[Dave]

Well, it was a flippant remark, and the money did come from Hollywood, but I think that the fact the location filming was outside of LA also gives them a little more leeway to experiment, and not kow tow down to studio executives. They used non-Hollywood-based actors and foreign crews. Sharlto Copley may have been in The A-Team but he is a British based South African. You mention, Kevin Spacey, even he seems to spend most of his time in London running the Old Vic theatre rather than his native California. The reason for filming in Ireland, Prague and elsewhere, is that they are/were cheaper, obviously, but it does make those films different from the usual Hollywood packaged product.