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Worst accents from movies and tv shows

I'm watching Bram Stoker's Dracula right now and Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves sound fucking awful. There weren't any young Brits who could have played those roles?

What are some other examples of actors trying and failing to do an accent?

by Anonymousreply 159June 10, 2021 5:52 PM

Brad Pitt's Tennessee accent in Inglorious Basterds was HILARIOUS.

by Anonymousreply 1October 31, 2019 12:29 AM

Most recently, Iain Glen's American accent on Titans. You have to hear it to believe it.

by Anonymousreply 2October 31, 2019 12:33 AM

Jude Law as the Pope. Virtually every American accent on a UK tv series.

by Anonymousreply 3October 31, 2019 12:34 AM

Julia Roberts in anything.

by Anonymousreply 4October 31, 2019 12:36 AM

Please.

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by Anonymousreply 5October 31, 2019 12:37 AM

Kevin Spacey in The House of Cards

Tom Hanks in Charlie Wilson's War

by Anonymousreply 6October 31, 2019 12:38 AM

Kevin Costner in Robin Hood : Prince of Thieves

Anthony Perkins in On the Beach

by Anonymousreply 7October 31, 2019 12:45 AM

Dick Van Dyke has to win for his Bert in Mary Poppins, cor blimey!

by Anonymousreply 8October 31, 2019 12:50 AM

[quote]There weren't any young Brits who could have played those roles?

Were Winona and Keanu playing Brits?

by Anonymousreply 9October 31, 2019 12:54 AM

James Franco playing British in "Queen of the Desert" with Nicole Kidman.

His accent changed from word to word.

by Anonymousreply 10October 31, 2019 12:56 AM

R9, yes

R10, great example! I've liked Franco in other things, but he's so amateurish in Queen of the Desert, like a kid playing dress up. Who thought he could pull off an upper crust Edwardian Englishman?

by Anonymousreply 11October 31, 2019 12:59 AM

Sean Connery playing anything other than Scottish.

by Anonymousreply 12October 31, 2019 1:01 AM

Julianne Moore’s Boston accent in 30 Rock, seriously.

by Anonymousreply 13October 31, 2019 1:26 AM

R13 I'm preddy shaw huh axe-ent was spose ta be ovah thu tawp. Ya knaw, humah!

by Anonymousreply 14October 31, 2019 1:31 AM

Scott Porter's Texas accent on Friday Night Lights was awful.

by Anonymousreply 15October 31, 2019 1:35 AM

Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle. Accent changed from sentence to sentence, and even when she was in it, it was completely unnatural sounding.

by Anonymousreply 16October 31, 2019 1:37 AM

Fleabag’s American accent on SNL.

by Anonymousreply 17October 31, 2019 1:38 AM

Cate Blanchett's American accent in "The Talented Mr. Ripley" sounded like a parody of the ping pong monologue by Gloria Upson in Auntie Mame.

by Anonymousreply 18October 31, 2019 1:39 AM

I thought Blanchett's character was supposed to be kind of a phony, so it worked for me

by Anonymousreply 19October 31, 2019 1:41 AM

Anyone doing a Boston accent except Matt, Ben, or Mark.

by Anonymousreply 20October 31, 2019 2:01 AM

British actors critique American actors playing Brits all the time, but a lot of them are pretty awful at playing Americans. Vanessa Redgrave has never been able to do a decent American accent as much as I love her.

by Anonymousreply 21October 31, 2019 3:28 AM

R21 I agree with you on Redgrave.

by Anonymousreply 22October 31, 2019 3:56 AM

R21 I agree with you on Redgrave.

by Anonymousreply 23October 31, 2019 3:56 AM

Gene Hackman as Polish General Stanisław Sosabowski in [italic]a Bridge Too Far[/italic]

by Anonymousreply 24October 31, 2019 10:28 AM

Off-topic (sorta), but at the other end of the spectrum, there's Helen Mirren in The Queen. She coached extensively for the role, and if you listen very carefully, when the family travels to Balmoral in Scotland for the summer, her accent very slightly changes through the course of the scenes, ever so slightly picking up the Scottish lilt from the locals. Back at Windsor, the full-on English reasserts itself.

by Anonymousreply 25October 31, 2019 12:03 PM

Speaking of Queen of the Desert, Kidman's is quite awful herself. In anything. She's been living in the US for 30+ years now and has been married to American men and STILL can't do a convincing standard US accent. It constantly takes me out of the scene. She can't even play Australian convincingly any more either (those US 'r' sounds always slip in).

