Christopher Eccleston has always seemed like a Cillian Murphy-type of actor… to me. What I mean is that even when Eccleston is supposed to be playing a sympathetic or even “good” character, I still think the character is probably a psycho. It’s something about the eyes and the intensity. Eccleston just comes across like an intense guy who excels at playing bad guys. It’s not the worst thing in the world. Anyway, Eccleston has a new interview with Radio Times about why his tenure as Doctor Who was so short and why it’s tough for him to be a working class Northern lad in an industry that only wants to hire the posh blokes like Benedict Cumberbatch and Eddie Redmayne.
Why his Doctor Who had a Northern accent: “I wanted to move him away from the RP (received pronunciation) for the first time because we shouldn’t make a correlation between intellect and accent … although that still needs addressing… I still feel insecure, like a lot of my working-class contemporaries. I had a sense acting wasn’t for me because I’m not educated. I was a skinny, awkward-looking bugger with an accent, as I still am.”
Inequality and classism in British culture: “British society has always been based on inequality, particularly culturally. I’ve lived with it, but it’s much more pronounced now, and it would be difficult for someone like me to come through.”
Posh actors: “You can’t blame Eddie Redmayne, Benedict Cumberbatch and others taking their opportunities but it will lead to a milky, anodyne culture. To an extent that’s already happened. I confess I don’t watch much film or television drama but I’m aware of the predominance of white, male roles. It’s not just about the working class. There’s not enough writing for women or people of colour. It frustrates me when they insist on doing all-male Shakespearean productions – a wonderful intellectual exercise, maybe, but it’s outrageous because it’s putting a lot of women out of work.”
[From Pajiba & Radio Times]
I had to look up the word “anodyne”. In case you didn’t know it either, it means “not likely to provoke dissent or offense; inoffensive, often deliberately so.” And he’s absolutely right. I love seeing Benedict and Eddie and Tom Hiddleston and hell, even posh bloke Tom Hardy in more films, but it would be great if the British film & television industry could focus on telling stories that aren’t just about posh, educated white blokes. Hollywood should learn the same lesson, although many British working-class actors and British actors of color have said that they’re actually offered more opportunities in America than Britain.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Sigh. He was such a great Doctor; I really miss Nine.
His Doctor had the potential to be a much deeper character. I would have liked to see him and Martha work together. And nine with Donna. Oh well.
Florc, yeah that puppydog aspect sucked. Which is why I thought seeing her with nine might have been more interesting. In the moments when she wasn’t pining, she had spunk.
Charlotte
Martha was a strong, smart woman with success. That they made her more about following a man as a crush and not because of the adventure ruined it. And that she left because essentially she could get over her infatuation was terrible.
What a waste of great character potential.
Yep, Florc.
He was my favorite doctor! The reasons he left Dr Who are the reasons I eventually stopped watching.
Why did he leave?
He was a top favorite Doctor of mine. And when Day of The Doctor aired and he didn’t return, but they used just a video clip I was disappointed.
Charlotte
I hated Martha. I liked Rose over Martha. Martha was just a puppydog pining after a man who made it clear he had no interest. That the story line completed that later she married Mickey made so much sense. Both were on the annoying side imo.
I stopped watching because the writing became awful – I TRIED watching last year for Peter Capaldi, who is good in the role, but the storytelling is horrible now.
And Christopher was the best of the ‘New Who’ doctors, hands down.
I think I read a bit into his comments about the political aspects of the dr who working environment, how his face and accent didn’t fit with the direction they wanted to take The Doctor, and his comment about acting for children … Rather than adults. The latter comment is the one I think I misunderstood, but I suspect he wanted to continue with a darker, more complex character …. With the show relying on intetesting plots and characterizations. Instead of the cloying, repetitive, pathos-heavy object of romance David tenant’s doctor turned into. I liked tennant’s doctor at first, but the insistence of the powers that be to make him a tortured savior with a harem of pining women…boring. David tennant is great tho. I love him in other roles.
Give Capaldi another chance! Yes, the stories in his Doctor era are horrible. Some of the worst stories and writing imo.
The saving grace is how we see the Doctor as older. Not a heart throb of sorts. It’s explained well in the 1st episode to Clara. Though not in line with how the Doctor actually regenerates. If that logic was true he’d be a ginger by now.
That he felt comfortable to show more his age and to not be what he felt his companion desired. To get their approval so he didn’t have to travel alone. To pick up a fun companion you’d have to appear on the hot side… I guess was the logic.
