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EXCLUSIVE: British actor Tom Mison (Salmon Fishing In The Yemen) has landed the lead in Sleepy Hollow, Fox’s drama pilot written by Alex Kurtzman, Bob Orci and Phillip Iscove and directed by Len Wiseman. A modern–day supernatural thriller based on The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow, the project, from 20th TV and K/O, follows Ichabod Crane (Mison) as he partners with Sleepy Hollow’s Detective Abbie Archer (Nicole Beharie) to solve the mysteries of a town ravaged by the battle between good and evil. A captain from the Revolutionary War where he takes off a horseman’s head, Ichabod gets time warped into present day where he is confused by the modern technology but turns out to be a great detective once his enemy, The Headless Horseman, comes back to haunt the town. Orlando Jones and Katia Winter co-star in the pilot exec produced by Kurtzman, Orci, Wiseman and Heather Kadin. Mison, repped by CAA and Kate Buckley at UK’s 42, co-stars in the HBO five-part miniseries Parade’s End, which premieres tonight.
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British Actor ……. big freaking shocker. British and Aussie actors are embarrassing and taking all the jobs from American actors.
Maybe American actors need to hone their skills. And maybe you need to get out more.
It’s only the dramatic roles. But it is getting ridiculous.
Guy sure looks the part.
Very exciting! Tom Mison is fantastic actor, and will be a great addition to the U.S. television landscape. Keep your eyes on him – he’s going places.
This my second “hope this period” drama flies comment today. And I do – because it has to be better than anything that isn’t a cop/law/med procedural snooze fest or worse reality show. However – what is the population of a late 18th Century upstate NY town? 42? I guess with single shot guns & varied cutlery, that does come to 2 net work seasons. Good luck and look out for Rip van Winkle Dream Doctor. . ..
Sadly its set in modern times.
So yet another American show hires a Brit/Aussie/Foreigner for a lead role. SAG/AFTRA should be ashamed. This is worse than runaway production. Perhaps the Union should get all their members visas so we can work in foreign countries. Or perhaps the Producers who do the hiring should pay a 10% penalty on every episode which could go into a fund to support all the out of work American Actors. Otherwise, close the f-ing border!!!!!!! Disgusted.
Grow up already! TOM MISON probably auditioned with a bunch of sexy hunks who have absolutely no acting skills. This guy is a critically acclaimed STAGE actor, you expected him not to get the role?
You folks just don’t get it do you? The Brits and Aussies speak better, they can act and they have RANGE!! Perhaps we should require our actors to have some form of formal training.
Come on Hollywood!! What the F is going on here in this country!!?? ENOUGH WITH THE HIRING OF AUSSIE AND BRIT ACTORS!! HIRE A F’ING AMERICAN LEAD FOR GOD’S SAKE!!! This is pathetic. You should all be ashamed of yourselves. How many Americans are they letting into their countries to take employment away from their own?? NONE!!! If you want to work with foreign nationals so bad….LEAVE!!
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You do realize that when these people audition, no one knows who they are? Meaning Tom Mison goes in and reads. Who is better gets the part. No one knew Andrew Lincoln was British until he started speaking with his accent. In fact he stunned the Casting directors. In fact, people only found out that Lennie James, Andrew L., David Morrissey, and Lauren Cohan were Brits when they went to comic Con. Keep your Ignorance in your own head.
so totally watching this
“A captain from the Revolutionary War where he takes off a horseman’s head, Ichabod gets time warped into present day…”
Ichabod Crane would be British, wouldn’t he? It takes place during the American Revolutionary War so he wouldn’t have lost the accent when he sailed to America. I know there’s a constant issue in casting non-Americans in American roles but this I think is appropriate.
From Wikipedia –
The name Ichabod comes from the biblical name of the grandson of Eli the High Priest and son of Phinehas. Irving may have borrowed the name from that of Ichabod B. Crane, a captain in the US Army during the War of 1812 whom he had met in 1814 in Sackets Harbor, New York.[1]
According to a notation by Irving, the character of Ichabod Crane was based on a schoolteacher named Jesse Merwin, whom Irving befriended in Kinderhook, New York, in 1809. According to an 1894 article in The New York Times, “it [was] claimed by many that Samuel Youngs was the original from whom Irving drew his character of Ichabod Crane”
Additionally – side note – they auditioned American actors for this role.
