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EXCLUSIVE: Ben Whishaw has been tapped as the lead in Alan Ball’s pilot for HBO All Signs of Death, marking the British actor’s U.S. TV debut. The dark comedic drama, based on Charlie Huston’s 2009 crime noir novel The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death, centers on Webster Filmore Goodhue (Whishaw) an inveterate twenty-something slacker who stumbles into a career as a crime scene cleaner, only to find himself entangled with a murder mystery, a femme fatale and the loose ends of his own past. Ball is executive producing and directing the pilot, which was written by Huston. The pilot, slated to start filming in August in Los Angeles, will employ smaller, portable cameras for a cinema verite style. Whishaw, who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, got his break in the U.K. in 2004 when he played the lead in Trevor Nunn’s production of Hamlet at the Old Vic. He has starred in several British series and features, including films Layer Cake, Bright Star and Brideshead Revisited. Whishaw next appears in another William Shakespeare adaptation, Julie Taymor’s big-screen The Tempest.
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Well, True Blood season 3 has been outstanding so far, so I wouldn’t expect anything less from Alan Ball on his newest project.
why are so many British and Australian actors landing lead roles in american projects?
I was just wondering the same damn thing. What the hell.
As someone who has hired a ton of actors in the past I’ll say this — British actors are for the most part less crazy. They look at it as a job and they are much more blue collar in their approach — they don’t get caught up in being stars or worrying that someone is getting favored treatment. This of course is a generalization, but I know quite a few producers who feel the same way.
Well put. Unfortunately true.
Ben Whishaw would be a dream to work with having met him briefly he is polite non egotistic and probably one of our most talented actors..Is it any wonder he has been snapped up I hope L.A doesn’t tarnish him…..
Because they tend to look like men – real, grown men – and not pretty, cutesy tykes like who Hollywood shoves at us to woo little girls who buy movie tickets (Zac Efron, Orlando Bloom, Chace, Taylor Lautner, Rob Pattinson and on and on)
Um, no. But thanks for playing.
At any rate, you sound like a jealous, catty guy who never gets laid.
Except that Orlando Bloom and Robert Pattison are from Britain. So unless you are only referring to Australian actors, your comment is pretty much null.
They tend to be better trained. Like Canadians, most UK actors go to theatre school first before getting an agent and auditioning for film & tv. Casting loves Canadians and Brits for that reason.
WRONG! It harks back to a colonial attitude. There are hundreds, probably thousands of young actors/actresses pouring out of theater programs at major universities and conservatories in the United States who are as well trained and as disciplined in the art of performance as any Brit or Australian before getting an agent and auditioning. The problem is Americans still suffer the insecurities of feeling like second class citizens when confronted with a ‘British[and in turn spinoff Australian]‘ accent that they process (probably unconsciously to an extent) as an indicator that the speaker is better trained, more educated, – a class above. If you want to argue that look at studies of how many Americans start speaking with a British accent when transplanted to England but how few Brits lose theirs when residing here.
I love that you’ve boiled this down to colonialism and making sweeping generalisations about accents.
Could it be that he just auditioned well and was seen as right for the part?
There are plenty of American’s playing Brits and Brits playing American’s and Australians playing American’s and Brits etc etc Some are successful crossing over some aren’t, I don’t think nationality has anything to do with it.
PS I know plenty of American’s who live in the UK who haven’t lost their US accent. And I picked up traces of US accent when I spent three months there as a student…
Sorry this is what acting is all about surely, the ability to take on a role and master an accent…It works both ways ie Bridget Jones could have been played by Kate Winslet but role went to an American because she was perfect for it and what a fantastic British accent too…
I don’t understand this either. I have to think there are enough talented American actors that we don’t have to import actors from other countries. I’m getting tired of hearing the British accent, or reading that actors are faking American accents for parts. Are many American actors being hired in other countries? STOP! Hire Americans!!!
He’s an excellent young actor, very impressive in Bright Star.
Great news! I have been waiting for Ben Whishaw to break out for a long time. His performance in the first season of BBC’s Criminal Justice is a must see.
I’m delighted with the news – as stated above Whishaw was superb in ‘Bright Star’ and every project he’s been in since and after. His role in ‘Perfume; The Story of a Murderer’ was truly fascinating.
Shouldn’t it be Charlie Huston’s HBO Pilot? He’s the writer and its based on his novel.
When you call it “Alan Ball’s HBO Pilot” you’re giving authorship to Mr. Ball, when that is not the case. Although no doubt he will have huge creative input as it’s a collaborative medium and he’s super talented.
Orlando Bloom and Robert Pattinson are not American…They’re British. Anyway the trend in Hollywood lately seems to outsource parts as much as possible. Even when they are hiring for actors to play foreigners they like to go to that region now instead of hiring actors of that ethnicity from right here. I mean I am all for diversity in casting even across national lines but come on..it’s getting ridiculous at this point.. not to mention that British people almost never hire one of us to play a Brit unless it’s a big star.
– that on the heels of the news that the UK has decided to buy ** FEWER ** US shows, thankyouverymuch. Whishaw? Phhh..
BREAKING NEWS: Shortage of talented US-actors! Caucasian actors, of course… looks not a priority, accent okay. Get your big break and get your GREEN CARD.
Those green cards are very valuable and might turn into big $$$, so our trouble with paperwork really pays off b/c the actors appreciate this incredible opportunity and behave accordingly.
Not looking for Asian or Latino male lead.
