Brit Pack (actors)

"Brit Pack" is a term that has been used to refer to specific groups of young British actors who have achieved success in Hollywood, as well as more generally to the entire group of such actors. According to TalkTalk, "every decade brings a new Brit Pack, another disparate group of actors backed by the media to achieve simultaneous Hollywood stardom." ^[1] However, the term is most closely associated with the crop of English actors that emerged in the late 1980s, because of the prominence of the American Brat Pack actors at that time.

History

In November 1986, journalist Elissa Van Poznak conducted an interview with Colin Firth, Spencer Leigh, Paul McGann, Bruce Payne and Tim Roth for the January 1987 edition of The Face . Daniel Day-Lewis and Gary Oldman were also invited, but were unable to attend due to acting obligations (although Oldman gave his own interview at a later date). The title of the article was "The Brit Pack": ^[2] this moniker stuck and has been referenced in subsequent pieces regarding actors from that period. ^{[1] [3] [4]} In the February 1988 issue of Film Comment , Harlan Kennedy stated that Day-Lewis and Oldman, along with Rupert Everett and Miranda Richardson, were the "pack-leaders". ^[5] According to a 2011 retrospective article by Marlow Stern in The Daily Beast , the British press anointed Oldman "de facto ringleader" of the Brit Pack. ^[3]

Unlike the Brat Pack or other similarly defined groups of American actors, Brit Pack actors rarely associated with each other socially or in film. Harlan Kennedy wrote that the group "aren't seen together at parties or in restaurants or in gossip columns. And since British cinema has had no equivalent to Hollywood's Eighties conveyor-belt youth movies – Weird Science , About Last Night... , St. Elmo's Fire , et al. – they don't keep re-meeting each other on-screen either". ^[5]

A July 1993 article in The Face was titled "The New Brit Pack", which included Naveen Andrews, Jaye Davidson, Craig Kelly, Jude Law, Rufus Sewell, David Thewlis and Samuel West. ^[6] In later years, the phrase "Brit Pack" has been used to describe disparate groups of young British actors of rising prominence. ^{[7] [8] [9] [10]} Publications also began including actresses such as Holliday Grainger, Kaya Scodelario, and Suki Waterhouse. ^[11]

See also

• Brat Pack
• Child actor
• Frat Pack  – 1990s and 2000s
• Rat Pack  – 1950s and 1960s
• Splat Pack
• Typecasting

References

1. Dominic Wills. "Tim Roth – Biography". TalkTalk. Archived from the original on 1 July 2015.
2. Van Poznak, Elissa (January 1987). "The Brit Pack". The Face . Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
3. Stern, Marlow. "Gary Oldman Talks 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,' 'Batman' Retirement". The Daily Beast . 8 December 2011. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
4. Kistler, Alan (2013). Doctor Who: A History . Guilford, Connecticut: Lyons Press. p. 198. ISBN   978-0-7627-9188-0 . Retrieved 20 November 2021– via Google Books. … commentators grouped McGann… into "the Brit Pack."
5. Kennedy, Harlan (February 1988). "Brit Pack: A Clutch of Actors". Film Comment . Retrieved 1 August 2019.
6. The Face Magazine Editors (10 July 1993). "The Face Magazine – Jaye Davidson Cover". The Face . Retrieved 1 November 2015.{{cite news}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
7. "The Britpack – Our new generation of movie stars takes Tinseltown". The Independent . London. 6 June 2008.
8. Rebecca Cope. "Hottest British Actors – 10 Best British Actors". Harper's Bazaar .
9. Stern, Marlow (14 July 2012). "Eddie Redmayne's Star-Making Turn in 'Les Miserables' and The New Brit Pack". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
10. Luckhurst, Phoebe (6 February 2015). "Total Redmaynia: why everyone wants a piece of Eddie Redmayne". Evening Standard. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
11. Radnor, Abigail (27 September 2014). "The new Brit pack: UK actors storm LA". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 February 2022.