Englishmen are almost invariably cast as the villains in Hollywood movies these days (and in Disney cartoons the villain will always have a snooty English accent), the English are the last race that can be vilified without fear of accusations of “RACIST!!!”.
What would Alan Rickman do for work if Hollywood cast any other race as villains? Even in “Michael Collins” they cast Liam Neeson as the “good guy” (Collins) while the “bad guy” (De Valera) was played by Rickman, because nobody could play an Irish Republican rebel leader other than a posh Englishman right?
I saw a car commercial recently with several English actors (Ben Kingsley, Mark Strong) that made light of this fact.