Phony accents in movies.
Chris Brindley
Australian twang (Strine). In Pointbreak theres a part where Swazye (?)
heads out into the surf to meet his maker and a phony cop gives a phony
Aussie "We'll get im when ee comes back in", I laughed myself into a coma
with this one.
John R. Swaney
(Chris Brindley) writes:
I haven't seen the film you mention, but I'd like to make a couple of
nominations of my own.
Kevin Costner's attempt at an English accent in "Robin Hood" is truly
laughable. To make things worst, it's not even consistent; he drifts in
and out of it during the film. Actually, I like much of his work and I
suspect that performance wasn't one of his favorites, either.
As great an actor as Olivier was, I don't think he ever could master
an authentic American accent. Check him out in "The Betsy." I think he
misses "American" by a mile. I think Kenneth Branaugh (another great
actor) has a similar problem in "Dead Again," not getting his "American"
quite right.
On the other side of the coin, Peter Sellers' American accent in
"Dr. Stangelove" (as the U.S. President) is virtually perfect. There is
one odd mistake (odd, in the sense that no one on the set or in
post-production caught it) when he pronounces "missile" in the British
style of "miss-ayle" (i.e., second "i" long.) Also, British friends have
told me that Marlon Brando's English accent as Fletcher Christian in
"Mutiny on the Bounty" is absolutely perfect.
John Swaney
Los Angeles
Andy Patrizio
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andy Patrizio "Boy do I hate being right all the time." - Ian Malcom
patr...@netcom.com "Jurassic Park"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Kunkel
POPPINS. He was a lot of fun and it was a great movie, but that accent
was the worst.
Kunkel
Karen Bonazzoli
along with his eyebrows are the only negative things I could find in that
movie.
Karen
Chris Brindley (dorm...@wonderland.apana.org.au) wrote:
: The worst accent I have ever heard hollywood attempt to duplicate is the
Rebecca Duncan
for me, it was Debra Winger in Shadowlands
Rebecca Duncan - If I had a horse, I'd horsewhip you!...G.Marx
Alex A Goddard
: for me, it was Debra Winger in Shadowlands
What is wrong with Winger's accent in Shadowlands? She's playing an
American, remember.
As for worst accents, it's easily Alec Guinness's lame attempt at a Scots
accent in _Tunes of Glory_...absolutely aweful!!
Alex
Todd A. Farmerie
In a previous article, agod...@uoguelph.ca (Alex A Goddard) says:
>Rebecca Duncan (n...@ix.netcom.com) wrote:
>
>: for me, it was Debra Winger in Shadowlands
>
>What is wrong with Winger's accent in Shadowlands? She's playing an
>American, remember.
>
Half the time she played an American. Half the time she played a New
Yorker. That's what was wrong with it.
Todd
Stephen Watkins
What about every Cockney accent ever, from Mary Poppins to the last episode of ST:TNG?
S.
ton...@carleton.edu
> In <3em41j$i...@wonderland.apana.org.au> dorm...@wonderland.apana.org.au
> (Chris Brindley) writes:
>
>>
>>
>
> I haven't seen the film you mention, but I'd like to make a couple of
> nominations of my own.
[Comment about Costner's terrible accent in _Robin Hood_]
>
> As great an actor as Olivier was, I don't think he ever could master
> an authentic American accent. Check him out in "The Betsy." I think he
> misses "American" by a mile. I think Kenneth Branaugh (another great
> actor) has a similar problem in "Dead Again," not getting his "American"
> quite right.
>
>
> John Swaney
> Los Angeles
While I wouldn't argue with you on criticizing Costner's "attempt" at a British
accent in _Robin Hood_, I have to disagree with you as far as Branagh's
American accent in _Dead Again_. Maybe as a specifically LA accent, his wasn't
correct (it sounded fine to me, but I've had this argument several times with
Angelenos), but as an American accent his was completely convincing, IMO. As
far as I'm concerned, he and Gary Oldman are the only British actors who CAN do
the accent properly. I recently did a project discussing British stagings of
American plays, and after listening to some excruciatingly bad American
accents, I realized just how effective Branagh's American accent was. Then
again, after being subjected to so many phony British accents by American
actors, it's only fair that the Brits give us some of our own back. :)
MaryAnn
James Scott u
awful. In fact, that whole movie was just awful.
NEN
> Rebecca Duncan (n...@ix.netcom.com) wrote:
>
> : for me, it was Debra Winger in Shadowlands
>
> What is wrong with Winger's accent in Shadowlands? She's playing an
> American, remember.
>That's pretty funny but I think it was her here and there New York
accent that they were talking about...it was New York, right?
>
> As for worst accents, it's easily Alec Guinness's lame attempt at a Scots
> accent in _Tunes of Glory_...absolutely aweful!!
>
> Alex
--
Nancy N...@ntrs.com | My thoughts are my own
| "you can never see too many movies"
Emee
Question--is Tim Roth (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs) Brit, American, or
something else? 'Cos I thought that his Brit accent in PF was good, and
he speaks in a slightly odd American accent in RD.
--emee
day...@eagle.wesleyan.edu
You mis-spelled "Cockney"
Jennifer Barber
ton...@carleton.edu writes:
> In article <3emo5m$5...@ixnews3.ix.netcom.com>, swa...@ix.netcom.com (John R. Swaney) writes:
> > In <3em41j$i...@wonderland.apana.org.au> dorm...@wonderland.apana.org.au
> > (Chris Brindley) writes:
[stuff deleted]
> > misses "American" by a mile. I think Kenneth Branaugh (another great
> > actor) has a similar problem in "Dead Again," not getting his "American"
> > quite right.
> While I wouldn't argue with you on criticizing Costner's "attempt" at a British
> accent in _Robin Hood_, I have to disagree with you as far as Branagh's
> American accent in _Dead Again_. Maybe as a specifically LA accent, his wasn't
> correct (it sounded fine to me, but I've had this argument several times with
> Angelenos), but as an American accent his was completely convincing, IMO. As
> far as I'm concerned, he and Gary Oldman are the only British actors who CAN do
> the accent properly. I recently did a project discussing British stagings of
> American plays, and after listening to some excruciatingly bad American
> accents, I realized just how effective Branagh's American accent was. Then
> again, after being subjected to so many phony British accents by American
> actors, it's only fair that the Brits give us some of our own back. :)
>
Once again, we agree completely! Branagh's American accent is
incredible, as is Emma Thompson's. (Although, did anyone notice her
slip when she was on "Cheers"? There's one point where she says "bean"
instead of "bin" for "been", if that makes any sense. All in all,
though, her accent's fabulous.) In fact, Christian Bale's is quite
good as well. Basically, there are more Brits who can do good American
accents than the other way around. Even some *Americans* can't do an
appropriate American accent well! (Like, say, Debra Winger in
Shadowlands. She kept wavering between "standard" American, New York,
and what I think of as "Jewish New York" accents, and probably a few
others as well, which was extremely distracting--not to mention
detracting from the quality of what was otherwise a great film!)
jennifer
Lazlo Nibble
Tap features Harry Shearer absolutely *shredding* that mid-Atlantic accent
he concocted for the film.
