As an American screenwriter living in the UK, the most common question I get asked is: “Why are the bad guys in American films always British?”
Simply put, to an American, British accents sound smart and sophisticated. You want your villain to be smart and sophisticated, because that makes it all the harder for the hero to triumph. And giving him an English accent is a fast and easy way to do that.
My British friends never believe me, but that’s about 90% of the reason.
What’s the other 10%?
Part of it is, the actors cast for villains are often really good character actors. And the English system seems to produce a lot of really good character actors.
Another part is that you want your villain to be some kind of “other,” so he seems exotic and unpredictable. But you can’t cast him as a member of some group that Americans have historically oppressed, because then you either imply that his group is inherently evil (which will anger the liberals) or that his group has been wronged so badly, they deserve to take revenge (which will anger the conservatives.)
And for practical reasons, you have to cast an actor who speaks English at or near the level of a native speakers. And you can’t make him Australian because we Americans think all Australians are good-natured beer drinkers who just want to throw a shrimp on the barbie. You can’t make him Canadian, because we think of Canadians the same way we think of Australians, only colder and more polite. So, basically, that leaves you with a villain who is from either the UK or Singapore–and there just aren’t that many Singaporean character actors floating around Hollywood.
The evil that Terry-Thomas does…
And what is perhaps the best (in the sense of “most absurd”) example of this phenomenon… set in another galaxy, no less?
That’s right: Moonraker! I mean: Star Wars! What are the odds that in another galaxy in another time, the villains there and then too would be British? Incredible.
Mind you, not all British accents make a person sound smart and sophisticated. A Co*kney accent tends to do just the opposite, while still making the speaker seem evil.
(If this gets posted as is, it’s because I couldn’t get it posted without the asterisk in that otherwise “questionable” term. Really.)
I think all movie villains should speak in the Jeordie accent. That’d be a treat.
In response to Mr Vehling… the original article said ‘you have to cast an actor who speaks English at or near the level of a native speaker’.. so that would automatically rule out someone speaking Geordie. Believe me, I’m FROM the NE of England, and I can’t understand people who speak with a Geordie accent.
Anyway, I thought it amusing that they use British actors to play German baddies. Germans speak much better English than most Americans ::legs it now I’ve upset two groups of people::