The strawberry blond, ruddy-faced Gleeson is so good, in fact, that few people complained when John Boorman cast him as a Central American in The Tailor from Panama. I mean, that kind of casting doesn't even make sense, and yet Gleeson pulled it off.

Yeah, what a concept: amazingly talented actor acting extraordinarily and all bereft of some political/social agenda. Tribal affiliation is a necessary component in any casting process, but any casting agent worth their salt will tell you to lead with talent.

There's plenty of typecasting already in film, on television, onstage. A good performance will always be much more than mere appearance. I'd hate to work in an environment where only an actor from Edinburgh may play Macbeth, or an amazing Panamanian actor wouldn't be considered as Christy Mahon in, The Playboy of the Western World--all because it somehow--to me--"didn't even make sense."

Buzz Bissinger's recent right-wing mental breakdown notwithstanding, the original FNL book is simply amazing and I highly recommend it, especially since you enjoyed the show so much.

@1 Agreed, but then I believe Gleeson can do pretty much anything. If the part had gone to a white actor of lesser talent, however, I wouldn't be as understanding. @2 I hesitated as to whether to address that or not. I continue to hear good things about the book, but the piece he wrote for GQ about his shopping addiction was horrific in a slow-motion car crash kind of way.

"The Grand Seduction" looks like a charming, well-crafted film... but it's hardly a revelatory, cutting-edge story. Really, does no one remember "Doc Hollywood"?