Roush on Alan Dale
Question: What do you make of the boomlet of non-Americans playing American characters on TV? From
Terminator's Lena Headey to
Pushing Daisies' Anna Friel and
New Amsterdam's Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, TV is full of fresh faces. Do you think this is the result of
Lost breaking through with a largely unknown cast? I also have to give a shout-out to the sublime
Alan Dale. He's clearly the go-to actor for evil, or at least gruff, corporate types. I miss him on
Ugly Betty and thought that
The O.C. started careening downhill around the time he left. I was watching
Torchwood, and he showed up again, this time playing a Brit! He flawlessly goes from American to British to his native Kiwi accent. Why doesn't this strong utility player get his fair due?
— Eric
Matt Roush: The fact that you see Alan Dale everywhere tells me he's hardly hurting in the "fair due" department. He's a popular character actor and clearly a versatile one. As for the importing of lead actors from overseas, that is a curious phenomenon, to be sure. The producers will tell you every time that he or she was the right person for the role, and in some cases (Anna Friel in particular), I buy it. I've also long been a proponent that TV is better at making new stars (the "fresh face" theory) than repackaging old ones. Lost is a perfect example of that, including its diversity. Makes you wonder, though, how Hollywood actors feel about losing so many leads to Brits, Aussies or, in the case of New Amsterdam's star, the Danish.
