Casting Sirius-slightly OT British V. American actors

[absinthe at mad.scientist.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 12436

Rina Stewart wrote:

> Well, I said he was the right age according to some sources. <g> I 
still just can't see the Marauders as being in their 50s, no matter 
how awesome the Snape casting is. I still envision Lupin and Sirius to 
be in their mid-late 30s in book 4, which is only about 5 years older 
than James now. But I agree, Tony Head would be good - I could see him 
as Lupin very easily. A little older than what I picture, but they did 
say Lupin looked older. <shrug>
> 

Marsters looks like he's in his late twenties to me (showing my age 
huh?). And I agree with whoever said that sometimes his accent wanes. 
I watched Buffy during its first and second seasons. I remember when 
Marsters first appeared as Spike some Brittish fans thought his accent 
was less than authentic. Again, I'm picky: I cringe whenever I hear an 
American actor's "Southern" accent delivered as an exaggerated 
Alabama-back-woods accent or a New Jersey accent sounding strictly 
Bronx. In one BBC comedy, "As Time Goes By", they totally poked fun at 
the average American impression of an authentic English accent: Bert 
in "Mary Poppins". Unfortunately, I think they didn't exaggerate too 
much, especially after hearing Rosie O'Donnell's "English accent" 
<cringe X 2>

LOL, if Alan Rickman can play Snape, Head can certainly pull off a 
Marauder's Role agewise. 

> <<But I'm skeptical of casting Americans in a film that is set in 
the 
> UK with UK characters. British actors and actresses are very good 
and 
> under-appreciated in the US. >>
> 
> Are you refering to James again here? <g> Because Tony *is British. 
LOL So there wouldn't be any problem with the all-Brit casting in his 
case.

Nope, I'm referring to British actors and actresses in general. Their 
audience here in the US is limited to the BBC-PBS productions and the 
occasional trans-Atlantic movie or production. From what I've seen of 
them,for the most part, the quality of their acting is far superior to 
their American counterparts (I'm also impressed with how well British 
screenwriters adapt novels). Considering the talent in the British 
acting community, it would be a little disconcerting if a British book 
by a British author set in the UK with British characters would cast 
non-British in the roles. I think that as cute as Haley Joel Osment 
is, he wouldn't play Harry like a British child would: he would play 
Harry like an American child playing a British child would and that's 
not too authentic or convincing. I can't help to imagine how close we 
got to having Rosie O'Donnell and her cheesy Dick Van Dyke "English" 
accent as Molly Weasley if Hollywood really dug it's claws into this 
movie. 

:-)Milz