--
::: Lazlo (la...@rt66.com)
::: Visit http://rt66.com/lazlo/ for Discographies, Record
::: Collecting Resources, The Internet Music Wantlists, and more.
L.J. Gretton
Noel Aronson <a015...@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us> wrote:
>You can't forget Kevin Costner's wonderful "English" accent in Robin Hood.
Awful wasn't it. I expected more from Mike McShane, who can put on a decent
English accent when he wants too. At least Elizabeth Mastran... Mistra... oh,
Maid Marion made an effort.
Liam
mark jones
that highbrow meisterwork Lethal Weapon 2. The bit where she
twitters "diplomatic immunity" is priceless.Out.
Martin Fitzpatrick
>Subject: Re: Phony accents in movies.
>From: day...@eagle.wesleyan.edu
>Date: 10 Jan 95 10:16:38 EDT
>You mis-spelled "Cockney"
Maybe he meant hackneyed Cockney !
As someone has already said in this thread, you're always most sensitive to
people trying to copy your local accent, but what about in Cristopher
Lambert's Scottish (?) accent in Highlander. If he hadn't had a kilt on, I
wouldn't have known what it was meant to be ! Okay, to be fair to the guy,
it's already his second language, so trying any accents in English can't be
easy. However, is it just be or is a Scottish accent the most badly abused in
the world ? Seriously, I'd like to see opinions on the worst abused accent.
In contrast, has anyone heard Sean Connery do anything *but* a Scottish
accent?
What about John Wayne's accent in ... well, in just about anything
actually, but especially in "The Quiet Man".
Regards,
Martin.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
mfitzp...@scot.bbc.co.uk ------> Martin Fitzpatrick at BBC Scotland
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
These opions are mine, all mine.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
In life, you should always try to know your strong points,
but this is far less important than knowing your weak points.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Rick Kitchen
On the other hand, Christian Bale and Cary Elwes have a bland American
accent down pat.
--
Rick Kitchen ap...@yfn.ysu.edu
"Gods don't like people not doing much work. People who aren't busy all
the time might start to *think*.
--Terry Pratchett, "Small Gods"
Anne-Marie Mineur
>
> Admittedly, Daniel Day-Lewis is the Accent
> God, and I'd listen to his sexy foreign accents any time, but still...
> *shrug*
> Anyone agree/disagree?
I agree, I agree! -<sigh>- And how horrible it is then to live in
Germany and have all your films dubbed... Not ony because language
can be part of the charm of a film and that is lost, but also because
someone's voice is part of his or her character, and you just
shouldn't change that. Imagine DDL in Time of Innocence, speaking
German to Michelle Pfeiffer. Not to mention the funny lip-movements.
I mean, isn't there some kind of Society To Prevent Cruelty To Films?
Anne-Marie
--=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=---=--
Anne-Marie Mineur min...@coli.uni-sb.de
Computerlinguistik, Universitaet des Saarlandes, Duitsland
Jennifer Barber
EBR...@frost.oit.umass.edu (Elissa Brill) writes:
> I know one thing that really bothered me, (and I'm sorry this is referring to
> a play, not a movie), was how the poor people spoke English with Cockney
> accents in the musical Les Miserables. THEY WERE IN FRANCE!
Only in London...And if I'm remembering correctly, I don't think they
did this when I saw it there a few years ago, so maybe it was something
the just tried with the original cast. And while it bugs me sometimes,
too (then again, that's one of my least favorite recordings of the show
overall), I finally decided that they did that to emphasize the class
differences between the various characters. Seen that way, Eponine's
use of the accent only during the attack on the Rue Plumet is an
interesting choice--when around Marius and the other students she wants
desperately to be one of them, and not be seen as just another gutter
waif, and so speaks the way they do; with her father and his gang,
however, she speaks their "language" (in the book, theives' slang; on
the London recording, a Cockney accent). Just IMO.
jennifer
"I'm not a fanatic. I'm just obsessed."
ANIM8OR
Gerber) wrote:
> If you want to see examples of a perfectly done American accent and a
> not-so-well done American accent by Britishers in the same film, see
> Quiz Show. Paul Scofield was *perfect* in his speech as Mark Van
> Doren, he was very convincing as an American. On the other hand,
> though I liked Ralph Fiennes in the film, his accent rang false, even
> as a supposedly "upper-class" American accent, it was unconvincing
> (especially considering that Scofield managed to sound both
> upper-class/cultuvated and American).
>
I couldn't agree more. So many people have been complaing about Rob
Morrow's accent (and rightfully so), but Fiennes really bothered me.
Before I saw "Quiz Show" I had seen some documentary footage of Charles
Van Doren, and he spoke in a "normal" American accent. Obviously well
educated, but not affected in the manner of Fiennes' portrayal. BTW, I
thought Paul Scofield accent and timber made him sound a lot like Joseph
Cotten.
DJM
--
"I'm afraid of nothing, except being bored."
The Bomb
Worst I've heard is Kevin Costner in "Robin Hood." Cripes.
The Bomb
Hes Siemelink
Dracula. His character, Abraham van Helsing, is dutch, but his accent
seemed sort of german-like. It was quite hard to say what's wrong with it,
though, because the accent goes from light to heavy according to the mood
Helsing is in (when he's mad his accent is heavier).
--
|| +- /
++ +- \
|| +- /.
Jim Mork
: How about Vivien Leigh. She did had two chances in two very high profile
: flicks, (Gone With the Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire). If you turn
: the picture off, you'd be hard pressed to place that accent.
Sorta like Benny Hill playing a cowboy.
--
S. Linz-Gould
>In article 1...@carleton.edu, ton...@carleton.edu writes:
>:
>:While I wouldn't argue with you on criticizing Costner's "attempt" at a British
>:accent in _Robin Hood_, I have to disagree with you as far as Branagh's
>:American accent in _Dead Again_. Maybe as a specifically LA accent, his wasn't
>:correct (it sounded fine to me, but I've had this argument several times with
>:Angelenos), but as an American accent his was completely convincing, IMO.
>:As far as I'm concerned, he and Gary Oldman are the only British actors who
CAN>do
>:the accent properly.
>Bob Hoskins does pretty well, too.
Not to mention Peter Ustinov and Angela Lansbury. Oh! and Emma Thompson.
Thomas Skogestad
rei...@ficus.cs.ucla.edu (Peter Reiher) wrote:
> twang somewhat modulated by going to college in California. The only
> film I remember in which he seriously tried another accent was a
> very, very light Norwegian accent in "The Long Voyage Home." He didn't
My oh my. I've got to check this one out...