Her British accent in The Hours had less 'flaws' but still sounded like an accent rather than a natural speech pattern. Very false and fake.

by Anonymousreply 26October 31, 2019 12:08 PM

r21. You are right but I think it is because when it is your own accent being slaughtered you notice it more. London actors always do a generic north of England accent which makes it sound like all the actors are from different counties.

I just remembered a truly awful one. Jennifer Jones playing a gypsy girl from Shropshire in Gone to Earth. She speaks from around 1min40s

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by Anonymousreply 27October 31, 2019 2:15 PM

R25 Odd, how Catherine the Great spoke exactly like the Queen of England.

by Anonymousreply 28October 31, 2019 2:53 PM

"I just remembered a truly awful one. Jennifer Jones playing a gypsy girl from Shropshire in Gone to Earth. She speaks from around 1min40s"

I love this movie but you are right about Jones' accent. She sounds more Irish than English.

by Anonymousreply 29October 31, 2019 3:35 PM

She seem's like a cool person in real life, but "Maggie" on The Walking Dead has a majorly annoying fake accent.

by Anonymousreply 30October 31, 2019 3:38 PM

Southern accents come in many varieties...most of you guys are in no place to judge.

Keanu Reeves has an English accent. He said he was going for an English from the 18 hundreds. Moat of you do not know what you are talking about. When there is a an accent in film, they hire someone to help the actors.

In Bream StrokerDracular, there were English actors right on set (at least four). As usual many of you throw punches that are not deserved.

by Anonymousreply 31October 31, 2019 3:46 PM

Southern accents come in many varieties...most of you guys are in no place to judge.

Keanu Reeves has an English accent. He said he was going for an English from the 18 hundreds. Moat of you do not know what you are talking about. When there is a an accent in film, they hire someone to help the actors.

In Bream StrokerDracular, there were English actors right on set (at least four). As usual many of you throw punches that are not deserved.

by Anonymousreply 32October 31, 2019 3:46 PM

Hollywood thinks everyone in the South sounds the same.

They do not.

I remember watching Cold Mountain and wondering why do all these people in Appalachian North Carolina sound like they are from Charleston, South Carolina?

by Anonymousreply 33October 31, 2019 3:58 PM

r32, That makes me think of Gwyn.Paltrow in Sliding Doors. It sounded like she had tried soooo hard to sound like Princess Diana that her speech sounded unnatural although not terrible at all.

by Anonymousreply 34October 31, 2019 4:00 PM

R20 Martin Sheen did an impressive job of it in The Departed.

by Anonymousreply 35October 31, 2019 4:07 PM

I am a huge Laurence Harvey fan. I am British so I wondered what people from Texas ( or those who know), thought about his accent in Walk on the Wild Side ( a film I love).

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by Anonymousreply 36October 31, 2019 4:17 PM

"I'm watching Bram Stoker's Dracula right now..."

I'm so sorry.

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by Anonymousreply 37October 31, 2019 4:24 PM

The awful Streep laying the Australian accent on way too thick in the Lindy Chamberlain film. Ugh!

by Anonymousreply 38October 31, 2019 4:27 PM

R38 I went to school in Australia. It was not too thick.

by Anonymousreply 39October 31, 2019 4:38 PM

Nicole Kidman is a great actress and I like her, but she really isn't great at an American accent, but there are times when she's better than others. What's that about? I've seen her play Americans where she's slipped up maybe once or twice, but is otherwise believable as an American and other times where she butchers it completely. Did she have a dialect coach on some films and not on others? It seems so bizarre to me. If she did it decently before, couldn't she do it again?

by Anonymousreply 40October 31, 2019 5:22 PM

Southern accents are tricky, because that awful Scarlett O'Hara accent is rarely used anymore, but people still pretend people in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, etc. still talk like that. They don't. Holly Hunter has a legitimate southern accent. That's like the ones I grew up hearing.

by Anonymousreply 41October 31, 2019 5:24 PM

Meryl Streep. Someone had to say it. What the hell was that accent in Out of Africa, because it sure as fuck wasn't Danish.

by Anonymousreply 42October 31, 2019 5:24 PM

R41 I think regional accents are fading. My niece and nephew were both born and raised in Atlanta, but don't have a hint of a "southern" accent.