There were plenty of Americans during th Revolutionary War who were born in America. Washington irving established the character was from Connecticut, not England.
How they handle his accemt is anybody’s guess. There may have not been an “American” accent that far back or everyone might have sounded like they were from Boston. The overriding concern will be not to confuse the audience by having the guy sound like he’s not American rather than worry about historical details.
Maybe foreigners are getting too many parts, but this guy had a big advantage in how he looks – like he stepped right off the page of an illustration of the character.
Ichabod Crane would be a British subject but born and raised in America and wouldn’t have an English accent in the first place.
Did you think all people in America where adults from England pre-independence?
Yes, and if only there were American actors who could do an English accent. I guess there isn’t a single one.
V Hanna – sadly, it is that misinformed attitude that is putting American actors in the soup line. Do some research – then join the discussion.
@Anonymous:
Look up “Sarcasm” in the dictionary.
If you are feeling really adventurous…look up–facetious.
THEN–join the discussion.
How about they just hire the best actor for the role, no matter where they happen to come from? Tom Mison is an outstanding actor and will be brilliant – that he happens to be from the UK is entirely secondary.
Exactly. Whatever happened to the theory of “may the best man win”? Maybe I’m naive, but I’m assuming that many actors auditioned for this role, and Mr. Mison was the standout that the producers selected.
Because LizzieJ, if you look at the sheer number of actors that are leading television shows and films I’m sure you you agree that this is merely another Hollywood trend. It has nothing to do with who is better qualified for the role. Hollywood creates these problems. It also is not just the producers to blame. It is the agencies. A couple foreign actors get hired for shows and all of the sudden that is what sells – so they open the flood gates and everyone buys into the fantasy. What you are left with are American actors – who have worked and trained hard to get to where they are at – unemployed. Our immigration policies usually protect this from happening but when producers flex stating that there is – absolutely not one actor in this country that is qualified to act on this bullshit television show save my discovered british boy/girl that I am applying for to work here in the US to play a former Navy SEAL turned hard edged Boston cop – they are granted a work visa. It’s ridiculous. We have to protect our actors. Don’t you agree????
Listen, Joe Citizen, we’ll just have to agree to disagree on this one. I could list all my reasons and make well reasoned arguments, but you and I both know I’m not changing your opinion and you’re not changing mine.
V hanna – unless of course you were being sarcastic – in which case I applaud you!
Holy crap whingers! Try surviving in the Australian entertainment industry before you complain. As a part of the English speaking world we have been brought up steeped in the American culture. From the Brady Bunch, to Starsky and Hutch, Star Trek, Dallas, Frasier, to everything from CSI to Breaking Bad to Girls. We get EVERYTHING. The good, the bad and the ugly. Technically for decades the Australian and British industries have been overrun with American culture, so much so that it has become a part of our own. We make fewer local programs because it is so much cheaper to buy in American ones than create them from scratch (keep in mind too, the entire population of Australia is a mere 23 million. We don’t have a studio system with millions of dollars for EACH program). So yes – perhaps the odd Aussie or Brit is hired on an American television program. But dear lord, on a percentage basis it is NOTHING compared to what the Americans impact on our industry. American programming has taken over our television sets for years. Yes that is due to the very fine quality and high production value of much of the work, made possible because of the sheer size of your population. And as a result is greatly reduces the availability of local jobs on local programming. So stop whinging and be really grateful that you automatically have the opportunity to be a part of such a thriving industry.
My dear Aussie friend – this is not about American programming and how it has influenced Australian culture – and by the way – American programming is all over the world – not just Australia. Let me give you an example. If Australia suddenly gave away a couple million work visas to a country whose people would be taking a couple million jobs away from local Australian workers – there would be an uprising. Guaranteed. That’s what this is about. And the reality is that – unfortunately for you – there are only a small percentage of Australians that are actually more qualified (stand out actors) to play Americans than Americans. The fact that Australia doesn’t produce enough product is not our fault. It’s your responsibility to change that. Not mine. But understand – you can’t be shocked that this is an issue here. And it’s not the odd part that goes to an Aussie or Brit. It’s much much more.
Only a handful of Australians more qualified to play Americans than Americans…??? What does that even MEAN?
You know it’s… acting… right??
