Hollywood producers roping in 'cut-price' British actors
4 Aug 2008, 1536 Hrs

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London, Aug 4 (ANI): British actors are increasingly becoming popular among Hollywood producers, as they are cheaper than the most famous stars.

The demand for British actor like James McAvoy, who shot to fame with Ian McEwan adaptation Atonement and the Idi Amin drama The Last King of Scotland has suddenly increased, leaving behind actors like Matt Damon.

For his recent action flick Wanted, McAvoy earned a reported 2.5 million dollars, where Damon generally charges over 10million dollars.

While casting for heroes with a sensitive side, the producers prefer to sign on rather cheap Brit Jim Sturgess of historical drama The Other Boleyn Girl to Spiderman star Tobey Maguire, who apparently gets over 17million dollars per film, reports the Telegraph.

Among British actresses, London-born Tilda Swanton, who earns three-million dollars per film, is increasingly preferred over stars like Nicole Kidman, getting a minimum of 17.5million dollars per film.

Emily Blunt of The Devil Wears Prada is around 10 times cheaper than Speed actress Sandra Bullock, who earns about 15million dollars per film.

The pattern was identified in an article in the Hollywood newspaper Variety last week, in which it named a series of Brits who represented good value.

The article said that they were preferred to the more famous stars because they could fulfil the role for less money while still having international recognition.

According to Variety, "In the world of foreign sales, there is a parallel universe, with a different group of actors who are considered bankable, even if they've only had a few film credits, as long as those few films were successful enough to give them recognition around the globe." (ANI)