They sound like all the kids on the Disney channel.

by Anonymousreply 43October 31, 2019 5:33 PM

r36, I haven't seen that movie. I can name a Brit who [italic]nailed[/italic] a Texas accent: Kelly MacDonald in [italic]No Country for Old Men[/italic].

by Anonymousreply 44October 31, 2019 5:38 PM

r44, that makes me happy because I love her in Nanny Mc Phee. I wish her well.

by Anonymousreply 45October 31, 2019 5:48 PM

M's accent in Doubt was atrocious.

by Anonymousreply 46October 31, 2019 11:37 PM

R35 No

by Anonymousreply 47October 31, 2019 11:39 PM

Don Cheadle's East End accent in "Ocean's 11."

by Anonymousreply 48November 1, 2019 12:47 AM

Julia Roberts in Mary Reilly. Americans really can't do a convincing Irish accent. Even the great M sounded terrible in Dancing at Lughnasa.

by Anonymousreply 49November 1, 2019 4:53 AM

The main actor from Dexter playing a British guy in the miniseries "Safe". Worst one I have ever heard and completely ruined the show.

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by Anonymousreply 50November 1, 2019 6:30 AM

^ Really? I thought he sounded better than 90% of American actors who try to do English accents

by Anonymousreply 51November 1, 2019 2:33 PM

Wasn't there some British actress who once said that all Americans who do some kind of English accent all sound like they're imitating Mary Poppins?

by Anonymousreply 52November 1, 2019 2:35 PM

R50 I have to agree. I went to high school with him and have to bite my tongue around mutual friends.

by Anonymousreply 53November 1, 2019 2:39 PM

Margot Robbie's posh English accent in Goodbye Christopher Robin was not good

by Anonymousreply 54November 1, 2019 2:42 PM

Elijah Wood as Frodo convinced my English friend I saw LotR with; he didn't realize the actor was American.

by Anonymousreply 55November 1, 2019 2:46 PM

Laurence Olivier's laughable Mississippi accent in that godawful tv production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. Also Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner's accents in the same debacle.

by Anonymousreply 56November 1, 2019 2:52 PM

You should see Olivier in the movie The Betsy for laughable American accents.

by Anonymousreply 57November 1, 2019 2:55 PM

Olivier also did an awful accent in The Jazz Singer. I heff no son!!!

by Anonymousreply 58November 1, 2019 2:58 PM

Southern accents vary not only from state to state, but within regions. A Richmond Va accent is different from a Roanoke Va accent. Most actors do a generic old timey accent that I’ve never heard in real life, and it sounds so fake and lazy. I don’t know why they don’t spend some time with locals before they start filming. A good example of a Southern accent is Sissy Spacek doing Eastern Kentucky in “Coal Miners Daughter.”

by Anonymousreply 59November 1, 2019 3:10 PM

Julia Roberts's accent in [italic]Steel Magnolias[/italic] was cringy af, and she's from Atlanta, for fuck's sake!

That generic GWTW Olde South accent was mostly characteristic of the mid-Atlantic South—the Virginia Tidewater and the Carolina Lowcountry.

by Anonymousreply 60November 1, 2019 3:10 PM

^^^ Yes but that accent they do doesn’t sound at all like my family, who are from tidewater Va. They pronounce the o sound like Canadians, and I’ve never heard an actor get that. Boat is Bowt with ow very drawn out. Artistic is pronounced autistic which leads to some funny misunderstandings.

by Anonymousreply 61November 1, 2019 3:16 PM

My partner grew up in northwest Alabama near the Mississippi state line, and that area has some of the strangest quirks I've ever heard. They mix up their Ts and Ks, so [italic]desk[/italic] and [italic]ask[/italic] are [italic]dest[/italic] and [italic]ast[/italic] and [italic]Walmart[/italic] is [italic]Walmark.[/italic] The past tense of [italic]dive[/italic] (as in "into a pool") is [italic]divved,[/italic] and [italic]help[/italic] is [italic]holp[/italic] (which I think is a remnant of Middle English). And H is often added before vowels: "Hit hain't matter nary a bit."

by Anonymousreply 62November 1, 2019 3:23 PM

Pretty much every actor attempting a Boston accent sounds hilariously wrong to native Bostonians.

This is because there is no such thing as a Boston accent – you have an East Boston accent, South Boston accent, North Shore accent, etc. but the voice coaches and the actors don’t realize that so they’ll take one vowel from one part of town, another vowel, then some pattern of speech from Southie — and it just sounds like incoherent garbage. The actors sound like they’re from the planet mars or something.

