Irish Accents in Movies

osullic

Non-Irish actors can't seem to do a convincing Irish accent.
What is the worst Irish accent you've heard in a movie?

krudler

Tom Cruise in Far and Away springs to mind instantly "you're a corker Shannon!" ugh, awful.

The thing about Irish accents is that they're so varied from county to county that they sound stupid when someone else tries to do one, but stick someone with an actual thick Irish accent on screen and it still sounds cringeworthy. Irish actors are good at losing their accent though, look at Colin Farrell in Minority Report, nails an American accent...not so much in Alexander though, the hell was that meant to be anyway?1

the whole year inn

it has to be hands down Richard Gere in "The Jackal".

Into the west was pretty good actually,funny enough in places !

Zillah

Every single moment of Alexander.

Awful_Bliss

Julia Roberts in Michael Collins & Pierce Brosnan in Evelyn

bnt

This seems to be a common topic here: only a matter of time before this thread is merged with this one.

Duggy747

Gerald Butler in P.S. I Love You bollox.............at least he apologised to the nation of Ireland for his dreadful accent :pac:

satchman

Dennis Hopper in House of 9 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0395585/), awful awful movie!! And what made it even worse was that he plays an Irish... wait for it... Priest!! :mad:

osullic

satchman wrote: »

Dennis Hopper in House of 9 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0395585/), awful awful movie!! And what made it even worse was that he plays an Irish... wait for it... Priest!! :mad:

Haha that's definitely my choice as well.Hilarious.

the purple tin

Tommy Lee Jones in blown away:(.

edit- I forgot Michael J Fox in back to the future 3. Yikes!

Ruu_Old

Humphrey Bogart in Dark Victory was amusing. He plays a stable hand and it comes out sounding closer Caribbean than Irish.:)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6c2D-TgtcI

satchman

Just though of another there... as much as I like Sean Bean acting, his acccent was pretty bad in Patriot Games

Phoenix Park

Surely the worst of all time: the thieves in Sin City


SHUCK ON DISH YA SHLAG!!!!!!!!!

satchman

^ LOL... can't remember that but cheers for giving me a laugh

Brendog

The only decent one I can think of is Brad Pitt in "Snatch"

Even thought he was playing a pikie its was excellent. Great actor

the whole year inn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W3NERMKIBM

probably the best

happyoutscan

Darby O'Gills 'daughter'.

duploelabs

one of the worst, and surprisingly so, is Kevin Spacey in Ordinary Decent Criminal

Stench Blossoms

gob_smacked wrote: »

probably the best

That's not suppose to be Irish though.

Best has to be Brad Pitt in Snatch.

the whole year inn

i know did you not see the smily face

Dempsey

duploelabs wrote: »

one of the worst, and surprisingly so, is Kevin Spacey in Ordinary Decent Criminal

Very surprised at how bad his accent is because he is actually an excellent voice impressionist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKKDKAKNH-k

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

That's not suppose to be Irish though.

Best has to be Brad Pitt in Snatch.

Best by a good distance imo

ziedth

IIRC didn't Minnie Driver do a great one In circle of friends.

L'prof

Duggy747 wrote: »

Gerald Butler in P.S. I Love You bollox.............at least he apologised to the nation of Ireland for his dreadful accent :pac:

I haven't seen the movie, but that would be a great start for a remake!!!

osullic

Vinnie Jones as Smasher O'Driscoll in Strength and Honour is pretty desperate

HxGH

Brendog wrote: »

The only decent one I can think of is Brad Pitt in "Snatch"

Even thought he was playing a pikie its was excellent. Great actor

Do you like dags?

PerrinV2

Brendog wrote: »

The only decent one I can think of is Brad Pitt in "Snatch"

Even thought he was playing a pikie its was excellent. Great actor

He also played an Irish guy in the Devil's Own I think

Cortina_MK_IV

On this St. Patrick's Day what fine fare have RTE provided out of my licence money?

Finian's Rainbow... Directed by Francis (Water)Ford O' Coppola, with those 2 fine Irish actors, Fred Astaire and Petula Clark. I apologise in advance but you cannot get this 3 mins 36 seconds of your life back.

Sonics2k

David Boreanaz is still apologising for his Irish Accent in the Buffy TV show, apparently he really does feel genuinely bad about it.

smelly sock

Tommy lee Jones in blown away.

Nobody can hold a candle to him.

It's was appalling.

MyKeyG

The more I watch Snatch the more Brad Pitt loses it for me...It's not the same foit Toorkish! 'Nobody brings a fella the soize of you...' but the worst I've seen in recent times is Rusell Crowe in 'A Winters Tale'. Not only is it a brutal attempt you can't even understand the dialogue.

What Hollywood doesn't get is that there's no universal Irish accent. The best accents have been when the actor has attempted a local accent like Cate Blanchett in 'Veronica Guerin' (even though I've seen some sites disagree) or Paddy Considine in 'In America'.

pinkypinky

Kate Hudson's in About Adam was near perfect.

Shelga

Judi Dench's in Philomena was pretty good, I thought.