I can do a Norwegian accent. Even though I learned English at an
American school!
--
Thomas Skogestad <+> tho...@kjemi.unit no <+> http://kjemi.unit.no/~thomas
I'm immortal...so far.
bber...@cc.memphis.edu
It's been a sore spot with me for a long time....those actors who try to fake a
Southern accent. Being from the South I know what we sound like and I HATE it
when I hear them say "in a thin" for anything. We don't talk like that! The
best Southern accent was by Mary-Louise Parker in "The Client".
SB
exit
exit
vandrklw
: In article <3f1umr$k...@engnews2.Eng.Sun.COM> fid...@Eng.Sun.COM (steve hix) writes:
: >:As far as I'm concerned, he and Gary Oldman are the only British actors who
: >:the accent properly.
: >Bob Hoskins does pretty well, too.
Lots of other really good Brits do so well as to get overlooked in American
parts--i.e.-- Helen Mirren in Mosquito Coast--Amazing! Or Greta Scaachi
(where is she from?) in Presumed Innocent.
Van
Luis DelValle
>It's been a sore spot with me for a long time....those actors who try to fake a
>Southern accent. Being from the South I know what we sound like and I HATE it
>when I hear them say "in a thin" for anything. We don't talk like that! The
>best Southern accent was by Mary-Louise Parker in "The Client".
>SB
When will you Southerners get over the War?
L.B.Tan
>Nick Nolte in Lorenzo's Oil. I beleive it was the Detroit Free Press that
>described it as sounding like a SNL sendup of a Rogout commercial.
Keanu Reeves had a spell of pretty bad accents (why in hell do they keep
casting him such roles, then one wonders):
1) Dracula ('Tis the Devil himself, dude)
2) Little Buddha (Check out Keanu's Indian accent as Siddharta ... Heee-
larious !!!!)
3) Dangerous Liaisons
4) Much Ado About Nothing (spouting Shakespeare? Is this a dagger I see before
me?! 'Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished!)
While we're on the subject of thespians, I thought Kenneth Branagh's American
accent was pretty good in 'Dead Again' - quite surprised me.
Leon
Rob Furr
*sigh*
Isaac Asimov, in his autobiography, mentioned how much he hated the
Brooklynite in _Destination Moon_ because of how badly he'd murdered the
Brooklyn accent.
What would you tell _him_ to get over (were he still alive)?
Rob F.
RBR...@adm.monash.edu.au
>From: vand...@is.nyu.edu (vandrklw)
>Subject: Re: Phony accents in movies.
>Lots of other really good Brits do so well as to get overlooked in American
>parts--i.e.-- Helen Mirren in Mosquito Coast--Amazing! Or Greta Scaachi
>(where is she from?) in Presumed Innocent.
Greta Scaachi is (I think) from New Zealand. She used to live with Tim Finn
who scores films and used to be part of a band called Split Enz with his
brother Neil Finn now in Crowded House. The Finns are definitely from NZ,
but Scaachi may have come from Sydney Australia first. I do know she lived in
Australia as well.
Anyone more definite?
Randi
elizabet...@adm.monash.edu.au
Jay Shardlow
-In article <3f1umr$k...@engnews2.Eng.Sun.COM> fid...@Eng.Sun.COM (steve hix)
writes:
->In article 1...@carleton.edu, ton...@carleton.edu writes:
->:
->:While I wouldn't argue with you on criticizing Costner's "attempt" at a
British
->:accent in _Robin Hood_, I have to disagree with you as far as Branagh's
->:American accent in _Dead Again_. Maybe as a specifically LA accent, his
wasn't
->:correct (it sounded fine to me, but I've had this argument several times with
->:Angelenos), but as an American accent his was completely convincing, IMO.
-
->:As far as I'm concerned, he and Gary Oldman are the only British actors who
-CAN>do
->:the accent properly.
True Story: I don't know where I heard/saw this but some people out there some
time back believed that Gary Oldman was in fact... American! That shows how good
his American accent is.
But the Worst Accents Award must go to the entire cast of Dracula because they
all decided to adopt an accent, and you know the rest.
Jay
--
---------------------------------------------------------- -----
Jamie Shardlow, Professional Services
AT&T Global Information Solutions UK
Sheldon, BIRMINGHAM, B26 3YU, UK
---------------------------------------------------------- -----
Email: Jamie.S...@ncr.co.uk
Tel: 0121 742 2311 Ext. 2337
Fax: 0121 742 9865
---------------------------------------------------------- -----
WWW: //www.mps.ohio-state.edu/cgi-bin
/hpp?Jay.Shardlow.html
---------------------------------------------------------- -----
Disclaimer: These are my own opinions
and do not reflect the opinions of my
employer.
---------------------------------------------------------- -----
RBR...@adm.monash.edu.au
world I think) trying to do Australian accents! All Australians in movies
sound like retarded cockneys -- and some Australians DO sound like that-- but
99.9% sound semi-civilised at least (no offence to any with cockney accents
out there)
maggie exon
in Australia including here in Perth for a time. Stepfather at present
Professor of Italian at a University (I think University of Sydney) but
certainly here in Australia.
Maggie Exon
Rustin Gulberg Willson
thought this was a fine movie, but his accent just bugged. He would have
been more enjoyable as an action hero without it.
And what is up with him flexing his arm at the dinner table in
that same movie. I thought he was trying to prove that he was something
in this movie. He is a fine actor and I thought some of the things he did
in BA were unnessesary.
S. Linz-Gould
> Like the characters in THe Unbearable
>Lightness of Being, for instance, all used a Czech accent since the film
>took place in Czechoslavakia. My argument is, what's the point? They
>were speaking English, not Czech. If, on the other hand, they were
>playing Czechs who were living in England, for example, then I could see
>how an accent is warranted. Admittedly, Daniel Day-Lewis is the Accent
>*shrug*
>Anyone agree/disagree?
One of the finest uses of country-specific accents was a Masterpiece Theatre
show a few years ago which takes place in Germany during WWII. One of the main
characters is named Schultz (I think). ANYWAY...when the characters are in
Germany their accents are British class-specific accents, i.e., the working
class character speaks somewhat cockney, the officers have upper-class
accents, etc. When the action moves to England, the Germany characters speak
English with German accents.
It was terrific!
Sharon Campbell
>Tom Cruise "Far and Away"
Jack Nickelson "Prizzi's Honor"
Just some that came to mind.
Sharon
Peter Reiher
>In article <3fhatm$g...@delphi.cs.ucla.edu>,
>rei...@ficus.cs.ucla.edu (Peter Reiher) wrote:
>> twang somewhat modulated by going to college in California. The only
>> film I remember in which he seriously tried another accent was a
>> very, very light Norwegian accent in "The Long Voyage Home." He didn't
>
>My oh my. I've got to check this one out...
