Accents

[moviemuffin]

Bad Accents.

Tim Robbins' portrayal of Dave in Mystic River would have been so good if he had not insisted on attempting a Bostonian accent that sounded like he was channelling Cliff Clayven from Cheers.

Olympia Dukakis in Steel Magnolias announces she's buying "pawk and beeyans" at the grocery store (or should I say "stowah?")

In every region of this country there are people who do not speak with the "local accent." It is unremarked upon.

WHY do actors, directors, and others in Hollywood insist upon slaughtering local dialects rather than having the actors just deliver the damned lines? Yes, occasionally I am sure the script requires it, but so often it doesn't.

Tom Hanks, in Catch Me If You Can, adopted some bizarre cross between Long Island and South Boston for a character who actually existed and came from... drumroll... Chicago.

This just annoys me so much more than I can express.

[SAI]

Heather Graham and Johnny Depp should hang their heads in shame for their accents (and everything else) in From Hell.

And then there's Sean Connery...

[jaymx]

I have a massive hatred for the fake irish accents that many an actor tried to emulate in the 90's.
e.g

Richard Gere
Tommy Lee Jones

to name but two!

[Corpse Candle]

Originally posted by SAI
Heather Graham and Johnny Depp should hang their heads in shame for their accents (and everything else) in From Hell.

And then there's Sean Connery...

Sean Connery is an accent free zone (well aprat from his own) also Richard Gere in that film where he had to play an Irish terroist...Richie keep to picking up whores and falling in love with them;)

[James Logan]

Originally posted by Corpse Candle
Sean Connery is an accent free zone (well aprat from his own)

Definitely. To quote WHAT WOMEN WANT:

"Adversharies? Don't you mean "adversaries", old boy?"

;)

[BorderEevilIII]

Some are believeable to somewhat. The only actor who's accent I just did not buy was Harrison Ford in K-19.

[Neesh]

When done well, its good. Like, Gary Oldman in many films, True Romance, JFK, The Fifth Element... ok, maybe that one was a little over the top.... and also, Francis McDormand does a spot on North Dakota/Wisconsin accent.... Peter Sellers was a master at it...
But when its done bad, its bad.

[The Rain Dog]

Originally posted by jaymx
I have a massive hatred for the fake irish accents that many an actor tried to emulate in the 90's.
e.g

Richard Gere
Tommy Lee Jones

to name but two!

LOL - their massacres of the gentle Irish lilt are my two pet-hate bad accents in the movies as well ;)

RD

[Psychocandy]

Tom Cruise in Far And Away...

"You're a corker, Shannon. What a corker you are."

Jesus wept!!!

[SkyNet]

i think you all have missed by far the worst accent ever to be put on film (in a movie i find to be very kick ass):

Nicolas Cage.... CON AIR

the scene where he is writing back and forth to his daughter from his jail cell just induces cringes.. cuz that accent is pure horrible!

[moviemuffin]

While I am with you on Con Air... I think the worst goes to Julia Roberts in Mary Reilly.

EEP!

[rupert pupkin]

this rant is best demonstrated by one scene in highlander

sean connery...a scotsman....playing a spaniard.....and christopher lambert...a frenchman...playing a scotsman....in a boat

connery asks him what a haggis is....in his scottish accent...and lambert proceeds to explain...in his french accent....

hilarious

[Corpse Candle]

Originally posted by rupert pupkin
this rant is best demonstrated by one scene in highlander

sean connery...a scotsman....playing a spaniard.....and christopher lambert...a frenchman...playing a scotsman....in a boat

connery asks him what a haggis is....in his scottish accent...and lambert proceeds to explain...in his french accent....

hilarious

LOL:D

EEEEEEEEEEXACTLY......

Actuely Connery makes me angry in this respect I think he feels he dosen't have to put any effort in when it comes to representing accents.

[NuclearMisfit]

I dont have a problem with actors trying to lock down their role and try and make it more authentic.

The only problem I have is say for example after someone sees Austin Powers and then they imediately does the accent, thats my biggest pet peve.

[Unicron]

"whyyy coudlnt yah just pwut the bunnney back in tha box?" - Nic Cage - Con Air

Always makes me laugh.

Brad Pitt in Snatch was a laugh!! :D

[AppleHuntr]

moviemuffin I suggest you stay FAAAAAR away from Sonny, Nic Cages directorial debut. Brenda Blethyn actually pronounces Birthday "Butt-day", there from New Orleans in the movie, but I dont think anywhere that anyone could say that and not be heckled and stoned by their peers.

Many have attempted an English accent and failed. They either over do it or let it slip in and out.

[moviemuffin]

Yeap, I saw it but didn't bother to review it. Sometimes I do that, though I feel a little guilty. If I see it waaay past its release date, or if only one theater shows it very, very briefly locally I don't bother. I almost didn't review Gigli but it was getting so much attention I felt obligated.

Now, I don't mind good accents. I don't mind if the character calls for an accent and the actor does his or her best. What pisses me off is when Hollywood dipshits just decide to throw it in for no reason and then do it REALLY poorly. Or when a character so clearly demands the accent and an idiot who is incapable is cast.

It's a nitpicking thing to some degree but it's a major pet peeve of mine. Possibly because one of my parents comes from Ireland, the other from the South, and I was born and raised in Massachusetts.

We get it from all angles. :mad:

[The Rain Dog]

Originally posted by moviemuffin
While I am with you on Con Air... I think the worst goes to Julia Roberts in Mary Reilly.

EEP!

See I found her murdering of the gaelic language much more grating in Michael Collins personally.

RD

[Lynn Minmei]

Boston accents aren't the easiest thing to imitate. I was born in Cinci and moved to Boston and then back, but lived in Boston long enough to pick up the damn accent I've had for all of my life.

[arby19]

Nic Cage in Con Air was brutal god damn I turned the volume down everytime he talked.

Brad Pitt and Christian Bale are both awesome with accents.

[The Rain Dog]

The first time I heard Colin Farrell speaking with his natural Dublin accent it freaked the shit outta me.

I always just assumed he was a yank.

A very convincing accent.

RD

[Invincible]

Originally posted by moviemuffin


Olympia Dukakis in Steel Magnolias announces she's buying "pawk and beeyans" at the grocery store (or should I say "stowah?")



what the fuxz0r is that? :confused:

[Invincible]

Originally posted by James Logan
Definitely. To quote WHAT WOMEN WANT:

"Adversharies? Don't you mean "adversaries", old boy?"

;)

"Jusht the way your mozher likesh it" :D

[rupert pupkin]

well mish moneypenny.....all i do is shag women and shoot rushkiesh :D

[echo_bravo]

Ditto on Brad Pitt and Bale are the best at mastering accents

Colin Farrell is money too

[Lil' Lebowski]

Brad Pitt?........Most of the time maybe.....
I'm still trying to forget about 'Devil's Own....

Also: I used to live in New Orleans, and it seems that's
an accent that nobody can seem to get right either.

[Cru Jones]

Keanu's southern accent in The Devil's Advocate was hilariously horrid.

I love the way he says "Disgusting pig monster".

[Vega]

Kevin Costner's "Boston" accent in Thirteen Days nearly made my ears bleed. I haven't willingly watched him in anthing since then for fear of a repeat performance.

[Scully1888]

The worst accents of all time have to be:

* Robert Duvall's Scottish accent in A Shot At Glory. He sounds like he's from Pakistan.

* Kylie Mingoue's British accent in Streetfighter. It goes from Australian to American to English with every line.

And the worst of all (amazingly):

* Pierce Brosnan's Irish accent in Evelyn. How in the hell can an Irishman perform such a terrible Irish accent? If you haven't seen it, I urge you to view the trailer and listen to how he says "daughter". And seeing as the film's about him trying to get his daughter back, he says it a lot.

[Squirrel_X]

Originally posted by echo_bravo
Ditto on Brad Pitt and Bale are the best at mastering accents

Colin Farrell is money too

I heard that for Snatch, the director wanted Pitt somewhere in the movie, but since his manufactured English accent was so bad, they gave him the part of the "pikey" so he could just mumble his way through it. And in saying this, I methinks you are forgetting the true contemporary master of accents, Gary Oldman. That guy is a goddamn genius in accents as well as acting in general. Fucking amazing. I personally don't think that anyone in this period of time in movie acting history can even compete with Oldman.

[TheDeadWalk]

Sometimes it's warranted, and sometimes it gives non-dialect masters of the universe a more realistic vision of the film. Britons to speak "British" dialect, and Russians with a Russian accent, though they speak English in their native country if the film takes most of its place there.

I'd also hate to see Michael Caine in Secondhand Lions speaking with a British accent though... It's most often called for...

[rupert pupkin]

dont wanna go off topic and seem pedantic...

but it is my pet hate and this is the place for irrational ranting sooooo


i hear schmoes refer to this and i wanted to clear this up....


THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A BRITISH ACCENT:)

[TheDeadWalk]

Originally posted by rupert pupkin
dont wanna go off topic and seem pedantic...

but it is my pet hate and this is the place for irrational ranting sooooo


i hear schmoes refer to this and i wanted to clear this up....


THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A BRITISH ACCENT:)

Monty Python tells me otherwise.

[Vega]

Pierce Brosnan's Irish accent in Evelyn. How in the hell can an Irishman perform such a terrible Irish accent?

Yeah, it's pretty bad. It's a different regional accent than his usual - like me (southern) trying to sound midwestern. It's similar, but different enough to really throw an actor off.

[rupert pupkin]

ok fair enough go with that.....what does monty python tell u?

[BadCoverVersion]

Originally posted by TheDeadWalk
Monty Python tells me otherwise.

The fuckers lied.

It's a wee bit more complex than that.

We have Welsh (Zeta-Jones), English (Hugh Grant), Scottish (Connery), Irish (Day-Lewis) accents...dialects and regional accents such as Cockney (Ray Winstone), Glaswegian (Billy Boyd/Connolly), Mancunian (Chris Eccleston in Gone In 60 Seconds), Scouse (The Beatles)...Brummie, Geordie, erm...tonnes more.

Anyway, easy enough to distinguish when you know how...but ya, there's NO such thing as a 'British accent'...unless you're thinking along the lines of RP (received pronunciation)/BBC English.

[rupert pupkin]

couldna have put it better myself mate

actually the vast diversity of accents in britain is my most favourite aspect of the nations culture and history.....even differing accents within cities (glasgow, dundee etc)

britain is a political union....not a nation in the traditional sense....and no unifying accent

to take python accents as gospel would be like analysing the manic accents of the Goons as gospel...even though harry secombe is welsh.....spike milligan was irish and peter sellers was english

[Shakamaker]

Originally posted by moviemuffin
Bad Accents.

Tim Robbins' portrayal of Dave in Mystic River would have been so good if he had not insisted on attempting a Bostonian accent that sounded like he was channelling Cliff Clayven from Cheers....

....In every region of this country there are people who do not speak with the "local accent." It is unremarked upon.

WHY do actors, directors, and others in Hollywood insist upon slaughtering local dialects rather than having the actors just deliver the damned lines? Yes, occasionally I am sure the script requires it, but so often it doesn't.

Well I think the script for Mystic River warranted a Boston accent from Tim Robbins, as the story suggests he plays a Bostonian, born and raised. Whether it was good or bad, it was required.

Yes, it annoys me when an accent is butchered, but I think it annoys me even more when one isn't even attempted, when required. In Enemy At The Gates, it really stuffed up the continuity to hear English and American accents for the Russian and German soldiers. Annoying to the point of being laughable, was Bob Hoskins English accent whilst playing Khrushchev.

When you're dealing with historical situations, period pieces, the continuity of characters, etc, a bad attempt at an accent is still better than no attempt at all. That just throws the believability of the entire film (not just the character) right out the window. I think Mystic River didn't suffer just because Robbins may have not been technically perfect with his accent. I think I would have been put off had he spoken without the accent, knowing that he's meant to be playing a person who was born in Boston, and has lived there all his life.

[TheDeadWalk]

Originally posted by rupert pupkin
couldna have put it better myself mate

actually the vast diversity of accents in britain is my most favourite aspect of the nations culture and history.....even differing accents within cities (glasgow, dundee etc)

britain is a political union....not a nation in the traditional sense....and no unifying accent

to take python accents as gospel would be like analysing the manic accents of the Goons as gospel...even though harry secombe is welsh.....spike milligan was irish and peter sellers was english

I've actually never watched an episode of Monty Python, but thanks for thee background on the cast.

Yes, there is a diversity of the tone of language spoken in Britain, as in America and other vast parts of the world, but I do look at them as dialects, not accents when in each specific society. An accent to me, would be a very general estimation and characteristic of a specific part of the world, and(or) country.

As an American, my ability to make a distinction between which in a room was from Scotland, Britain, Australia, and Ireland would be in my ability to guess the proper accent. Unless I've spent a very proportional amount of time around folks that spoke the certain dialect of the area would I then be able to make clear distinctions. Until then, a Briton will sound like a Briton, and a German as a German.