Only actor I can name who speaks with a realistic Boston accent in the movies is Ben Affleck.

by Anonymousreply 63November 1, 2019 3:39 PM

Legit regional Southern accents: Holly Hunter, as stated; Matthew McConaughey; Octavia Spencer; Andie MacDowell (wooden as she is). Listen to those and then listen to a non-Southerner try to fake it.

by Anonymousreply 64November 1, 2019 3:41 PM

^ Also, Mary Steenburgen and the late Ann Wedgworth.

by Anonymousreply 65November 1, 2019 3:43 PM

Regarding Ben Affleck’s Southern accent in Pearl Harbor, I offer you this from the New Yorker review by Anthony Lane:

“He plays Rafe, a dyslexic Tennessee farm boy who has loved flying ever since he was old enough to crash. At least, I think he’s from Tennessee; his accent takes a patriotic tour of several states, as if to indicate that the noble Rafe could have come from just about anywhere.”

by Anonymousreply 66November 1, 2019 3:45 PM

R65 And Jim Parsons.

by Anonymousreply 67November 1, 2019 3:45 PM

Most of the accents in Steel Magnolias are awful except for Dolly Parton because she's actually from the south. What's even funnier is that the director hated her accent and tried to get her to go to the same dialect coach as everyone else. Julia Roberts should have no excuse given that she's also from the south, but I think the director was terrorizing her.

Actually, I don't remember Shirley MacLaine's accent being terrible, but I was always confused by why she didn't attempt an accent in Terms of Endearment. Didn't that take place in Texas and it seemed like no one really had much of an accent?

by Anonymousreply 68November 1, 2019 3:47 PM

And in northeast Alabama (Sand Mountain, Boaz, Arab [Ay-Rab], Fort Payne, and Guntersville), you often hear "Mizriz" instead of "Mrs."

by Anonymousreply 69November 1, 2019 3:48 PM

[quote]Julia Roberts should have no excuse given that she's also from the south, but I think the director was terrorizing her.

Julia’s natural accent peeks out from time to time in Pretty Woman. Like the scene where she says “Well color me happy!”

by Anonymousreply 70November 1, 2019 3:55 PM

[R62] That accent sounds hilarious! Like how I would imagine Snuffy Smith to speak if he came to life. (Life pronounced laugh)

by Anonymousreply 71November 1, 2019 4:00 PM

I remember an old Weather Channel host named Marshall Seese who used to say "Ha-WYE-uh" and "Mi-ZUR-uh." (I think he was originally from Missouri or downstate Illinois.)

by Anonymousreply 72November 1, 2019 4:10 PM

Features some that have already been mentioned and others that have not (like Cruise sounding like the Lucky Charms leprechaun in "Far and Away").

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by Anonymousreply 73November 1, 2019 4:41 PM

Lucas Black’s “Southern” accent on NCIS New Orleans is pathetic.

by Anonymousreply 74November 1, 2019 5:01 PM

Isn't Lucas Black actually from the South?

by Anonymousreply 75November 1, 2019 5:06 PM

Miss Vivien Leigh

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by Anonymousreply 76November 1, 2019 5:08 PM

^ Yep—Decatur, Alabama.

by Anonymousreply 77November 1, 2019 5:10 PM

I thought Vivien Leigh in GWTW was good.

Except it was too coastal. Tara would have been near Atlanta.

by Anonymousreply 78November 1, 2019 5:51 PM

R78 Well, her mother was from Savannah. Maybe she picked up Ellen’s accent.

by Anonymousreply 79November 1, 2019 6:47 PM

Lucas Black has always talked like that.

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by Anonymousreply 80November 1, 2019 8:17 PM

[quote]Wasn't there some British actress who once said that all Americans who do some kind of English accent all sound like they're imitating Mary Poppins?

I vaguely remember reading that comment in article years ago. I can't remember who it was.

I've noticed that most of the time when an American plays an Aussie, Brit, or a non-American for movies or TV shows, some people get pissed. But, the people who get pissed probably don't see anything wrong with Aussies and Brits faking American accents for parts. I saw people bitching online in comments sections or twitter this past summer because Bryce Dallas Howard played Elton John's mother in Rocketman. When Renee Zellweger got the Bridget Jones film part, I remember reading an article saying that it was America's revenge for Vivien Leigh playing Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind.

by Anonymousreply 81November 3, 2019 1:41 AM

Charlie Hunnam's attempt at cockney in "Green Street Hooligans" was awful, although I loved him in this movie.

I don't know what accent Tony Curtis was attempting in "Spartacus" (Southern Latin?) but it couldn't have been more Bronxian if he tried.