Do so by all means, Wayne accent or no. "The Long Voyage Home" features
absolutely beautiful cinematography by Gregg Toland, and great direction
by John Ford. Like many Ford films, it has a superb cast of character
actors - in addition to Wayne, Ward Bond, Barry Fitzgerald, John Qualen,
Thomas Mitchell, Mildred Natwick, and Arthur Shields. It's based on
several one-act Eugene O'Neill plays, and was apparently O'Neill's
favorite film adaptation of is work. The opening sequence is particularly
fine, one of the greatest extended example of establishing mood without
dialog since silent films.
--
Peter Reiher
rei...@wells.cs.ucla.edu
<http://ficus-www.cs.ucla.edu/project-members/reiher/home_page.html>
Robert Kennedy
Poppins in this thread....
--Robert
Naz Reyes
Kevin Costner *and* Christian Slater in "Robin Hood".
Ugggh.
-Naz
SjT (Stephen J. Truog)
- Rob Morrow on QUIZ SHOW
- Robert Downey Jr., in NATURAL BORN KILLERS
Downey kept slipping in and out of his very phony Robin Leach accent and
got VERY annoying when he went from subtle to very overdone accenting.
His just didn't work for me.
Morrow's, on the other hand, worked. It was somewhat overdone but it grew
on me throughout the movie and at the end it sounded like a normal Hahvahd
accent.
Just my thoughts. These two were pretty phony, but one worked for me.
-SjT
Northwestern
Andrew Falconer
Rob Morrow, "Quiz Show"
Absolutely destroys a Boston accent. Only bad part of the movie, IMO...
Jim Mork
: Morrow's, on the other hand, worked. It was somewhat overdone but it grew
: on me throughout the movie and at the end it sounded like a normal Hahvahd
: accent.
Morrow had me fooled. I sensed I'd seen his face somewhere and only
later realized it was on Northern Exposure. By the way, Harvard people
don't automatically talk that way. However, some people form
MAHHHssachussetts do.
Andrew Guilbert
>>> As far as I'm concerned, he [Branagh] and Gary Oldman are the only British
>>> actors who CAN do the accent properly.
>I think that Emma Thompson does a US accent quite well (better than Ken in
>fact). And Liam Neeson is not bad, either. Ironically, Anthony Hopkins, whose
>American accents usually slip 'round the "r"s, did a wonderful American accent
>in THE INNOCENT, the only film in which he played an American opposite other
>British actors (doing normal accents).
According to americans I know, Bob Hoskyns does a good American accent, despite
being a cockney. I heard that some are surprised he's not from the Bronx (or
thereabouts)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andy G
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
maggie exon
Absolutely. Since I came to live here I have re-seen some movies
with so-called Australians which on first viewing I thought were
fine. Now I know the accents are terrible.
I indulged in an orgy of watching 30's and 40's movies over Christmas.
One I caught up with was a farrago of daring-do called Desperate
Journey with Errol Flynn and (gulp) Ronald Reagan. If you think
the accents in some recent movies were bad, you should check out
some films this old. It was about a squadron of the RAF in WW2.
Reagan was the obligatory Yank so that was OK. Flynn was supposed
to be Australian but just had his usual mid-Atlantic mixture. All
the rest of the crew of the bomber were supposed to be English but
were played by Americans. The odd one made an effort at an accent,
the rest didn't bother. I don't believe any film these days is that
casual. The funniest part was the Germans, led by Raymond Massey.
Somebody had obviously decided authenticity meant that Germans should
speak in German. There were whole slabs of dialogue in it, not just
Achtung and Hande hoch, and in those days they didn't use sub-titles.
But obviously somebody felt that this rather affected the ability
of the audience to follow the story, so the Germans lapsed into
English at crucial points with very lame excuses. Raymond Massey
would ask a character 'Do you speak English?' and then they would
continue in English. There was no rhyme or reason to this.
PS I don't like Kevin Costner but it is worth pointing out that a
modern californian accent probably is closer to how they spoke in
merrie medieval England than the cultured tones of your average
british thesp.
Dimi Everette - Medaphis Development
What?! The comment didn't have *anything* to do with "the war." We southerners
just hate hearing fake southern accents!
But you can lay an ole Boston or New York City accent on me--fake or not--and
I'll laugh and laugh and laugh. (Except for Fran Dresher--love the show, but
accent is like fingernails on a blackboard!)
--
***Love animals, don't eat them!***
*** Dimi in RTP, NC ***
Pat Fisher
David B. Lewis
Rob Morrow in "Quiz Show".
--
David B. Lewis Temporarily at but not speaking for ICS
evening: dbl%cr...@uunet.uu.net day: d...@ics.com
Cambridge, MA
v580...@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu
Kenneth Branagh in that stupid scizzors movie (thank god I can't remember the
name)--all THREE of his accents stunk. Has anyone cup up with a theory on why
his german become english and his english american, et c.?
In article <3g60fo$1...@netprod1.gateway.bsis.com>, di...@gateway.bsis.com (Dimi Everette - Medaphis Development) writes:
>> >It's been a sore spot with me for a long time....those actors who try to fake a
>> >Southern accent. Being from the South I know what we sound like and I HATE it
>> >when I hear them say "in a thin" for anything. We don't talk like that! The
>> >best Southern accent was by Mary-Louise Parker in "The Client".
>> When will you Southerners get over the War?
smt...@uoft02.utoledo.edu
> Cambridge,
I definitely think Gabriel Byrne and Armand Assante should get mentioned for
some of the worst Brooklyn accents in Trial By Jury. It even sounded there
for a while that Byrne was trying a Kennedy accent. Whatever it was ..it was
bad, and a shame it was actually a nice little movie.
-Dawn
David Shuman
1. Nick Nolte in "Lorenzo's Oil." I think he was supposed to be Italian.
2. Kim Basinger in "Ready to Wear." Her Southern drawl was absolutely
painful. I guess it was intentionally so, since in "Blind Date" her
Southern accent was perfectly tolerable.
A recent example of a good accent:
1. Robert Downey, Jr. in NBK. He really nailed that Australian accent.
--
--Dave--
Adam Neil Villani
Jennifer Barber <epon...@dartmouth.edu> wrote:
>That's why they don't use the accent in America. (And, from what I can
>tell, they don't use it in any non-English productions, either.) In
>fact, if I remember correctly, they no longer use it in England! The
>difficulties of the accent dichotomy (which was done for the reasons
>you mention) is that in America, for instance, there's really no
>particular accent that says "urban lower class." The closest we get is
>the hick accent, but that's almost never encountered in cities. (Well,
>not Atlanta at any rate, and if it's not heard there I can't imagine
>it's being common in any other cities! :))
A thick Brooklyn accent certainly sounds like urban lower class to us out
here. I don't know about in New York, though, that might just sound like
"how people talk" to people out there. Frankly, any kind of thick New
York accent sounds pretty disgusting to people out here.
