# The Top 10 Worst Accents In Film



## ozziememz (Mar 4, 2010)

http://www.flicksandbits.com/2010/02/23/my-top-10-worst-accents-in-film/

co-sign on sean connery, as much as i love him as an actor, list is decent

*Sean Connery in The Hunt For Red October and The Untouchables*_
In these two films he’s meant to be Russian (The Hunt For Red October) and Irish (The Untouchables) both times he butchers the accent by soundly convincingly Scottish, he actually sounds like a stereotypical Scotsman, a bagpipe playing, haggis eating, thistle loving, kilt wearing, Porridge eating Highlander. Note to casting agents never ever cast Sean Connery as anything other than Scottish he just sounds stupid, very stupid. On the topic ofIrish accents Tom Cruise in Far and Away was equally bad as was Julia Roberts in one of her sh*t films when she played an Irish women, I can’t remember the name 90% of her films blur into one for me._


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## Random One (Mar 4, 2010)

Christian Bale in The Prestige


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## DotCommunist (Mar 4, 2010)

Donald Sutherland in The Eagle Has Landed


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## Santino (Mar 4, 2010)

Ray Winstone when he's supposed to be American.


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## danny la rouge (Mar 4, 2010)

To be fair to Connery, he doesn't actually try to do accents, does he?  He isn't butchering anything; he's playing it straight.  As many American actors have done playing everything from French people to Romans to Germans.  Indeed, on that last example, in a number of films English actors play Germans with their own, English, accents, while Americans play the good guys (whether that be French, or whatever, in their own).

As to accents where the actor is trying to do one, Scotty in Star Trek is legendary.


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## kabbes (Mar 4, 2010)

Dick Van Dyke.


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## kyser_soze (Mar 4, 2010)

Bob Hoskins American accent.


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## danny la rouge (Mar 4, 2010)

kabbes said:


> Dick Van Dyke.


In which film?


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## kabbes (Mar 4, 2010)

danny la rouge said:


> In which film?


In every film.  But Mary Poppins is the obvious one.


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## danny la rouge (Mar 4, 2010)

kabbes said:


> But Mary Poppins is the obvious one.


Is it inaccurate, then?


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## kabbes (Mar 4, 2010)

danny la rouge said:


> Is it inaccurate, then?




Have you SEEN Mary Poppins?

Orl roit guv'nar?


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## danny la rouge (Mar 4, 2010)

kabbes said:


> Have you SEEN Mary Poppins?
> 
> Orl roit guv'nar?


Many times.  It was a favourite of my children when they were younger.


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## kabbes (Mar 4, 2010)

Oh.  Is this a Scotch thing?


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## danny la rouge (Mar 4, 2010)

kabbes said:


> Oh.  Is this a Scotch thing?


Liking Mary Poppins?  I understand it's very popular everywhere.


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## kabbes (Mar 4, 2010)

danny la rouge said:


> Liking Mary Poppins?  I understand it's very popular everywhere.


Pretending to not realise how atrocious DVD's accent is.  You are being hoomerous.


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## Lea (Mar 4, 2010)

Keanu Reeves in Bram Stoker's Dracula.

E2A: I see it's on the list.


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## 100% masahiko (Mar 4, 2010)

Van Damme in Streetfighter (if you can call that a film)


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## danny la rouge (Mar 4, 2010)

kabbes said:


> Pretending to not realise how atrocious DVD's accent is.  You are being hoomerous.


It's inauthentic then, is it?

I'll have to relearn my Pearly King act.


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## Agent Sparrow (Mar 4, 2010)

danny la rouge said:


> As to accents where the actor is trying to do one, Scotty in Star Trek is legendary.



Are you talking about the original? If you are, Simon Pegg's is also quite spectacularly bad; at one point he just gives up and speaks in his own accent for a line.


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## danny la rouge (Mar 4, 2010)

Agent Sparrow said:


> Are you talking about the original? If you are, Simon Pegg's is also quite spectacularly bad; at one point he just gives up and speaks in his own accent for a line.


Yes, the original. I haven't heard Pegg's yet.

Mike Myres is spectacularly bad in Shrek, too.


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## Reno (Mar 4, 2010)

In many actors defense, it all depends on whether the production shells out on an accent coach and how good they are. Some actors just don't have an aptitude for accents. 

That said Connery doesn't even seem to try, even when playing English speaking non-Scottish characters. He gets through on charisma.

Brad Pitt's German accent in Seven Years in Tibet was rather curious and of course there is Keanu Revee's hilarious attempt at an English accent as Jonathan Harker in the Coppola Dracula.


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## danny la rouge (Mar 4, 2010)

Reno said:


> That said Connery doesn't even seem to try, even when playing English speaking non-Scottish characters. He gets through on charisma.


He doesn't try at all.


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## Reno (Mar 4, 2010)

Agent Sparrow said:


> Are you talking about the original? If you are, Simon Pegg's is also quite spectacularly bad; at one point he just gives up and speaks in his own accent for a line.



That's on purpose though. In the Star Trek "reboot" all the actors whose characters had rubbish foreign accents in the original have fun with it. The new Chekov has problems with the voice recognition system because it can't understand his accent.


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## Reno (Mar 4, 2010)

danny la rouge said:


> Mike Myres is spectacularly bad in Shrek, too.



Yup, I worked on that. Half way through production Myers decided his terrible performance would be improved by a Scottish accent and we had to redo large sections of the film. In all fairness, his line readings became a bit more lively after that.


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## Lo Siento. (Mar 4, 2010)

Don Cheadle's Oceans accent should clearly be topping that list. How did they manage 3 fucking films without doing something about it?!


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## sojourner (Mar 4, 2010)

Pretty much anyone trying to do a scouse accent when they aren't from Liverpool

Same for Irish

I'm probably showing my ignorance of various factors here, but I know there are lots of really good scouse and Irish actors - so why not cast them instead of some fuck-knuckle who just induces cringing?


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## kyser_soze (Mar 4, 2010)

> Brad Pitt's German accent in Seven Years in Tibet was rather curious and of course there is Keanu Revee's hilarious attempt at an English accent as Jonathan Harker in the Coppola Dracula.



I acutally found his English accent in Much Ado About Nothing far funnier, and always gave some leeway on his attempt in Dracula because of my mental tendency to ad 'Woah!' or 'Execllent!' to the end of each of this lines.


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## danny la rouge (Mar 4, 2010)

Reno said:


> Yup, I worked on that. Half way through production Myers decided his terrible performance would be improved by a Scottish accent and we had to redo large sections of the film. In all fairness, his line readings became a bit more lively after that.


It's a great film (the first one).  But the accent makes me cringe.


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## danny la rouge (Mar 4, 2010)

That'll do donkey, that'll do.


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## Agent Sparrow (Mar 4, 2010)

Reno said:


> That's on purpose though. In the Star Trek "reboot" all the actors whose characters had rubbish foreign accents in the original have fun with it. The new Chekov has problems with the voice recognition system because it can't understand his accent.



I did wonder if it was on purpose, but then I thought I was being too generous.


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## Sigmund Fraud (Mar 4, 2010)

TLJ in Blown Away by a celluloid mile.

He has redeemed himself with a fine canon of work lately though.


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## DotCommunist (Mar 4, 2010)

her out of Kingdom of The Crystal skull whose acent toured most of russia and eastern europe.


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## Reno (Mar 4, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> her out of Kingdom of The Crystal skull whose acent toured most of russia and eastern europe.



She playes a 50s caricature B-movie Russian, not a real one. I'm sure Cate Blanchett could do a more realisitic Russian accent if she had to.


