It doesn’t bother me when an actor from UK or Australia etc plays an iconic American figure as long as the performance is good. But I do sometimes wonder if a certain ineffable Americanness got lost. I wonder how my international friends feel about this issue w/r/t their icons.

If you’re British did it bother you when Meryl Streep played Margaret Thatcher and John Lithgow played Winston Churchill? Particularly interested in hearing from people who liked either of those performances.

This thread sparked by being reminded that when Sean Connery announced his retirement from the role of James Bond, one of the people they considered as a replacement was Burt Reynolds. Of course Connery is Scottish anyway, but still.