--
Adam Villani
ad...@cco.caltech.edu
"It's a Long Beach thang. 21st Street."
Daniel Jude Bredy
>Bad accents that curdle my blood:
>
>1. Nick Nolte in "Lorenzo's Oil." I think he was supposed to be Italian.
>
>2. Kim Basinger in "Ready to Wear." Her Southern drawl was absolutely
> painful. I guess it was intentionally so, since in "Blind Date" her
> Southern accent was perfectly tolerable.
>
Basinger is a Georgia native, so I don't see how she could have a
hard time doing a Southern accent.
>A recent example of a good accent:
>
>1. Robert Downey, Jr. in NBK. He really nailed that Australian accent.
>
>--
> --Dave--
--
Daniel Jude Bredy
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!gt3655a
Internet: gt3...@prism.gatech.edu
Steven Reeves
gt3...@prism.gatech.edu (Daniel Jude Bredy) wrote:
> In article <3gjsv4$9...@asia.lm.com> you write:
> >Bad accents that curdle my blood:
> >
> >1. Nick Nolte in "Lorenzo's Oil." I think he was supposed to be Italian.
> >
> >2. Kim Basinger in "Ready to Wear." Her Southern drawl was absolutely
> > painful. I guess it was intentionally so, since in "Blind Date" her
> > Southern accent was perfectly tolerable.
> >
> >A recent example of a good accent:
> >
> >1. Robert Downey, Jr. in NBK. He really nailed that Australian accent.
The worst accent I have ever heard in a movie was Robin Hood. No one ever
told me that Robin Hood was from Chicago!
Kevin costner should stick to baseball movies, or things like perfect World.
Frank Wallis
>I was quite puzzled with Anthony Hopkins' 'dutch' accent in Bram Stokers'
>Dracula. His character, Abraham van Helsing, is dutch, but his accent
>seemed sort of german-like. It was quite hard to say what's wrong with it,
>though, because the accent goes from light to heavy according to the mood
>Helsing is in (when he's mad his accent is heavier).
I know Dutch people who speak English, and Hopkins really did not sound
like a Dutch person speaking English: he sounded like a Welshman trying
to be Dutch. Didn't work Tony.
Frank
Frank Wallis
>It's been a sore spot with me for a long time....those actors who try to fake a
>Southern accent. Being from the South I know what we sound like and I HATE it
They persist in casting New York actors and coaching them to sound
"souhthern". My parents are from Kentucky, and I know a southern accetn
when I hear one. I don't believe I've ever heard a southern accent in a
Hollywood film. Julia Roberts is from Georgia, and they coached her
natural accent completely out of her.
Frank
Frank Wallis
>While on the subject, what about any and all actors (from anywhere in the
>world I think) trying to do Australian accents! All Australians in movies
>sound like retarded cockneys -- and some Australians DO sound like that-- but
>99.9% sound semi-civilised at least (no offence to any with cockney accents
>out there)
they are English aristoi, but sound like working class people from Tasmania.
Frank Wallis
It was an English production, and everyone spoke with English accents of
course, but it was too much for me. Paris IS FRENCH afterall.
Frank
Frank Wallis
>According to americans I know, Bob Hoskyns does a good American accent, despite
>being a cockney. I heard that some are surprised he's not from the Bronx (or
perfection. She does different types of British accents as well.
Frank
Andy Burns
bl...@gpx01.d39.lilly.com
exactly *one* southern accent. This is far from the truth. The accent used in
Amarillo is radically different from that used in Dallas. My Cajun
brother-in-law can barely have a coversation with my Virginian sister-in-law
because their southern accents seem to have nothing in common. The pleasant
soft drawl of an Atlanta belle has no similarity whatsoever to the twangy nasal
tones of north Texas. I can understand complaining about an actor who is
supposed to be born and bred in Atlanta sounding like Jerry Reed in Smokey and
the Bandit, but to claim that someone with "a southern accent" isn't authentic,
simply because they don't sound like someone from Kentucky just shows a lack of
knowledge about the rich variety of accents in America.
By the way, a certain British actor I used to know, when asked to speak in an
"American accent", would sound a lot like characters in Cagney-era gangster
movies. ("You dirty rat...")
Jennifer Barber
gt3...@prism.gatech.edu (Daniel Jude Bredy) writes:
> Basinger is a Georgia native, so I don't see how she could have a
> hard time doing a Southern accent.
I'm a Georgia native, and find a Southern accent impossible; every time
I try, I quickly lapse into British (of all things!), or, occasionally,
hick. So, basically, just because someone's from a particular region
does *not* mean they can speak with that region's accent!
0018...@ysub.ysu.edu
I almost laughed out loud the first time I heard it!!
David Shuman
I thought of another one. As much as I loved "Carlito's Way," Pacino sounded
sort of funny playing a Puerto Rican. The Italian mobsters in that film
kept teasing him that he seemed more like an Italian than a Puerto Rican--
it reminded me how certain other films tried to acknowledge, and explain,
the lead actor's peculiar accent:
Schwarzenegger: The Terminator, T2 (He's a cyborg.)
Twins (He was raised on a tropical island.)
Red Heat (He's a Russian.)
Jean-Claude Van Damme: Bloodsport (He's Frank Dux, who's like,
French or something?)
Universal Soldier (He's a Cajun AND a cyborg.)
--
--Dave--
Daniel Jude Bredy
>Check out William Hurt's sorry excuse for a British accent in Gorky Park
>
Why would a Russian cop in Moscow (which is what Hurt was playing)
have a British accent?
Dan
Bradley Wilson
>Check out William Hurt's sorry excuse for a British accent in Gorky Park
Um...it was a RUSSIAN accent and it was fine (if memory serves).
Azmeer Salleh
About horribly-presented accents:
I'd like to point out, on behalf of all Malaysians out there, that
the accent of Michael Douglas' Malaysian contact in Disclosure is
_Dead_Wrong_ for a Malaysian. You'd figure that Hollywood, which gets so
much money off of foreign markets, would do a little research now and
then. Then again, maybe not.
maggie exon
> >Check out William Hurt's sorry excuse for a British accent in Gorky Park
> >
>
> Why would a Russian cop in Moscow (which is what Hurt was playing)
> have a British accent?
>
> Dan
> --
about two different things in this thread. 1. an actor is playing
a character who would is supposed to be speaking English and 2.one
playing a person who, although speaking in English so we can follow
the plot, in real life would be speaking another language.