Eccleston was a much darker Doctor and he played it well. There’s always that looming part of his character. The Doctor was born of fire in battle! But quirky and cute Doctor gets the ratings so… hmf!
Capaldi is decent though. And on the darker side.
Hmmm… I will check out the Capaldi doctor episodes. Thanks FLORC 🙂
Nine was my Doctor, too!! <3 He was absolutely the best.
Tom Baker was the first Doctor I ever watched, so he always holds a special place in my heart. I really like Capaldi, though, too; and I didn’t think I would.
Yess. I like him so much. There’s something
i find so appealing about his looks, manner and outspokenness. He was wonderful as 9 and I was crushed when he left so soon.
he was such a wonderful doctor.
He’s still my favorite Doctor. *sigh*
He was my favorite too, I found him unbelievably sexy.
Me too!!
This!!!
Soo sexy. I’d never thought of the doctor as sexy at all until 9
+1! Nine was my favorite.
mine too
When he said he’d seen everything, you felt like he meant it. There would be a dark side to living that long and he seemed like he had it. 11 could pull that one out occasionally and it was fun when he did.
Never watched Dr Who but broke my heart as Jude the obscure.
It’s funny, the comparison to Cillian Murphy – they were both in 28 Days Later, one of my fav films – and Ecclestone played the psycho behind the eyes, and in the end Cillian, seemingly the young hero being attacked by zombies and evil military types like Ecclestons character, was just as psycho, but in a good way. Lol love that movie.
God that movie freaks me out. The underlying message [SPOILER ALERT] seems to be if you try to have time apart as a couple, your children will feel bereft and will suicide. Terrifying. And that if you live differently (in their case not getting married) things will justifiably end horribly. I hate that Kate Winslet accepted that, at the end of the movie. Seems pretty regressive (well it’s an old novel). I love the acting but can’t watch it again because it gives me the willies.
I loved him as the Doctor. I thought he did an amazing job!!! He is one of those actors that I will watch what ever he is in. BUT my favorite doctor is still David Tennant. 😉
Agreed.
I think Eccleston is a fantastic actor. He creeped me out so much in Shallow Grave.
Anyone here remember him in the series Cracker, he is just one of those actors that could be in anything and I would watch.
i loved ‘Cracker’. He was amazing and i’m still traumatised by his death in it and Robert Carlyle’s transformation into a skinhead.
Amy/Zapp/LAK
Loved those roles! That he was no longer the Doctor (in my eyes) and became those characters bumps him up to great actor imo. And those were some really unsettling characters he played.
You guys should look out The Shadow Line, where he played a drug dealer with a wife with dementia. He played alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor. Really stylish series. Also, his episode of Accused. And, of course, Our Friends in the North. And he’s just done a turn in a new series, Fortitude, which I loved. Murder on the glacier!
Watch Revengers Tragedy. It’s SET in the north. Eddie Izzard, Derek Jacobi – so good!
Forgot about Shallow Grave. Loved it.
I’ve seen Our Friends In the North a while ago and it was really really good.
OMG! I loved, loved, loved Our Friends in the North!! The cast did an amazing job, and it’s so nice to see how far some of them have gone and to see them pop up in some of my favourite movies and shows! Daniel Craig, Mark Strong, Christopher Eccleston, Gina McKee, Peter Vaughan, David Bradley… Wow.
“I’m aware of the predominance of white, male roles. It’s not just about the working class. There’s not enough writing for women or people of colour. It frustrates me when they insist on doing all-male Shakespearean productions – a wonderful intellectual exercise, maybe, but it’s outrageous because it’s putting a lot of women out of work.”
and THAT ladies and gents is how you answer a question on this topic without sounding like a patronising twit. Its n ot perfect but it’s better than all the “I don’t see any issues” comments.
AMEN!
Yes, they don’t all answer so eloquently, do they?
They do do all female Shakespeare as well but it does not get the same audience reception.The Donmar has put on two plays and the one I saw was brilliant.I have no issues with all male casts productions as long as it does not increase.Some of the all male Productions from Globe are brilliant
I have a lot of respect for Eccleston who stood up for the Who crew doing night shoots for basic wage while the stars and actors got nigh time payments-plus he is a brilliant actor.