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by Anonymousreply 82November 3, 2019 2:00 AM

Has anyone here ever seen Glad Stroker’s Dickula?

by Anonymousreply 83November 3, 2019 2:07 AM

Jess and Liam's Irish accents in "Rob Roy" were fabulous... even though they were supposed to be Scottish!

by Anonymousreply 84November 3, 2019 3:24 AM

All those Russians in Dr. Zhivago with British accents.

by Anonymousreply 85November 3, 2019 3:27 AM

I just watched Dolores Claiborne. The accents were really awful, but that’s how they talk in Maine. I’m from the area, so I know.

by Anonymousreply 86November 3, 2019 3:32 AM

Keanu's own mother is English. You'd think that being constantly exposed to an English accent through his formative years would make it come pretty naturally to him. I guess not...

by Anonymousreply 87November 3, 2019 3:55 AM

[quote] I can name a Brit who nailed a Texas accent: Kelly MacDonald in No Country for Old Men.

It took me forever to realize the girl from Trainspotting, the girl from Gosford Park and the girl from No Country were all the same person. She’s a chameleon.

by Anonymousreply 88November 3, 2019 6:15 PM

[quote]When Renee Zellweger got the Bridget Jones film part, I remember reading an article saying that it was America's revenge for Vivien Leigh playing Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind.

Both of them did a good job.

Although Zellweger had a harder job, as it is more difficult to pull off a contemporary accent, as people immediately know if it rings false. Who knows -- exactly -- what people sounded like before recordings? Leigh's accent was wrong for that part of Georgia, but it was a period piece, so you can get away with even received pronunciation.

by Anonymousreply 89November 3, 2019 7:15 PM

Allison Janney in The Help was pretty bad. Emma Stone wasn’t much better.

by Anonymousreply 90November 4, 2019 12:54 PM

Reese Witherspoon does a good southern accent, but she should, being from the south herself. Her accent as June Carter Cash was quite convincing.

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by Anonymousreply 91November 4, 2019 1:42 PM

R91 I thought Joaquin Phoenix did a good job in that movie also, all things considered.

by Anonymousreply 92November 4, 2019 1:48 PM

Michael C Hall's Estuary accent in Safe was actually pretty good. Yes he sounded off in places but considering most American actors either go full Princess Margaret or else Dick van Dyke if I hadn't known he was American I'd have been fooled. Estuary English is hard to pull off.

by Anonymousreply 93November 4, 2019 2:04 PM

[quote]Nicole Kidman is a great actress and I like her, but she really isn't great at an American accent, but there are times when she's better than others. What's that about? I've seen her play Americans where she's slipped up maybe once or twice, but is otherwise believable as an American and other times where she butchers it completely. Did she have a dialect coach on some films and not on others? It seems so bizarre to me. If she did it decently before, couldn't she do it again?

On season 2 of Big Little Lies, there was an episode or two she slipped up several times. Her dialect coach's IMDB page had credits listed for Big Little Lies and a few other shows and films Kidman has done. The dialect coach's work history is quite long and she has worked as a coach multiple times for Naomi Watts, Andrew Garfield, Sam Rockwell, and Margot Robbie.

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by Anonymousreply 94November 4, 2019 2:49 PM

Kidman's accent slips in Big Little Lies were atrocious. Was she trying to make a point?

by Anonymousreply 95November 4, 2019 2:52 PM

R95 There was drama with BLL season 2 regarding production and director Andrea Arnold. Maybe, Arnold was too scared to order retakes when Kidman's accent slipped up.

by Anonymousreply 96November 4, 2019 3:07 PM

Ruby Rose's aussie accent keeps slipping in on Batwoman. Kind of drives me nuts lol

by Anonymousreply 97November 4, 2019 3:08 PM

Karl Urban's English accent in The Boys is atrocious.

by Anonymousreply 98November 4, 2019 3:10 PM

R91 Oddly enough, her accent in Sweet Home Alabama sounded fake to me.

by Anonymousreply 99November 12, 2019 7:44 PM

I agree that Ryder & Reeves' accents were just *terrible* (and terribly inconsistent) during Dracula; not sure if Gary Oldman was drinking then, but if he was, who could blame him having to keep a straight face through that mess. But they were big stars at the time (more s than even Oldman), so I guess he had to suck it up & deal

by Anonymousreply 100November 12, 2019 7:56 PM

[quote]I think regional accents are fading. My niece and nephew were both born and raised in Atlanta, but don't have a hint of a "southern" accent.

