[quote]Brad Pitt has emerged as the unlikely favourite to take on Ricky Gervais’ role as David Brent in a US remake of British television series The Office, ananova.com reports.
Ironically, Gervais has joked that either Pitt or George Clooney should play him in the US version.
However, TV bosses seem to have taken him seriously, and have approached Pitt to take on the role.[/quote]
For the life of me I don’t understand this phenomenon. Why is it that any good movie or series has to be put back through an American lens to be projected at an American audience?
I was mortified to see Mad Max on the box here and discover to my utter disgust that it had been DUBBED! Ok, the accents were thick as blowflies and it might have taken a little concentration to catch SOME of what was being said but really to dub the whole movie?
Think of the stream of series that have gone from England to the US. Off the top of my head I can think of Man About the House, Till Death us do Part and Steptoe and Son. Then of course you have the plethora of perfectly good Japanese and European movies.
I’m not taking the piss I’m intrigued.
Here we go again, great English series to be totally remade and while I like Brad Pitt . . . playing David Brent?
Why in the hell did they need to remake that show? It was hilarious and less set up than the American version, but oh no, Drew Carey insisted on getting his mitts on it.
Surely, they don’t haven’t been showing the dubbed version here of late, have they? If not, then the accents aren’t as thick as you might think, or at least I don’t think they are.
[quote]Case in point: Whose Line is it Anyway?
Why in the hell did they need to remake that show? [/quote]
Whatever its origins, the American version is very funny. Those guys are really amazing. I always laugh my ass off when I catch it in the States.
North American version there Wolfie…Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochery are Canadian.
Actually, the entire thing is a variation of the wildly successful Theatre Sports developed by Keith Johnstone, a very famous European theatre director. Using The Loose Moose Theatre Company in [color=red]Calgary, Alberta, Canada[/color], Mr. Johnstone invented Theatre Sports, an improvisation competition. His book, IMPRO, is the bible for these actors that call themselves “impovers”.
Still damn funny stuff…Wayne Brady singing, Colin making a mockery of himself and Ryan “Various Acting” Stiles’ quick wit and rubber face crack me up every Tuesday night.
BTW< Teachers? These “games” they play on WLIIA are ideal for lesson plans for advanced adult students…maybe even confident high schoolers…
Brad Pitt on a weekly basis? I feel the bile rising already. As an American I can understnad the need to remake with American references. Sure it’d be great to hear the guys with funny accents in the original, but who in America is going to understand it when Given’s calls his female coworkers a minger?
Its basic localization. Same for television programs and for ke ko kela.
Good point on the Who’s line biz. Game shows do seem to get copied directly for each different viewing audience.
ImaniOU
It was the first Mad Max movie and the Australian accents were dubbed over with US accents. Many of the actors in that movie have been on my screen since I was a kid, hearing them suddenly in an American accent was quite a shock. I’ve seen it on cable here at least twice.
And Drew Carey, as funny as he is (and a fellow Ohioan to boot), is a poor substitute for Clive Anderson. He tries to do it like Clive, but it’s just comes off as stale and not very funny. Maybe it’s because Clive’s hosting style was more along the lines of British humor, er, humour whereas Carey’s attempt at copying it doesn’t work well with American humor (no u). Also using Wayne Brady regularly to portray black celebrities, sing rap or hip hop, or speak Ebonics gets tired and rather pathetic after a while. I don’t remember him on the original. Did he really have to do degrading, stereotypical improv on the British version? Sigh. Well, maybe now that my mother has Comedy Central at home she will begin to see the light and get over the American version…Three-headed opera singers anyone?
So what if the English took a very American sitcom like Married With Children and made it British? Hmm. An Aussie version of ‘Sex in the City’ (Rooting in the Outback?)
Um, Big Brother in the UK: complete snoozefest. Of course, I openly admit that I was hooked on the final episodes while I was in London this summer…and that Cameron was a complete bastard, especially when it came to his interviews on gay marriage and premarital sex . Ray should have won.
I’ve only seen it once or twice and not sure of the show’s name, but the star was a guy named Julian Clarey. I doubt very much American producers would ever have the guts to stretch the envelope as much as Mr. Clarey does. This is one of the wildest shows I’ve ever seen. How about an Americanized Ab-Fab. Is it possible? Cracker? Wasn’t it tried? How about the gay soap opera…forget the name…but the americanized version was less cutting edge than the Brit one.
AbFab started in 92, Cybill in 95, they SO stole the whole idea![/quote]
How about that…I have seen that show and nevr even made the association. Again, no edge. Corporations dictating content I guess. That’s what’s great about the BBC…no commercials. Or am I wrong?
. Ray should have won.