I think he has hit it on the head when he says part of the issue is the diversity of roles but it also comes down to funding for drama courses which compared to the 70’s are negligible and leave working class actors with huge debts and little support why they try and build a career.If you look back to the hey day of working class actors like Michael Caine etc the whole funding of higher education was so much easier
The problem I have with all male productions (and I’m thinking of Mark Rylance’s) is that the claim of “authenticity” is so selective and disingenuous. In Shakespearean times the female roles were played by adolescent males. But of course casting a teenage boy would sideline a middle aged man so let’s just ignore that bit and claim it’s all about being true to Shakespearean times. I’d also like to see them try to be “authentic” with something like Othello. They would never get away with blackface. At least all female productions are trying to redress theatre’s sexism rather than reinforcing it by reducing the already slim number of roles for women even further.
Part of that is that it’s only tiny theatres like the Donmar willing to do all-female Shakespeare, but massive theatres like the Globe and some of the theatres that have hosted Propellor are willing to do all-male Shakespeare. The Donmar’s audience demographic is very different to those big theatres.
Right? He’s not speaking against Benedict and Eddie, but in favor of actors and actresses of colour.
Agreed. He’s amazing 🙂
He’s a favorite actor of mine that just doesn’t get the respect due. Likely, because he appears to be a decent person who doesn’t seek out that public fame that so many do. Or open his mouth and let the words just fall out.
Love him!
I agree with the sentiment but not necessarily his assessment. We still need more storytelling for women (like Happy Valley) and good roles for minorities, but British TV is coming on leaps and bounds in both those regards. And there are many, many working class stories being told (I’m watching one, the fabulous Ordinary Lies, right now). It’s not all posh accents and endless adaptations of Jane Austen any more.
The problem is ACCESS. If you want to be in the mid-high level market (ie the types of shows that might get BAFTAs) you need to have gone to the good acting schools – RADA, LAMDA, etc. If you’re a working class stage school kid, it’s almost impossible to fight your way out of soaps and daytime TV or the trashier dramas.
But working class kids are being shut out of the good schools by the reduction of grants and scholarships, the depression of non-acting wages (that working class aspiring actors do to support themselves while trying for parts), the reductions in rent subsidies for the poor, and all those other facets of Austerity Britain post-financial crash.
The stories needed are increasingly being told. But working class kids face more and more struggle to get themselves into a position where they could compete to appear in them. That’s why I loved McAvoy’s recent scholarship so much – getting working class kids into classes at an elite institution.
I am loving Ordinary Lies
Fab, isn’t it? It’s really surprised me. I’m not keen on Jason Mountford or Jo Joyner but I do like Max Beesley and Mackenzie Crook. I watched the first one thinking I’d probably be disappointed and drop it, but it’s SO addictive and cleverly written!
I was recording it, then watched the first 2 back to back and was disappointed I had to wait for the third. I was so surprised, mainly because I had only seen a very short clip so knew very little but it’s so surprising.
It’s very cleverly written.
Yes. Unexpected gem.
Me too. i dropped out of ‘Poldark’ after episode 2 and thought i’d give ‘ordinary lies’ a go. love it.
a few months ago, there was a series with Derek Jacobi called ‘Last Tango in Halifax’ which i found on BBC iplayer. wonderful. Binge watched all the available episodes.
LAK – Last Tango is also Sally Wainwright (see below). It’s based on her mother rekindling first love via Facebook in her old age!
I’m also gutted that Banished is finishing tonight. I’ve really enjoyed it, way more than Poldark
Yes! Banished is far superior. I like Poldark, mostly for the beautiful camera work, but it is very lightweight, isn’t it?
What’s wrong with Poldark, what’s wrong with lightweight escapism on a Sunday night in the middle of a British General Election may I ask? I need to gawp at Aiden Turner as an antidote to all those self-satisfied, self-serving politicians cluttering up the screens at the moment. Speaking of politicians Sixer is absolutely right about the lack of access for working class kids in the arts. Some British Rep companies (those that are left thanks to funding cuts) are now running ‘internships’ for young actors that can only be taken up by kids whose families can afford to support them. The talent going to waste is ridiculous.
Awww, frisbeejada. Nothing at all wrong with popcorn and escapism and a bit of eye candy. And Sunday night is the traditional BBC slot for it, isn’t it?
I’m really hoping its renewed.
Poldark is great! Beautifully shot and Aiden Turner is obviously gorgeous but i agree with Sixer. Its just missing something, a spark and i can’t put my finger on exactly what.
Judy Dench has also been known to give financial assistance and isuspect others do as well but it would be great if all successful actors united took part in a similar scheme to McAvoys.
But isn’t a major part of the problem cuts in government services? Weren’t there subsidies or grants that made tuition more affordable that are now gone? I suspect many give to their schools quietly, I know I do, but I think perhaps pressure should be on the government to restore what was taken instead of focusing on whether this or that actor made donations, although God love McAvoy, Dench, and Julie Walters for what they have done.