The first is a pain because so many people are terrible at accents but
the second is the real problem, especially if everybody in the cast
is supposed to be French or Spanish or whatever. It's stupid to have
the whole cast speaking in the accents they would have if they were
trying to speak English. They should sound natural which means using
a 'normal' accent. So its perfectly OK for an English
production of a story set in Paris to use actors with English
accents.
There seem to be lots of people who believe that someone playing a
European can't be allowed to have an American accent. In fact an
American accent is only acceptable for someone playing an American.
Everybody else has to have a true-blue English accent. I suppose
this is why William Hurt tried to have
an English accent in Gorky Park. Which is just ridiculous.
Americans need to stand up and say that American accents are fine for
playing anybody who in real life would be speaking another language
or even somebody who would have spoken a version of English which
no longer exists such as medieval or Elizabethan English. So it's
fine for Americans to play Shakespeare and even (God help us)
Robin Hood without trying to put on a nice cultured British accent.
There are still one accent problem. Does it matter if
different British/American/Irish, etc. accents are mixed up in one
production. Say if in House of the Spirits, Jeremy Irons and Glenn
Close had each spoken in their natural accent? It doesn't worry me
at all but it does seem to worry other people.
Sorry about a long posting but this practical film-making problem
has always fascinated me.
Maggie Exon
Patricia Alexandra Alznauer
Sharon Murphy<pet...@hooked.net>
wrote:
How about Dennis Quad's accent in THE BIG EASY?
I am a native New Orleanian. My mother's people are from
Bayou Teche country.....CHer, is not the only word in the Cajun
vocabulary. Also, Cajuns just don't talk that way, cher!
(Loved the movie, BTW).
Sharon
Christopher Michael Wiseman
Costner in Robin Hood
Piche Patrick
natural language is french, and I am used to hear many french people speaking
english badly. When he says "Is it rritun in ta stars", that is close to
perfection! Unfortunately, all words he says in french are barely
understandable for a french speaking person.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Patrick Piche (pic...@jsp.umontreal.ca)
Etudiant a l'Universite de Montreal, Quebec.
Eric Allan Paul Crampton
Dear Frank,
I recall references in the movies stating that Helsing was German. As
far as I can remember, his name was pronounced as von Helsing, and
spelled this way in the credits. If I'm wrong on that point, you should
note that it is possible to be a german speaker with a dutch name.
(the van and von of course both mean "from" in english.)
On your second point, my first language is Afrikaans, which by the way is
very similar to Dutch. Like any other person who speaks a second
language, I have to think out what I am going to say, and take care
to pronounce the vowels as well as I can (I do not have to do this when
I speak my mother tounge). When I get pissed off (or pissed drunk), I don't
think about my pronounciation and my accent becomes to thick for my
friends to understand.
I think that Hopkins execution of the accent was perfect.
While I'm on the topic, Donald Sutherland's accent in a Dry White Season
was way off, as was Malcom MacDowel's in Bopha.
Magnus Randall.
(i'm on a friend's computer.)
Eric Allan Paul Crampton
I think that when we see a film in which actors are supposed to speaking
another language, the use of authentic accents helps to create that
atmosphere. I don't think it is at all suitable to use American accents
in such film's. Even more so when in a setting of Brithish English.
I myself am a Dutch South African. I can not stand the way you Americans
speak, with your all purpose drawled out vowels as you drool and drag
your knuckles across the ground.
Thank you.
Magnus Randall
(I'm on a friend's computer.)
charles grisamore
I ran into an interesting incident about 10 years ago. At the time, I was in public accounting and I had this hotel audit that I did
every year in Lincoln Nebraska. This particular trip, there was a new bookkeeper at the hotel that I had not met before. As we
conversed, she asked me if I was a native Memphian (Memphis Tennessee is where I grew up and currently reside).
When I replied with an affirmative, she blurted out "But you don't have that horrible accent!". When I responded "What did you
expect....Gomer Pyle?" the answer was basically yes.
Unfortunately every game show contestant from the Southern US speaks horribly (must be an integral part of the selection process)
thus perpetuating the myth of EVERYBODY talking in this manner.
Greg Bryant
feeling is mootchul" always cracks me up.
Greg Bryant
Maria Niku
: it reminded me how certain other films tried to acknowledge, and explain,
: the lead actor's peculiar accent:
: Schwarzenegger: The Terminator, T2 (He's a cyborg.)
: Twins (He was raised on a tropical island.)
: Red Heat (He's a Russian.)
Well, it doesn't matter what nationality/ whatever Arnie plays: he always
speaks with the same accent: Austrian.
Maria Niku (mar...@janus.otol.fi)
Adam Neil Villani
Eric Allan Paul Crampton <umcr...@cc.umanitoba.ca> wrote:
> (actually his friend Magnus wrote)
>I myself am a Dutch South African. I can not stand the way you Americans
>speak, with your all purpose drawled out vowels as you drool and drag
>your knuckles across the ground.
Well, then I'm sure you'll be glad to know that the average American has
the utmost respect for South Africans, so the feeling is mutual.
Janet Langdon
"A recent example of a good accent:
"
"1. Robert Downey, Jr. in NBK. He really nailed
"that Australian accent."
What did you think of his accents in Chaplin - Cockney and then schooled
English?
- sent via an evaluation copy of BulkRate (unregistered).
Valarie Cook
bl...@gpx01.d39.lilly.com writes:
>In article <ZK45iH1....@delphi.com>, Frank Wallis <fhwa...@delphi.com> writes:
>>
>>>It's been a sore spot with me for a long time....those actors who try to fake a
>>>Southern accent. Being from the South I know what we sound like and I HATE it
>>
>> It really is dreadful how Hollywood NEVER gets southern USA accents right.
>> They persist in casting New York actors and coaching them to sound
>> "souhthern". My parents are from Kentucky, and I know a southern accetn
>> when I hear one. I don't believe I've ever heard a southern accent in a
>> Hollywood film. Julia Roberts is from Georgia, and they coached her
>> natural accent completely out of her.
>>
>It's always been a sore spot with me that Americans seem to think there is
>exactly *one* southern accent.
You betcha. One experience I had that brought this home to me is last
year when I attended a lecture by Shelby Foote, the historian who
appeared in the PBS series "The Civil War". The auditorium was packed,
and of course everyone had questions; most of those attending were Civil
War buffs and many had ancestors who fought on the Confederate side. I
have nver heard such an assortment of Southern accents in my whole life.
In "Forrest Gump", Tom Hanks did a *super* Alabama/Mississippi accent,
which was perfect for the locale where Forrest was supposedly reared.
Really, it was almost dead solid perfect. If I had heard that voice
coming from someone standing in line in a Winn-Dixie supermarket in
Mobile, I wouldn't have looked at the person twice. In "Broadcast
News", Holly Hunter also did a good Georgia accent.