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## SpookyFrank (Mar 4, 2010)

Ewan MacGregor in the Star Wars prequels.


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## kabbes (Mar 4, 2010)

I think that Ewan MacGregor does a damn fine job of sounding like Alec Guiness, actually.


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## kained&able (Mar 4, 2010)

Lee evans' californian in theres something abut mary.

Although that is clearly getting the yanks back for every shit british accent ever.

dave


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## danny la rouge (Mar 4, 2010)

kabbes said:


> I think that Ewan MacGregor does a damn fine job of sounding like Alec Guiness, actually.


He does a terrible job of sounding like he comes from Wester Hailes in _Trainspotting_, though.


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## STFC (Mar 4, 2010)

I see Forrest Whitaker gets an honourable mention for The Crying Game. That was poor.

The blond lad in Green Street. Ridiculous.


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## Lo Siento. (Mar 4, 2010)

STFC said:


> I see Forrest Whitaker gets an honourable mention for The Crying Game. That was poor.
> 
> The blond lad in Green Street. Ridiculous.



his Ugandan accent in The Last King of Scotland is also pish according to a friend of mine from the region.


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## discokermit (Mar 4, 2010)

STFC said:


> I see Forrest Whitaker gets an honourable mention for The Crying Game. That was poor.


oim from totting-ham!


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## Zabo (Mar 4, 2010)

Anthony Hopkins in "The Fastest Indian"

It jumps from Kiwi to Welsh and then to West Country. I also think he adds a little mid-west American for good luck.


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## scifisam (Mar 4, 2010)

Kevin Costner in Robin Hood. 

And I don't think I've ever heard a good fake Irish accent at all, and there are _so many of them_. 



danny la rouge said:


> Mike Myres is spectacularly bad in Shrek, too.



That's surprising, since he was born in Scotland and his parents are Scottish.


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## Reno (Mar 4, 2010)

scifisam said:


> That's surprising, since he was born in Scotland and his parents are Scottish.



He was born in Canada and his parents were from Liverpool.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Mar 4, 2010)

Brad Pitt in Snatch.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Mar 4, 2010)

Reno said:


> He was born in Canada and his parents were from Liverpool.



Mike Myers is a Canadian.


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## scifisam (Mar 5, 2010)

Reno said:


> He was born in Canada and his parents were from Liverpool.



I'm certain he made those claims on a show I saw years ago. Probably just an actor exaggerrating then.


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## 19sixtysix (Mar 5, 2010)

Mel Gibson in the trailer for Braveheart.

The trailer was enough for me. I have never seen the film.


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## Orang Utan (Mar 5, 2010)

george sanders as shere khan


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## Orang Utan (Mar 5, 2010)

discokermit said:


> oim from totting-ham!



i cracked up when he started banging on about the frog and the scooorpion


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## Celt (Mar 5, 2010)

micheal caine

any film where he isn't from the south of england


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## red rose (Mar 5, 2010)

The Irish couple in Ronin.

Its not a bad film but those accents are just appaling!


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## Miss Caphat (Mar 5, 2010)

Reno said:


> She playes a 50s caricature B-movie Russian, not a real one. I'm sure Cate Blanchett could do a more realisitic Russian accent if she had to.



I love Cate Blanchett, and I got that it was supposed to be like that, but still I was left wondering wtf she was doing in that horrible degrading role in the first place.


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## 8den (Mar 5, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> her out of Kingdom of The Crystal skull whose acent toured most of russia and eastern europe.



Moose and Squirrel! 


Ten internet points for anyone who gets the reference. 

Oh and fucking hell how could anyone not mention Tom Cruise in Far and Away.


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## 8den (Mar 5, 2010)

discokermit said:


> oim from totting-ham!



In fairness if you wandered around Tottenham these days any accent would work...


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## 8den (Mar 5, 2010)

Johnny Canuck2 said:


> Brad Pitt in Snatch.



Nope. It's incomprehensible, but it's very on the nose. Travellers really do talk exactly like that.


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## The Octagon (Mar 5, 2010)

scifisam said:


> Kevin Costner in Robin Hood.



Does he even attempt an accent? 

I always thought Christian Slater and Morgan Freeman are far funnier in that film, accent-wise.


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## madzone (Mar 5, 2010)

kabbes said:


> In every film. But Mary Poppins is the obvious one.


 Don't you mean  Maaaaiiiieeereeeee Bobpins?


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## The Octagon (Mar 5, 2010)

Whatever accent Christopher Lambert was trying to do in Highlander.

Also, if we can stretch to TV, Aidan Gillen in The Wire and anytime someone attempted an accent on Buffy (especially David Boreanaz's 'Oirish')


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## Orang Utan (Mar 5, 2010)

tim roth is reservoir dogs and pulp fiction - it's worse than american accents you hear in am dram productions.


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## kained&able (Mar 5, 2010)

The Octagon said:


> someone attempted an accent on Buffy



spike wasn't entirely useless.


dave


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## Idaho (Mar 5, 2010)

Johnny Canuck2 said:


> Brad Pitt in Snatch.



As an Irish accent it would be bad, but as an Irish traveller it wasn't too bad. They are fairly incomprehensible.

John Malcovich in Rounders is my favourite crap accent:


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## littlebabyjesus (Mar 5, 2010)

William Hurt's Welsh accent in Second Best.

He was the only 'star' in the film, so I guess nobody had the guts/heart to tell him.


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## The Octagon (Mar 5, 2010)

kained&able said:


> spike wasn't entirely useless.
> dave



It was better than most of the others, but still grated when he tried to use slang / swear words like "poof" or "sodding"


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## DotCommunist (Mar 5, 2010)

John Hurts cock-er-nee in 44inch chest was good, but not quiet right


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## Reno (Mar 5, 2010)

The Octagon said:


> It was better than most of the others, but still grated when he tried to use slang / swear words like "poof" or "sodding"



Again, unlike Meryl Streep or Kate Winslet, who get the best accent coaches for feature films, a low budget TV series like Buffy can't afford those, so the actors have to come up with the accents themselves. If you don't have first hand experience of having lived in the country, it's next to impossible to get it 100% right.


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## danny la rouge (Mar 5, 2010)

The Octagon said:


> Whatever accent Christopher Lambert was trying to do in Highlander.


He was Bulgarian, wasn't he?  Not sure how that fitted into the plot, mind...


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## DotCommunist (Mar 5, 2010)

No, he was scots.


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## danny la rouge (Mar 5, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> No, he was scots.


Don't be ridiculous.  He must have been a Bulgarian orphan brought up by the MacLeod's of Glensheil, who hadn't the heart to tell him he was adopted.


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## Dillinger4 (Mar 5, 2010)

Those people who were attempting to be Irish on Heroes.


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## danny la rouge (Mar 5, 2010)

Dillinger4 said:


> Those people who were attempting to be Irish on Heroes.


 They were great.


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## DotCommunist (Mar 5, 2010)

oi-pods


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## mwgdrwg (Mar 5, 2010)

Orang Utan said:


> tim roth is reservoir dogs and pulp fiction - it's worse than american accents you hear in am dram productions.



He doesn't do an American accent in Pulp Fiction.


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## Orang Utan (Mar 5, 2010)

mwgdrwg said:


> He doesn't do an American accent in Pulp Fiction.


doesn't he? that's why it's lame i guess!


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## mwgdrwg (Mar 5, 2010)

Pete Postlethwaite in The Usual Suspects. Some weird Indian/Welsh hybrid.


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 5, 2010)

discokermit said:


> oim from totting-ham!