Lilac – absolutely. The first priority is structural, not philanthropic. And it’s entirely possible/affordable, whatever the austerity-ites say. Look at what the BRIT school, which is entirely state funded, has done for music careers for working class kids – Adele, Jessie J, Katie Melua, Amy Winehouse, and many, many more.
yep, @ LF
also to be blunt i know this is wrong but i have mixed feelings about this issue because in the US, you’re drowning in debt after graduation no matter major or school you go to. so like to me lamda, which you can get student loans for, is totally normal, and acting is a risky career.
please forgive me it’s just hard sometimes to hear it when where i am, schooling for essential jobs, like doctors and teachers, will put you in tremendous debt
Huzzah Sixer re Happy Valley. Love Sally Wainright & Sarah Lancashire. Whole cast stupendous especially the little boy who played Ryan!
Though ironically, the biggest breakthrough scene stealer was James Norton who is a total posh boy (Cambridge, RADA) but killed it as underclass thug/psycho killer and rapist, Jamie D has nothing on Norton in The Fall.
It’s on Netflix everyone should check it,
I must say, I can’t imagine this site’s favourites, Cumberbunny and Hiddlesburp, playing “down” as well as Norton managed there.
Sally Wainwright should be made a dame. She’s out there making working class and women’s stories riveting for EVERYONE.
Maybe by the time I get through the free episodes on Netflix, the ones I have to pay for (like Ordinary Lies) will end up on Netflix. At least half the time you Brits recommend a great series, It’s available on Amazon for $1.99 an episode. Binge watching gets expensive quick!
Bendy couldn’t do working class without overacting. I’m really curious how Tom pulls of Hank Williams, who as we know was poor as dirt. Maybe if he can nail that role, he’ll have an opportunity to branch out and try a British working class role. He is really good with accents…
I powered through all of Happy Valley on Netflix one Saturday afternoon – loved it so very much! Anything with Sally Wainwright’s name on it will be gold – has anyone else watched Scott & Bailey? I would watch hour-long episodes of Lesley Sharp making tea and walking her dog!
if the lack of scholarships keep many of the working class out of good acting schools, then it behooves those who benefited from family money to be giving back. It irks me that they bemoan how uneven the playing field is but don’t do anything on a practical level to help those who are disadvantaged.
It shouldn’t be just the working class kids like McAvoy who caught a lucky break funding the scholarships needed.
MtnRunner – I think the UK is in a particular bind over this now times are tight because there is a much smaller history of (recent) philanthropy than there is in the US. There was less need for it with all the post-WWII social provisions that were enacted – in the forms not only of scholarships and grants but also general social safety nets. But now we are back in austerity, the grants are drying up and there is no organised system of philanthropy to replace it.
I don’t see these cuts as the right choice – I see the old system as investment in the future, but I’m a dyed in the wool leftie, so I would say that. But since we are where we are and the cuts have been made, then yes, I do think the Eton and Harrow contingent should step up to the philanthropic plate.
I think it’s great that McAvoy is putting his money where his mouth is but scholarships are band aids. They won’t fix a broken system. In some ways they make things worse because they give the appearance of equality. The onus also tends to fall on the poorer student to be smarter, more talented to get an equal opportunity.
Sixer. It’s not just about having gone to those schools. It’s affording them, it’s about understanding the culture and feeling comfortable within it that environment.
My friends sister went to the central school of speech and drama ( which is one of the best ones and where coincidentally eccleston is also an alumni). She was there around the time of Gael Garcia bernal and Andrew Garfield . She says that even though the school functions as a means tested drama school ( as opposed to Rada which is a very expensive course, which is why you don’t find many working class kids evenapplying for rada) the vast majority of students even there was middle class or posh.
Somewhere like Rada caters to posh students with the odd scholarship for a “poor student” it’s not an egalitarian system much like the rest of British power structure. With this system you don’t encourage diversity in the arts.
Working class actors take the soap route because it’s manageable and most of them find themselves stuck there.
Directors invariably come out of Oxbridge and hire their mates I. E the ones they feel comfortable with so the likes of Hiddleston and redmayne will never be out of work.
The thing that’s needeed is writers and directors ,working class, female, black ones to change this pattern.
Yes to all that. Absolutely.
In the UK doesn’t it already start with the family you are born with, the school you go to, the accent?
While the US has race issues, the UK has class issues. Everybody talks about them but what can be done, really?
