In the 30 years since Colin Welland collected an Oscar for Chariots of Fire and famously declared that “The British are coming！” there have been plenty of false dawns.

British actors flocked to Hollywood only to find themselves cast repeatedly as villains， fops and toffs. But Cannes Film Festival of 2012 proved that US studios have finally fallen for the charms of the British leading man. The three major US films in competition all have British actors playing American leads.

Tom Hardy is the star of Lawless， a Prohibition-era gangster film in which he plays the toughest of three bootlegging brothers in rural Virginia.

It is a state of affairs mirrored in US television， where British actors are slipping seamlessly into US lead roles， from Hugh Laurie in House to Damian Lewis and David Harewood in Homeland.

Industry watchers say we have entered a golden age for Brits in Hollywood.

“When Laurie appeared in House， Americans said， ‘Who is this actor？ I love him， he’s great.’ Then we found out he’s British， and it’s like a magician has pulled a trick on you. People like to be fooled sometimes.”

In films， it started with Christian Bale in Batman， who showed that British actors can be better at playing Americans than Americans themselves. Maybe a lot of American audiences have no ideas that Bale is not American.

The new waves of British actors have also mastered flawless American accents. In the 1970s， the British would push it a little too hard， they over-enunciated. Now they are really good. Christian Bale is not the only British actor to do a superhero costume. The latest Spider-Man opened with Andrew Garfield in the Spidey-suit， and meanwhile Henry Cavill has been cast as the new Superman. British actresses are also beating their American counterparts to plum roles： Carey Mulligan will be seen as Daisy Buchanan in the big screen adaptation of The Great Gatsby.

Speaking at the premiere of Lawless in Cannes， Tom Hardy said he did not define himself by nationality. “I just see myself as a person， full stop，” said the 35-year-old actor. “I’ve done some American accents and some not so good ones. When I do， I panic—my accent isn’t always amazing.”

In Lawless， he appears alongside Jessica Chastain and Guy Pearce. The drama is based on a book， The Wettest County in the World， by Matt Bondurant. It is a part-fictionalised account of the author’s grandfather and great-uncles， who ran a bootlegging operation in the 1920s.

30年前，當(dāng)科林·維蘭憑借《烈火戰(zhàn)車》拿下奧斯卡小金人，發(fā)出著名宣言“英國人來了！”之后，英國演員在好萊塢的境遇幾經(jīng)起落。

英國演員成群涌入好萊塢，卻發(fā)現(xiàn)他們只能重復(fù)扮演著大反派、花花公子或者紈绔子弟。但是在2012年的戛納電影節(jié)上，可以發(fā)現(xiàn)好萊塢的電影工業(yè)已經(jīng)臣服于英國男星的魅力了。在三部參加主競賽單元的美國電影中，英國男演員都扮演了主角（角色身份是美國人）。

湯姆·哈迪是《無法無天》中的明星。在這部背景為“禁酒令時期”的警匪片中，他扮演的角色是三兄弟中最彪悍的一個，在蠻荒的弗吉尼亞販賣杜松子酒。

從美劇中也可以看到這種現(xiàn)狀。英國男演員們自如地在美劇中扮演各種身份是美國人的角色，從《豪斯醫(yī)生》中的休·勞瑞到《國土安全》中的戴米恩·劉易斯和大衛(wèi)·哈雷伍德。

電影觀察家們說，我們已進(jìn)入了英國演員在好萊塢的黃金時代。

“當(dāng)休·勞瑞出現(xiàn)在《豪斯醫(yī)生》中，美國觀眾就會問：‘那個演員是誰？我愛他，他太棒了?！缓笪覀儠l(fā)現(xiàn)他是個英國人，這感覺就像被魔術(shù)師捉弄了。有時人們就是樂于被迷惑?！?/p>

而在電影中，這種現(xiàn)象開始于飾演“蝙蝠俠”的克里斯蒂安·貝爾。這個英國人扮演起美國人來可比美國同行們更在行。許多美國觀眾也許不會想到貝爾竟然不是美國人。

如今英國演員風(fēng)靡的另一個原因是他們能說一口標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的美式口音。上世紀(jì)70年代，英國演員在好萊塢有些艱難，他們太強調(diào)發(fā)音。但現(xiàn)在他們可好多了?？死锼沟侔病へ悹柌皇俏ㄒ灰粋€扮演漫畫英雄的英國人。最新一部《蜘蛛俠》中安德魯·加菲爾德穿上了蜘蛛衣，而亨利·卡維爾被選為新一代“超人”。而英國女演員也在女主角的競爭中擊敗了她們的美國同行：凱瑞·穆里根將在新版《了不起的蓋茨比》中扮演黛西。

在戛納電影節(jié)《無法無天》的首映禮上，湯姆·哈迪說他不會以國籍來給自己下定義。這位35歲的演員表示：“我只是把自己看成一個尋常人，僅此而已。我是學(xué)了些美式口音，其中有一些并不標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。當(dāng)我開口時，我很害怕——我的口音并不總讓人驚艷。”

在《無法無天》中，他與杰西卡·查斯坦和蓋·皮爾斯一同亮相。這部電影是根據(jù)馬特·邦杜倫特的小說《濕地傳奇》改編而來，部分情節(jié)來自于作者的祖父輩們在上世紀(jì)20年代做私酒買賣的故事。