British-American Relations (sort of)

I haven't gotten any comments lately--I wonder if anyone is actually reading this... Oh, well, I will blog away, anyway.

I was just reading about a proposed Harry Potter theme park in Florida. Apparently Disney was in talks with J. K. Rowling, but she has very specific ideas about how this theme park should be, and they decided that her ideas would force them to charge about $600 admission per person. So now Universal Studios is working on it. It's not clear whether UP was able to talk dollars and sense to JKR or whether they just have other ways of bringing the cost down, but, in any case, they apparently have a deal going.
Mentioned in the article is a comment that back in the 80's, Disney tried to get another British author, P. L. Travers (what is it with British authors using their first two initials?), to let them do a sequel to Mary Poppins. One of the reasons that they never did was that Travers didn't like Dick Van Dyke as Bert. News flash: Most Brits didn't like Dick Van Dyke as Bert. The British slang expression for a really bad, fake cockney accent is, in fact, 'a Van Dyke.' Don't misunderstand me, Dick Van Dyke is a very capable dancer/comedian/actor, and his accent in the movie was good enough for American audiences, just not the British.
It seems odd to me, it's almost as though there were a rule in Hollywood that British actors are not allowed to play British leading men in American movies. Think about it: Who is the best known British character in an American film franchise? That would be either James Bond or Robin Hood. Of all the actors who have played Bond, which ones were the most popular? Sean Connery (who is Scottish) and Pierce Brosnan (who is Irish). Of all the actors who have played Robin Hood (at least as the title role in Hollywood made movies) only Barrie Ingham ('A Challenge for Robin Hood'), Cary Elwes (Mel Brooks' 'Robin Hood: Men in Tights'), and Brain Bedford (Disney's animated Robin Hood) are British (although Richard Greene played Robin in a TV series, and Michael Praed played Robin in a made-for-TV movie, and a TV series) (When I started listing British Robin Hoods, I didn't think there were his many--but, there are a whole lot more that aren't: Errol Flynn, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Kevin Costner...) (Actually, the British casting of Robin Hood tips considerably the other way when Robin Hood is a supporting character in the various versions of 'Ivanhoe'). Incidentally, Sean Connery also played Robin Hood in 'Robin and Marion.' Val Kilmer played British do-gooder Simon Templar in 'the Saint.' Of course, there are some exceptions: Roger Moore (who, incidentally played the Saint in England [and also had a speaking role in Val Kilmer's movie]) was the actor that succeeded Sean Connery in the Bond films. Michael York has played a few British characters in his time, and, of course, Basil Rathbone is the best-known Sherlock Holmes. Also, Daniel Radcliffe, of Harry Potter fame, is British.
So, we come full circle. I started out talking about Harry Potter, and I end up talking about Harry Potter.