I am looking at the countries were there is less race or class distinction like Germany or Russia or China. Well, it was achieved rather violently. I am not sure I wish for that. But then they have ethnic issues instead of race and class.
And in the end MONEY rules it all. If you have money, the race, the ethnicity, the class no longer matter.
MONEY is the root of all inequality, and people have been looking for solution for centuries and nobody has found it.
I was very interested in his comment about accent being equated with intelligence. I have a very dear Scottish friend who has the most beautiful accent. Then I have an acquaintance from my church who is Scottish with a very posh English accent. It’s a small town and everyone knows most everyone else, or at least who they are. I overheard someone ask Mr. Posh Accent why he didn’t sound like my friend, since they are both Scottish, and he sniffed “education.” I wanted to trip him in the aisle, or say something devastating, but as usual, did neither. I was hurt for my friend, who is very smart and very successful in his own business and works his fingers to the bone.
Ha. I’ll give you that, GNAT. We are atrociously snobbish about accents – although traditional regional accents are ok, you don’t want to speak what we call “estuary English”, which is the accent of the working class in the south east. Everyone will immediately assume you are stupid. My accent is a mangled mess of posh and estuary!
We have prejudices here over accents, too. I just thought his remark was so unkind. My friend is not uneducated. He just didn’t go to the same type of school.
Very unkind. It makes me cringe.
One of the head mistress of Rhodean said said that intelligent child will do well in either system -it is the middle of the road student who benefits from the advantage smaller teacher pupil time and supervised homework that you get in private education so you could argue that kids at private schools are thicker
Try having a Brummie accent PLUS a really good education then enjoy the utter and total confusion caused by NOT being thick 🙂 (well most of the time anyway..)
Estuary english = Southern drawl. People assume if you talk slow, you are slow.
Yes. I am from the south, and there is a great deal of prejudice related to accent = stupid in the rest of the country.
It’s funny because I swoon over a Southern drawl. And so many Americans on this site swoon over a posh British accent, while I’m inclined to prefer a regional accent – Geordie, soft Scots, etc. Take away all the cultural markers and what other people make of things becomes very different, doesn’t it?
A college buddy of mine with a rural Oklahoma accent ended up at Oxford on a Rhodes. He already had to deal with pre-conceptions about his accent in the US — so he ended up in a sort of a Euro-American regional double-whammy. Maybe he should play the next Doctor — although I think he’s too busy with his MacArthur Genius Grant….
Having lived in all four corners of the US, I’d say southerners are the funniest people in the US — they have the best expressions for things, endearing accents and are fantastic storytellers. And they’re hella good cooks.
Bostonians are the second most entertaining for almost the exact opposite reasons. I went from one region to the other and spent over 8 years in both places and miss them still.
*waits for Lilac to come after me with a Moxie bottle*
@MtnRunner, we’re fresh out of Moxie. Colin is bringing you a pint of Sam Adams Boston 26.2, available only this weekend. Available only along the 26.2 glorious miles from Hopkinton to Copley. Because MARATHON!!!!
Since we are on the subject of Brit actors and TV shows, the cast of The Night Manager has some interesting additions, one of whom is named Tobias. Can’t wait for this to air.
Mmmm, bee-uh. I sometimes combine my favorite Sams and put Sam Smith in my Sam Adams pilsner, ’cause they’re both so tasty. Colin seems to be running late… is the marathon brew dark or light? I like my brewskis full bodied.
Yes, I saw the casting news on TNM. I didn’t recognize a single one of ’em. I wonder why they haven’t mentioned the gal playing Sophie? She’s been intagramming about it, but I’ve yet to see her casting mentioned in the press releases. As a central character in the storyline — I’m surprised.
@Malificent, I love that accent! I spent a few days at a small work conference that gathered folks from all over the country and I loved listening to the guy from Oklahoma. I quickly discovered his from-the-sticks accent had everyone fooled – he was by far the smartest guy in the room and had passion and drive to burn.
“Education” does not equal intelligence. People can get into some of the best schools in this country because of legacy and money and they somehow graduate, but it doesn’t mean they learned anything.
So true. I know several attorneys who went to Harvard and some are great and some are really not very good.
@GNAT, I was actually thinking of a former President, born to wealthy New Englanders, educated at an elite boarding school in MA, summered in Maine, legacy student at Yale, graduate degree from Harvard, but speaks with a bad attempt of an a accent from somewhere else
Best example being George W Bush (Shrub).