Up there in the cellouloid history of mispronounced English place names with De Niro talking about "the boathouse in 'Heeer-ford'" in _Ronin_.

As for the thread topic, Afrikaans (and other South African-related accents) does seem to smoke out some duds - Kevin Kline, Donald Sutherland, Penelope Wilton, Mark Strong, Thomas Jane, Derek Luke, Janet Suzman, Tim Robbins, William Hurt etc - but I've never really found an off-key accent to be that troubling if the rest of the performance is hitting the mark.


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 5, 2010)

littlebabyjesus said:


> William Hurt's Welsh accent in Second Best.



Welsh? I thought his character was English, but it's been a while since I last saw it. Good film, though.



The Octagon said:


> It was better than most of the others, but still grated when he tried to use slang / swear words like "poof" or "sodding"



Which reminds me - the Moon family accents in _Frasier_, especially Anthony LaPaglia.


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## SpookyFrank (Mar 5, 2010)

DaveCinzano said:


> Which reminds me - the Moon family accents in _Frasier_, especially Anthony LaPaglia.



Surely they were deliberately ridiculous though? What with Manchester-born-and-bred Daphne having a scottish brother, a cockney brother and, err, a brother who is Richard E Grant reprising Withnail...


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 5, 2010)

Whether a bad accent is deliberate or not, it is still a bad accent!


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## scifisam (Mar 5, 2010)

Yup, Costner did think he was doing an accent in Robin Hood. I saw an interview with him talking about his accent coach and how pleased he was with the finished result. 

I thought Spike's accent was really good. Wesley's was too - it got better as time went on, but started out believable anyway. Anyway, with Spike it's _supposed_ to be a fake accent because he was brought up posh, and he's been living in America for a generation. 



DaveCinzano said:


> Which reminds me - the Moon family accents in _Frasier_, especially Anthony LaPaglia.



At least they realised that and took the piss out of it, with the 'Cockney,' the posh bloke and the Scotsman all supposed to be Northerner Daphne's brothers.


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## krtek a houby (Mar 5, 2010)

Dickie Attenborough's "Scottish" accent is all over the shop in Jurassic Park.

Kevib Costner in Robin Hood.

Orson Welles "Irish" tones in The Lady from Shanghai.

The carnival dude in the latest season of Heroes. Samuel? Where is his accent at?


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## DotCommunist (Mar 5, 2010)

yeah, evil carnies was supposed to be american-irish but just came out as retard


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 5, 2010)

James Coburn's Orrrstraylean twang in _The Great Escape_ is definitely entertaining.


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## krtek a houby (Mar 5, 2010)

DotCommunist said:


> yeah, evil carnies was supposed to be american-irish but just came out as retard



You use the word "retard"? How quaint.

His accent does seem to veer between the deep south, Scotland and Ulster...


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 5, 2010)

Have we had Don Cheadle in _Ocean's Eleven_ yet? And how about Denzel Washington in _For Queen And Country_ (and _The Mighty Quinn_ for that matter)?


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## Agent Sparrow (Mar 5, 2010)

scifisam said:


> Yup, Costner did think he was doing an accent in Robin Hood. I saw an interview with him talking about his accent coach and how pleased he was with the finished result.


Really??! That's hilarious!


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## Reno (Mar 5, 2010)

scifisam said:


> Yup, Costner did think he was doing an accent in Robin Hood. I saw an interview with him talking about his accent coach and how pleased he was with the finished result.



A friend of mine worked with him. As expected he apparently is a twat of the highest order.


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## rubbershoes (Mar 5, 2010)

The Octagon said:


> Also, if we can stretch to TV, Aidan Gillen in The Wire



and that bloke playing McNulty's attempt at an English accent in series 2.


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## Kaka Tim (Mar 5, 2010)

Julia Roberts joins a long line of hollywood shame with her embarassingly bad irish accent in  Michael Collins.

Also Angel's  'oirish' accent in Buffy as bad (and Buffy low budet? you're having a laugh) .

Michael Caine is a serial offender - but my fave is him trying to do a southern drawl in a film whose title I cant recall - 1960s job set in the deep south. 

On the other hand an hounderable mention should be given to the cast of Spinal Tap for their english accents.


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 5, 2010)

Tom Conti as Stavros in _Shirley Valentine_.


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## Reno (Mar 5, 2010)

Kaka Tim said:


> Also Angel's  'oirish' accent in Buffy as bad (and Buffy low budet? you're having a laugh) .



Buffy having been on a small, fledgeling cable network had a much smaller budget than one hour dramas on major channels and for the first three seasons was shot on 16mm, because they couldn't afford 35mm. Eventually they got more money, but it was always considerable cheaper than a major Network show. It's a credit to the crew that it looks as good as it does.

Got a problem with that ?


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## damnhippie (Mar 5, 2010)

have we had Ewan Mcgregor in the Star Wars film? 

i don't care if he was trying to mimic Alec Guiness, he still sounded like a dick. fuck continuity, a scottish jedi would have been brilliant.


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## scifisam (Mar 5, 2010)

Given how bad the accents are in some big budget shows, I'm not sure Angel's Orisih can be blamed on lack of a well-paid dialect coach. Mind you, he's still better than Fi in Burn Notice, who was so bloody terrible that they decided to have her speak with an American accent after the first couple of episodes. She's English, so I don't know if her American's any good, but it can't be worse than her Irish. Moyaaaami! 

Has there ever been a good fake Irish accent on film or TV? Even one? I can't think of any at all.


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## damnhippie (Mar 5, 2010)

oh and just because:

up and AT THEM


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## Reno (Mar 5, 2010)

scifisam said:


> Has there ever been a good fake Irish accent on film or TV? Even one? I can't think of any at all.



http://www.screenhead.com/reviews/the-best-and-worst-irish-accents-in-cinema/


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## Kaka Tim (Mar 5, 2010)

Reno said:


> Buffy having been on a small, fledgeling cable network had a much smaller budget than one hour dramas on major channels and for the first three seasons was shot on 16mm, because they couldn't afford 35mm. Eventually they got more money, but it was always considerable cheaper than a major Network show. It's a credit to the crew that it looks as good as it does.
> 
> Got a problem with that ?



Still I'm sure they could have afforded an occaisional accent coach - there really is no excuse.


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## red rose (Mar 5, 2010)

damnhippie said:


> oh and just because:
> 
> up and AT THEM


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## mk12 (Mar 6, 2010)

The black bloke in The Beach, who loves "crickit". Is he supposed to be cockney, or Jamaican?!


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 13, 2010)

DaveCinzano said:


> As for the thread topic, Afrikaans (and other South African-related accents) does seem to smoke out some duds - Kevin Kline, Donald Sutherland, Penelope Wilton, Mark Strong, Thomas Jane, Derek Luke, Janet Suzman, Tim Robbins, William Hurt etc - but I've never really found an off-key accent to be that troubling if the rest of the performance is hitting the mark.



Returning to this theme, how about Stephen Dorf in _The Power Of One_?


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 13, 2010)

And never having seen it before, I am currently being subjected to Jude Lw's whistlestop tour of accents of the world in _eXistenZ_. Most curious.


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## Mrs Miggins (Mar 14, 2010)

My favourite: Melanie Griffiths in Shining Through
Apparently she has an accent "like a Berlin butcher's wife" but pronounces her every line in German like an American who has never before seen a foreign  language.


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## sleaterkinney (Mar 14, 2010)

8den said:


> Oh and fucking hell how could anyone not mention Tom Cruise in Far and Away.


The worst Irish accent you will ever hear.


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 14, 2010)

sleaterkinney said:


> The worst Irish accent you will ever hear.