Should Daniel Day Lewis NOT have played Lincoln because in every day life he speaks with a different accent?
And – A couple of MILLION visas????? Are you on crack?
What that MEANS Aussie is exactly that. There are only a handful of Australian actors (and British) that can portray an American without absolutely butchering the accent. There are only a handful (and now I’m being generous) Australian (and British) actors that can pull of a regional American dialect. You can find most of them deservedly sitting amongst a swarm of American Oscar nominees. There are only a handful of Australian actors that come to this country with theatrical training PERIOD. This being training from an institution or teacher that has produced any actors of merit. And yes I do know it’s acting – and there is a HUGE difference between Daniel Day Lewis and the Australian and British mobs of people that we are happily throwing work visas at. Daniel Day Lewis can play whatever he likes because HE IS QUALIFIED and he was maybe and justifiably the only actor for that role. THAT is not what I am talking about. And as for the visa comment – that was an example. I could have given any number. I gave you a high one so that you could understand the magnitude – the impact – that this is having on American talent. I’m not the only one that is complaining – trust me. Your comment about me smoking crack – well – of course you would say something off the cuff like that without actually trying to understand the analogy….you’re Australian! Welcome to America! Get an agent and a manager – no experience necessary – everybody’s doing it!
If only a handful of Brits/Aussies can act with an AMerican accent, what can explain the reality that most cable series are headlined by foreign actors? At least, nowadays.. Not only do these foreign actors do the American accents well, they are way better actors.
A perfect example is the Walking Dead. David Morrissey, Andrew Lincoln, Lennie James are British. Lauren Cohan was born in the US to a Brit mother, but grew up in Britain. Laurie Holden is Canadian and Danai Gurira was born in the US but grew up in Zimbabwe. None had their training here. They are the main stars of the show, other than Norman Reedus who himself is American but grew up in other countries.
Look at HOMELAND, apart from Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin, other Brits are Damien Lewis, Rupert Friend, David Harewood, Brazilian is Morena Baccarin, and Diego Klattenhoff is Canadian.
Even the new show on AMC is headed by 2 awesome BRITS, Mark Strong and Lennie James.
The Brits, Canadians, Aussies, Swedes, etc are getting the jobs because they really can act better and do the American accents well. Don’t you expect someone that graduated from Old Royal Vic to be a better actor than someone who ran away from a Farm in Missouri to follow his or her dreams?
I’d watch Tom Mison read the phone book for 44 minutes…now i’m interested in this show.
Mison is a very good actor and cute too. I’m happy. American actors just dont have the training.
I’m convinced that this is not about training or, for that mater, where an actor comes from for that matter. Networks and studios have discovered over the years that american actors often bring baggage to many roles they are asked to play. I’ll never for get watching Saving Private Ryan” and seeing Ted Danson as well as Dennis Farina and thinking WTF! They took me out of the movie for a bit. They didn’t need to be in that film.
Finding talented actors that are new faces to American audiences seems to me to be key to this trend. Sure there are talented American actors that our audiences haven’t seen yet, but are they proven? Many of these outsourced actors from the UK or Australia have worked locally and have there own fan base/work reels that undiscovered American actors have yet to produce. It’s easier to pick an actor that has worked and proven themselves and yet is new to America audiences. Sadly, that circumstance has set a trend. Hollywood has always tried to find “the magic bullet” that sets one show’s success apart from another. Some “think” that that “magic bullet” is casting a Brit or Aussie in place of an American is that magic bullit. That is the part that I object to. As long as shows that cast Brits and Aussies continue to succeed, the trend will continue. Of course, most Americans don’t here of the shows that don’t succeed so, I don’t see an end to this trend any time soon.
The trend will continue because when they audition, they choose the better actors who will always end up being the British, Aussie or whatever.
Campy Vampire Diaries is fun. But when they cast Joseph Morgan as Klaus, it was perfection. That actor has become way more popular than the main characters. They also cast 3 other Brit/Aussies and now these 4 got a spinoff called the Originals.
Klaus – British (JM)
Rebeka – Aussie (CH)
Kol – Aussie (NB)
Elijah – Canadian/NZ (DG)
And the American playing actors, well NINA DOBREV is Canadian, born in Bulgaria and Kat Graham was born in Switzerland, and grew up all over the world. Perhaps it is this diversity that makes these people wonderful actors, not a fad!