July 11, 2000
N.Y. Daily News
BRITISH BAD GUYS ACCEN-UATE THE NEGATIVE
by Nancy Mills - Special to the News

This summer, the villains you love to hate onscreen speak the Queen's English

HOLLYWOOD - We had such fun beating up on the British in 1776 that Hollywood is staging a second revolution for us this summer, employing subjects of the erstwhile realm of George III to portray arch villains in no less than nine major studio movies.

Count 'em: "Mission: Impossible 2," "The Patriot," "Shaft," "Gone in 60 Seconds," "Chicken Run," "X-Men," "Bless the Child," "Turn It Up" and "Bedazzled."

Where the British once threatened taxation, they're now doing it with superciliousness, drama-school accents, the mask of anonymity, and, when all else fails, scenery-chewing. It may be known as English reserve, but given the opportunity, Brits can be all ham.

In any event, we love to hate them, and they love to take our money.

"We don't have many bona fide films in England, so we're out in Hollywood touting for work," says Jason Isaacs, whose unspeakable brutal Col. Tavington inspires Mel Gibson to rally the militia in "The Patriot."

"The best parts in any film are the hero and the villain."

British actors have often worn the black hat in Hollywood. Who can forget Jeremy Irons' sinister voice of Scar in "The Lion King," Alan Rickman as a high-rise terrorist in "Die Hard" and Anthony Hopkins as the Chianti-sipping cannibal in "The Silence of the Lambs."

But this summer, we're seeing a virtual plague of English villains. "It used to be that the baddies had a German accent," says Sir Ian McKellen, whose "X-Men" character, Magneto, tries to take over the world. "Then, it was a Russian accent. Most recently, it's been a Middle Eastern accent. Currently, thank God, the English accent is the baddie accent. I'm a beneficiary of Hollywood's [need] for new villains."

And don't forget, villains are often the most interesting characters. Miranda Richardson, whose Mrs. Tweedy runs a chicken farm like a World War II stalag in "Chicken Run," says, "It's fun to play this kind of villain. She's vile to the chickens, she's vile to Mr. Tweedy, she's relentless, really."

Adds Jason Statham, the cockney villain who menaces hip-hop star Pras Michel in "Turn It Up," "I've never been a bully, but it's fun to punch people. I'm quite a big softie at heart."

For the role of a sadistic hot-car exporter, "Gone in 60 Seconds" producer Jerry Bruckheimer went after seasoned dramatic actor Christopher Eccleston, whom he felt would put a fresh spin on a conventional screen villain.

"I saw Chris in 'Elizabeth,' and thought he was a wonderful actor," Bruckheimer says. "It was hard to convince him to do 'Gone in 60 Seconds.' We changed the role a little to use his ideas. He wanted to make Raymond Calitri a working-class guy from Manchester. We liked what he suggested."

"The Patriot" director Roland Emmerich also responded when Isaacs brought him Internet research suggesting that Col. Tavington was even more of a villain than written in the original script.

"He's loosely based on Banastre Tarleton, who was known as 'Bloody Ban the Butcher,'" Isaacs says. "He killed more men and slept with more women than anyone in the South. His reputation was so bad that it helped raise troops for the South Carolina militia."

Writing in London's Daily Express, show business editor James O'Brien complained that "The Patriot's" villains are stereotypically "treacherous, cowardly, evil, sadistic Brits" and pretty much summed up English pique over Hollywood's onscreen Anglophobia.

Reached by phone, O'Brien added that the English have a right be "narked" when Hollywood plays games with their history, which the Australian-raised Gibson - first with "Braveheart," now with "The Patriot" - has done twice.

"There were equal atrocities in reality, and we're tired of being the only ones blamed," says O'Brien.

As for why the British have a monopoly on villains these days, O'Brien attributes it to the actors' accents.

"They can imbue the British patrician accent with a real sense of menace," he says. "British actors are hewn from a different rock and perhaps go deeper into this kind of character. If you want to play someone who's really evil, like in 'Cliffhanger,' you get a great American actor like John Lithgow [and] give him a British accent."

So, here are the British Baddies of 2000:

JASON ISAACS

37, Liverpool, Merseyside

Villain: Col. Tavington in "The Patriot"

Dastardly Deeds: Executing one of Mel Gibson's sons, burning villagers in their church.

Background: Studied acting at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, worked in TV, created the role of Louis in the Royal National Theater production of "Angels in America." Had supporting roles in the films "Armageddon," "Event Horizon," and "The End of the Affair."

Personal: "I'm very safe, boring and middle class, but I play priests, lunatics and psychopaths because they're more fun to do."

IAN McKELLEN

61, Burnley, Lancashire

Villain: Magneto, power-hungry mutant in "X-Men."

Dastardly Deeds: Tries to destroy Patrick Stewart's brain and take over the world.

Background: McKellen, knighted in 1991, began performing at 9 and made his professional debut in 1961 in British regional theater. As a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and Britain's Royal National Theater, he's played everything from Hamlet to Captain Hook. In 1999, he was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role as Hollywood Brit James Whale in "Gods and Monsters."