Worst I've had the misfortune of seeing has to be Gerard Butler's alright. Still, English friends seem to find it hilarious when I do an impersonation of him in PS I Love You, as an Irish person doing it highlights just how ridiculous it is.

Cortina_MK_IV

Vinny Jones as Keith Ritson in "Kill the Irishman." Half Irish, half Lithuanian (supposedly) and with a bit of Watford thrown in.

Tony EH

Watched 'Snatch' for the first time last night. Thought Pitt's "accent" was bloody awful myself.

Ralf and Florian

MyKeyG wrote: »

The more I watch Snatch the more Brad Pitt loses it for me...It's not the same foit Toorkish! 'Nobody brings a fella the soize of you...' but the worst I've seen in recent times is Rusell Crowe in 'A Winters Tale'. Not only is it a brutal attempt you can't even understand the dialogue.

What Hollywood doesn't get is that there's no universal Irish accent. The best accents have been when the actor has attempted a local accent like Cate Blanchett in 'Veronica Guerin' (even though I've seen some sites disagree) or Paddy Considine in 'In America'.

Yes, there's a kind of standard Irish accent that they usually do in Hollywood, vaguely resembling a Dublin accent and that pays no heed to where in Ireland a film is supposed to be set. Probably evolved from actors and voice coaches using footage of Noel Purcell for inspiration.

Steamy

Tommy Lee Jones 'attempt' in Blown Away was pretty god awful. I don't remember which part of Ireland his character is meant to be from but regardless, it's terrible.

MilesMorales1

Rooney Mara's Irish accent in the secret scripture was just awful.

Paddy2012

It's not a great film but I think Ben Barnes in Killing Bono does a very decent Irish accent. James McAvoy's in Inside I'm Dancing is great too.

Cervantes2

Sienna Miller in Live by Night. Just terrible

Tony EH

Tony EH wrote: »

Watched 'Snatch' for the first time last night. Thought Pitt's "accent" was bloody awful myself.

You're joking!

Yourself isit

Zillah wrote: »

Every single moment of Alexander.

Alexander was just his accent wasn't it.

George White

Rod Steiger, Lee Remick and Patrick Stewart in Hennessy - all brutal. Eric Porter isn't too bad, while Ian Hogg a la Alex Norton in Patriot Games just sounds Scottish.

Cortina_MK_IV

And Patrick Bergin the worst Irish accent by an Irishman in Patriot Games. He must have been told he didn't sound Irish enough so to go off and watch Fred Astaire in Finian's Rainbow for inspiration.

optogirl

Tony EH wrote: »

Watched 'Snatch' for the first time last night. Thought Pitt's "accent" was bloody awful myself.

have to agree with this - he was lauded as having nailed it at the time but I honestly thought people were reluctant to criticise because it was supposed to be a traveller accent and maybe people felt unqualified to comment ....and because it's Brad Pitt

Dempsey

optogirl wrote: »

have to agree with this - he was lauded as having nailed it at the time but I honestly thought people were reluctant to criticise because it was supposed to be a traveller accent and maybe people felt unqualified to comment ....and because it's Brad Pitt

Or he nailed it

Professor Moriarty

Seán Connery in Darby O'Gill and the Little People. In case you haven't seen it, despite it's name it's actually a good film. Connery's Irish accent is a disaster. Shurely shome mishtake.

TheIrishGrover

optogirl wrote: »

have to agree with this - he was lauded as having nailed it at the time but I honestly thought people were reluctant to criticise because it was supposed to be a traveller accent and maybe people felt unqualified to comment ....and because it's Brad Pitt

I must admit that I thought he nailed it. I come from an area (No Limerick) that has a pretty similar accent. Because I moved around continuously my accent has become diluted. However I hear his accent as being very close to my relatives' accents (And I thank GOD mine has diluted somewhat).

Peirce Brosnon's Dublin accent in Evelyn is TERRIBLE. ANY Scottish actor doing an Irish accent (Connery, Connelly etc)

It does work both ways though. For every Damian Lewis in Band of Brothers there is Benedict Cumberbatch in Dr Strange or Dan Stevens in Legion (Just raise the pitch a little and speak through your nose)

Dirty Dingus McGee

Orson Welles's Irish accent in The Lady From Shanghai is either one of the greatest or one of the worst.It's just so weird hearing him with an Irish accent that it really adds to the overall weirdness of the film.

I always though Robert Mitchum in Ryans Daughter actually sounded and looked Irish and he did a really good job in that film.

Mike Guide 69

Leonardo Di Caprios's Irish accent in "Gangs of New York" is typical American ideology / postcard Orishness that borders on national embarrassment , its terrible.

Actually on the flip side, one American actor who actually made a decent attempt at the accent was Jared Leto in "Last of The High Kings",hard to imagine that film was made in 1996, where do the years go????

gizmo81

Too many bad ones but one of the better ones was Cate Blanchett as Veronica Guerin.

enterprise2017

osullic wrote: »

Non-Irish actors can't seem to do a convincing Irish accent.
What is the worst Irish accent you've heard in a movie?

especially that lad whats his name Liam Neeson,