Actors who can't do accents.

darkdubh

There are quite a lot of leading actors who struggle to do accents not native to them. Michael Caine and Sean Connery just don't bother at all. Ray Winstone is someone who when he attempts an accent other than his native East London makes a hames of it, witness his disaster of a Boston-Irish accent in The Departed. Can anyone think of any other examples?

Alf Veedersane

Michael Fassbender when he tries to do a Kerry accent

darkdubh

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Michael Fassbender when he tries to do a Kerry accent

:pac:

gmisk

Pierce Brosnan....shocking

mikemac2

darkdubh wrote: »

There are quite a lot of leading actors who struggle to do accents not native to them. Michael Caine and Sean Connery just don't bother at all. Ray Winstone is someone who when he attempts an accent other than his native East London makes a hames of it, witness his disaster of a Boston-Irish accent in The Departed. Can anyone think of any other examples?

Watch Tracker where Ray Winstone is South African (well a Boer to be more accurate), very good performance imo

pleasant Co.

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Michael Fassbender when he tries to do a Kerry accent

Dunno about that, it was pretty spot on mid way through x-men first class

Aidan Gillen.

Brego888

Colin Farrell

gramar

Chris O'Donnell in Circle of Friends...Tom Cruise in Far and Away.

sbsquarepants

Dónal wrote: »

Aidan Gillen.

Definitely.

I watched the first 4 or 5 seasons of game of thrones all over the space of maybe a month - he disappears for about a year (or a week in my case) and turns back up with a completely different accent. (which also wavered a bit in the first instance!)

darkdubh

sbsquarepants wrote: »

Definitely.

I watched the first 4 or 5 seasons of game of thrones all over the space of maybe a month - he disappears for about a year (or a week in my case) and turns back up with a completely different accent. (which also wavered a bit in the first instance!)

His accent was pretty convincing in the Wire but yeah bizarre in GOT.

darkdubh

mikemac2 wrote: »

Watch Tracker where Ray Winstone is South African (well a Boer to be more accurate), very good performance imo

I haven't seen that one. I'm not saying he, or Caine or Connery are bad actors, just wobbly in the case of accents.

mikemac2

Well it’s a thread about accents and that’s what I meant , very good with the accent in this film , check it out sometime

gmisk

Russell Crowe, especially in the Robin Hood film....it seemed to do a tour of everywhere throughout the film and was very distracting...it would have been less distracting if it was the same bad accent throughout!

Cycle Designer

I really don't know how Hugh Laurie is still getting work playing any number of American characters with the same cartoon accent he dug up for Stuart Little's Dad.

razorblunt

Geoff Bell.

Don't know the name? You'll recognise the face.
He's that guy who plays a quick to anger, abusive, aggressive, shouty, red faces Cockney thug/hooligan/villain in every film he's been in.

737max

gramar wrote: »

Tom Cruise in Far and Away.

Tom Curise in Interview with a Vampire.
To be fair to him he knows his limitations and avoids accents these days.

Wheety

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Michael Fassbender when he tries to do a Kerry accent

He did it on Graham Norton when the O'Donovan brothers were on it. He seemed to get more Kerry as the interview went on.

EDit

Tom Hanks with his “Irish” accent in Cloud Atlas. Come to think of it, I don’t recall Tom Hanks doing that many non-US accents (the Cloud Atlas example may be why)

gimli2112

Sean Connery's Scottish accent was spot on in Hunt for Red October

jerseyman

My OH said the cop in bridesmaids had a terrible Irish accent. At the time neither of us knew who Chris O'Dowd was.

Tony EH

One thing I've always noticed is that it's quite difficult for non-Irish actors to do an Irish accent.

But, equally, it's difficult for Irish actors to shed their own accent.

Arghus

Schwarzenegger, but it hardly matters: he bends the film to his will.

Outlaw Pete

Kate Winslet's American accent is annoying. Changes from scene to scene too.

yourdeadwright

sbsquarepants wrote: »

Dónal wrote: »

Aidan Gillen.

Definitely.

I watched the first 4 or 5 seasons of game of thrones all over the space of maybe a month - he disappears for about a year (or a week in my case) and turns back up with a completely different accent. (which also wavered a bit in the first instance!)

If you read the books you would know his accent changes on purpose, Its the character, he changes who he is , how he acts and even how he speaks to suit the situation and the people he is speaking to , Its all part of manipulating people for his own benefit,
Rewatch it for instance when confronted by Ned he is softer and try's to seem like less of a treat , but to Sansa he tries to act intimidating , its all part of who Little Finger is,

Huexotzingo

Julia Roberts see Michael Collins

Richard Gere see The Jackal :pac::eek:

w/s/p/c/

Brad Pitt doing a Northern Irish accent in the Devil's Own was terrible.  He made up for it with the traveller accent in Snatch

MfMan

737max wrote: »

Tom Curise in Interview with a Vampire.
To be fair to him he knows his limitations and avoids accents these days.

