| J.K. Rowling and the Boy Wizard, both share a very | | | | the book. |
| humble beginning. The author was unemployed and | | | | Her fierce opinions about keeping Americans out of |
| living on state benefits as she completed her first | | | | her films has caused a lot of heart burn among the |
| novel. So also, the first book was rejected by many | | | | Americans as reflected in the views and opinions |
| publishers before Bloomsbury finally published it by | | | | expressed on websites and blogs across the net. |
| reportedly paying a mere £10,000 for the rights | | | | One school of thought is that the Americans would |
| to Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone. | | | | never be able to perfect the accent needed for the |
| When Scholastic published the first book in The US, it | | | | very British children's adventure stories set around |
| changed the name of the first book from The | | | | the boarding schools. In this respect, the movies get |
| Philosopher's Stone to The Sorcerer's stone | | | | the essence of the quintessential British boarding |
| ostensibly to better suit the taste of the American | | | | school genre with its elderly school masters, vast |
| readers. The change was done much against the | | | | dining halls, competing sports houses, dormitories, |
| wishes of J.K. Rowling who lacked the muscle to | | | | train stations and children's fascination with sweets. |
| oppose the change being a virtual nobody at the | | | | The films even stage the broomstick-bound |
| time. | | | | equivalent of a soccer game. Followers of this school |
| But by the time the first book was adapted into a | | | | of thought argue that the Americans would never |
| movie, the books had already become an | | | | sound English and make for the critics to have a field |
| international phenomena and Rowling now had the | | | | day. |
| clout to control her creation. She very effectively | | | | Another school of thought is that the exclusion of |
| used this clout to demand a strictly British Cast for | | | | American actors from the cast smacks of |
| the movies and she has been successful so far, thus | | | | Euro-Racist attitude as well as hypocrisy - a direct |
| giving employment to most of the British Screen | | | | result of the pompous attitude of the haughty British. |
| Actors Guild. | | | | If an American can never sound truly English then by |
| She nonetheless allowed the inclusion of many Irish | | | | the same rationale, should Brits never play Americans |
| actors such as the late Richard Harris as Dumbledore, | | | | then? Because not every Brit can pull off a |
| and for casting of French and Eastern European | | | | straightforward American accent either. |
| actors in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire | | | | The argument may soon be put to an end. |
| according to the nationalities of the characters from | | | | |