The Quick and the Dead

Quick update on this blog, sorry if I might not blog as much as I wanted. I am feeling sick, like I have a shiver and a bit of a cold. On holidays. I hate when it happens, especially now. So today after my short walk, I stopped to buy chicken noodle soup and salty crackers, the only think I can think of eating without feeling sick. When the employee showed me where I could find the whole thing, he told me: "Good luck sir". And I had not even told him why I wanted soup and crackers. So I answered: ."Why good luck? Do I look like I'm at the Gates of Hell already?" He laughed a lot. So this is my new great unknown line. Hopefully not my last.

British actors and American screens

My wife found on BBC News an interesting article about British actors making it big on US TV. It is something I have noticed before, as most of my favourite TV dramas recently discovered (say The Wire or Rome) are produced by US money and US scriptwriters, but the casts are often heavy on British actors. The article mentions many reasons for this: British actors are competent but cheap, they can easily pass as American, they are also unknown in the American market, which is an asset when one wants viewers to see the character and not the actor, the US have of course more money, a bigger market, etc.

All of this is true, but there is also another element that is not mentioned in this article, but which Dominic West hinted at in another interview: US dramas are sadly now more creative than British ones, or at least they encourage more creativity. I deeply love a number of British dramas, but they go from fairly old to very old. The last British TV drama that I genuinly loved to bits was Sorted (I mentioned it here and you can find here its imdb page), which got stupidly axed by the BBC after its first season. The worst thing is that Americans have probably in proportions just as many poor and unimaginative shows as here, but they do get it right more often and there are people ready to back up good projects. Of course, they have the money to do it, but surely a good drama is no more expensive than a bad one. What I am worried about is that now that it has absorbed many British talents, and not only for the roles of badguys, one day they might also take British writers. It would be more difficult of course, as there is a cultural gap that cannot be filled as easily when writing about a different nation, but I can see a slippery slope. In any case, it is frustrating that British actors triumph in The Wire, while nothing of this caliber and of this particular genre has been made here in recent television history.

Cracker with Robbie Coltrane

Another litttle treasure I found on youtube, the introduction scene of the very first episode of Cracker. It was great police drama, written by Jimmy McGovern. It made me discover Christopher Eccleston and rediscover Robbie Coltrane (I knew him from his small roles in Goldeneye and Henry V). The main character, Dr. Edmond "Fitz" Fitzgerald, was a psychologist assisting the police to solve crime, while trying to save his marriage, on the verge of destruction because of his alcoholism, compulsive gambling and overall unpleasantness. It was great stuff, crime drama set in the North of England (in glorious Manchester), it had a perfect blend of violence (never gratuitious, violence in Cracker was a fatality), Catholic guilt (Fitz was a lapsed Catholic) and social pessimism. Anyway, here's the proof that Robbie Coltrane can play something else than Hagrid. The scene is cut and not very well, but it gives you an idea:

Christopher Eccleston as Destro?

I found a bit of info by total chance today, and I cannot believe it. Christopher Eccleston will play Destro in the next GI Joe movie. I absolutely love the actor, I have been following his career since Cracker, and as a child growing up in the 80s, I was crazy about the stupid 80s GI Joe cartoon (the comic books were supposed to be much better). That said, I am very skeptical about the GI Joe movie. I read a review (a positive one, mind you) of an early draft and it was to say the least heavily flawed, and I think casting a young actor as Cobra Commander is a big mistake. Joseph Gordon-Levitt might be a good actor, I don't think the head of Cobra should be someone who is still in his 20s. I know Eccleston wanted to get known in the American market, he deserves to have a wider fanbase, but I think this might be below his talents. I really enjoyed his role in Heroes though. One thing is sure: whatever the quality of the movie, they did the right casting for Destro. Which means that I am going to watch this movie.