I know several people like that. They grew up in the south, but don't have any kind of regional accent. I also remember some actor from Texas saying that he learned to speak in non-Texas accent when he became interested in acting as a kid. I can't recall who it was.

by Anonymousreply 101December 14, 2019 3:45 PM

I used to have a slight southern twang but got it shamed out of me. It comes back if I drink three martinis.

by Anonymousreply 102December 14, 2019 4:32 PM

The two of them are terrible actors regardless of the accent they are attempting.

by Anonymousreply 103December 14, 2019 5:24 PM

[quote]Allison Janney in The Help was pretty bad. Emma Stone wasn’t much better.

I love Allison, but I hated her performance in that movie.

by Anonymousreply 104December 15, 2019 5:37 PM

[quote]Ruby Rose's aussie accent keeps slipping in on Batwoman. Kind of drives me nuts lol

I watched a few episodes last week and I noticed the slips.

by Anonymousreply 105January 25, 2020 2:00 AM

"Maggie" on The Walking Dead. Lauren Cohen seems like a really cool person in real life, but her forced southern accent has always seemed so off when watching the show.

by Anonymousreply 106January 25, 2020 5:22 AM

The song of the Western Meadowlark in a movie set in the eastern US.

Bird songs are misused all the time.

by Anonymousreply 107January 25, 2020 5:31 AM

I recently rewatched True Grit (2010) and Matt Damon's Texas accent was atrocious.

by Anonymousreply 108April 10, 2020 4:37 AM

Uma Thurman in Kill Bill

Pretty much everyone in Kill Bill who wasn't speaking their native language.

by Anonymousreply 109April 10, 2020 4:40 AM

All the Chinese chicks in Memoirs Of A Geisha that were supposed to have Japanese accents.

by Anonymousreply 110April 10, 2020 4:41 AM

I remember thinking Sadie Frost was going to be a thing.

by Anonymousreply 111April 10, 2020 4:43 AM

The cast of Monty Python had atrocious American accents. Lots of over-correction, as if every American-English word has a hidden an “R” in it.

by Anonymousreply 112April 10, 2020 4:56 AM

^^ “...has a hidden R in it.” Sorry about my bad Italian accent.

by Anonymousreply 113April 10, 2020 4:58 AM

r1, I thought the same thing. The only reason why it works is because the film is partly a black comedy.

by Anonymousreply 114April 10, 2020 4:59 AM

r6, Kevin Spacey's southern accent is brilliant. He nails it.

by Anonymousreply 115April 10, 2020 5:00 AM

R115 Yeah, but then Spacey nails everything.

by Anonymousreply 116April 10, 2020 5:02 AM

[quote] I remember watching Cold Mountain and wondering why do all these people in Appalachian North Carolina sound like they are from Charleston, South Carolina?

Many areas in NC's Western Appalachian region and the Eastern tidewater regions remained relatively isolated for several centuries. What you are hearing are the remnants of Elizabethan speech.

(I'm sure it's more comliplicated than just that and open to correction.)

by Anonymousreply 117April 10, 2020 5:08 AM

Ed Norton in Stone nails-on-chalkboard awful.

by Anonymousreply 118April 10, 2020 5:13 AM

Tony Curtis in Sparticus. "I am a singeh of soorngs." OMG

by Anonymousreply 119April 10, 2020 5:13 AM

Sometimes we are so used to hearing actors speaking in one accent that when they attempt another our ears cannot accept it. An example is Jacqueline Bisset. She is British but when she tried for an American accent in The Sleepy Time Gal I couldn't accept it. However her French and French accent in La Ceremonie, and Here and Now seemed fine.

by Anonymousreply 120April 10, 2020 5:26 AM

Awkwafina’s husky blaccent in Crazy Rich Asians. It’s all wrong. She sounds like Miley Cyrus trying to be “down with it.”

by Anonymousreply 121April 10, 2020 6:22 AM

madonna english or whatever accent she uses today

by Anonymousreply 122April 10, 2020 7:01 AM

I finally watched "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" and Babula's laughably bad attempt at playing an Englishwoman in the flashback scenes definitely rate her a mention in this thread.

by Anonymousreply 123April 10, 2020 7:17 AM

Robert DeNiro's (Max Cady) "southern" accent in "Cape Fear."