Congratulations, Anon121, that is EXACTLY the person I was describing. Nobody has ever been able to explain to me how a man, born in Connecticut to a woman from Maine and the son of a Connecticut Senator, who attended Phillips Academy in Andover, MA, Yale University, and Harvard B School sounds like he does. He should sound like James Spader or Bill Belichick. He doesn’t even sound like his own brother.
I absolutely loved him as the Doctor (maybe because he was my “first”), and I’m so glad he didn’t stop at the part about working-class vs. posh. It seemed a little unaware, and he has a reputation as “difficult” (for which I still blame the Who crew, not him)… so I was worried. But nope, he gets it.
He absolutely realizes that he still has it better than most people… because he knows that when sophisticated white guys decrease his work opportunities, they’re doing exponentially more damage for people who aren’t white, or aren’t guys, or both.
I sat next to ex-Doctor Colin Baker at a bar once and he was busy telling everybody about why Chris Ecclestone only did one season. He was a complete diva on set and wanted complete script control thinking he was bigger than the show. This was maybe 6 or 7 years ago I heard him talk openly about this.
I’ve no idea who’s telling the truth but just wanted to share my story x
not true-a lot of it was about supporting lower paid workers-it is all documented in interview.A lot of rumours were floating around at the time so it could have all been hear say on Baker’s part.
My guess is that rumour came from someone high up in the production. Eccleston said later he didn’t like the way the crew was being treated – the first series did sound very chaotic, production-wise. Eccleston is quite bolshie, he has a bit of a chip on his shoulder about being working class but thats quite different to being a diva, which is just motivated by ego and selfishness.
I loved the Ninth Doctor. If you’re wanting to see more of Christopher Eccleston, he has a small role on the batsh*t insane Fortitude, which I’d recommend if you’re into Nordic Noir.
He is far and away my favorite Doctor.
I hate it when people use fancy, obscure words, knowing that 99% of the population is going to have to look it up. There are perfectly ordinary words which mean the exact same thing, but the “uneducated” guy went for the two dollar word. Sounds a wee bit insecure and like he’s a bit of a try hard.
Seriously? You can’t just look at it as a chance to learn a new word? Sometimes a $2 word is the one that expresses most succinctly what you’re trying to say. Other times it’s just the first one the brain pulls out of the hat. It’s not like his whole interview is pretentious thesaurus mining.
Yeah, there’s a big difference between K-Stew and Chris using a word that’s not incredibly basic. She peppers them throughout her interviews like bad poetry, but he just used one word that happens to be uncommon for some audiences.
Anodyne is one step up from milquetoast, anyway. It carries a handful of descriptors, rather than one limited word like “bland” or “harmless”, and its meaning is very obvious in context.
I already knew the word but the fact that Kaiser felt the need to define it tells me that most people wouldn’t. I just found it odd that a guy who always sounds defensive about being from the North, with all of its stereotypes, and who ridicules the posh sounding, makes a point in interviews of using the big fancy word word when the less pretentious would work just as well.
I know – and would be likely to use – this word and I’m a Brit. It could be that it’s more commonly used here. But, words are my thing, so it could just be that.
Either way, Eccleston can be a prickly curmudgeon when he wants to be. But he isn’t the type of guy to use a two dollar word for effect – if anything, he’s the type of guy who would avoid doing that. So I’ll stick up for him here.
I’m with Tara.
Also, I’d wager that 99% of the population isn’t unfamiliar with the word. Your comment reads a little defensive, but his interview doesn’t (to me at least).
Anodyne is an old name for medicine that relieves pain… it’s all over old novels and history books. That, combined with context clues, makes its meaning pretty obvious to me. I have a BA, but that’s it, and I’m certainly not upper-class… so I don’t think it’s particularly “uppity” to know or use. Especially if you have any medical or literary background.
Also, modern British English vocabularies have plenty of common words that sound antequated or formal to American English speakers. This might be one of them.
I disagree. My own vocabulary is nothing special, a mishmash of basic and fancy, but, while I don’t pick prestige words on purpose, I also don’t dumb down my phrasing, because it means I’m assuming my audience is incapable of understanding, and I don’t want to underestimate anybody.
It’s going to be a good day when I visit Celebitchy and find one of my fav actors! Will always love him!
He’s right. And he is easily the best part of the HBO show he’s on ( the name is failing me, The Leftovers?).
I LOVE him on The Leftovers he is such a great actor
… and he kinda could get it in a suit
Thank you! I knew he looked familiar but couldn’t place it.
I couldn’t agree more. British society is dominated by people from a handful of schools. , Hiddlestone, Cumerbatch and Redmayne are good, but there are many equally talented men out who don’t have the contacts or the financial resources to keep trying. These guys never had to go hungry for their art.
