Foreign Actors On Spooks

[A Cousin]

(02-07-2010 01:11 PM)lwhite53 Wrote:  I know a half-dozen theatre types (actors and designers) who went to the UK early in their careers and stayed for years before coming back to to work in the US. Less bs, more dues-paying, entry level type work in the UK, from what I understand.

A Cousin, from what I remember the reciprocal actor swap between the US and UK is only for certain level acting jobs, not the bit part stuff??

I was hoping you would pipe up here. You probably have as much knowledge about this as I do. If not more. Were you in NY during the Jonathan Pryce/Miss Saigon debacle?

I know few ex-pats who went over too. Some are still there. The good thing about the UK is that the stage, TV and film world are one: one union and they are all centered in London. Thus more and more varied work opportunities.

One of the criticisms of the reciprocal agreement (and Global Rule One) is that it only benefits actors who can get the big roles. Technically, my understanding is that it just has to be an equal trade: lead for lead, bit part part for bit part - it just not fiscally worthwhile to trade a bit part actor.

(02-07-2010 12:51 PM)JHyde Wrote:  As to the question of Megan Dodds and others who just seem to appear in another country, sometimes it's just a matter of agents, surely. Sometimes one in favour with any particular production company, or even one who specialises in cross Atlantic relations. Plus, some actors/directors get agents in multiple countries, one of whom is Peter Firth.

Agents matter certainly. I have always said that Colin Firth may not be the best actor out there but he has a heck of a good agent! Casting Directors too. Pearl Harbor was an American film but filmed thus cast in the UK. I would not be surprised if PF is already a member of SAG. It may have lapsed since Equus though. You pay your money, you get your membership. I would not be at all surprised if Equity UK has some sort of Global Rule One themselves.

[lwhite53]

(02-07-2010 01:48 PM)A Cousin Wrote:  I was hoping you would pipe up here. You probably have as much knowledge about this as I do. If not more. Were you in NY during the Jonathan Pryce/Miss Saigon debacle?

I would not be surprised if PF is already a member of SAG. It may have lapsed since Equus though. You pay your money, you get your membership. I would not be at all surprised if Equity UK has some sort of Global Rule One themselves.

Yes, I was still in NY when the Pryce/Miss Saigon fiasco hit the fan -- I was pretty shocked by how ugly the whole thing became. It split the US acting community into opposing camps and took a long time to heal.

I'm pretty sure PF must be a member of SAG -- he's got a couple of US tv roles on his resume and I think you're only allowed one before you have to join. And yes, all it takes to keep you membership up to date is paying the dues (my mother hasn't done SAG work in 25 years, but she's still a member).

[Philippa]

Very interesting topic A Cousin, I didn't know that! It's indeed quite a bit of a hassle, so logically they don't get Americans in for every tiny American part which has 2 lines etc. Same goes for actors of other nationalities.

As for Megan Dodds, I seem to remember reading somewhere that she resides in the UK permanently, which explains why she's done quite a bit of work in the UK and was there at the time when she was cast in Spooks.

[festa]

As an American, I can say I am really glad that they got rid of that Sarah Caufield character.... I cringed everytime she opened her mouth. Just awful!

All of the other American characters did at least a plausible accent.