Harvey Keitel (Judas) in "Last Temptation of Christ." Not sure what kind of accent Judas was supposed to have, but every time Harvey Keitel spoke his lines, all I could think was: "There's Harvey Keitel with his New York accent." (I'm actually a fan of HK.)

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by Anonymousreply 124April 10, 2020 8:39 AM

Any one attempting a Minnesotan accent (Kirstie Alley and Kirsten Dunst in Drop Dead Gorgeous). Granted, they were likely supposed ot be over the top, but still very badly executed. Also the actors in Fargo were ghastly in their attempts.

by Anonymousreply 125April 10, 2020 9:17 AM

I actually read somewhere, (maybe here) that people noticed Kidman's accent slips so much in Big Little Lies that it was thought that it was deliberate and part of the plot. For example, the character had a secret past and had hidden the fact that she was really an Aussie.

by Anonymousreply 126April 10, 2020 10:07 AM

I'm British and from London and I generally cannot tell a bad generic American accent from a British actor (I know), but weirdly I can detect a Brit actor (who I never knew before) doing an American accent. I recently watched that Dirty Rotten Scoundrels remake with Anne Hathaway, and I could tell the actor playing the Glenn Headley role reversal was British within the first scene or so. He speaks in his real accent at the very end of the film when they are all stood by the Thames at Christmas time.

Americans often get to do a generic middle class southern British accent., best example is Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones (her accent is really good by the way). However, American's seldom have to do regional accents like Yorkshire, Liverpool, Geordie and Essex which are ridiculously different from one another and much harder to master. When they can do it, it's really impressive. Case in point. Watch Chris Pratt do an Essex accent on Graham Norton. He absolutely captures it!

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by Anonymousreply 127April 10, 2020 10:15 AM

Knives Out - Daniel Craig's "southern" accent was horrible.

by Anonymousreply 128April 10, 2020 10:20 AM

Ben Afflecks Boston accent in The Town.

by Anonymousreply 129April 10, 2020 11:12 AM

Whatever that accent was Madonna used in Who's That Girl. It's like a cross between a baby voiced New Yawk gangster moll and a Laura Petty impression. I actually saw this piece of shit in the theater when it came out. Poor Griffen Dunn.

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by Anonymousreply 130April 10, 2020 11:44 AM

George Clooney’s greatest prank ever was convincing Don Cheadle that his cockney accent in Ocean’s was good.

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by Anonymousreply 131April 10, 2020 12:18 PM

Rhett Butler is supposed to be from Charleston but Gable flatly refused even to attempt any kind of Southern accent. I'm sure his performance is the better for it.

by Anonymousreply 132April 10, 2020 4:08 PM

Kathy Bates' weird accent on AHS: Freak Show

by Anonymousreply 133April 19, 2020 4:30 PM

I saw Jim Broadbent playing Irish in a movie where the other actors were actually Irish. His accent travelled the length and breadth of the country, it was comical. Even people with "mixed" accents don't change accent every single word.

by Anonymousreply 134April 19, 2020 4:42 PM

R112 I don't think the Monty Python crew were ever making a serious attempt at an American accent, It was really just a way to lampoon the US.

Most of their films and sketches did the same thing to one group or another.

by Anonymousreply 135April 19, 2020 4:56 PM

Whatever the fuck accent Angelina Jolie was attempting in Alexander.

by Anonymousreply 136April 19, 2020 5:28 PM

Florence Pugh does a pretty flawless American accent to my ear. Saoirse and Emma Watson do not.

by Anonymousreply 137April 19, 2020 6:09 PM

How the hell did no mention Jodie Foster's atrocious over-dubbed accent in Elysium. Seriously see the clip from 0:29. She shakes her head like a damn bobblehead too.

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by Anonymousreply 138May 25, 2021 1:07 AM

Estelle Getty sounded nothing like a Sicilian immigrant on The Golden Girls, nor even like an Italian-American New Yorker.

by Anonymousreply 139May 25, 2021 1:32 AM

R121 That is Awkwafina’s regular speech though. Have you ever taken the train to queens or brooklyn? Tons of asian kids talking exactly like that.

by Anonymousreply 140May 25, 2021 1:51 AM

[quote]British actors critique American actors playing Brits all the time, but a lot of them are pretty awful at playing Americans.

The difference between the two is that Americans are generally like, "Eh, Close enough. Here's your Oscar nomination, anyway." Whereas Brits are like, "That's not even close!" and won't give Americans a break.

by Anonymousreply 141May 25, 2021 1:53 AM

Kate Winslet kept slipping in and out of her American accent in TITANIC.