Have you not seen that butter advert?


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## Rainingstairs (Mar 14, 2010)

Kevin Costner in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. He didn't even TRYYYYY!


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## laptop (Mar 14, 2010)

kabbes said:


> Dick Van Dyke.



This. Him.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Mar 14, 2010)

What's wrong with this accent?


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## Portia (Mar 14, 2010)

Jason Statham in the Transporter. We spent most of the flim trying to figure out what nationality he was supposed to be...


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## Shippou-Sensei (Mar 14, 2010)

damnhippie said:


> oh and just because:
> 
> up and AT THEM


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 14, 2010)

Portia said:


> Jason Statham in the Transporter. We spent most of the flim trying to figure out what nationality he was supposed to be...



Do we?


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## scifisam (Mar 14, 2010)

Watching the excellent In Bruges the other night, I was shocked at how bad Ralph Fiennes' cockney accent was. There was one line he said that neither of us could decipher at all despite rewinding three times.


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## Orang Utan (Dec 13, 2012)

James Mason plays an old Aussie painter perving over a very young Helen Mirren in a film called Age Of Consent. It's on the telly right now.
His Australian accent is a marvel to behold.
And it's directed by Michael Powell!


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## Miss Caphat (Dec 13, 2012)

kained&able said:


> Lee evans' californian in theres something abut mary.
> 
> Although that is clearly getting the yanks back for every shit british accent ever.
> 
> dave


 
I didn't think it was that bad. 
I was only introduced to Lee as a performer when I went over to UK, and was shocked when I realized it was him in that role.


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## Miss Caphat (Dec 13, 2012)

scifisam said:


> Watching the excellent In Bruges the other night, I was shocked at how bad Ralph Fiennes' cockney accent was. There was one line he said that neither of us could decipher at all despite rewinding three times.


 
a bit like this, then? 

http://donyougorouninrountorero.com/


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## Miss Caphat (Dec 13, 2012)

ah, thread bump


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 13, 2012)

Welshman Stanley Baxter's Manc copper in _Hell Is A City_, squeezing in hints of Geordie and Yorkshire, is a joy to behold.


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Dec 13, 2012)

Eddie Izzard's fake American in The Riches is a bizarre and horrible concoction.


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## danny la rouge (Dec 13, 2012)

damnhippie said:


> have we had Ewan Mcgregor in the Star Wars film?
> 
> i don't care if he was trying to mimic Alec Guiness, he still sounded like a dick. fuck continuity, a scottish jedi would have been brilliant.


Haven't seen him in Star Warts, but his accent was crap in Trainspotting.


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## seeformiles (Dec 13, 2012)

sleaterkinney said:


> The worst Irish accent you will ever hear.


 
Surely that honour should go to Sean Connery in "The Untouchables" - he makes a half-hearted stab at it early in the film but reverts back to "Shurely Shome Mishtake, etc." after about 10 mins. A good thing too!


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## seeformiles (Dec 13, 2012)

Johnny Canuck3 said:


> What's wrong with this accent?




He's clearly from Johannesburg (or thereabouts..)


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## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 13, 2012)

Reno said:


> Yup, I worked on that. Half way through production Myers decided his terrible performance would be improved by a Scottish accent and we had to redo large sections of the film. In all fairness, his line readings became a bit more lively after that.


I always thought it was odd though. To cast someone for their 'fame' rather than VO talents, and then hide the famous voice you cast.


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 13, 2012)

kabbes said:


> Dick Van Dyke.


 


Johnny Canuck3 said:


> What's wrong with this accent?




Jack Black had a fair crack at it in the _Run Ronnie Run_ film-within-a-film (NSFW etc):


----------



## Reno (Dec 13, 2012)

ATOMIC SUPLEX said:


> I always thought it was odd though. To cast someone for their 'fame' rather than VO talents, and then hide the famous voice you cast.


That's what happens when money people fancy themselves to be artists. Jeffrey Katzenberg was convinced that big star names were more important than voice over talent.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Dec 13, 2012)

Reno said:


> That's what happens when money people fancy themselves to be artists. Jeffrey Katzenberg was convinced that big star names were more important than voice over talent.


No doubt entirely incorrectly, that conjures up images of top level meetings in expensive-but-tastelessly-decorated Hollywood office suites with a buffet consisting mostly of silver bowls of coke


----------



## fogbat (Dec 13, 2012)

sojourner said:


> Pretty much anyone trying to do a scouse accent when they aren't from Liverpool


 
TBH, I'd prefer that people from Liverpool stopped doing Scouse accents, too.


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 13, 2012)

Reno said:


> That's what happens when money people fancy themselves to be artists. Jeffrey Katzenberg was convinced that big star names were more important than voice over talent.


 
I guess it does initially bring kudos to the project, but I doubt anyone cares after that.
Most of the 90s ghibi english dubs suffer terribly from famous names doing bad VO.


----------



## PandaCola (Dec 13, 2012)

Worse than Dick. Charlie Hunnam's cockney in Green Street.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Dec 13, 2012)

fogbat said:


> TBH, I'd prefer that people from Liverpool stopped doing Scouse accents, too.


Reminds me - Stephen Graham, doing bayou redneck in_ Texas Killing Fields_.


----------



## kebabking (Dec 13, 2012)

John Rhys-Davies as Gimli in the Lord of the Rings trilogy - he kept wandering from Welsh to Scottish, which, given that he's Welsh, was a bit pump...


----------



## Reno (Dec 13, 2012)

kebabking said:


> John Rhys-Davies as Gimli in the Lord of the Rings trilogy - he kept wandering from Welsh to Scottish, which, given that he's Welsh, was a bit pump...


 
It was an authentic Middle Earthian accent.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Dec 13, 2012)

Midlander - there can only be one


----------



## ATOMIC SUPLEX (Dec 13, 2012)

PandaCola said:


> Worse than Dick. Charlie Hunnam's cockney in Green Street.




Oh my lord, that's all over the place.
The dialogue too!!! Cor blimey guv.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Dec 13, 2012)

seeformiles said:


> He's clearly from Johannesburg (or thereabouts..)


 
That's a good ear: he only says one line: "Shtep in toime".


----------



## ferrelhadley (Dec 13, 2012)

DaveCinzano said:


> As for the thread topic, Afrikaans (and other South African-related accents) does seem to smoke out some duds - Kevin Kline, Donald Sutherland, Penelope Wilton, Mark Strong, Thomas Jane, Derek Luke, *Janet Suzman*, Tim Robbins, William Hurt etc - but I've never really found an off-key accent to be that troubling if the rest of the performance is hitting the mark.


----------



## trabuquera (Dec 13, 2012)

Calvin Lockhart (black US actor originally from the Bahamas) as Ethnic Stereotype #562a in Predator 2: the "Jamaican" "Yardie" "Drug Lord" imaginatively tagged "Big Willie".

Like most US actors trying to jafake it, it's bad. Even without the critique of his scaremongering racist role. Just the words and the lines are absolutely agonisingly bad. So bad I wanted to crawl out of the cinema, and I love a good bit of trashy pulp (which in most other respects this film delivered on magnificently.)


----------



## DaveCinzano (Dec 13, 2012)

ferrelhadley said:


>


Fair point, economically made


----------



## Left (Dec 13, 2012)

Any film with that horrible American idea of an Irish accent. What is it with Americans and Ireland? Strange combination of fascination and total ignorance.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Dec 13, 2012)

Gerard Butler - The Bounty Hunter. It fits. Horrible American accent in a horrible American movie.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Dec 13, 2012)

Ewan McGregor: Black Hawk Down


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Dec 13, 2012)

Who thought this would work? Michael Caine.... trying to do a South Texas drawl. All I can say is, thank god the clip has subtitles. 



