Actors, and their phoney accents.

Pincho Paxton

Ex Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2006
Messages
14,129
Reaction score
627
Points
1,937
Age
61
I'm just watching 'The Aviator' and Leanardo DiCaprio is doing a phoney accent of some sorts. It's distracting me from the movie quite a lot.

How important is the right accent in a movie? I think his normal accent would have been fine.

I have seen some movies where the actors have terrible accents.

What do you think?
 
I would imagine posting from the internet is also distracting you from the movie?, explains alot though. :rotfl:
 
I would imagine posting from the internet is also distracting you from the movie?, explains alot though. :rotfl:

Well I'm just thinking about deleting the movie from my HDD. I'm waiting a bit longer... until DiCaprio get his illness.
 
One of the Brosnan Bonds had a French lady playing a Scot and two Scots playing Russians badly.:eek: Don't get me started on Highlander.

Cheers
Bri
 
A bad Irish or English accent is probably the most noticeable to me when watching a film. Normally these come from Americans attempting and failing. Particularly those Americans that still don't realise we don't all talk like the Queen or some cockney child. :rotfl:

American accents I couldn't really tell a bad one from a good one, unless it was a bad southern accent that was noticeable.
 
That's why Enemy At The Gates was a bit of a letdown for me,no attempt at any accents,cockerny russians,god no:eek:
 
was watching far and away which has tom curise and nicole kidman doing dodgy irish !
 
It always amuses me how Brits can usually put on a decent-to-awesome 'American' accent (Tim Roth aside :D ), but American attempts at doing a 'British' accent invariably sound bloody awful.
 
normaseries5_170.jpg



A bad TV one. Norma from Shameless. Great Character, terrible Geordie accent.

All the best
Bri
 
It always amuses me how Brits can usually put on a decent-to-awesome 'American' accent (Tim Roth aside :D ), but Americans invariably sound bloody awful doing a 'British' accent.

Could that be because you're a Brit? Our actors might sound as bad to the Americans as their lot do to us. Brits for Brit parts and Americans for American parts. Just get someone from the country they're meant to come from where ever that maybe.

Regards
Bri
 
Its been reported that lots of Americans dont realise that Hugh Laurie is English :rotfl::rotfl: I like the one episode (in the first series I think) where he puts on the "fake" English accent when phoning someone :rotfl::rotfl:

Kevin McKidd in Journeyman, Anna Friel in Pushing Daisies and Lena Headey in Terminator show that brits can do convincing American accents, and those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
 
Worst accent ?

Sean Connery as an Englishman in the Bond movies...
Sean Connery as an Irishman in The Untouchables...
Sean Connery as a Spaniard in Highlander...
Sean Connery as a Russian in The Hunt For Red October...

Anyone spot the connection... ?

:D:devil:

Also Jason Statham seems to vary between cockney and American in mid-sentence in some of his movies...
 
Worst accent ?

Sean Connery as an Englishman in the Bond movies...
Sean Connery as an Irishman in The Untouchables...
Sean Connery as a Spaniard in Highlander...
Sean Connery as a Russian in The Hunt For Red October...

Anyone spot the connection... ?

:D:devil:

Also Jason Statham seems to vary between cockney and American in mid-sentence in some of his movies...

I'm being very pedantic and annoying here but in Highlander Ramirez was Egyptian not Spanish. Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez was just a pseudonym. Sorry, I'll shut up now.

Mel Gibson's accent in Braveheart is pretty bad.

Here's a top ten from Empire magazine:
The 10 worst

1 Sean Connery The Untouchables (1987)

2 Dick Van Dyke Mary Poppins (1964)

3 Brad Pitt Seven Years in Tibet (1997)

4 Charlton Heston Touch of Evil (1958)

5 Heather Graham From Hell (2001)

6 Keanu Reeves Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

7 Julia Roberts Mary Reilly (1996)

8 Laurence Olivier The Jazz Singer (1980)

9 Pete Postlethwaite The Usual Suspects (1995)

10 Meryl Streep Out of Africa (1985)
 
I'm being very pedantic and annoying here but in Highlander Ramirez was Egyptian not Spanish. Juan Sánchez Villa-Lobos Ramírez was just a pseudonym. Sorry, I'll shut up now.


Well, his Egyptian accent left a deal to be desired too, lets be honest :rolleyes:

;)
 
Even though the film was terrible too, F&F3:Tokyo Drift was just unwatchable cause of the annoying actors hillbilly accent. Drove me mad!
 
For crimes against acting, Don Cheadle needs to be executed for the hideousness that was his accent in Oceans Eleven :D
 
Even though the film was terrible too, F&F3:Tokyo Drift was just unwatchable cause of the annoying actors hillbilly accent. Drove me mad!

Shame really, because that IS his real accent, not made up at all.
The actor, Lucas Black, comes from 'Alabama'.
 
Mos def in 16 Blocks,what was he breathing,helium?:D
 
Well, his Egyptian accent left a deal to be desired too, lets be honest :rolleyes:

;)

Agreed. He just does his own accent in every film with the tinniest hint of Irish, Russian, etc.
 
Well, his Egyptian accent left a deal to be desired too, lets be honest :rolleyes:

;)

And how does an Egyptian sound when speaking English? Like Omid Djalili?!

Nevertheless, Sean Connery character must have had more than 2000 years old by the time he appears in the movie, so by then he should be able to speak every know language. And of every know language, the one he was most fond was English with the scottish accent :rotfl:
 
........

Kevin McKidd in Journeyman, Anna Friel in Pushing Daisies and Lena Headey in Terminator show that brits can do convincing American accents, and those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.


I'm sorry did you just say Kevin McKidd can do a convincing American accent? roflao :rotfl:

I'm English and even I can tell that his "American" accent is truly dire without any of my american friends calling me and asking me how it feels to wear the shoe on the other foot.

Where Kevin Mckidd is concerned he and his accent attempts should be shot for crimes against humanity.
 
No mention of Richard Gere yet and his Irish accent in "The Jackal", my god worst irish accent ever.
And its not just limited to Movies, Heroes Season2 the episodes where they were in Cork Ireland, BRUTAL!!
 
I'm just watching 'The Aviator' and Leanardo DiCaprio is doing a phoney accent of some sorts. It's distracting me from the movie quite a lot.

How important is the right accent in a movie? I think his normal accent would have been fine.

I have seen some movies where the actors have terrible accents.

What do you think?
DiCaprio isn't really trying to do an accent. He's an American and the accent he has in the movie is American. He's trying to reproduce Howard Hughes' pattern of speech.

The worst accent in the world award goes to last week's episode of Batman, where three of Liberace's henchwomen arrived in Wayne Manor dressed in mini-kilts, Tam O'Shanters and carrying bagpipes and proceeded to deliver the worst Scottish accents ever heard.

Hilarious. Almost as funny as Liberace's attempts to sound tough and menacing. :rotfl:
 
Could that be because you're a Brit? Our actors might sound as bad to the Americans as their lot do to us.

A few non-American (British or Australian) actors come to mind who are very good at American accents (from my American POV):

Jude Law
Christian Bale
Naomi Watts
Nicole Kidman

Brits for Brit parts and Americans for American parts. Just get someone from the country they're meant to come from where ever that maybe.
I'm sure that many Australian actors at least are happy to be offered roles in Hollywood -- the film industry there is, after all, a bit larger than in other parts of the world...
 

The latest video from AVForums

TV Buying Guide - Which TV Is Best For You?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom