好萊塢被英國人攻陷了嗎？

Martin Luther King is British， Coretta Scott King注1， too. So is Superman， Batman， the last Abraham Lincoln， the US Marine[海軍陸戰隊士兵] in Homeland and many of the Baltimore cops and hoods[暴徒] in The Wire.

I could go on. In the entertainment award season， you’ll see lots of actors who appear in American cop， doc and spy movies and TV series[電視連續劇]， who win an award， take the stage， and say， “oh， thanks awfully chaps[（英）小伙].” They’re British actors—or maybe Australians—playing Americans. Now， this has been going on since Leslie Howard and Vivien Leigh played Ashley and Scarlett in Gone with the Wind. But when you have to hire British actors to play US presidents or soldiers， you may wonder， are all American actors on Tibetan vacations or in rehab[戒毒所]？

A Hollywood director once told me that British actors get a lot of work here because they tend to[趨向] be pros[專業人員]. They know their lines， and are less likely than American stars to insist that they need special treatment on set[在現場] before they shoot a scene.

American actors will say， “I’m from Dayton， I can play a New Yorker，” while British and Australian actors work to perfect[使完美] their American accents to match a given role. In fact， some British actors say taking on an accent can help them get more into character.

Carlton Cuse， the director of Lost， told TV Guide， “There seems to be a big gulf between Australian and British actors and American actors. The American actors just don’t seem as well trained or as deep and complex[復雜的].”

I think American directors like having British actors around to feel classy[上等的]. They get to say，“You know that guy playing the drug dealer？ He studied at the Royal Academy注2.”

There are a few Americans who’ve played signature[識別標志] British roles. Robert Downey Jr. has been Sherlock Holmes， Gillian Anderson is a regular on the London stage， and of course， Meryl Streep， who changes accents the way some of us change socks， has played Margaret Thatcher. But the talent difference between Hollywood and British actors doesn’t seem to be all that equal.

I won’t be happy until Beyoncé plays Queen Victoria.

馬丁·路德·金是英國人，科麗塔·斯科特·金也是。超人、蝙蝠俠，上一部電影的亞伯拉罕·林肯、《國土安全》里的美國海軍陸戰隊士兵，以及《火線》中一大堆巴爾的摩警察和小混混，他們全都由英國人扮演。

我可以繼續數下去。在頒獎季，你會看到大量在美國電影或電視劇中扮演警察、醫生或間諜的演員，他們得了獎，走到舞臺上，然后說：“噢，非常感謝，伙計?！?/p>

他們是扮演美國人的英國演員，或澳大利亞演員。

自從萊斯利·霍華德和費雯·麗在《亂世佳人》中扮演阿什利和斯佳麗以后，這種情況就一直存在。但當你不得不聘請英國演員去演美國總統或美國大兵時，你可能會想，難道所有美國演員都到西藏度假或者進戒毒所了嗎？

一位好萊塢導演曾經對我說，英國演員在這里可以得到這么多工作，是因為他們更趨專業。他們熟悉對白，也很少像美國明星那樣要求在片場享有特別待遇才肯開拍。

美國演員會說：“我來自（美國）代頓，我可以演紐約人?！庇桶拇罄麃喲輪T則會練好他們的美國口音，配合角色要求。事實上，一些英國演員說，學習口音可以幫他們更好地投入角色。

《迷失》的導演卡爾頓·庫思向《美國電視指南》雜志透露：“美國演員和澳大利亞及英國演員之間有很大差距。美國演員似乎不像后兩者那么訓練有素，也缺乏他們的深度和復雜性?！?br>