Acting Figuratively

While Hollywood’s focus on Summer blockbusters has led to some undeniably terrible movies, there is at least one undeniably good thing about it. It’s helped raise the profiles of some of Britain’s finest actors. The trend started in 1977 with Alec Guinness’ and his Oscar-nominated role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars. Since then, the trend has only become more widespread, reaching the point where some writers have joked that entire Royal Shakespeare Company productions can be recreated with movie-based action figures based on people like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. Interestingly, this latter-day “British Invasion” points to one of the key reasons that people love British TV.

As different as a BBC mini-series with an 18th century getting may seem from an effects-driven blockbuster, they both hinge on the skill of the actors for their success. As much as moviegoers may love the spectacle of a space battle or alien invasion, if it doesn’t work on a human level, it won’t connect with viewers. This is just as true with period dramas where all the fancy costumes and elegant settings are a pointless detail if the characters don’t ring true. As mainstream movies seem to place an increasing emphasis on spectacle, the need for the kind of absolute conviction that British actors supply so well is all the more essential.

Interestingly, the trend seems to be extending to behind the camera as well, with director Kenneth Branagh winning praise for giving the film adaptation Thor a palpable (some would say, Shakespearean) sense of human drama. To my knowledge, despite his many film and TV roles, Branagh himself hasn’t been turned into an action figure. Of course, for an artist of his talents, including it a knack for injecting humanity into a CGI world, it’s probably just a matter of time before he joins Sir Patrick and Sir Ian on the shelf.