Damian Lewis, yes or no?

[Eichhörnchen]

http://i.imgur.com/oD5CqWd.jpg?1


As the benchmark for WW2 on TV now (at least in the ETO) do you approve of the choice of a British actor, Damian Lewis, to play Major Dick Winters in "Band Of Brothers"?

I have to admit that I hadn't seen him before this, and assumed he was an American actor: I was pretty astonished when I learned that he's a Brit 'cos quite frankly, to me, he couldn't have looked more like a Yank.

For my part, he gets a massive thumbs-up, but I'll understand if you don't agree... do you?

[Tchocky]

Q: True or false - Ronnie Wood?

A: Eh, true.

Q: Actually it's false, Ronnie would not.

[Bilge_Rat]

it was filmed in the UK, so not surprising you have a lot of British actors. If you look carefully you can spot James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy in small roles. This was long before they became stars.

[Betonov]

I never knew the real col. Winters, but Lewis did an excellent job in that role.

[Eichhörnchen]

Q: True or false - Ronnie Wood?

A: Eh, true.

Q: Actually it's false, Ronnie would not.

Huh??? No understand...

it was filmed in the UK, so not surprising you have a lot of British actors. If you look carefully you can spot James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy in small roles. This was long before they became stars.

Yes, we enjoyed seeing some familiar British TV actors now turned into GI's, but I'm still surprised they didn't bus in an American actor for the "plum" role of Winters...

[Bilge_Rat]

personally I thought Lewis did a great job in "Band of Brothers". That mini-series is my favorite war movie by far and I have seen it several times.

[Nippelspanner]

He was awesome and since BoB he is on my personal "top actors" list.
Was also great in 'Warriors', first movie I've seen with him.

[u crank]

Yes. Have watched Band of Brothers many times and also read the book.

Lewis also played an American Marine in the Showtime series Homeland.

[Skybird]

Why mistaking the actor with the role he plays?

The only important question is whether the actor is a good actor or not. And Damin Lewis as well as many others in that series did a hell of a good job.

[Eichhörnchen]

Well I suppose the nub of my question was to discover, particularly from our American friends, whether there was any question as to why the role was given to a non-American, given that he would have to get to grips with the accent, and given that my American nephew once assured me that no Briton could fool an American that way. If the US audience found him convincing in the role then fine, but did they?

[Sailor Steve]

given that my American nephew once assured me that no Briton could fool an American that way.
I wonder what your American nephew thinks of Hugh Laurie in House?

[August]

Might be a fake accent but certainly more natural sounding than his native English accent would have been.

Take the BBC shows Wallander or Zen. Great shows but those English accents are so jarring.

[Eichhörnchen]

I wonder what your American nephew thinks of Hugh Laurie in House?

This made me smile. I know the show you mean, although I've never seen a whole episode, only clips: I don't know what US viewers make of Hugh Laurie as an American, or whether they are all even aware of his more familiar "cut-glass" English accent. Does he go down well or is he a bit of a joke? (I know the character he plays is a bit edgy and the show is, it seems, rather tongue-in-cheek). He's well-regarded here...

[Sailor Steve]

I became a Laurie fan thanks to Blackadder, and the more I see British comedy from that era the more I like him (and his cohorts). I was surprised at House, both how good he was at a semi-serious role and how well he caught the accent.

The real fun for me was how many fans of the show didn't know that he wasn't American. There was a lot of shock and it was fun to watch the reactions.

I do have to admit that I didn't know that Damien Lewis was British, and now that I do know I don't care. He performed the role brilliantly and fit right in. :sunny:

[Eichhörnchen]

All of that satisfies me greatly: I wanted to hear that Hugh Laurie fooled viewers, because his real accent must have therefore come as a huge surprise to many; also that you didn't know about Damian Lewis and that he convinced you...

[Egan]

Well I suppose the nub of my question was to discover, particularly from our American friends, whether there was any question as to why the role was given to a non-American, given that he would have to get to grips with the accent, and given that my American nephew once assured me that no Briton could fool an American that way. If the US audience found him convincing in the role then fine, but did they?

As far as I know, the reason for such a large amount of Brit actors in it - and there are a LOT - is partly because it was mostly filmed here and also because it is actually a joint HBO/BBC production into which the BBC put quite a bit of cash. They were supposed to have been making a show of their own based around a British battalion (about the 5th Seaforths, based on a book called 'Battalion by Alisdair Borthwick) but went with the HBO production instead.

