Why are most of the villains in movies British?

Answer 1

Because we make the perfect villians!

"Leo Benedictus gives a few pointers on what makes the perfect villain" (part of a Guardian article!)

Be British
Sophistication in all its forms is a sure sign of evil, and American audiences find nothing more sophisticated (or untrustworthy) than a snooty Brit. The British villain industry - whose leading exports include Steven Berkoff, Ian McDiarmid, Gary Oldman, Jeremy Irons, Jonathan Pryce, Anthony Hopkins and many others - is now estimated to be one of the nation's biggest earners. Alan Rickman alone is more valuable than detergents.

Interestingly, British audiences prefer their evil to originate on the continent. Anyone who looks as if they might start speaking in another language is clearly not to be trusted. Thus, as a counterpoint to James Bond (who would himself be the villain in most Hollywood movies), we have Ernst Stavro Blofeld, foreigner extraordinaire.

Nevertheless, five out of six Blofelds have been played by British actors. Anthony Dawson (who was also the evil metallurgist Professor Dent in Dr No) stroked the cat in From Russia with Love and Thunderball. He was followed by Donald Pleasence (You Only Live Twice), Charles Gray (Diamonds Are Forever) and John Hollis (For Your Eyes Only). Hollis's brief appearance was a clear promotion from his previous roles as henchmen to the masked Klytus in Flash Gordon and treacherous Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back.
Europeans themselves, of course, do not realise how evil they are, which can cause problems. In the German version of Die Hard, for instance, the extremely German terrorists are identified only as "European", and the name of Alan Rickman's character had to be changed from Hans Gruber to Jack Gruber.

For more on how to be a perfect villian see:

http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,4120,1512982,00.html

Also for National Treasure how perfect is it to have a British villain in a story about a threatened Declaration of Independence?

Answer 2

its a class thing, where America is mostly classless, upper class English gents always seem to be have the upper hand, also as class is seen also as greed the more a person has the more they want, on the other end of the scale if you want a good old poor leading actor or someone you want the audience to love you cant go wrong with an east end cockney London accent, i don't recall any Hollywood blockbuster featuring a penny less cockney playing the bad guy, ironically its this type in real life that are the most villainous

Answer 3

Most ? These days "most" are "Arabs" (e.g. Art Malik).

But James Mason was just a greal bad guy (better than Donald Pleaseance IMO) & I think that the character stuck.

I think the British bad guys are balanced out by the British good guys, Harry Palmer, James Bond, The (Ian Ogilvy) Saint, John Steed, Napoleon Solo, even # 6 (Patrick Mcgoohan) - was it something to do with not being able to make an American believable as a sophisticated gentleman spy/adventurer/etc ;-)

Answer 4

Good one. My take is-I think because of their accents. Hans Gruber in the 1st Die Hard was the smoothest villain ever! Ok, he didn't have a british accent, but European. Do I get points for that?

Answer 5

The actors seem to be able to play the parts better. The accent has a lot to do with it. Just to give one example: Edward Fox in "The Day Of The Jackal" from 1973.

Answer 6

in johnny english the villain was french and rowan atkinson was british playing someone british, really funny movie.

Answer 7

Because American sub-cultures won't get riled over a British "bad guy" but there isn't any that won't get offended to make the villian a different nationality or "race".

Answer 8

Because we do a better quality of villain.

Answer 9

The British have a long and proud history of going to different lands and screwing over the native peoples. I mean, ALL OVER THE WORLD...EVERYWHERE!

Everyone loves to hate them...so it's easy to typecast them as that.

Answer 10

After 10 years in London I learned that They kill you smoothly with style,you don't even notice until you are dead.