Wish he would know his limitations fully and avoid acting altogether.

Lux23

Wheety wrote: »

He did it on Graham Norton when the O'Donovan brothers were on it. He seemed to get more Kerry as the interview went on.

That is fairly normal to be fair. Lots of people lose their accents when they move away from home, but it starts to come back when they're back in that environment again.

Wedwood

Ewan McGregor trying to do Alec Guinness.

How anyone can think he sounds like a young Alec Guinness is beyond me. Think any of Guinness' earlier movies like the Ealing movies, or Lawrence of Arabia, or Bridge on the River Kwai and McGregor is nowhere near.

Gamb!t

Richard Gere the Jackal.

Baron Kurtz

Brego888 wrote: »

Colin Farrell

Any examples here?

Very good American accent in Minority Report. If I didn't know him wouldn't have thought he wasn't American. Might need to watch it again but I think he was spot on from what I recall.

I know he's Irish/Dublin, but his skanger accent in Intermission was very authentic.

Baron Kurtz

Gerard Butler apologised for his Irish accent in PS I love you!

Howard the Duck

Baron Kurtz wrote: »

Gerard Butler apologised for his Irish accent in PS I love you!

And i don't accept his apology

Howard the Duck

I mean I haven't seen it

Pero_Bueno

Tom Cruise in Far + away .

Gwynplaine

Baron Kurtz wrote: »

Gerard Butler apologised for his Irish accent in PS I love you!

It was hilarious. I laughed the whole way through that film.

gmisk

Baron Kurtz wrote: »

Gerard Butler apologised for his Irish accent in PS I love you!

He should apologise for almost every accent he has ever done....olympus has fallen and its crappy sequel especially!

server down

MfMan wrote: »

Wish Tom Cruise would know his limitations fully and avoid acting altogether.

He’s a reliable front man for blockbusters. And generally gets good scripts.

Steppin Out

Kev Costner

server down

Baron Kurtz wrote: »

Any examples here?

Very good American accent in Minority Report. If I didn't know him wouldn't have thought he wasn't American. Might need to watch it again but I think he was spot on from what I recall.

.

Was going to post exactly that. And in fact I didn’t know he was Irish and thought he was American.

(MI is another example of where Tom Cruise gets good scripts.)

Ash.J.Williams

Billy connolly has a unique enough Scottish accent so I find it quite obvious when certain actors have obviously binged on his stand up videos to learn the accent

loyatemu

Cycle Designer wrote: »

I really don't know how Hugh Laurie is still getting work playing any number of American characters with the same cartoon accent he dug up for Stuart Little's Dad.

I saw something about how most Americans don't realise he's English and are shocked when they hear his real accent, so it can't be that bad.

Irish actors who have spent a lot of time in Hollywood (Brosnan, Gabriel Byrne etc) tend to develop a mid-Atlantic twang that they find difficult to lose when they have to play an actual Irish character. Colin Farrell is an exception, & his American accent is also pretty decent (to my ears).

yourdeadwright

Baron Kurtz wrote: »

Brego888 wrote: »

Colin Farrell

Any examples here?

Very good American accent in Minority Report. If I didn't know him wouldn't have thought he wasn't American. Might need to watch it again but I think he was spot on from what I recall.

I know he's Irish/Dublin, but his skanger accent in Intermission was very authentic.

Colin got a lot of hassle for his accent in Alexander but again the complaint is misplaced
He was asked to use his normal accent , yes its out of place when Irish people watch it but the director didn't want him to use an American accent and told him to stick with his native accent,

MysticMonk

Gerard Butler. He can't even do a scottish accent without sounding like he's just had a stroke. To my mind one of the most unwatchable actors around today.

server down

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Colin got a lot of hassle for his accent in Alexander but again the complaint is misplaced
He was asked to use his normal accent , yes its out of place when Irish people watch it but the director didn't want him to use an American accent and told him to stick with his native accent,

Oliver stone deliberately used Irish accents. Since these were people in the past that shouldn’t have been an issue.

Pugzilla

Dónal wrote: »

Aidan Gillen.

His house sigil is the Mockingbird, which changes it tune. It's intentional.

Baron Kurtz

server down wrote: »

He’s a reliable front man for blockbusters. And generally gets good scripts.

True. People need to back away from crazy Cruiser and the accent thing Collateral was class. Stellar performance in Magnolia. Dunno why someone thinks he should give up. Hes always worth the money.

branie2

Julia Roberts' attempt at an Irish accent

ShagNastii

branie2 wrote: »

Julia Roberts' attempt at an Irish accent

I don't think it was too bad to be fair. At least she went for a legit dub accent and the go to Orish accent so many shoot for.

branie2

I don't think Kitty Kiernan had a Dublin accent though