Personal: "I don't know why I haven't made more movies. Perhaps people doubt that what I do best is appropriate for the camera. Certainly, there are a lot of other actors my age who have more experience in films and are asked first."

DOUGRAY SCOTT

34, Glenrothes, Fife, Scotland

Villain: Sean Ambrose, renegade agent, in "Mission: Impossible 2"

Dastardly Deeds: Threatening the world with a killer virus.

Background: The son of a refrigerator salesman, he studied at the Welsh College of Music and Drama, worked in London theater productions, and on British TV series. Came to Hollywood's attention playing Drew Barrymore's Prince Charming in "Ever After: A Cinderella Story," and a psychotic drug-dealing cop in "Twin Town."

Personal: "Everyone has a dark side. All of us have moments in life when we want to do really bad things. You just have to take it one step further when you're [playing] a character like this."

MIRANDA RICHARDSON

42, Southport, Lancashire

Villain: Mrs. Tweedy in "Chicken Run"

Dastardly Deeds: Beheading one chicken and scheming to turn the rest into potpies.

Background: Studied at the Bristol Old Vic Theater School, worked on stage and in television before making a much-heralded film debut in 1985's "Dance With a Stranger." Numerous subsequent film roles, earning Oscar nominations for the 1993 "Damage" and 1995 "Tom and Viv."

Personal: "I couldn't bear that script," Richardson says of the role she rejected and Glenn Close played in "Fatal Attraction." "I don't want to get personal, but I wouldn't have those . I'll work where the good work is."

CHRISTOPHER ECCLESTON

36, Manchester

Villain: Stolen-car exporter Raymond Calitri in "Gone in 60 Seconds."

Dastardly Deeds: Threatens to murder Nicolas Cage's brother unless Cage steals 50 exotic cars in one night.

Background: Son of factory workers, studied at London's Central School of Speech and Drama, and worked in construction before landing roles in stage and TV productions. Film debut as a simpleton in "Let Him Have It," and went on to play the title character opposite Kate Winslet in "Jude."

Personal: "I haven't got traditional film actor's features, thank God. A producer once seriously suggested to me that I should have my ears pinned back. I love them this way. Helps me recognize myself in the morning."

CHRISTIAN BALE

26, Pembrokeshire, Wales

Villain: Sociopathic yuppie Walter Wade in "Shaft."

Dastardly Deeds: Murders a student and tries to kill Shaft.

Background: Started acting professionally at 9 in a cereal commercial and at 12, won the lead in Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun." Worked sporadically through his teens before reclaiming spotlight playing Laurie in "Little Women." Recently played narcissistic serial killer in "American Psycho."

Personal: "For European and American girls, my being a fumbling, dribbling English prat seems to be quite charming. As long as it works, I'm in luck."

JASON STATHAM

32, Sydenham, South London

Villain: Drug dealer Mr. B in "Turn It Up."

Dastardly Deeds: Kills people.

Background: The one-time British diving champion was selling dubious jewelry out of a suitcase on London streets when he was discovered by director Guy Ritchie and cast as Bacon, one of four West Enders in over their heads in "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels." After doing another baddie in Ritchie's follow-up feature, "Snatch'd," we'll see him play a good guy in "Ghost of Mars."

Personal: "I have a lot of confidence from diving, where I had to relax and perform under pressure. I'd never acted but, in all my films, I'm very familiar with my character's lifestyle. If I haven't done it, I know someone who has."

RUFUS SEWELL

32, Twickingham, Middlesex

Villain: Emissary of the devil who kidnaps a girl in "Bless the Child."

Background: The son of a graphic artist, he planned a career as a musician but ended up at London's Central School of Speech and Drama and began acting in stage productions. Got his film break playing Seth Starkadder in John Schlesinger's "Cold Comfort Farm" and has since starred in "Dangerous Beauty."

Personal: "I do still have this guilt that I owe the world a meal, several cigarettes and numerous pints of beer. Even now, if someone asks me to buy them a pint, I do because I feel they must have bought me one in the past."

ELIZABETH HURLEY

35, Basingstoke, Hampshire

Villain: The devil.

Dastardly Deeds: Lures a depressed man into trading his soul for seven wishes in "Bedazzled."

Background: Attended ballet boarding school, then studied dance and acting at London Studio Center. Worked on stage, on television and in modeling before making her Hollywood film debut in the 1992 "Passenger 57." Best known as Miss Kensington in the "Austin Powers" films and as the betrayed exgirlfriend of Hugh Grant, she knows how it is when the devil makes Hugh do
it.

Personal: "Well I think that most things you do in life you do because you want to, and I always think that is the bottom line," she told Barbara Walters, responding to a question about Grant's arrest for employing a hooker. "Yes, there's all sort of psychobabble you can come up with. I think ultimately you want to do something and you do it."

Thanks Rai for the find!