Entertainment

Rise of the British superstar?

Anybody else get a tingly feeling in their womb (and the male equivalent) when they see British actors doing so bloody well in our beefy cousin that is the States? I certainly do but I’ve always  been well known for being a proud Brit.

British comedy has pretty much been top of the game since time began. One of the first comedy exports was the delightful Basil Fawlty and his mishap of a B&B, a realistic portrayal of British life. Another of BritComs most successful and most recognised stars is Ricky Gervais; one of my all time favourite actor/writers and arguably the reason British actors, particularly comedians are doing so well in the modern world of the mighty U S of A?

Actor, writer, Director and Producer of a majority of his shows, Gervais highlights the real Britain, whether it’s awkward boss David Brent and the dull and dreary office work, or ‘extra’ Andy Millman and the struggling man. Falling into a similar character would be Simon Pegg of Spaced fame. He has since worked alongside Tom Cruise, Megan Fox and David Schwimmer after popping by the States.

However, it’s not only comedy in which we succeed in, how about action? Drama? Bit of how’s your father? We have Tom Hardy who is currently smashing it up over there with films such as Inception, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Dark Knight and Lawless (out Sept 7th). Then we have Sean Bean in Game of Thrones, Damien Lewis in Homeland, Andrew Lincoln in Walking Dead. Need I go on? Probably not.

America can take our actors but they cannot take our TV shows, play around with and truly mess them up. Fair enough they did well with the Office US, I’ll give them that but Inbetweeners US anyone? Let’s pretend this isn’t happening. Ignore the brutality that it is and infact focus on the wonder Richard ‘Moss IT Crowd’ Ayoade (left) in comedy the Watch; starring alongside American comedy star Ben Stiller, Jonah Hill and that bloke who dated Jennifer Aniston. Obviously there is a lot more to the 35-year-old actor, such as directiong tons of Arctic Monkeys videos and writing/directing 2010 cult film Submarine but a leap across the pond is risky business for any other actor, but not for us Brits.

The Olympics made the majority of us proud, patriotic and teary eyed, but seeing the success of our stars chokes me up. I feel like a proud mother and wish they continue to kick arse (not ass).

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