[HPFGU-Movie] Harry Potter: Anti-American?

[Richard]

At 11:41 03/12/2005 , laurenmcoakley wrote:
>Hello All,
>
>I had an interesting conversation with my brother-in-law the other day
>that really got me thinking.  He says he feels JK Rowling is Anti-
>American because American actors are not allowed to be in the films.
>Also, he noted there were no American characters.  Anyway, I can't see
>why that would be, and I'm sure someone out there has a logical reason
>for me.

Ask your friend the reverse question: why *should* there be any American 
characters in a story based entirely in the UK? If your friend can come up 
with a convincing reason, we can start talking.

The same question goes for the actors: with so many good (and even great) 
British actors, why should the production team consider looking to the USA 
for talent? (Completely apart from the purely practical issue that HP 
shooting schedules are incredibly long and, apart from cameos, require 
actors to be available over a period of over 9 months, which is impractical 
is people have to travel from the other side of the Atlantic rather than up 
the English motorway.)

(Before anyone else raises it, Zoe Wanamaker is technically American as she 
was born in the USA and is a US citizen, but has lived for most of her life 
in the UK - as did her father, late noted film-maker and motive force 
behind the recreation of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Sam Wanamaker. Her 
career is UK-based and she took on British citizenship some time ago. She 
is a "name" in the UK and is known to a wide cross-section of the British 
population thanks in part to starring in a couple of popular British TV 
shows, whilst I suspect that she is all but unknown to the US audience.)

>Also- please forgive me if this has already been discussed, as I am
>relatively new to this group.

It's been discussed several times in the past, but not recently.

--
Richard, who's far too busy to respond to the great many interesting posts 
and only caught this one on his way out, but hopes to do some writing this 
evening.