Is Kate Mara playing a scottish person in this film? I mean personally I don't understand why they never use scottish actresses. I'm from Glasgow and there are plenty of good actresses here.
Just a thought that maybe they should try to find some talented scottish females for a change instead of giving the americans all our roles.
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I'm going to be critical because I love Kate Mara, but here goes.
Yes, she's playing a Scottish character and has said that learning a Scottish accent was very difficult. Now, I'm speculating here...but I assume she was given the role because Scotland has zero actresses who are famous here in the US of A. This is where the box office success lays, and you need some star power for marketing reasons. Scotland may have a few actresses, but none of them have done anything worth seeing.
"A heavy cost, I pay it gladly" - John Preston
yes you're very right there. There definitely aren't any young Scottish actresses who are well known, even here in Scotland. Do you think there is a gap in the market for Scottish actresses or do you think they just don't have a place at all. I'm wondering what the reason is because there are a few Scottish men who are massive stars like ewan macgregor, robert carlyle, sean connery, even james macevoy now.
shareAhem. Kelly MacDonald? Theres a good Scottish actress.
She's a bit old, but it does *beep* me off because I know countless struggling young actresses who are beyond decent and they pass it to an american because she'd well known? I'd never heard of her before that film and I didn't even go to see it.
JASPER HALE <3 Nothing like a bit of southern comfort . . . ;)
Kelly MacDonald was the first that came to mindWhen there's no more room in hell, The dead will walk the earth...
This is a tired topic. People, they are ACTORS. They pretend to be people they're not. They pretend to be nationalities they're not. How many Moors play Othello? Is Craig Ferguson a Scot now that he's an American? How come Tom Wilkinson is playing so Americans? And Ewan McGregor, for that matter? Alec Guinness played Hitler. We can't have that! He's not German!
Get over it.
The river flows both ways... We have movies with Aussies like Mel Gibson playing the role of "The Patriot" rofl... That sort of stuff doesn't really bother me, but when the actor is portraying the most national of characters possible, and is titled as the most nationalistic USA character imaginable, and they import an actor, it makes me wonder why Mel wanted to do it... was Mel trying to make a statement? But yeah there are tons of Brits playing Americans when there are a zillion Americans available... It doens't bother me. IMO, the best actor for the part should get the part so long as the accent is believable. I guess in reality it all boils down to who looks the part the most and who's available and most importantly, who's got the right connections. Generally, you'll really never hear an American complain about "The Patriot" or similar stuff... For films like Harry Potter where Rowling said "UK actors only"... That would never fly here in the US for someone to say "No foreign actors"... it would be considered low class, like racist. My hat's off to Spielberg for telling Rowling to go fly a kite. Cast each actor for each part, and find the best match every time, disregarding things like nationality, race, social class, sex appeal (unless the part calls for it or a lack of it). Once you've become nationalistic, it's a slippery slope to slide down to racist, sexist, homophobic, etc... For a crystal clear example of this, look at how Hitler took Germany down that slope... pretty much the whole damn country.
share"Scotland may have a few actresses, but none of them have done anything worth seeing."
Seen them all, have you?
Rose Leslie-Harington comes to mind:
'Downton Abbey' (2010 and 2016)
'Game of Thrones' (2012-2014)
'Blandings' 2.7 (2014)
'The Great Fire' (2014)
'Morgan' (2016)
'The Good Fight' (2017-2019)
Coming: 'Vigil', 'Death on the Nile' (2021)
The big stone slab they used in the film was made in China. Go figure!
shareI don't know why everyone's having a go at Kate Mara.
Ian Hamilton was played by Charlie Cox... who's English and therefore just as inappropriate if you're playing by the rules that no actor can impersonate someone of another nationality.
She was very convincing and terribly cute to boot, she's an actress that's what they do take on roles OP is a muppet "I don't know why they didn't use a Scottish actress" what difference does it make where the actor comes from its not a soap opera you nit wit
shareKate Mara was no more convincing as a Scotswoman than Charlie Cox as a Scotsman!! When you come from Scotland as I do, you know instantly whether someone is putting the accent on or not. I guessed straight away and I have to say that it ruined the film completely for me from the outset. I couldn't believe in the characters and their accents kept slipping throughout the film. What the hell is wrong with us in Scotland that we have 3 Scottish movies we should be proud of, namely Braveheart, Rob Roy and now Stone of Destiny - yet ALL leading roles have been given to an Australian, an Irishman and now an Englishman! Beggars belief, it really does! Ok, let actors have accents if necessary. But surely with Stone of Destiny - which was never going to be a Blockbuster like Braveheart - they could have given the film authenticity by sticking to Scottish actors. Scottish historic movies should be played by Scottish actors. Bad move and spoilt the film for me, I'm afraid.
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"Patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels" -- Oscar Wilde
shareBecause for some reason Ham Shanks only watch films with Ham Shank actors in them...
shareBecause most americans can't stand the way real Scottish accents sound... They are used to the fake ones they see on tv, so when they hear a real one it sounds funny.
sharehaha! that could be it. although when i was in america they seemed to all love my accent. and also a lot of scottish actors seem to talk with a really fake accent on tv. it annoys me!
shareMost Americans -- that's a whopping generalization since "most" usually stands for me and myself.
-- If Ewan McGregor were a lollipop I'd be a diabetic strumpet --
"Now, I'm speculating here...but I assume she was given the role because Scotland has zero actresses who are famous here in the US of A. This is where the box office success lays, and you need some star power for marketing reasons."
Makes total sense, considering it was direct-to-DVD in the States. Cough.
I always thought James McAvoy would have been perfect for the Ian Hamilton role in this movie, but I think he was filming Wanted at the time, plus he'd done Last King of Scotland so maybe the part would have been too similar; ala cheeky scot.
At first Charlie Cox's accent kind of went whoahh! And same with Kate. But I just decided that it was their Kelvinside accents, once you accept they're not from Glasgow like Stephen mcCole or Billy Boyd's character then you can kind of accept their accents. Maybe it's easier for non-scots to do a so-called Kelvinside accent than a thick Glasgow brogue.
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Darkness Now online:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NixUM5ieKN0
That's silly. It's a movie. What difference does it make were the players come from?
shareThe point that so many people have made that Scottish actresses aren't famous enough and you need American actresses for marketing and box office, is a nonsense argument in this particular case - Stone of Destiny was no box office king. I don't believe it went to theatres in North America. And Kate Mara is not all that well known, she probably doesn't have all that many more die-hard fans than the best Scottish actress available has.
The likely reason, as is the reason in most films like this, the roles went to the actors who the producers thought would have the best chemistry, best sex appeal and do a reasonable enough job with the characters and accents.
I personally don't really like the idea of a Brit playing Ian Hamilton - that seems to go against the point of the film. But belive it or not, the film would probably take much more heat if they purposely cast only Scottish actors. In movie world, it is ok to rule out actors based on looks or age, but not ok to rule out actors based on nationality. That's just how it is.
And for everybody wanting McAvoy to play Ian Hamilton, yes I would have loved it too. But McAvoy was in too much demand and would have cost too much money. It serves the film better to cast smaller actors and have somebody like Robert Carlyle in a small role.
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