I imagine the kid playing Ron just couldn't believe that he was going to get to say something totally awful like that, on purpose, to a grown-up, in front of a passel of other grown-ups, be filmed, and get paid, and if he said anything it would all curl up and vanish like a beautiful dream.

The Brit grown-ups in the cast and crew? Who knows? Irritation at having to be directed by that Home Alone git?

Found this over at Scifi Wire:

12:00 AM, 01-AUGUST-05

Fox Cries Wolf

Fox 2000 Pictures has hired screenwriter John Fusco (Hidalgo) to adapt the novel Wolf Brother, the first installment in the Chronicles of Darkness children's book series by British author Michelle Paver, Variety reported.

The book takes place 6,000 years ago in a wild, mystical land tormented by a demon-possessed bear. The hero of the story is a 12-year-old boy named Torak who, with his wolf-cub companion at his side, sets out to defeat the bear and return a set of lost artifacts to a sacred mountain. The second book in the series, Spirit Walker, will be released in the U.K. next month and is due in the U.S. next year.

Have you guys read this book?

(Other one being Hagrid's assertion that he bought Fluffy off 'A Greek Bloke' down the pub being changed to 'An Irish Bloke'. 'Cause Cerberus is such a well known Irish myth. Not.)

::palmface, palmface, palmface for having JUST gotten it::

::palmface, palmface, palmface for having JUST gotten it::

YOu are not alone, Empress. I had no idea they'd changed it, and it didn't ping me as strange that an Irishman had a Cerberus. Nothing in the back of my head said, "But Cerberus is a Greek myth." I probably thought, "OK, amazing creatures are wandering about, and you can pick them up in pubs, neat."

Me too. Although the Greek thing is funnier. Weird little bit of ethnic "sensitivity", maybe?

It may be how hard it is to say "Greek bloke" without sounding silly. Those are some consonants to get your mouth around. Personally, I would have changed it to "Greek fellow" or some other British-sounding way of saying "dude" without saying "dude," but if you (a) don't get that it's a joke AND (b) can't say it smoothly, then I can see why the joke would just disappear along the wayside.

Do you think the filmmakers didn't get the reference?

Yes. But that they thought they needed to substitute Irish for Greek - even if they didn't get that it was a wee joke, wtf? Is this some stupid 'we heart the Irish' thing? It seems like such a pointless change. I mean, I think you may be right about it being some kind of odd ethnic sensitivity - but WHAT ethnic sensitivity? Greeks can't be mentioned? There aren't enough mentions of the Irish? What?

t baffled

Maybe they thought it was like a Greek Stereotype, and worried about fielding letters from scads of touchy men named Nikos? Or maybe I just watch the Sopranos too much.(Because several of those characters are very rabid about portrayals of Italian characters. It's very meta.)

Maybe they thought it was like a Greek Stereotype

Hee. I like this. Those Greeks, flogging dodgy monsters (the ones we forgot to nick when we stole their antiquities) to half-giants in pubs. Yep.

Now if it had been in a kebab shop...

Those Greeks, flogging dodgy monsters (the ones we forgot to nick when we stole their antiquities) to half-giants in pubs.

Payback is a bitch.