight...

Closing your eyes won't help.

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[–] zz1986 13 years ago

I never really cared where actors came from though it does kind of irk me that the new Superman is being played by a British actor. I mean you guys can have Batman, even Spiderman...but Superman...I know technically he's an alien but somehow he's intrinsically American. I know it's just acting but all the way across the Atlantic, even though I was still in middle school and had never heard of the books or seen the movie I heard about the stink made when Renee Zellwegger played Bridget Jones. I can't imagine what would happen if it was even suggested Chuck Norris play the next James Bond. It's silly but that in particular just bugs me.