This Is Not America

[jldraw]

Before I begin, I wanted to mentioned I placed this discussion in the Characters/Actors section because in general this thread has more to do with the actors than anything else. If the mods think it fits better somewhere else on the forum...I'm sure it will be "relocated":

I was reading "The Road To Hollywood" section in my "H&A Collectors Edition Magazine" and I got to thinking how many Aussie actors have successfully used H&A as a springboard to Hollywood fame and fortune. At first blush it's actually a pretty decent sized list but for the purpose of this discussion I would like to suggest that perhaps the move to Hollywood for the vast majority of H&A stars isn't necessarily the right move.

In reading through "The Road To Hollywood" section in the magazine it appears that the article pads its stats so to speak regarding the success of H&A actors in Hollywood by including several names of actors (Heath Ledger for example) who really were never regulars on H&A and more or less just passed through the soap on their way to loftier things. The point I'm trying to make is that for a lot of H&A's most beloved stars who made the jump to America never reached the same level of popularity in America that they had in Australia.

The best example I can cite right off the bat is Melissa George. There is an interview with her on some American Late Night Talk Show from around the time she was on the television show "Thieves" where the host asks her: (and I'm paraphrasing here) "You were a pretty big deal in Australia I understand. Practically as big of a star as Paul Hogan." to which Melissa responds in the affirmative. Despite Melissa's tendency to at times put herself over like the best thing since sliced bread the argument could be made that as far as popularity in Australia goes, she was the biggest star this soap has ever produced in it's twenty year run. However, she has never been able to duplicate the level of success she had as a teenager portraying Angel Brooks on H&A as an actor working in America. She was part of a very hot show ("Alias") for one season but since has been relegated to being a "scream queen" of sorts in horror film after horror film after horror film. Her three most recent flicks ("WAZ", "The Betrayed" and "Triangle") were never given a theatrical run in the United States and instead were direct to DVD issue. As much as I consider myself a fan of Melissa, even I have to admit she is regarded as a C-List actress here in the United States which is a far cry (as I understand it anyhow) from how she was regarded in Australia.

I could cite other examples from the listing in the magazine but really it would just be repeating what I had just said in regards to Melissa in that almost every actor they listed in that article has not enjoyed the same level of success in America when compared to what they had when they were working on H&A in Australia. In fact in almost every case including in my opinion the three former H&A stars who have found some degree of success in America (Fisher, Kwanten & McMahon) they are still bigger stars today in Australia and regarded in a much higher light in their native country than they are here in America.

A great example of this would be Isabel Lucas who recently had a small role in "Transformers 2". In Australia they promoted Isabel's role in the film as if it was a starring role and Rove McManus even booked her for an appearance on his show promoting the film. However in America, I don't think Lucas did one interview promoting that film and to be quite frank unless you are a "Transformers" fan (or an American who watches H&A) I doubt you even know who she is. The point I'm trying to get across in most cases the H&A actors who decide to make the jump to America are regarded as stars whenever they come back to Australia but by and large in America very few of them have risen above "C-level" status as far as I can tell.

It may simply be a case of "big fish/little pond vs little fish/big pond" but with the recent announcement of Lincoln Lewis, Todd Lasance and possibly Jessica Tovey and Mark Furze heading to the United States I have to wonder again if this is the smartest move on their part. I mean just judging from these forums alone on how people were crying their eyes out when Belle left the Bay tells me how beloved Tovey is by Australian audiences. Can she ever hope to duplicate that success in the United States where there is a distinct possibility right off the bat that her uncanny resemblance to Mischa Barton might hurt her right off the bat. The same goes for Lasance and Lewis who in my opinion I think are not as polished as actors as Tovey is.

Anyhow in closing please don't anyone take this posting as an act of malice on my part. I want nothing but to see all the H&A alumni succeed in America but judging from what I've seen over the past ten years or so the two actors who have come over to America after having a successful run on an Aussie soap are Isla Fisher and Neighbours' Jesse Spencer and the reason they have had that success is because both of them put in an ungodly amount of work to get to the positions they are in right now including Fisher heading to France after finishing H&A to hone her acting skills before heading to the United States.

Thoughts?

[emmasi]

Julian McMahon was on H&A and now he has his own TV series in America. At least I assume Nip/Tuck is still around. I don't follow it, but I know it is or was popular. Chris Hemsworth scored a short but important role in the Star Trek movie, and has several other things due to come out soon. Jason Smith landed the lead role in Power Rangers: Jungle Fury, which didn't have a mainstream following but the following it did have was viciously loyal. Trust me, I attempted to keep up with the fans and failed miserably. And that's coming from a Jason Smith obsessive! He also got a hot girlfriend out of Power Rangers too Granted that was filmed in NZ but it was an American production, complete with questionable American accents.

I don't think anyone really goes over there expecting to be an instant success but it does happen. There are so many TV shows and movies in America but there are hardly any in Australia. I think we had like... five drama series in production of any note last year, not including H&A and Neighbours. In fact, I'll name them, because it won't take long: Packed to the Rafters, Underbelly, All Saints, Rush... I saw an ad for The Circuit on SBS the other night... I can't think of any others.... I think there was something called Rain Shadow on ABC... SBS and ABC aren't really considered commercial networks though. They're kind of reserved for obscure TV shows that only a limited audience would be interested in.

On the other hand f I tried to list all the American shows we get in Australia, I'd be here all night, and even then I probably wouldn't get through a quarter of them. And that's not even counting all of the hundreds, possibly thousands of American TV shows that we don't get here. As for movies, I think we've had about five in five years that have been any kind of success. Most of the movies that get made here are of the low-budget independent kind, so it's rare for them to get any recognition. The Black Balloon, starring H&A's Rhys Wakefield, has been somewhat of an anomaly because that was a little Aussie movie that was fairly successful, but it did star Toni Collette, who is of course one of the big fish in America, so that could have a lot to do with it.

