General Chat

to get the accent right in films or is the acting more important?

Sean Connery never bothered with accents in films.

I read an article lately that said that Americans cast British actors to be baddies in films but they also expected British accents in classic roles eg someone playing a Roman.

There was also this article which was about Russell Crowe getting annoyed when someone said he had an Irish accent in Robin Hood

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100514/ten-uk-crowe-3334b85.html

Also i think it was Hayley in her role as Ashes to Ashes Official Critic who said that the guy who played DCI Litton had an awful accent,

In the extracts I've seen his accent is certainly strange with a touch of the Irish in there.

Gwynnne

Good question - I remember, watching the 1995 Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant and Hugh Laurie (amongst others) and wondering what would have happened if they'd used south-western England accents, since the book is set in Somerset and Devon. Wonder if it would have gone down well with the American market etc?

But then, I never think of Jane Austen's characters as having regional accents for some reason . . .

Yes,you only have to listen to Dick van Dyke trying to be a cockney.}}most awful impression you ever heard..

No, not unless they can do it properly!! Remember Dick Van Dyke's 'Cockney' accent in Mary Poppins - even I could do a better one than that, lol! If I see a documentary or film about WW2 and actors are doing bad French/German accents, it reminds me of Allo Allo. Being from the west, most 'west country' accents I've heard have been dire - Somerset isn't the same as Devon which isn't the same as Gloucester. And Bristolian - another story altogether - Vicki Pollard does it brilliantly though!!

Surely, as an actor part of their job is to learn the correct accent!!!
It's no good a wardrobe person busting a gut to get the costume right, only to have Queen Elizabeth I sounding like Barbara Windsor!

It's a bit like someone applying for a job as a typist when they can only use 2 fingers!

I heard Russell Crowe on Radio 4 - and he was so out of order! Self opinionated plank can't see further than his own backside!!

It sticks out a mile if they don't have the right accent ,and grates on the nerves lol

I'm usually not to bothered as long as I can actually hear what they are saying. The one that always makes me laugh is American's trying to do an Australian accent it always sounds like a warped South African one.

I remember going to see a performance of Dylan Thomas' readings at the University of Texas many years ago, put on by students in the theatre programme



none of them tried to use a Welsh accent.

Most of them had Texas accents


but far worse was that they never tried to get the pronunciation of place names correct.


OH was raised by a Welsh grandmother ...... and had wondered about offering his services to the school but decided that they wouldn't need it. He squirmed in his seat all through the performance. Even I, from Lancashire, thought it was dreadful!



Can you imagine what Americans do with Cholmondeley (which should be pronounced Chumley)?







I don't actually think that it is as important to get the accent correct as it is to have good acting

.......... but I find that I often have my own imaginary idealization (eg of a book), and films never live up to that idealization for me.



sylvia

im the same as rita, dont really notice accents, except saun coneryy omg, hes accent is soooooo dreamie x

I think it's very important for actors to get the accent right, as I think that's all part and parcel of being a good actor. But now I have to contradict myself, LOL, because I think Michael Caine is a very good actor but oh my goodness, that American accent he tried to do in the Cider House Rules......cringe or what!!!!!

It really grates on me when an actor can't do an accent very well, some don't even bother trying! When an actor does do an accent well, I remember it....ie Meryl Streep seems to be a natural at accents. Julianne Moore did a lovely English accent in A Single Man, while Tom Cruise's attempt at an Irish accent in Far and Away was just plain embarrassing!!

K!

I don't know if anyone watches The Mentalist on channel 5, but I was surprised to find out that Simon Baker (who plays Patrick Jane) is Australian, the tall detective who plays Rigsby (can't remember his real name) is from Wales. I honestly thought they were American. I also thought that Robert Downey Junior gave a good English accent when he played Charlie Chaplin in the film Chaplin (which was quite a few years ago).

Valerie M I read the other day somewhere, that the one who plays Rigsby in the Mentalist, is married to Jasper Carrots daughter. Lucy Davis is it?

I had a disagreement with an American who thought that Hugh Lawrie was American, lol... he is very good at the American accent in House.

I am always surprised when I hear older actresses and actors with cutglass English accents in real life, and on interviews, but who come across with strong regional accents when acting in programmes like Corrie, Emmerdale and suchlike. Brilliant. I know they were probably born with a regional accent, but had it trained out of them at drama school or whatever.

In general, if the acting is superb, then the accent means nothing to me within seconds... it is only when there is poor acting that I find it difficult to concentrate and so start to pick holes in the programme/film.

But if the acting AND the accents are awful, I just switch off.

Love

Daff xxxxx

Yes, he is married to Lucy Davis, Jasper Carrot's daughter.