Why Brit actors are landing the best roles in Hollywood as they storm Golden Globe nominations
THE Golden Globes are meant to give us a steer about who will succeed at the Oscars – and if this year’s nominations run to form, then it’s a case of Rule Britannia.
Brits have been nominated in 12 out of 16 acting categories, with additional screenplay and director nods for British-Irish writer Martin McDonagh, in a move sure to wind up the Hollywood luvvies who hate being ignored.
In an unprecedented snub to their American cousins, this year the Globes have nominated the cream of British talent.
Honestly, if you’re a member of the British film industry and you haven’t been nominated for a Golden Globe this year then you ought to be ashamed of yourself.
Lily James gets a nod for her role as Pamela Anderson in Pam & Tommy, Daisy Edgar-Jones is celebrated for her part in Under The Banner Of Heaven, Olivia Colman is rightly recognised for her appearance in the romantic drama Empire Of Light and Dame Emma Thompson joins the list for being unable to experience an orgasm in Good Luck To You, Leo Grande.
Plus there are nominations for British stalwarts such as Daniel Craig, Bill Nighy, Lesley Manville, Carey Mulligan, Colin Firth, Andrew Garfield, Eddie Redmayne, Ralph Fiennes, Taron Egerton and Jonathan Pryce for his brilliant portrayal of Prince Philip in The Crown.
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And not only this, but the Irish heart-throb Colin Farrell is one of the actors celebrated in the dark Irish comedy The Banshees Of Inisherin, which leads the Golden Globes nominations with a staggering eight.
This comedy about friends in 1920s Ireland, written and directed by British-Irish screenwriter Martin McDonagh, stands out in the awards’ 80th year.
The film is the kind of hit that can only be produced on this side of the Atlantic, and its rugged appeal seems to chime with the current downbeat feel in Hollywood.
It seems for a while we might have had enough glitz and glamour, and that maybe for a while we want to celebrate talent rather than just razzmatazz.
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On screen, the British have often seemed more adept at delivering genuine emotion, which is perhaps why we produce so many good character actors.
Over here we seem to care more about character than looks. We actually like an actor with wonky teeth and dirty hair. Reality suits our natural national psyche.
While Americans are obsessed with reinvention and success — often at the expense of genuine happiness or contentment — British actors can appear more at ease when acknowledging defeat or acceptance.
Perhaps we are more interested in substance. So many Hollywood stars seem a bit cookie-cutter. Too handsome and pretty.
And while we produce a constant stream of genuine global leading men, I’m not sure there are many out there who think of Daniel Craig or Colin Firth as pretty. Gritty, rugged, characterful and occasionally buff — but not exactly pretty.
Not only have we Brits been hogging plum roles for years, now we are having success in all areas of film-making. We have the best training, the best studios (more and more are built each year), the best technicians, the best extras (and I should know as I used to be one — I even shot down Roger Moore’s plane in Octopussy) and the most storied writers.
Spike Lee, for instance, is a huge fan of British actors and technicians. “Their training is very proper,” says the American director, “Whereas some of these other brothers and sisters, you know, they come in here, and they don’t get that training.”
Recently, no less an authority than Michael Douglas said there is “a little crisis going on amongst our young actors at this point”.
And he wasn’t talking about the British.
American voice coach Cecilie O’Reilly recently said that British actors “come from a tradition of vocal skill and training. The Brits are steeped in a tradition of many, many years of having the appreciation of the variations of their speech. And there is a pride in it.”
Perhaps we are more gifted in our ability to play different character types. Unless you’re someone like Robert De Niro, who made a habit of inhabiting wildly different characters in a bid to make sure he wasn’t typecast, so many American actors act pretty much the same in every film.
I mean, I love Matt Damon, but has Matt Damon ever played someone who doesn’t act like Matt Damon?
Ditto Tom Cruise. Ditto Bruce Willis. Ditto Will Smith or Brad Pitt. We also have the very best action hero, and while we all enjoy Tom Cruise, Robert Downey Junior and Bruce Willis acting all macho, nobody will ever beat James Bond. Literally.
This year has been something of a perfect storm as Brits are celebrated for acting, screenwriting and direction.
Hollywood has come under fire recently for so many reasons and from so many sources — the lack of racial representation, competition from the streamers, an ageing cinema audience, Covid, a lack of new genuine global stars and more — and it has got nervous.
And when Hollywood gets nervous it does what it always does, and starts to repeat itself.
But while this usually works, it hasn’t this time.
No, audiences right now are more interested in films that portray a certain kind of reality, in films and TV series that reflect the genuine vagaries of day-to-day life.
We will always want glitz and glamour and fantasy, but right now that’s exactly what we’re not interested in.
In days gone by people tended to want escapist fantasy when times were tough.
Nowadays, when times really are tough, I think we want a little more grit in our grin, a bit more spice in our life. Which is why we are enjoying watching British talent on our screens.
It’s also why Americans are enjoying watching the British too.
They like the fact that we talk funny. They like the fact that we don’t disguise our dodgy accents. And they like the fact that we don’t all get facelifts and hair transplants (well, not all of us).
The Brits are mostly pretty good at faking American accents, too, whereas most Americans doing accents fail like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins.
Perhaps we’re simply just better actors. Better actors with better chops in both senses of the word.
Even though James Corden is now coming home after successfully steering his US chat show for seven years (more than ably abetted by his genius producer Ben Winston), for the past decade he has been wowing the Yanks with his particular brand of humour.
And let’s face it, James doesn’t look like Jimmy Fallon.
But then I think that’s why we all like him. He’s an irregular body shape, his humour is spiky and he’s irreverent as well as homely.
Real, in other words. A real Brit. A lot like all the other Brits currently tearing up Hollywood.
So, come January 11, 2023, when the comedian Jerrod Carmichael will be ushering the great and the good on to the stage in the Beverly Hilton Hotel (the one where Whitney Houston died), and asking them to open the envelopes containing the names of the new Golden Globes winners, we will finally know the truth.
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British actors are better than American actors.
“Ain’t they, Mary Poppins?”