How can something be so scary bad and lunatic funny at the same time?


----------



## Espresso (Dec 13, 2012)

I love Second Hand Lions. Love it!
Yep, Caine's accent is tripe, but seeing as I love that film I'll let him off.


----------



## Cloo (Dec 13, 2012)

Wot no Keanu in _Bram Stoker's Dracula_?


----------



## Garek (Dec 30, 2012)

Watching Buffy and came across this,





That's an American trying to do an 'African' accent. The longer her scenes the more it veers between Caribbean and African with the occasional random detours into something sounding a bit like Scottish. I can't tell whether it is funny or racist. Possibly both.


----------



## harpo (Dec 30, 2012)

Or Russell Crowe in Robin Hood?  Veered wildly from Scouse to Lancashire to Geordie then Irish.  He was widely ridiculed about it and stormed out of various promotional interviews when the film came out but FFS put the effort in man.


----------



## High Voltage (Dec 30, 2012)

This - nothing else, IMVHO, comes close


----------



## SpookyFrank (Dec 30, 2012)

Russel Crowe's Robin Hood was pretty dreadful, almost as dreadful as Ridley Scott's decision to make Robin Hood a fat, middle aged bloke who for some reason ends up going to war with France.


----------



## Chz (Jan 2, 2013)

Re: Spike in Buffy, if you watch Marsters from S2 it's really quite hilariously bad. But by the time Angel went off the air, it wasn't half bad. Better than most, anyhow. I can't remember if he was putting on an accent or speaking his native California Surfer Dude when he was in Torchwood.


----------



## DJ Squelch (Jan 2, 2013)

I'm watching 60s film Candy with Ringo Starr trying a mexican accent.


----------



## rekil (Jan 2, 2013)

Tommy Lee Jones in Blown Away.


----------



## thriller (Jan 3, 2013)

that fat bloke (who was starred In Brugges film with colin farrel) playing the CIA man in Green Zone with Matt Damon. He is meant to be american but his irish accent blatently slipped through in many scenes


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 17, 2013)

Ewan Mcgregor in Big Fish.
It's on Film Four now. It stinks.
Who decided he could act?


----------



## Gromit (Feb 17, 2013)

Lea said:


> Keanu Reeves in Bram Stoker's Dracula.
> 
> E2A: I see it's on the list.



There is no other contender for #1 slot if you ask me.

As for their honourable mention of Forest W in crying game. I think his weird accent adds something to the performance.


----------



## youngian (Feb 17, 2013)

Caine like Connery should not even bother to attempt accents. His lardy-dah officer in Zulu is pretty grating as well.
Audrey Hepburn's cockney in My Fair Lady is pretty terrible as well.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Feb 17, 2013)

Gromit said:


> As for their honourable mention of Forest W in crying game. I think his weird accent adds something to the performance.


What, along with his inability to bowl a cricket ball?


----------



## Gromit (Feb 17, 2013)

DaveCinzano said:


> What, along with his inability to bowl a cricket ball?



He does look a bit like a giant panda trying to bowl now that you mention it.
But cricket is shit so I don't really mind.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Feb 17, 2013)

DaveCinzano said:


> As for the thread topic, Afrikaans (and other South African-related accents) does seem to smoke out some duds - Kevin Kline, Donald Sutherland, Penelope Wilton, Mark Strong, Thomas Jane, Derek Luke, Janet Suzman, Tim Robbins, William Hurt etc - but I've never really found an off-key accent to be that troubling if the rest of the performance is hitting the mark.


 
I dunno if I could spot a bad South African accent. In fact, the more absurd someone's accent the more South African they sound.


----------



## Gromit (Feb 17, 2013)

SpookyFrank said:


> I dunno if I could spot a bad South African accent. In fact, the more absurd someone's accent the more South African they sound.



Sharlto Copley's South African accent in District 9 is truly bad.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 17, 2013)

You jest!


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 17, 2013)

I remember Victor Meldrew's SA accent in Cry Freedom.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Feb 17, 2013)

Gromit said:


> Sharlto Copley's South African accent in District 9 is truly bad.


 
You see, I thought he was a real Saffie.

e2a: Oh, it seems he is a real Saffie.


----------



## Gromit (Feb 17, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> You jest!



Attempting to validate his point with the accent of an actual South African.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 17, 2013)

What?!


----------



## danny la rouge (Feb 26, 2013)

Recently saw Richard Attenborough in Jurassic Park again.   It's a pretty good Bulgarian accent.  Pity that isn't what he was going for.


----------



## littlebabyjesus (Feb 26, 2013)

William Hurt in Second Best.

It's supposed to be a Welsh accent. I'm guessing nobody had the heart to tell him.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Feb 26, 2013)

littlebabyjesus said:


> William Hurt in Second Best.
> 
> It's supposed to be a Welsh accent. I'm guessing nobody had the heart to tell him.


I love that film


----------



## pissflaps (Feb 26, 2013)

most people's presumptions about the sarf efrican eccent and culture is based almost entirely on Lethal Weapon II

trupost.

/diblowmadig eemyoonidee!


----------



## nino_savatte (Feb 26, 2013)

danny la rouge said:


> To be fair to Connery, he doesn't actually try to do accents, does he? He isn't butchering anything; he's playing it straight. As many American actors have done playing everything from French people to Romans to Germans. Indeed, on that last example, in a number of films English actors play Germans with their own, English, accents, while Americans play the good guys (whether that be French, or whatever, in their own).
> 
> As to accents where the actor is trying to do one, Scotty in Star Trek is legendary.


 
Yep, James Doohan's attempt at a Scottish accent is pretty dire. It sounds like bad Irish, that's how terrible it is.


----------



## youngian (Feb 26, 2013)

nino_savatte said:


> Yep, James Doohan's attempt at a Scottish accent is pretty dire. It sounds like bad Irish, that's how terrible it is.


 
And I'm not sure if Simon Pegg is attempting a Scottish accent or a James Doohan impression.


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 26, 2013)

I thought both Jameses Doohan and Cromwell were Scottish. I thought Dickie sounded good as a Scotchman too.


----------



## May Kasahara (Feb 27, 2013)

Scooby Doo and the Loch Ness Monster had the best crop of awful Scottish efforts I've ever heard.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Feb 27, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> I thought both Jameses Doohan and Cromwell were Scottish. I thought Dickie sounded good as a Scotchman too.


James Doohan is Canadian iirc - though I like his accent but that's 'cos his accent _is_ Scotty 

Not sure if this has been mentioned but Jude Law in "Contagion" - is it Australian, Cockney, Mockney, Mockstralian?


----------



## idumea (Feb 27, 2013)

Norman Reedus in the Boondock Saints is one of the more terrible Oirish accents I've ever heard.


----------



## TitanSound (Feb 27, 2013)

Richard Gere in The Jackal.


----------



## 89 Til Infinity (Feb 27, 2013)

Emma Watson's shitty american accent in that wallflower film


----------



## Stigmata (Feb 27, 2013)

Orang Utan said:


> I thought both Jameses Doohan and Cromwell were Scottish. I thought Dickie sounded good as a Scotchman too.


 
Doohan was a voiceover artist iirc- when he auditioned for the Star Trek role they hadn't picked the nationality of the engineer so he read the part as a German, an Irishman etc


----------



## inferno (Feb 28, 2013)

It's the people who cast these actors that are at fault what fucking idiot cast Sean Connery as  Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez of "SHPAIN" (as Sean pronounced it) in Highlander.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 28, 2013)

TitanSound said:


> Richard Gere in The Jackal.