--
_____________________________________________________________________
Valarie Cook coo...@mail.auburn.edu 144 Parker Hall
Specialist, Computer Security Auburn University, AL 36849
University Computing 334-844-4512
***Just another traffic cop on the Information SuperHighway***
These opinions are not necessarily shared by the writer's employer.
_____________________________________________________________________
Valarie Cook
COO...@AUDUCADM.DUC.AUBURN.EDU (Valarie Cook) writes:
I just thought of another one: Morgan Freeman in "Driving Miss Daisy".
Jessica Tandy did a not-bad job, and Dan Ackroyd tried hard (but still
sounded like Foghorn Leghorn to me), but Freeman was just perfect.
I have a soft spot in my heart for that movie; a dear friend was an
extra in the birthday-party scene. If you catch that scene look sharp
to the left and you will see a smiling white-haired man sitting near the
corner with a child on his lap--that's Howard Syler, who I have known
all my life.
Pastry Woman
Eric Allan Paul Crampton <umcr...@cc.umanitoba.ca> wrote:
...
>
>While I'm on the topic, Donald Sutherland's accent in a Dry White Season
>was way off, as was Malcom MacDowel's in Bopha.
>
Out of curiosity, what was your opinion of Kevin Kline's accent in
Cry Freedom?
Jill
Ulrich Schreglmann
>es...@minerva.cis.yale.edu (Elizabeth A Esser) wrote:
>> Admittedly, Daniel Day-Lewis is the Accent
>> God, and I'd listen to his sexy foreign accents any time, but still...
>> *shrug*
>> Anyone agree/disagree?
>I agree, I agree! -<sigh>- And how horrible it is then to live in
>Germany and have all your films dubbed... Not ony because language
>can be part of the charm of a film and that is lost, but also because
>someone's voice is part of his or her character, and you just
>shouldn't change that. Imagine DDL in Time of Innocence, speaking
>German to Michelle Pfeiffer. Not to mention the funny lip-movements.
>I mean, isn't there some kind of Society To Prevent Cruelty To Films?
Well, there is SOMETHING you can do about it: Don't watch any dubbed
movies. I've given it up a long time ago.
And if you only get to see three movies a month on the big screen be-
cause there is only one foreign language cinema in your neighborhood,
so be it. And if you only get to see old movies on TV because the only
unscrambled English satellite channel is TNT (f*ckin' British, f*ckin'
Europe!), so be it.
If you can't see something nice, don't see anything at all. (People
have to be pretty desperate to enjoy dubbed movies.)
May the Cool Be with You!
(C)OOL mcmxcv
http://wwwcip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de/user/uhschreg/index.html
(under construction until I include those UGLY photos of myself)
David Swanger
: In article <ZK45iH1....@delphi.com>, Frank Wallis <fhwa...@delphi.com> writes:
: > It really is dreadful how Hollywood NEVER gets southern USA accents right.
: > They persist in casting New York actors and coaching them to sound
: > "souhthern". My parents are from Kentucky, and I know a southern accetn
: > when I hear one. I don't believe I've ever heard a southern accent in a
: > Hollywood film. Julia Roberts is from Georgia, and they coached her
: > natural accent completely out of her.
: >
: It's always been a sore spot with me that Americans seem to think there is
: exactly *one* southern accent. This is far from the truth. The accent used in
(lots of stuff deleted)
I've been all over the south and I agree, there are drastic variations in
southern accents. However, a lot of actors who try to sound southern seem
to have listened to 5 minutes of "Gone With The Wind" for their training.
In words, they don't sound authentic for any of the accents I've heard.
Still, Hollywood is slowly starting to do a better job. I thought Tom
Hank's accent in Forrest Gump was very good, for example.
--
David Swanger University Computing Auburn University, AL
swa...@mail.auburn.edu
Susan C. Mitchell
: David Shuman (ess...@telerama.lm.com) wrote:
This accent was used to good effect in "The Villain."
Think globally, act locally.
Susan
--
===========================================================================
"We, the people, are not free. Our democracy is but a name. We vote?
What does that mean? We choose between Tweedledum and Tweedledee."
-- Helen Keller
Randi....@adm.monash.edu.au
>From: COO...@AUDUCADM.DUC.AUBURN.EDU (Valarie Cook)
>Subject: Re: Phony accents in movies.
>Date: Tue, 7 Feb 1995 18:07:00 GMT
> <snipped lots> In "Broadcast
>News", Holly Hunter also did a good Georgia accent.
That's because she's *from* Georgia. She never sounds any different. My
housemate heard her in that TV thing about the Texas Cheerleader murdering Mom
(you know the one), and thought it was FAKE!!!! He's never left Australia, so
I shouldn't really blame him...
Randi
Rodney Payne
>David Shuman wrote:
>"A recent example of a good accent:
>"
>"1. Robert Downey, Jr. in NBK. He really nailed
>"that Australian accent."
>What did you think of his accents in Chaplin - Cockney and then schooled
>English?
Downey, Jr is very good with accents (though not yet the equal of Meryl
Streep), but I'd like to correct something about his character in _Natural
Born Killers_. It wasn't supposed to be a typical Australian accent (if
there is such a thing), but rather part parody, part mimic of the host of
a _Hard Copy_ style TV show called _Dunleavy_. It may have been called
something else in the US, but was here named after its host (I can't
remember his first name). His mimicry of Dunleavy's voice was exceptional.
--
Rodney Payne | What is the meaning of life? Life has no
| meaning. It's just a fortunate coincidence
spur...@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au | of carbon chemistry. Forget about it.
rgp...@cfs01.cc.monash.edu.au | Anonymous
The Ancient One
>Path:
>fstgds15.tu-graz.ac.at!newsfeed.ACO.net!Austria.EU.net!EU.net!howland.reston.a
>ns.net!news2.near.net!news.delphi.com!usenet
>From: Frank Wallis <fhwa...@delphi.com>
>Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
>Subject: Re: Phony accents in movies.
>Organization: Delphi (in...@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice)
>Lines: 13
>Message-ID: <ZIw6C7z....@delphi.com>
>References: <1995Jan9...@carleton.edu> <3f1umr$k...@engnews2.Eng.Sun.COM>
><3f93ln$a...@news.ycc.yale.edu> <3fckn2$9...@nic.umass.edu>
><3fg7ok$d...@hermes.fwi.uva.nl>
>NNTP-Posting-Host: bos1g.delphi.com
>X-To: Hes Siemelink <siem...@fwi.uva.nl>
>Hes Siemelink <siem...@fwi.uva.nl> writes:
>
>>I was quite puzzled with Anthony Hopkins' 'dutch' accent in Bram Stokers'
>>Dracula. His character, Abraham van Helsing, is dutch, but his accent
>>seemed sort of german-like. It was quite hard to say what's wrong with it,
>>though, because the accent goes from light to heavy according to the mood
>>Helsing is in (when he's mad his accent is heavier).