Sorry, Americans, but the defunct tmz has made you attention whores crazy and turned you into uncontrollable liabilities. We have no resources to babysit you drunks, make sure you put your underwear on and anyway – have you uneducated lot ever read a book? /sarcasm
Ben Whishaw was great as the poet version of Dylan in Todd Haynes’ I’M NOT THERE.
Alan Ball is just getting payback for Kevin Spacey saying that “it seemed like” Sam Mendes wrote American Beauty in his Oscar acceptance speech…
Another Brit? ARGH! The majority of shows and films now star Brits and Australians playing Americans. Why aren’t all the American actors screaming from the rooftops? ENOUGH! It is bad enough how many American productions film out of the US – we don’t need to import foreign actors to take roles from Americans!
Can you imagine what a history of Hollywood might look like without British actors such as Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel? All young actors have to struggle for work. They need talent and luck, whatever their nationality.
I don’t think most directors and producers know how difficult it is to have actors seen by casting. There are wonderfully trained, motivated and credited actors who can’t get into auditions because casting sees the same actors over and over and if they want a fresh face they hire Australian or British actors. Do directors and producers care that they aren’t seeing a wide berth of terrific actors? Probably not. But it’s hell trying to develop actors in this environment.
Understatement du century.
We Yanks seem to have some kind of awestruck perception of Brits. That’s why we give them so many Oscars, they have an accent we don’t have and we think that gives them more substance or something. But they’re not better, just different. If you take away the accent, you just have another actor. I think we romanticize them because their accent sounds “smarter” or more highbrow or something, but it’s just an accent, that’s all.
No. What this is about is inner life & imperfection. Take the actresses: Blanchett, Winslet, Beckinsale, Blunt, Rebecca Hall, etc…The reason these women are compulsively watchable is that they are beautiful rather than pretty, that they have/had lives outside the LA acting pool. They went to University, they read real books. The same is true of these outsider Aussie & Brit men. Unfortunately there is nothing more sexless than the “perfect” pretty boy/pretty girl actor who has spent his/her life training to be a TV/ movie star and has no outside interests or inner life.
The Australian & British TV & film industry cast talented actors, relying less on “prettiness” which allows actors to build impressive resumes.
You’ve obviously never watched Neighbours!
And I’ve read several Brits write about the mediocrity of the [British] actors hired in America, simply because they “have the [British] accent”.
And I see Aussies in American film who act like cardboard, not good at all (watch some House, esp. the first season – the accent is noticeably bad. Tell me that isn’t hiring another pretty boy).
I don’t think “Hollywood” is very concerned with hiring Americans, anyway. Most are enamored with the rest of the world and feel their own culture is inferior. Why wouldn’t they like foreign actors more too?
I hope this goes to series and is a big hit for Charlie. He’s good people and a great writer.
Hoping Ball’s tv decline does not continue. Went from the masterpiece that was Six Feet Under to the always stupid yet sometimes entertaining True Blood.
Have you seen season 3 of True Blood? It’s almost as great as Buffy was.
Six Feet Under was brilliant. I couldn’t stay with True Blood and found is . .well. . just sensationalistic and silly. Here’s hoping number three is more like number one.
Drawing the best talent from around the world is the price America pays for being the centre of the cinematic and television universe. There’s nothing new about this. Hollywood was built on foreign talent. Scarlet O’Hara was played by a British actress (Vivien Leigh) and Errol Flynn was Australian.
“why are so many British actors landing lead roles in american projects?”
because they are cheap labor and just as good or even better than americans at playing american roles. if you as a movie producer want to lower your movie budget, hire foreigners. they’re just as good as the locals.
I have been following Ben Whishaw’s career with great interest and admiration. It is not so much that I want him to “break out” as much as I’d just like to see more of his performances. Seeing him twice on stage this winter in NYC just confirmed to me how deeply he loves his craft and how truly talented he is. Having the opportunity for anHBOo series would simply be introducing him to a larger audience, and that audience won’t be questioning why he why tapped for this role, only enjoying the hell out of his acting!
Ben Whishaw is a brilliant actor. I saw him on stage in NYC and he was simply splendid. I’m thrilled HBO will introduce him to a wider audience. If you want to know more about him get a hold of Bright Star, Perfume, Criminal Justice or Brideshead Revisited.
I understand American actors being bitter about the huge number of American characters in American movies being played by foreign actors, and I agree that there’s truth to the idea that a lot of Americans are awestruck by a British accent.
At the same time, though, Ben Whishaw is a freaking phenomenal actor. He has a very unique talent, and even if he auditioned alongside a slew of American actors, it’s extremely possible he’d be the best. I don’t know if any film roles have captured the extent of his talent yet (although I hear he was really, really good in Perfume), but his abilities have been proven on stage over and over and over again.
If you’re bitter about foreign actors getting preferential treatment, focus your attention on guys like Pattinson, Bloom, Gerard Butler, and Sam Worthington.
Some American actors in my opinion are talentless, its any wonder the movie mogals are sourcing talent in the UK and Australia, even Indian actors are as good. To say that Ben Whishaw will be in an american film says it all and good luck to him for getting the part. I surely won’t be sorry to see him work on anything, he’s a fantastic choice no wonder everybody wants him he’s very versatile. Even I want him to be the main character in the novel I’m currently writing (enough said about that.) He’s gone about it all the right way by going to the right place to do the acting course,getting an agent etc. He’s got true grit and likes working hard. I just hope the american mogals don’t make his head swell. I’d like to see him do a film in Australia…maybe he would play the character I want in my novel…I trust he would be completely capable of turning it into a blockbuster hit.