 

Vinnie Jones in 'Kill the Irishman' takes some beating


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 28, 2013)

for saffa accents I'm told Blood Diamond has a really bad turn from Leonardo di Caprio trying to do saffa- and yet it sounded OK to me. hmm


----------



## pissflaps (Feb 28, 2013)

hmm... i think he was supposed to be a zimbo in that pile of condescending shite. Notice how many of these films feature a flawed, yet well meaning white man saving those poor, helpless africans from themselves?


----------



## The Boy (Feb 28, 2013)

pissflaps said:


> hmm... i think he was supposed to be a *zimbo* in that pile of condescending shite. Notice how many of these films feature a flawed, yet well meaning white man saving those poor, helpless africans from themselves?


 
tsk, tsk, tsk.  Rhodesia. /DiCaprio


----------



## DaveCinzano (Feb 28, 2013)

pissflaps said:


> hmm... i think he was supposed to be a zimbo in that pile of condescending shite. Notice how many of these films feature a flawed, yet well meaning white man saving those poor, helpless africans from themselves?


 
Have a crack at the Roger Moore-starring _Gold_


----------



## pissflaps (Feb 28, 2013)

/torrents


----------



## SpookyFrank (Jun 1, 2014)

Bump because I just saw Shia LeBoeuf in 'Nymphomaniac'. Genuinely couldn't tell if he was trying to do English or Australian but either way it was a fucking car crash.


----------



## scifisam (Jun 1, 2014)

We watched Gladiator last night. Apart from Oliver Reed and a couple of minor players, nobody in it is speaking in their natural accents, but I genuinely can't tell what some of them are going for. It's English/Irish/Aussie/Bulgarian/Cornish?/Martian from line to line. Some of the actors in Pompeii were like that too.


----------



## Chz (Jun 1, 2014)

If anyone didn't catch it in the news about the new Star Wars movies, apparently Carrie Fisher was going for a British accent in the original films. She is probably the only person in the whole universe who knew that.


----------



## abe11825 (Jun 1, 2014)

Any American actor in any film that is supposed to be based in New England, primarily the Boston area, and butchering the "Bawstin" accent. There are times to drop the ahs (R) and add an ah. You can't do both in the same word. Also: Any native Massachusetts actor (ex: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck) trying to do a Boston regional accent. They even screw it up. Then again, you can't take the Boston out of the boy, so all the movies they're in, they sound like they're from The Dirty Bean. (I've noticed the only Wahlburg that has even remotely cleaned up his accent has been Marky Mark, but it's real slight... The Dot is still in him).


----------



## DaveCinzano (Jun 1, 2014)

abe11825 said:


> A(I've noticed the only Wahlburg that has even remotely cleaned up his accent has been Marky Mark, but it's real slight... The Dot is still in him).



How about Donnie in _Southie_? Any good?


----------



## abe11825 (Jun 1, 2014)

Honestly, I am not a big fan of Donnie. He's got a bad side of ugly on him (IMO). From what I can remember about _Southie_, I paid more attention to the scenery then I did his acting. The most memorable scene was his exercising at Castle Island. 

I'll have to find it in my DVD collection and rewatch it later.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Jun 1, 2014)

abe11825 said:


> Honestly, I am not a big fan of Donnie. He's got a bad side of ugly on him (IMO). From what I can remember about _Southie_, I paid more attention to the scenery then I did his acting. The most memorable scene was his exercising at Castle Island.
> 
> I'll have to find it in my DVD collection and rewatch it later.



Okay, how about Mark Ruffalo and Ethan Hawke in _What Doesn't Kill You_?


----------



## abe11825 (Jun 1, 2014)

DaveCinzano said:


> Okay, how about Mark Ruffalo and Ethan Hawke in _What Doesn't Kill You_?


Not had the opportunity to see it.


----------



## not-bono-ever (Jun 1, 2014)

there was an episode of Frasier on some shitty cable channel today - it had random man, robbie coltrane and Richard E Grant , all supposed mancunians apparently. fuckin hell.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Jun 1, 2014)

not-bono-ever said:


> random man



Anthony LaPaglia!


----------



## not-bono-ever (Jun 1, 2014)

just googled him - hes a fuckin australian!  so we have a scotchman, an aussie and a Zimbabwean all pretending to be English in Frasier.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 3, 2014)

not-bono-ever said:


> just googled him - hes a fuckin australian!  so we have a scotchman, an aussie and a Zimbabwean all pretending to be English in Frasier.




Swazilander


----------



## miniGMgoit (Jun 9, 2014)

Audry Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Jun 9, 2014)

Ewan McGregor, any time he tries to do an American accent.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Jun 9, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> Swazilander


THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE


----------



## DaveCinzano (Jun 9, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> Swazilander


THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE


----------



## The Octagon (Jun 9, 2014)

DaveCinzano said:


> THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE


 


DaveCinzano said:


> THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE


 
Apparently not


----------



## DaveCinzano (Jun 9, 2014)

The Octagon said:


> Apparently not


XenForo - Now Available In Full Stereoscopic Sensurround ForumVision


----------



## Sue (Jun 9, 2014)

not-bono-ever said:


> there was an episode of Frasier on some shitty cable channel today - it had random man, robbie coltrane and Richard E Grant , all supposed mancunians apparently. fuckin hell.


And they're all meant to be Daphne's brothers...


----------



## DaveCinzano (Jun 9, 2014)

Sue said:


> And they're all meant to be Daphne's brothers...


They might as well be from the Moon.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Jun 9, 2014)

I think that was a deliberate joke at the expense of American portrayals of British people.


----------



## Barking_Mad (Jun 10, 2014)

Leonardo Di Caprio - The Blood Diamond


----------



## SpookyFrank (Jun 12, 2014)

Barking_Mad said:


> Leonardo Di Caprio - The Blood Diamond



That's an accent that sounds ridiculous at the best of times though, and di Caprio did at least manage to sound ridiculous.


----------



## poului (Jun 12, 2014)

Not a film but Hugh Laurie in House gets away with murder.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Jun 12, 2014)

poului said:


> Not a film but Hugh Laurie in House gets away with murder.



Legend has it Laurie was cast for the role based on a video audition and the producers originally didn't know he was British.


----------



## Johnny Canuck3 (Jun 12, 2014)

SpookyFrank said:


> Legend has it Laurie was cast for the role based on a video audition and the producers originally didn't know he was British.



I've heard a rumor that the producers are from Mexico.


----------



## 8den (Jun 12, 2014)

SpookyFrank said:


> Legend has it Laurie was cast for the role based on a video audition and the producers originally didn't know he was British.



True. Hugh Laurie sent in a video audition from Africa (he was shooting that rubbish "Flight of the Phoenix" remake) Brian Singer didn't know he was British. 



http://www.buddytv.com/articles/house/how-hugh-laurie-got-into-house-20722.aspx


----------



## Bungle73 (Jun 12, 2014)

Chz said:


> If anyone didn't catch it in the news about the new Star Wars movies, apparently Carrie Fisher was going for a British accent in the original films. She is probably the only person in the whole universe who knew that.


That's what I thought when I heard about.  But then I did a search on YT for an example and it's true!



Apparently the story is she used the accent for a few scenes filmed early on, but then they decided it didn't work, so she went back to her natural accent.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 28, 2014)

Tom Hanks in just about every role he plays in Cloud Atlas, but in particular the Irish gangster author who chucks the critic off the roof.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 28, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Tom Hanks in just about every role he plays in Cloud Atlas, but in particular the Irish gangster author who chucks the critic off the roof.




