I don't have any problem with British actors/actresses playing Americans or vice versa.
Oh, I wouldn't really mind that much if it didn't seem that the way it happened was "American plays British person, accent gets picked apart on forums; British person plays American person, accent gets rabidly praised on forums." Hearing about Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins or Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones constantly while almost never hearing about Jude Law in Cold Mountain or similar cases gets old really, really fast. And I respectfully disagree with you on Kate Beckinsale, again, not because she's British, but because I think that she's a woman in her thirties and it shows. It would stretch credibility for her to be playing the 18-year-old naive governess fresh out of the orphan shack.
And also, I'm going to backtrack here and change my opinions on a couple of things. As far as Susan Sarandon goes, I've changed my mind. I think she'd be great for the part if she wasn't too old for it, which is another reason I disagree about Helen Mirren. So I'd like to say Gillian Anderson for Elizabeth, not Julia. I hadn't seen it in any photos or films before, or since then for that matter, but I saw a photo of Joan Bennett that looked so much like Gillian Anderson it's scary. So, borrowing previous statements about the cast where I'm happy with it, here's my ideal cast:
Barnabas Collins - Johnny Depp
Dr. Julia Hoffman - Juliet Landau
Willie Loomis - Shia LaBeouf
Victoria Winters - ???? (this one still has me stumped)
Professor Timothy Eliot Stokes - Philip Seymour Hoffman
Elizabet Collins Stoddard - Gillian Anderson
Roger Collins - Kelsey Grammer
Carolyn Stoddard - ???? (Evan Rachel Wood looks the part, but I don't know how well she can act, as I've never seen her in anything)
Burke Devlin - Josh Brolin
Maggie Evans - Emmy Rossum
Angelique - ???? (See Carolyn)
Tony Peterson - Joaquin Phoenix
Sarah Collins - ???? (I don't know any child actors nowadays, and though Abigail Breslin is a good actress, she's the new Dakota Fanning in that she's getting EVERY role for a litle girl)
Nicholas Blair - ????
Sam Evans - ????
David Collins - ???? (see Sarah)
Joe Haskell /Lt. Nathan Forbes --- James Franco
Jason McGuire - Pierce Brosnan
Eagle Hill Cemetery Caretaker - Jonathan Frid
Dr. Dave Woodard - Michael Keaton
Mrs. Johnson /Abagail Collins - ????
I left out my previous suggestion of Keshia Knight-Pulliam for Maggie here because that'd definitely require changing it to Vicki looking like Josette, as a young woman of aristocratic French descent being black would be beyond unbelievable, historically.