Here's the cast list. It makes interesting reading.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185906/fullcredits/

I think there are actually more British actors in it than American or if there aren't it's damn close. A couple of them live near me. I see the lad who played Babe Heffron occasionally in the supermarket I use, and I've seen a couple of the others around as well. Always cracks me up that Ross McCall who plays Liebgott is a wee guy from Port Glasgow along the Clyde coast.!

[Eichhörnchen]

Really interesting: I'd just assumed it was an American production filmed here for reasons of location and maybe even budget. That puts a whole new perspective on things. Thanks for the link too: that's terrific.

[Aktungbby]

Why mistaking the actor with the role he plays?

The only important question is whether the actor is a good actor or not. And Damin Lewis as well as many others in that series did a hell of a good job.

Precisely and turnabout is fair play: Renée Zellweger! In 2001, Zellweger gained the prized lead role playing in the British romantic comedy film, Bridget Jones Diary, based on the 1996 novel of the same title. The choice came amid controversy since she was neither British nor overweight. During casting, Zellweger was told she was too skinny to play the chubby Bridget, so she quickly embarked on gaining the required weight (20 pounds) and learning an English accent. This role won her first Oscar nomination and enough plaudits to land her the sequel: Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason as well...Bravo!

[Torvald Von Mansee]

What do you guys think of Meryl Streep's accent abilities?

Btw, I always thought Bob Hoskins did a perfect working class Amercian accent. RIP.

[Eichhörnchen]

Add to that, Angelina Jolie as "Lara Croft". I was amazed to discover she wasn't a Brit: brilliant talent, beautiful woman...

[Jimbuna]

As far as I know, the reason for such a large amount of Brit actors in it - and there are a LOT - is partly because it was mostly filmed here and also because it is actually a joint HBO/BBC production into which the BBC put quite a bit of cash. They were supposed to have been making a show of their own based around a British battalion (about the 5th Seaforths, based on a book called 'Battalion by Alisdair Borthwick) but went with the HBO production instead.

Here's the cast list. It makes interesting reading.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185906/fullcredits/

I think there are actually more British actors in it than American or if there aren't it's damn close. A couple of them live near me. I see the lad who played Babe Heffron occasionally in the supermarket I use, and I've seen a couple of the others around as well. Always cracks me up that Ross McCall who plays Liebgott is a wee guy from Port Glasgow along the Clyde coast.!

Agreed :yep:

[Stealhead]

I believe that any halfway decent actor if given proper vocal coaching can pull off any English (British, Australian, American,what have you) dialect convincingly. Usually we are better fooled if the person is an unknown and we have no reason to believe that they don't not natively speak the dialect.

For example Gary Oldman plays many roles as an American if you did not know that he was in fact British and only saw him in those roles you'd be certain that he was American or Canadian.

[Sailor Steve]

:o

You're absolutely right - I did not know that. :oops:

[Eichhörnchen]

http://i.imgur.com/KwMXPxX.jpg?1

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000198/

Yeah, 'e's a Lundan boy, innee? And according to this, he's spent much of his carrer playing "over-the-top antagonists".

[nikimcbee]

Add to that, Angelina Jolie as "Lara Croft". I was amazed to discover she wasn't a Brit: brilliant talent, beautiful woman...

to quote Young Frankenstein, "What knockers!":woot:

[Torvald Von Mansee]

Michael Cain, a Cockney, refused to believe Forrest Whittaker WASN'T the same when told Whittaker was American for his role in "The Crying Game."

EDIT: that is not an elegant sentence

[Betonov]

Add to that, Angelina Jolie as "Lara Croft". I was amazed to discover she wasn't a Brit: brilliant talent, beautiful woman...

Watched Maleficient the other day and her Brit accent is even more finely tuned,

to quote Young Frankenstein, "What knockers!":woot:

She lost just tooo much weight :nope:

[clive bradbury]

It seems to be an increasing trend for US shows to employ English actors in lead roles:

Andrew Lincoln & David Morrissey in 'The Walking Dead'

Stephen Moyer in 'True Blood'

All good in their roles. I know the US has a habit of employing Brits as baddies, especially in film (Irons, Rickman, McDowell), but they generally kept the English accent - or faked a German one. This new trend on TV is to have them playing Americans.

I agree over Wallander, August. Much as I like Branagh, the two Swedish versions we have seen in the UK are far superior.

[Eichhörnchen]

I agree with all that clive has to say (remember how the nasty Romans were always British?) And as for "Maleficent", I only just learned about this movie: looks good and I expect our boy will drag us off to see it in due course, although as it's Angelina I won't mind too much...