Eccleston was comprehensively out-villaned by Hiddles in Thor TDW, though the make up and silly language etc of male-whatever he was didn t help. He’s a grumpy bugger, good actor but not a charmer. My favourite doctor was Patrick Troughton btw; pretty vintage.
Neither of them were given much to do. His dark elf Malekith had very few lines, little back story, no emotions, and had to share screen time first with Adewale, who had fewer lines but more to do while Loki is a well-established category, had more entertaining lines, a broader range of emotions, and the advantage of being Loki
Oh, my. Him in that suit. He ‘distinguish’es up well.
Hey! I was wondering where Chris has been. My fave Doctor!
I lost interest in Dr. Who when he left. :'(
I’ll add this interview to my long list of reasons why I LOVE Eccleston.
My god, the man makes my tummy go all funny.
THANK YOU Celebitchy for covering Chris Eccleston. I loooooooooooove him. David Bowie + Christopher Eccleston = most stunning creatures ever.
Eccleston porn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oqB3d6Pklw
I’ve always adored CE since I saw him in that first season of “Cracker” as the police chief who eventually gets slaughtered by a neo-Nazi skinhead. But I really think he is oversimplifying here. There are only a few great roles in Shakespeare for women, relative to the size of the canon. Henry V. e.g., is, as Hiddles pointed out in the special interviews on The Hollow Crown, “a very masculine play, so you get a lot of ‘man love'”. You got Portia, Gertrude, Juliet, Beatrice, Rosalind, and maybe Volumnia, and that’s it. Cymbeline is a ghastly play, I don’t count her. I don’t believe in altering art and history to fit modern mores: they tell us where we came from. Create new things for new mores. Britain was an overwhelmingly white, European-based culture for a thousand years; it became multicultural (and that is mostly centered in the southeast) barely 50 years ago. Black population is about 4%. It is still an 85-89% white country.
The class system isn’t news – but “posh white males” are NOT getting ALL the roles: here is a short list of non-posh actors (includes ordinary middle-class folk) besides McAvoy and Eccleston: Ben Whishaw, Daniel Craig, Ian McKellan, Brian Cox, Mark Strong, Richard Armitage (who went like Bendy to the London School of Music and Dramatic Art), Jude Law, Kenneth Branagh (born in Ireland but parents moved south of the border early on), a special fave of mine Alan Rickman, and Gary Oldman – whose father was an alcoholic sailor. Charlie Hunnam is a Geordie from the Tyne whose Dad was a gangster and scrap metal merchant.
This group is hardly short of roles. Whishaw is what, 34?
Tom Hiddleston, Eddie Redmayne, and Benedict Cumberbatch are not getting ALL the roles. The latter two did manage to get a good bit of exposure in the last couple of years and before Sherlock, Bendy was a jobbing actor who got, as he put it, “small roles in big films and big roles in small films”. And they have each worked bloody hard – CE saying he doesn’t blame them for “taking their opportunities” kind of implies that they didn’t work for those – they did. Most actors can’t do everything. Cumberbatch probably would have to overact to play working-class but he’s also lousy at sex onscreen. But then so is Meryl Streep – she just can’t do sex convincingly.
Hyperbole doesn’t fix anything. There are plenty of non-posh actors getting roles and exposure. There are not just three actors getting all the roles. That doesn’t mean the class system in Britain isn’t lingering and shouldn’t be addressed. But overstatement puts people off and obscures the real issue.
“And they have each worked bloody hard”
they worked as hard as white males need to work. meaning: not much. by birth they have more opportunities and more chances than anyone else. straight white male is the easy mode in life. having success as a white male is nothing compared to that of a WoC for example. they profit from a racist and sexist society, so we need to call them out and get them back to earth with putting their so called accomplishments into perspective.
I do agree that posh white men aren’t getting ALL the roles. But they are getting PROPORTIONALLY more of them, thanks to all the reasons we’ve been discussing above.
And I also think that there’s a niche section of American viewers who love posh Brits, so the visibility is a bit skewed. Popular British shows stateside are often the ones with posh actors BECAUSE posh actors are popular there, not because only posh actors are working in Britain.
What Kara said about working hard. Nobody is saying they don’t. But for them, working hard is enough. For the less well off, for women, for minorities, working hard isn’t enough.
I think people like Eccleston are speaking out about this now because it’s a current issue. Since the financial crash, opportunities for anyone who doesn’t have family money or hasn’t been to an elite school have been severely curtailed. You can name a good number of 30-something successful working class actors NOW, but how many will you be able to name in ten or twenty years time, now the grants and scholarships and welfare state supports have been withdrawn? That’s the point.