I'm not sure what accent huge grant was doing either


----------



## 8ball (Sep 28, 2014)

Bungle73 said:


> That's what I thought when I heard about.  But then I did a search on YT for an example and it's true!
> 
> Apparently the story is she used the accent for a few scenes filmed early on, but then they decided it didn't work, so she went back to her natural accent.



That doesn't seem like a bad attempt in that clip.


----------



## 8ball (Sep 28, 2014)

Random One said:


> Christian Bale in The Prestige



Really?  I thought that was fine.

Depending on where he was meant to be from, obviously.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 28, 2014)

Vinnie Jones doing watever the fuck that accent was in 'Kill the Irishman'


----------



## 8ball (Sep 28, 2014)

I saw _Taken _the other night - couldn't tell where the fuck Liam Neeson's character was meant to be from.

Was half expecting him to randomly announce that he had full-blown AIDS...


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 28, 2014)

8ball said:


> I saw _Taken _the other night - couldn't tell where the fuck Liam Neeson's character was meant to be from.
> 
> Was half expecting him to randomly announce that he had full-blown AIDS...




Taken is Neeson at his finest. Taken 2 is also Neeson at his finest.


----------



## red rose (Sep 28, 2014)

Jason Statham in the Transporter films.  The first one wasn't even set in America, it wasn't remotely essential to the character that he have an american accent.


----------



## Riklet (Sep 28, 2014)

Ray Winston in the Departed.

Hands down. Just so terrible.


----------



## May Kasahara (Sep 28, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> Taken is Neeson at his finest. Taken 2 is also Neeson at his finest.



Pff. It's no Darkman, that's for sure.


----------



## ska invita (Sep 29, 2014)

Don Cheedle is Don


----------



## Awesome Wells (Sep 29, 2014)

ozziememz said:


> http://www.flicksandbits.com/2010/02/23/my-top-10-worst-accents-in-film/
> 
> co-sign on sean connery, as much as i love him as an actor, list is decent
> 
> ...


Speaking of his accent in Highlander...how the hell does a tanned mediterannean charcater get a scottish accent?


----------



## youngian (Sep 29, 2014)

poului said:


> Not a film but Hugh Laurie in House gets away with murder.


I'd have to ask an American on its authenticity but sounds to me like he's going through the motions much of the time.



kabbes said:


> I think that Ewan MacGregor does a damn fine job of sounding like Alec Guiness, actually.


Sounds like a bad Rory Bremner take to me. MacGregor seems to have a lot of form and I'll add him and Colin Farrel's estuary English from Woody's Allen's Cassandra's Dream.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Sep 29, 2014)

Watching _Ordinary Decent Criminal_ - a those-crazy-gangsters take on the Martin Cahill story, bankrolled by Miramax and easily beaten to the screens by John Boorman's _The General_ - I cannot help but bow my head in silent memory of the Great Oirish Actor Famine of 1998-1999.

That, of course, is the only logical explanation why a film about a notorious Irish gangster, set in Ireland, filmed in Ireland, directed by an Irishman and crewed in large part by Irish technicians, is so packed to the gunnels with, err, English and American thesps.

Kevin Spacey. Linda Fiorentino. Stephen Dillane. Patrick Malahide - all terrible variations on De Brogue.

Peter Mullan & David Hayman - a pair of Scots, they at least dialled down the shillelaghisms and kept to, you know, acting rather than impersonating.

Vincent Regan - Welsh-born, but with Irish family and moved to Ireland as a teen. With him it's not the accent that's distracting, it's the bulgey-eye angry thing he's forced to do. “Fuck! Fuck! FUCK! FUUUCK!!!” etc.

And then... Helen Baxendale. An English-born, English-raised English actor who had trouble putting on an English accent in Friends. I'm sure you can guess how her Irish turned out.

With all this nonsense going on, no wonder no one objected to Colin Farrell. (And no complaints regarding Gerard McSorley's quick turn as a barrister, or Tim Loane as a Provo.)


----------



## DaveCinzano (Sep 29, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> Vinnie Jones doing watever the fuck that accent was in 'Kill the Irishman'


To be fair, the clue is in the film's title. Hensleigh just told him to ‘kill the Irish, man’.


----------



## laptop (Oct 8, 2014)

It only now strikes me that every single accent* in _Sweeney Todd_ is atrocious.

I suppose it could at a pinch be argued that the film is set in Oldlondontown, an anachronistic** southern suburb of Brigadoon, so they're appropriate to that. 


* With the possible exception of Professor Snape, who plays himself

** For example: the original story is set in 1795 and the film features Tower Bridge, which opened 99 years later in 1894.


----------



## 5t3IIa (Oct 8, 2014)

Amy Adams in American Hustle. Some of the plot appeared to _hinge _on her suddenly dropping her fake English accent and not being English at all, but American!! Twist!!! But her English accent was so poor that I has assumed she'd dropped the ruse ages before so the denouement was fucked/didn't make any sense.


----------



## Hulot (Oct 8, 2014)

Kathy Burke doesn't even try to leave Camden Tahn as Queen Mary I in _Elizabeth_.


----------



## DaveCinzano (Mar 7, 2015)

Watching _Maleficent_ for the first time, and I am blown away by Sharlto Copley. He appears to have learnt his Scottish accent from repeated viewings of _Shrek._


----------



## ska invita (Mar 8, 2015)

laptop said:


> It only now strikes me that every single accent* in _Sweeney Todd_ is atrocious.


Shut it you slaag 


ETA: ah - I thought you said the sweeney.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 8, 2015)

wow kevin spacey should be fucking ashamed of himself


----------



## rekil (Mar 8, 2015)

I'm watching Black Sea and Jude Law is having a go at a Scottish man accent. I don't know whether he's any good at it or not but the IMDB trivia section helpfully points out that "Jude Law is not actually Scottish."


----------



## Idris2002 (Mar 8, 2015)

Watched "The Great Seduction" last night. Brendan Gleeson as a Newfie.


----------



## Idris2002 (Mar 8, 2015)

Watched "The Great Seduction" last night. Brendan Gleeson as a Newfie.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 8, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> wow kevin spacey should be fucking ashamed of himself


For what?


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 8, 2015)

his rubbish accent


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 8, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> his rubbish accent


In what?


----------



## DaveCinzano (Mar 8, 2015)

littlebabyjesus said:


> William Hurt's Welsh accent in Second Best...



I was about to reply to this before I noticed I'd covered much the same ground more than five years ago


----------



## DaveCinzano (Mar 8, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> In what?


Moving pictures


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 8, 2015)

DaveCinzano said:


> Moving pictures


Haha 
Be specific damn you. He has made a lot


----------



## ChrisFilter (Mar 8, 2015)

Look up the thread.


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 8, 2015)

Oh ffs. It doesn't kill to quote so people know what you're banging on about. Esp after a big bump


----------



## fishfinger (Mar 8, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Oh ffs. It doesn't kill to quote so people know what you're banging on about. Esp after a big bump


You could try the search facility...

http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/the-top-10-worst-accents-in-film.244752/page-8#post-13430444


----------



## Orang Utan (Mar 8, 2015)

fishfinger said:


> You could try the search facility...
> 
> http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/the-top-10-worst-accents-in-film.244752/page-8#post-13430444


That's not the point!


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## fishfinger (Mar 8, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> That's not the point!


It was on the same page that you were moaning about it


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## Orang Utan (Mar 8, 2015)

fishfinger said:


> It was on the same page that you were moaning about it


That's irrelevant. When you click on an updated thread it takes you to the latest post.


