Hello Cadets! I must first apologize for my lengthy break. I would also like to thank all of you who have begun to follow my blog, it means a great deal to me. Now that C2E2 has wound down I wanted to do a rambling on something I've been asked a number of times; what do I think of non-American actors getting the roles of American characters such as Superman and Batman?
Here's my main thought on it, if there was an American actor with the right look and the acting chops to back it up wouldn't they have hired them? It's not a conspiracy but it's a well known fact that there is sometimes a gap in experience or training between us and say the British actors (which a majority of them spend some years on a stage first). Also look at it like this; Superman Returns had an all American cast and did poorly, alternately the X-Men had a very diverse cast and past the first movie started to do spectacularly bad as did Spiderman. Alternately, Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk were amazing and had Americans as the lead in both.
Here's the main question, does where you are from determine how well you can act? It's yes and no. In places such as England it is customary to join a troupe to not only train classically but to also get some experience in the field. Here in the United States and Canada it is not as common for an actor to join musical theater before moving on to other things but it doesn't hurt if they do. It also is a lot about their acting style as a fit to the role. Bruce Willis is a very highly typecasted actor who plays gritty heroes who are usually down on their luck which made him an amazing choice for Hartigan in Sin City. Can he do other roles I'm sure he could if he tried but he may feel this is a niche he is comfortable with.
Another example is Liam Neeson, this is an Irish born actor who did amazing movies such as Schindler's List, Les Miserables, and Taken but didn't find it beneath him to do hokey movies such as the A-Team or Darkman, which are both great films if only because they are goofy. He's done it all and did it well which shows the diversity in his acting skill and unwillingness to be typecast.
I think if more actors tried to break out their shells and tried different types of roles we'd find more people like Jaime Foxx, who I thought was an awful comedian but would leave an audience in awe of his dramatic acting abilities. It's a reminder that just because you like to cook doesn't mean you can always be a famous chef, sometimes you have to settle for what you are good at rather than what you wanted to do. That's not to say you should give up on your dreams but be realistic. It is possible to do what you want but it's all about the training and abilities to apply it. Needless to say, the moral of the story is don't look at where a person came from but what they can do, it'll broaden your scope of things dramatically.
Thank you all for reading, please check out the facebook page for the Litter-ati in the sidebar to the right to participate in discussions and polls and feel free to send me a message or ask any questions. Also be on the lookout for my interview with Tim Broderick of the Odd Jobs series which will be out early to middle of next week.
This is War Kitten signing off and please remember, the journey is just as important as the destination, so if you are going to clown school please bear in mind the size of the car you'll be taking when you carpool.