Sixer, they dont even have to work hard, it would only mean another SWM would take their place. they are in their positions because of their gender and their skin color. their alma mater also plays a big role. this “hard work” argument is only used to make those people feel like they actually deserve to be where they are when they simply are there because of all the things mentioned above.
would Benedict Cumberbatch or Eddie Redmanye be able to live of acting if they werent white? no. would they be able to score roles? a lot less. would they work with directors who also come from the same schools and unis? a lot less likely.
we shouldnt defend people that get things by birth. they’ll have to deal with the criticism as they are profiting from discrimination.
Bendy may have been a jobbing actor, but his CV is pretty crammed, so it’s not like he was starving for his art. Many actors who did not go to RADA or Harrow are still there, waiting for a chance. Which they don’t get because they haven’t been to the right schools or they don’t know the right people (or haven’t married the right people).
@seesittellsit:
+ 10.000
People forget the issue of social inequality, access to better education and job opportunities not only occurs in the UK. It is a global phenomenon.
And education, in most cases, is the only way to improve their lives and ascend professionally and economically. Knowing this, many parents sacrifice and work hard to put your children in the best schools, pay language courses, computer and any other course it is necessary to increase the chances of professional success of their children.
Be honest, what parent would not do the same for their children?
I know my parents did that for me and my brothers. And we weren’ t rich , posh or anything like that. We were like lower lower middle class.
So I can’t blame Tom, Eddie and Ben´s parents for wanting the bright future for their sons.
Emma Thompson and Greg Wise are educating their daughter at home because schools are too regimented. They are doing something different, but then again he’s very left wing. Love him, by the way.
Ninth Doctor awesomeness!! (“Why are dressed like a U-boat captain?”)
He was my favorite new doctor until Peter Capaldi took over. I adore Capaldi and his darker Doctor. I believe that is where they could have gone with Eccleston.
I felt sorry for him in Thor – The Dark World. He could have been a great bad guy, but he sooooooo got overshadowed by our favorite dragonfly God. His writing could have been so much better.
I still think handsome +white beats posh+white.
I think as an actor all other things being equal it is easier being James McAvoy than Eddie Redmayne.
Loved him as Nine, brought a depth to The Doctor unique to the others. Wish he had stayed longer.
On the cover of the current Essence magazine are black female producers/showrunners such as Shonda Rimes and Ava DuVerney. They are incredible women and it is a very interesting article. As a black female the same age as Ava I was so glad I came across it. I have ideas that I want to see made into movies and tv shows but I wouldn’t know the first thing about trying to get them listened to. I want to see more blacks and other minorities in sci-fi and fantasy shows.
Honestly, I think a lot of it is sour grapes. I really liked him as the Doctor and I think if he’d stuck with it longer he would have gained a lot more recognition which would’ve led to more roles. The first think I saw him in afterwards was The Seeker, which was supposed to be a movie based on Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising, which is an incredible book…but the movie was changed a LOT (sort of like Joseph Delaney’s Seventh Son book and horrible movie that came out recently), and the movie bombed (rightly so). Maybe if he’d chosen a different movie role…something where his intensity was able to shine through….
I have heard that yes, upper class blokes tend to get more movie roles, but he had his foot in the door and I think he needs to own some of the bad choices he’s made as well.
But as an actor, can’t he pretend to be ‘posh’ in his roles and just be himself in real life? I mean if ‘posh’ is what’s in demand… what else can he do? That’s like going to the desert for fishing!
The British acting circles are always looking for that next Laurence Olivier/Daniel Day-Lewis type actor. And those guys were/are posh!
But the other thing is that those two were really attractive-looking men. Cumberbatch and Redmayne look like they were exposed to nuclear waste. Appallingly ugly imo. British film industry likes to pretend women like Kate Winslet or Keira Knightley are good for playing ‘ordinary woman’ roles. In reality, they are too attractive for those parts. But the ‘ordinary man’ roles are often played by truly unfortunate looking men!
Clive Owen had a working class look with a posh demeanor – I wonder why he isn’t more popular since for me he is worth his weight in gold. Love him.
There is something truly appealing when you hear a Brit carry himself like Henry Cavill – the accent, the poise and the attitude. He is boring, but there is something worthy of reverence there. Or if you are ‘working-class’, you have to be like Charlie Hunnam or Ewan McGregor and distance yourself from Britain as much as you can, and become ‘American-ized’ for your own sake.