Hollywood remakes of British films: A case of cross-pollination

Abstract

This article is an attempt at analysing Hollywood remakes and their British originals in terms of constructing and articulating their shared identity and their difference. Although the source films are considered British, they are often UK/US co-productions, made at the time of Hollywood’s active involvement in the domestic film scene during the so-called ‘Hollywood England’. This complicates neat labels not only in terms of nationality and geography but also original versus copy and points to the existence of transnational and transcultural flows already in evidence in the original works. The article focuses on genre and casting in a selection of British films from the 1960s/70s and then their Hollywood remakes in the new millennium as an example of such cross-pollination with remakes and their originals seen as hybrid works existing between two cultures and film traditions that can be accessed from both directions.