Old Etonian star of US TV series accuses foreign actors of ‘stealing our great heroes’

For an English actor whose roles have included the half-Spanish, half-Ukrainian-Russian son of Pablo Picasso, a French detective, a Spartan statesman – not to mention a certain Irish-American Baltimore cop – Dominic West is oddly territorial when it comes to casting.

The Wire star has accused Russell Crowe, Johnny Depp and Renée Zellweger of “stealing our great heroes” by playing British characters.

West’s annoyance flared up after he took the role of the Australian scientist Professor Howard Florey in Breaking the Mould, a forthcoming BBC4 drama about the discovery of penicillin.

“Florey got the Nobel Prize with Alexander Fleming but was basically lost to history, except in Australia where he was recently voted the greatest Australian of all time,” West said.

“I’d never heard of this guy and I just thought it would be interesting to play this unknown guy and then they said he’s the biggest guy in Australia.

“But I was sort of smarting from Russell Crowe coming over here and playing Robin Hood and all these foreigners coming over here and stealing our great heroes. I felt I was striking a blow back by being a Brit playing a foreigner.

“I’d love to play Robin Hood but I’d particularly like to play all those parts Johnny Depp plays that are English people like the Earl of Rochester.”

Although West admitted there might be a smidgeon of hypocrisy in his attitude, there were two renowned British characters who, he felt, really should have been played by UK actors.

“I suppose for someone who made quite a lot of money out of being in an American TV show, I shouldn’t moan really, but it does annoy me when Beatrix Potter is played by a Texan.”

He is referring to Zellweger, who also took the part of Bridget Jones. “What’s wrong with our great Kate Winslet; why wasn’t she Bridget Jones?” he asked.

To confuse matters further, the 39-year-old actor praised the US for allowing people to break free of their backgrounds. “I don’t think I’d have got a McNulty part in England because I’m an Old Etonian,” he said.

West did, however, concede there was occasionally a downside to his transformation from Sheffield-born public schoolboy into the unreliable, chaotic Baltimore detective Jimmy McNulty. He said: “I went to a Wire quiz and I could sense the deflation in the room when they found out I was just a dippy Sloane, instead of this hard-bitten cop.”