What I'm getting at is that there isn't really such a thing as a big fish in a little pond when it comes to Australian actors. There are no big fish, other than those that have made a huge success of their carreers in America, like Toni Collette, Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, and possibly Geoffry Rush and Eric Bana. There's probably a few others, but even the likes of Melissa George and Julian McMahon wouldn't exacly be considered A-list here, because they're not A-list in America. Melissa George was a guest on a sort of talk show here just the other week, and it wasn't a big deal. So was Geoffry Rush, actually. That's another thing, we don't even have talk shows anymore! So even if we did have A-list celibrities, how would we know? Who would interview them and say, "you're a huge A-list celebrity" ? In fact, we don't even have any A-list events that would require A-list attendance. We have like two commercially televised TV/Film award ceremonies, and two or three music awards. There's no point being an A-list Australian celebrity, unless you're going to an A-list event in another country.

So in conclusion, the reason Australian actors go to America is because it's pretty much the only chance they've got at becoming a star, or even landing a C-list TV role that won't be canceled after ten episodes. There's no such thing as a big fish in the Australian TV/Film industry, there are only little fish floundering in a drying mud puddle. Sad, but true.

[alexx]

So in conclusion, the reason Australian actors go to America is because it's pretty much the only chance they've got at becoming a star, or even landing a C-list TV role that won't be canceled after ten episodes. There's no such thing as a big fish in the Australian TV/Film industry, there are only little fish floundering in a drying mud puddle. Sad, but true.

Yeah I think this hits the nail on the head, Australian's, generally speaking, dont seem to see our home grown actors as 'celebrities' you cant touch, they are just every day people acting for a living. Therefore we dont have those big David Letterman type shows all about glamor and celebrity etc However, and this might say something about how we perceive Australia, but if an Aussie actor does make it really big in the UK or America especially, there is a definite sense of 'proud' and feeling of THEY made it in America therefore they are different some how and more successful. Australia just isn't really a celebrity orientated country, in most cases you dont get the 'paparazzi' following stars 24/7, no one cares about whether or not a cast member from Neighbours is seen eating Mc Donalds on the beach showing a bit of flesh, whereas it would be in numerous tabloids in America or the UK. On the flip side, if an A-Lister came to Australia there would be screaming fans and photographers everywhere... I dont really know what that says about how Australian's view Australians, that we aren't as good unless we are recognized in America?

Melissa George, in the 90's was probably the cream of the crop in terms of 'celebrity' in Australia, whereas I think these days she is just remembered for being on Home and Away and only by those who saw her, there haven't ever been repeats of her era on the show so you either saw her in that one show for 3 years or you dont know who she is.

So from the actors point of view, I guess it boils down too...why wouldn't you want to go and be where, arguably, the best films in the world are being produced?

[emmasi]

I watch Letterman whenever I can, so I know what you meant about the types of celebrities he has on the show, it's just really amusing to think of Dave himself being called glamorous, crotchety old man that he is lol. I know that's not what you meant but it's still really funny.

Anyway, you're not wrong about the insanity associated with American celebrities coming here. I was waiting to watch The Ellen Degeneres Show one day, and finally gave up after half an hour of a "news flash" devoted to Tiger Woods walking from one part of an Australian golf course to another. I kept thinking it would end soon, but then there was a press conference (after Channel Nine had deftly missed the walking), where Tiger himself was clearly disturbed by the level of attention he was getting for a simple practice session. I do not understand people sometimes. I especially don't understand why they have to interrupt my regularly scheduled programming with wholly unimportant crap, just because someone happens to be famous This was before the Tiger Woods scandal too, so it's not even like there was a media circus already in progress. The Australian media just decided to invent one because we've got nothing else

[DinerLandlord]

I don't think people should be judged too harshly for going to Hollywood and not becoming massive stars in the process. If they move out there and manage to get work consistently I think they've made a success of themselves, regardless of whether they have big starring roles or not. The fact is people from all over America and all over the world move to Hollywood every year with hopes and dreams, and the vast majority of them never achieve the things they had dreamed of. The entertainment industry in Hollywood is pretty brutal and ruthless. Simply getting an audition is difficult if you aren't well connected. It can take years of hard work and determination for young actors to get any kind of recognition. It can also be a matter of timing and good luck as well, for example if one actor pulled out of a role and a newcomer was brought in at the last minute and then just happened to get their big break. Some actors simply become flavour of the month, and will go through a period of starring in big movies for a couple of years, only for their success to peter out. Brittany Murphy, for example, was a leading lady during the early and mid-noughties, but in the few years before her death her roles got smaller and were in less prominent movies. Some actors have slow-burning careers, and achieve big things later in life than their peers. I remember Amy Adams was playing second fiddle for ages to other young actresses like Kirsten Dunst, Denise Richards, and Sarah Michelle Gellar, but now they've all fallen by the wayside and she's in her 30's and getting nominated for Oscars.

If rumours are to be believed there is also a very sinister and seedy side to Hollywood. Sleeping your way to the top is apparently all too common in Hollywood. Certain gossip websites have been claiming recently that Blake Lively from Gossip Girl is being groomed by Harvey Weinstein as the next big star, but the price she has to pay for that is having sex with him. People have been suspicious as to how she got her upcoming role in the new superhero move The Green Lantern. She's only 22, but she has been cast as 30-something airline executive, which has raised a lot of eyebrows, especially as a lot of much more famous actresses were up for the role.