The great and perverted Sigmond Freud once stated, "A rose is just a rose". Granted, there are different petals on the rose, but looking at the Macroscope, its still only one red rose.

[moviemuffin]

Originally posted by Shakamaker
Well I think the script for Mystic River warranted a Boston accent from Tim Robbins, as the story suggests he plays a Bostonian, born and raised. Whether it was good or bad, it was required.

They were all Bostonian born and raised. He was the only one who sounded like he was talking with a mouthful of marbles and a cleft palette.

I was born and raised here. Most of the people I know were. The surprising truth is that many (if not most) of the people who inhabit the region do not sound like that. We just don't. A few people do, but they tend to be from families that have lived in one neighborhood for several generations.

Nobody in my entire family sounds like anyone in the Kennedy family... I don't know any normal humans who do. I don't know anyone locally who speaks that way. Yet when Hollywood wants to "do Bostonian" they all channel Ted Kennedy, who is barely the same species as the rest of us much less a linguistic rosetta stone for the northeast.

I know people with a slight New England or Bostonian accent. I know a few with a strong accent. Most people I know don't have one to speak of. They use local lingo (wicked, awesome, The BPL, The T, etc) but they don't speak that lingo with any specific accent.

I'm not saying accents don't exist. What I'm saying is the fallacy that everyone in any specific region sounds a specific way is Hollywood-only. It's nonsense. There's NO region of this country that doesn't harbor plenty of locals with mild or no dialectic difference from the mainstream.

I see your point, but I have to disagree with it. It's better to cut the accent out (which is completely authentic-- plenty of locals have none) than to do it poorly.

[Inglorious]

Originally posted by Shakamaker
Yes, it annoys me when an accent is butchered, but I think it annoys me even more when one isn't even attempted, when required. In Enemy At The Gates, it really stuffed up the continuity to hear English and American accents for the Russian and German soldiers. Annoying to the point of being laughable, was Bob Hoskins English accent whilst playing Khrushchev.

I know exactly how you feel. I was thinking, "isn't it strange that they use movies like this? One person speaking english, the other can barely speak english... and he is a German with an American accent!" It was seriously driving me nuts through the whole movie! I never got to finish the whole thing... luckily enough.

[rupert pupkin]

ahh yes well i can well understand how the accents of the Uk can be jumbled.....i myself do not have a particularly strong scottish accent and am sometimes mistaken as an englishman (whicvh prompts a violent reaction from me :D

but i regard them as entirely distinct...this is perhaps more unique as britain is not a nation.....it is a collection of nations....as distinct as say...cantonese and spanish

put it this way......it would be difficult for people to identify a european accent.....and i know thats a kinda weak example because wee speal different languages but its the best one i can come up with lol....

as far as american isw concerned...i can notice the differences between say... a new york accent as a bostonian....or a texan....although as this thread proves..there is a wee bit of dispute as to what a true bostonian accent is.....

och my head hurts.....time to pop in a flick

[Scully1888]

Originally posted by TheDeadWalk
As an American, my ability to make a distinction between which in a room was from Scotland, Britain, Australia, and Ireland would be in my ability to guess the proper accent.

Sorry to be a nitpicker my friend, but I had to correct you on this.

A person from Scotland is also from Britain.

It's not your fault, but many people in the US (and other parts of the world) believe that Britain = England. No. Britain consists of Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

I was in Cleveland, OH when I was about 13 and the following conversation took place between myself and an Ohio citizen (seriously):

"That's a cool accent, where you from?"
"Scotland."
"Scotland? What part of Ireland is that in?"

Indeed.

[moviemuffin]

While you make a valid point, you also paint an entire country with one brush, a rather careless mistake.

I spent many years in the UK and visit frequently. I find just as many geographical faux pas uttered on the opposite side of the Atlantic. I've also encountered quite a few citizens of the British Isles unwilling to be identified by the terms you might attach to them, just as some Canadians will embrace the term American, being from North America, and others will bristle at it.

Nitpicking has a tendency to spawn more nitpicking. :D

In any event... some ears are more readily trained to recognition than others. Mine is. Others are not. The point remains that executing an accent poorly-- whatever accent it may be-- is not a good thing.

[Scully1888]

Originally posted by moviemuffin
While you make a valid point, you also paint an entire country with one brush, a rather careless mistake.

No, I suggested that many people in the US believe Britain to equal England, I didn't say all people in the US did.

And I also noted that other countries were as misinformed.

Sorry, hope it didn't come across as an America-bashing. :)