Thursday, September 15, 2005
Seraphim Falls
Gone are the days of John Wayne, Gary Cooper, and Clint Eastwood, when uniquely American films, with uniquely American stories, starred uniquely American actors. In our increasingly globilized world, enjoying such films as Cold Mountain, generally well-recieved in the U.S., means putting aside the fact that the lead rolls are all played by Brits and/or Aussies (Kidman, Zellweger, and Law). Now, we hear that shooting will soon begin on Seraphim Falls, a Civil War era film set in the western U.S. with a cast including Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson (aka James Bond and Rob Roy). The Duke must be turning in his grave. . .
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4 comments:
"John Wayne was a fag. I helped install a one-way mirror in his house, and he when he answered the door, he was wearing a dress."
A quote from "Repo Man."
-Tad
America as a nation of immigrants has always been "globalized". So has movie making.
John Ford, the maker of all those distinctly American westerns staring John Wayne was from Irleand. Clint's best westerns were directed by Italian Sergio Leone, and filmed mostly in Spain.
Historically speaking about 2-3 million Irish emigrated to the US in the middle if the 19th century, -- many of whom fought in the Civil War - many in all Irish regiments.
So actually there's no reason two Irishmen, Neeson and Brosnan couldn't be playing two Irish Americans. If not, as said, it's not as Americans haven't portrayed people of other nationalities in film.
There's no question that giving a nod to the flood of immigrants America experienced during the mid-19th century would enhance the historical accuracy of any Hollywood period piece (there were ~150,000 Irish immigrants in the Union army). The “Western” as a genre can almost be characterized by its blatant disregard for such considerations. Rather it makes quite clear distinctions between "Americans" and those that are foreign (e.g., the stereotypical Irishmen that occasional appear, native Americans, etc.). Hence the use of cowboys as a quintessentially American branding devise (e.g., Marlboro). If the intent with the casting decision was indeed to bring such realism to the screen, then bravo, but then this just shows how the genre has changed with societal values. A film like The Searchers, with its blatant racist undertones (and overtones) would never make it past Hollywood censors today. I guess we'll have to wait for the accents to determine the intent here. Given that Richard Gere was originally cast opposite Neeson, I'm a bit skeptical, but then Gere's had experience faking Irish accents (e.g., The Jackal), so who knows.
And certainly, American cinema has frequently portrayed other cultures on the big screen. In the past, this has proven controversial and/or just plain weird - a case in point being the use of white guys with body paint to portray native Americans in the traditional western genre (including many of The Duke's films). How absurd is that? But then, that's entirely my point.
By the way, others have found this whole casting thing odd as well. This quote comes from an article at RopeofSilicon.com: "Just to be curious, a Civil War film with two UK stars? Was Colin Farrell not available as well? Regardless, this could be something to keep your eye on."
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