British actor and director Charles Dance must be among those disappointed with the outcome of the EU Referendum. In an exclusive interview with the Evening Standard on the brink of the vote he said Britain should remain in the European Union to avoid becoming a “satellite of America”.
Dance, 69, compared the United States to a “virus” and joked he will need to find an alternative planet to live on if Republican candidate Donald Trump wins the presidential election and Boris Johnson succeeds David Cameron as Prime Minister.
“I think America can be a bit like a virus it goes out infecting the world,” he said. “I was in Romania and Prague not that long ago and you turn a corner and there’s that bloody great M for McDonald's and you think ‘f***off, take it all away’.
“I think as long as we remain in Europe we will be influenced more I hope by Europe than America, I hope, because it enriches our culture and stops us from being a little satellite of America.”
The actor – who is famed for his role in US series Game of Thrones – finished: “If Donald Trump enters the White House and Boris goes into number 10 Downing Street we’ll have to find another planet to live on. [Boris] is very entertaining, but as a Prime Minister? No.”
Dance was speaking ahead of his appearance at the Poetry Hour where he will join Monica Dolan and Alexandra Dowling in reciting work by American poets at the British Library.
The event, which is a part of The Josephine Hart Poetry Foundation, was set up to further the advancement of arts and culture, and the advancement of education, with a focus on poetry, literature and dramatic performance.
Dance, who writes poetry “quietly”, said the literary genre should be encouraged in schools in order for children to become more creative.
Most people sit in front of a computer or an iPad and I suspect that reading has slipped from the top of the list of things for people to do,” he said. “Language is not just a means of communication it is an art form. If people aren’t exposed to other peoples creativity you can’t become creative yourself with language.”
http://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/charles-dance
