Quote Originally Posted by IshbelRobertson View Post
I thought Hollywood had ditched the German and Russian baddies in favour of only English baddies?

And of course, it is a given, that ALL heroes are Americans!
German can still work, if played by British actors, such as Alan Richman in Die Hard or Olivier's Nazi dentist in Marathon Man. I will grant that there are fewer of them than there were some years ago, as more people become about as familiar with the Second World War as they are with the War of the Pragmatic Sanction.

Russian is a popular accent for promiscuously violent gangster types, but not really for top-shelf villains.

True villainy seems to require a sort of upper class received pronunciation speech. It may be because we expect a certain level of intelligence and arrogance in our villains. It may be because British actors are better trained and therefore more suitable for the more technically demanding villain roles. It may be that American movie stars shy away from roles that may make them viewed negatively in focus groups. It may be that Hollywood types simply feel inferior culturally, and take the opportunity for a bit of spiteful casting. But today, if you need to cast a psychotic Roman emperor, renegade billionaire or general galactic threat, British upper class seems like the accent of choice.

As a corollary, films with no American characters, such as the Harry Potter series, pit posh-talking villains against working stiff good guys.