Julie Andrews is supposed to be from the American heartland in THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, but she still sounds like Julie Andrews.

Ditto Hayley Mills in THE PARENT TRAP (twins from California and Boston) and in POLLYANNA (girl from Connecticut). She still sounds like posh-y Mills. Did she even attempt an accent?

Audrey Hepburn in SABRINA is supposed to be a Long Island girl and yet she sounds like she's from 'anotha lahnd' (i.e., herself).

by Anonymousreply 142May 25, 2021 1:58 AM

Historical linguists have noted that because childcare in the antebellum South was relegated to black slaves (like Mammy in GWTW), southern children often spoke in a dialect closer to that of Southern black people than their white parents. This was a source of embarrassment and one of the main reasons young men were sent north to school (girls were just left to their own devices). Obviously, this varied from family to family.

by Anonymousreply 143May 25, 2021 2:12 AM

Angelina Jolie in "Alexander." What the fuck was that accent supposed to be??

by Anonymousreply 144May 25, 2021 2:15 AM

In The Parent Trap, California Brian Keith makes a joke about Boston Sharon saying “Faaatha” which I didn’t even catch because I didn’t realise the twins were supposed to have different accents.

by Anonymousreply 145June 3, 2021 11:50 AM

I can’t believe no one has mentioned John Travolta’s accent in Hairspray. I had second hand embarrassment for him.

by Anonymousreply 146June 3, 2021 12:08 PM

Kevin Spacey in House of Cards – cringe worthy

by Anonymousreply 147June 3, 2021 12:11 PM

[quote] I can’t believe no one has mentioned John Travolta’s accent in Hairspray. I had second hand embarrassment for him.

It’s annoying as fuck, but it’s not entirely inaccurate. The accent he adopted isn’t a million miles from Mare Of Easttown.

by Anonymousreply 148June 3, 2021 12:24 PM

Kenneth Branagh doing his best to sound like Woody Allen.

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by Anonymousreply 149June 3, 2021 12:25 PM

Rami Malek's euro-villain accent in the James Bond trailer. It's intriguingly perfect right up until the last word – when it dips into pure American.

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by Anonymousreply 150June 3, 2021 12:40 PM

R1 Brad’s accent attempt was even more dire in Irish-American drama THE DEVIL’S OWN. Jaysus. You can understand why Harrison Ford refused to speak to him ever again after that.

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by Anonymousreply 151June 3, 2021 1:26 PM

Said with much love, as a lifelong devoted fan—Christina Ricci in 200 CIGARETTES, giving us her best Lawn Guyland. Really, that was the best that she could do. Oddly, it didn’t really affect the likeability of her performance, though it probably helps that the film is great fun with a fantastic cast.

“Cawl ya muthah!” “I cayun’t cawl huhr—she thenks I’m slaypin at chore howss!”

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by Anonymousreply 152June 3, 2021 1:39 PM

Warren Beatty's Italian accent from The Roman Spring Of Mrs. Stone. The British accent of Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins.

by Anonymousreply 153June 3, 2021 2:14 PM

*in...not from^^

by Anonymousreply 154June 3, 2021 2:15 PM

[quote]Julia Roberts's accent in Steel Magnolias was cringy af, and she's from Atlanta, for fuck's sake!

Most people in Atlanta don't have a Southern accent. My niece and nephew were born there and grew up there. They have very neutral "Disney" accents.

by Anonymousreply 155June 3, 2021 4:31 PM

Annette Benning in "Hope Gap" does the worst English accent since Dick Van Dyke.

It comes and goes and wanders all over the place. Sometimes she sounds cockney, sometimes American, sometimes like Princess Margaret.

And she is playing with English actors, so it must have been excruciating for them.

by Anonymousreply 156June 3, 2021 4:34 PM

Drew Barrymores horrible accent in Ever After

by Anonymousreply 157June 3, 2021 4:41 PM

R155, Bitch please. Were talking about 30 yrs ago in a role in which she was supposed to be a southern belle.

by Anonymousreply 158June 10, 2021 5:33 PM

I understand what you mean R25 regarding Helen Mirren/The Queen, but I kind of took that as a deliberate decision in that the Scottish lilt was what she's like in private/when relaxed, but the posh English sound is when she's "on" as Queen.

I agree with OP about Winona & Keanu; they totally stink up that movie. Gary Oldman's accent is pretty over the top too, but in a campy way, not just "bad acting" way

by Anonymousreply 159June 10, 2021 5:52 PM
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