>
>I know Dutch people who speak English, and Hopkins really did not sound
>like a Dutch person speaking English: he sounded like a Welshman trying
>to be Dutch. Didn't work Tony.
>
>Frank
There really isn't that much difference between German and Dutch accents
- the two languages are too similar.
Andreas Schneider
e-mail to <sch...@gewi.kfunigraz.ac.at>
Rachel Brendzel
>It really is dreadful how Hollywood NEVER gets southern USA accents right.
>They persist in casting New York actors and coaching them to sound
>"souhthern". My parents are from Kentucky, and I know a southern accetn
>when I hear one. I don't believe I've ever heard a southern accent in a
>Hollywood film. Julia Roberts is from Georgia, and they coached her
>natural accent completely out of her.
>
I'm from NJ, and my mom and her family are from the Bronx. Do you
realize how many Hollywood actors fail miserably at a NY accent? It's
just pathetic. I remember seeing some actors (Californians) trying
to do a NY accent and saying "ruff" instead of "roof". They still
end up saying "in line" rather than "on line", like any respectable
New Yorker.
Tyne Daley did a GREAT NY accent.
--
_____________________________________________________________________
Rachel Brendzel bren...@pegasus.rutgers.edu DDEB2 & Duchovnik
_____________________________________________________________________
Rachel Brendzel
>Americans need to stand up and say that American accents are fine for
>playing anybody who in real life would be speaking another language
>or even somebody who would have spoken a version of English which
>no longer exists such as medieval or Elizabethan English. So it's
>fine for Americans to play Shakespeare and even (God help us)
>Robin Hood without trying to put on a nice cultured British accent.
I know what you mean. I think by using foreign accents, though, the
film-makers are just reinforcing the characters' foreign-ness. Still,
Americans have a weird view of our own accent. Take, for instance,
all the classic Hollywood movies. These are mostly actors from the mid-west
who, presumably, think it's classy to use retarded pseudo-English accents.
The best use of the English/American accent dillemma was in one of the
worst movies I've ever seen -- The Last Temptation of Christ. There,
the Jews had American accents (to symbolize that Judea was their
native land) and the Romans had English accents (to symbolize their
foreign-ness and that they were higher class).
Jennifer Barber
bren...@pegasus.rutgers.edu (Rachel Brendzel) writes:
> maggie exon <mag...@biblio.curtin.edu.au> writes:
>
> >Americans need to stand up and say that American accents are fine for
> >playing anybody who in real life would be speaking another language
> >or even somebody who would have spoken a version of English which
> >no longer exists such as medieval or Elizabethan English. So it's
> >fine for Americans to play Shakespeare and even (God help us)
> >Robin Hood without trying to put on a nice cultured British accent.
>
> I know what you mean. I think by using foreign accents, though, the
> film-makers are just reinforcing the characters' foreign-ness. Still,
> Americans have a weird view of our own accent. Take, for instance,
What really bugs me is when not all the actors use the same accent. In
Swing Kids, for example, the adults and those "teenagers" (the vast
majority of them really weren't) who are German or Czech (it was filmed
in Prague) or whatever had accents--German for the former, what I
assume is their natural one for the latter. The main characters,
however, had American accents. And since Christian Bale is British, I
can only assume that it's the director's fault. If he wanted American
accents, though, he should have gotten them from *all* cast members.
And if the reason that the leads used them was that Robert Sean Leonard
(or one of the actors playing his friends) can't do anything that would
match the accents of those actors who really *don't* normally speak
English, they should have found a better way of doing things--having
two different accents in a film where everybody's supposedly of the
same nationality is annoying at best.
Tardis
Bostonians who sound like the Kennedys ARE the Kennedys.
If you want to hear a Boston accent well done, check out the Saturday
Night Live "quiz Show" skit where Glenn Close, Adam Sandler & Phil Hartman
play the game "You Can't Get There From Here". The accents there were
more realistic (especially Sandler's).
RG
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Nothing ventured, Nothing gained |
| |
| rgav...@oeb.harvard.edu |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
Jeanne Cruden
well, there are so many different versions of them... but if you ever
met a guy from West Belfast you would probably have no idea what he was
saying...
Even the great Stephen Rea ( northern irish actor extraordinaire... or
that guy from the Crying Game ) has greatly toned down his accent so
that people actually understand him when he plays Irish characters (which
he always seems to do )
I don't know what's up with Liam Neeson ( who is from Ballymena right
near Belfast... apparently a region with many sheep where the accents
are so strange that people from Belfast confess to not understanding
them...) who seems to play Americans with a very odd accent...
oh well...
Jeanne
--
********************************************************************
" From all the troubles of the world,
I turn to ducks,
Beautiful comical things."
- F.W. Harvey ( Ducks and other Verses )
Thomas Skogestad
didn't even attempt to sound Norwegian, and just listen to the real life
Cammermeyer.
And the song she sang, well I had a hard time figuring out the lyrics.
--
Thomas Skogestad <> tho...@kjemi.unit no <> http://www.kjemi.unit.no/~thomas
FAMOUS LAST WORDS: "GO AHEAD LORENA...I DARE YOU TO."
Victor Volkman
-> Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
-> Subject: Re: Phony accents in movies.
-> Date: 10 Feb 1995 17:10:03 GMT
-> Organization: Me? Organized? Get real....
-> Message-ID: <3hg6lb$j...@dartvax.dartmouth.edu>
-> References: <3gn1j2$47...@usenetp1.news.prodigy.com>
->
-> In article <3hc4oj$a...@pegasus.rutgers.edu>
-> bren...@pegasus.rutgers.edu (Rachel Brendzel) writes:
Try Mickey Rooney in "National Velvet", his British accent fades in and out
and finally he gives up on it. Yucko.
Mandy McGouirk
and McDowell had an unusual accent. Does anyone know where he was supposed
to be from? South Africa?
--
Mandy McGouirk "If I were not in the CID, something else
mcgo...@phoenix.cs.uga.edu I'd like to be. If I were not in the CID
A window cleaner me." -Graham Chapman
Bruce Daniel Haag
|> Maria Niku (mar...@janus.otol.fi) wrote:
|> : David Shuman (ess...@telerama.lm.com) wrote:
|>
|> : : it reminded me how certain other films tried to acknowledge, and explain,
|> : : the lead actor's peculiar accent:
|>
|> : : Schwarzenegger: The Terminator, T2 (He's a cyborg.)
|> : : Twins (He was raised on a tropical island.)
|> : : Red Heat (He's a Russian.)
|>
this reminds me of van-damme's dual role in double impact: 1 role was raised in a french missionary in hong kong -and thus has the van-damme accent - and the other was raised in paris.
Bruce D Haag *** homepage http://www.rpi.edu/~haagb/ ***
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