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## fishfinger (Mar 8, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> That's irrelevant. When you click on an updated thread it takes you to the latest post.


Are you unable to scroll up the page?


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 8, 2015)

fishfinger said:


> Are you unable to scroll up the page?


Broken Britain writ large


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## Orang Utan (Mar 8, 2015)

fishfinger said:


> Are you unable to scroll up the page?


Yes. But it looked like a comment out of nowhere. Hence my questions.
It really doesn't matter though.


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## fishfinger (Mar 8, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Yes. But it looked like a comment out of nowhere. Hence my questions.
> It really doesn't matter though.


It seemed to matter to you a while ago.


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## Orang Utan (Mar 8, 2015)

fishfinger said:


> It seemed to matter to you a while ago.


Not at all.


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 8, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Not at all.


Pretty sure it did


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## fishfinger (Mar 8, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Not at all.


Liar!


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## Orang Utan (Mar 8, 2015)

DaveCinzano said:


> Pretty sure it did


It's just a bit of fun


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## danny la rouge (Mar 8, 2015)

copliker said:


> I'm watching Black Sea and Jude Law is having a go at a Scottish man accent. I don't know whether he's any good at it or not."


Just watched the trailer to see. 

How can you not know whether that's good or not? How is it possible not to know?


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 8, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> It's just a bit of fun


Until it all ends in tears


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## Orang Utan (Mar 8, 2015)

DaveCinzano said:


> Until it all ends in tears


Do you think people really care about whether cheese should be on or under beans on a baked spud?


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## fishfinger (Mar 8, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Do you think people really care about whether cheese should be on or under beans on a baked spud?


Yes!


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 8, 2015)

danny la rouge said:


> How can you not know whether that's good or not? How is it possible not to know?


Presumably his terrible acting camouflages his accent


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## rekil (Mar 8, 2015)

danny la rouge said:


> Just watched the trailer to see.
> 
> How can you not know whether that's good or not? How is it possible not to know?


Apparently he's supposed to be doing an Aberdeen accent. I have no idea what an Aberdeen accent sounds like so I'm unable to discern whether the accent is accurate or just a bit Russ Abbott. It was not a good fillum.


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## danny la rouge (Mar 9, 2015)

copliker said:


> Apparently he's supposed to be doing an Aberdeen accent. I have no idea what an Aberdeen accent sounds like so I'm unable to discern whether the accent is accurate or just a bit Russ Abbott. It was not a good fillum.


Aberdeen? No, it isn't a good Aberdeen accent. It sounds nothing like an Aberdeen accent. It is as authentic as a very inauthentic thing that has won the award for inauthenticity at the world inauthenticity championships.


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## danny la rouge (Mar 9, 2015)

copliker said:


> Apparently he's supposed to be doing an Aberdeen accent. I have no idea what an Aberdeen accent sounds like


Chris, the landlord of this pub, has an Aberdeen accent:


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## Wolveryeti (Mar 9, 2015)

John Malkovitch's Russian accent in Rounders is hilariously hammy. Think compare the Meerkat dot com and you are there.


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## Lord Camomile (Mar 9, 2015)

danny la rouge said:


> Chris, the landlord of this pub, has an Aberdeen accent:


Sounds exactly the same


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 9, 2015)

Wolveryeti said:


> John Malkovitch's Russian accent in Rounders is hilariously hammy. Think compare the Meerkat dot com and you are there.


Which reminds me - what's the connection between _Rounders_ and China Crisis, Idaho?


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 9, 2015)

Wolveryeti said:


> John Malkovitch's Russian accent in Rounders is hilariously hammy. Think compare the Meerkat dot com and you are there.


Also, clearly the inspiration behind the creepy Oreo advert dad.


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## Idaho (Mar 9, 2015)

DaveCinzano said:


> Which reminds me - what's the connection between _Rounders_ and China Crisis, Idaho?


I have no idea 

Either I made a mistake with the link, or was thinking something at the time... Mystery.


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## Sue (Mar 9, 2015)

Was flicking channels last night and there was some god awful film with Gerard Butler in it. (Is there any other kind?)  I was transfixed by the horror of his accent -- he was apparently playing a Scottish character but his accent seemed to go from his normal Scottish one (I think when he forgot he was meant to be doing an accent?) to an appalling 'American' one. Still, you have to hand it to him -- he's built a reasonabke career on no discernable acting talent whatsoever.


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## Orang Utan (Mar 9, 2015)

Sue said:


> Was flicking channels last night and there was some god awful film with Gerard Butler in it. (Is there any other kind?)  I was transfixed by the horror of his accent -- he was apparently playing a Scottish character but his accent seemed to go from his normal Scottish one (I think when he forgot he was meant to be doing an accent?) to an appalling 'American' one. Still, you have to hand it to him -- he's built a reasonabke career on no discernable acting talent whatsoever.


Marina Hyde:
Someone who was in a film with Gerard Butler once told me of the latter's rapturous reaction to some rushes. "Jesus!" marvelled Butler. "Did you see my eyes in that take?"


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## Sue (Mar 9, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Marina Hyde:
> Someone who was in a film with Gerard Butler once told me of the latter's rapturous reaction to some rushes. "Jesus!" marvelled Butler. "Did you see my eyes in that take?"


 I know someone who used to work with him -- he was a solicitor (or training to be one anyway). Apparently he was infamous for his Friday/Monday sickies.


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## DaveCinzano (Mar 9, 2015)

Sue said:


> I know someone who used to work with him -- he was a solicitor (or training to be one anyway). Apparently he was infamous for his Friday/Monday sickies.


I believe Gonch Gardner from _Grange Hill_ also trained as a lawyer. Coincidence? I THINK NOT.


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## Orang Utan (Apr 29, 2017)

Al Pacino does a cockney accent and it's worse than Van Dyke's:


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 7, 2021)

Watching the execrable _Blood Diamond_ and wow does DiCaprio reach for fruit well out of his grasp


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## Sue (Sep 7, 2021)

DaveCinzano said:


> Watching the execrable _Blood Diamond_ and wow does DiCaprio reach for fruit well out of his grasp


IIRC, he ends every sentence with a SA 'hey' thing. Which is really annoying. (I saw it at the cinema when it came out. Not quite sure why.)


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 7, 2021)

Sue said:


> IIRC, he ends every sentence with a SA 'hey' thing. Which is really annoying. (I saw it at the cinema when it came out. Not quite sure why.)


He does some kind of a patois thing too 😱


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## krtek a houby (Sep 7, 2021)

Paul Walter Hauser seems to be struggling with the cockernee in Cruella.


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## belboid (Sep 8, 2021)

krtek a houby said:


> Paul Walter Hauser seems to be struggling with the cockernee in Cruella.


that's Disney cockernee tho, a whole different beast to anything spoken in reality.


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## 8ball (Sep 9, 2021)

DaveCinzano said:


> He does some kind of a patois thing too 😱



Is it up to the dizzy heights of Brad Pitt in “Meet Joe Black”?


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 9, 2021)

8ball said:


> Is it up to the dizzy heights of Brad Pitt in “Meet Joe Black”?


On the official Van Dykeometer it's a plump Richard Harris-in-Navarone


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## krtek a houby (Sep 9, 2021)

Brad Pitt's accent in _Snatch_. Disappointing.


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## Chz (Sep 9, 2021)

krtek a houby said:


> Brad Pitt's accent in _Snatch_. Disappointing.


I think the goal was to be incomprehensible, rather than any particular accent.


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## Ax^ (Sep 9, 2021)

ill just leave this gem here


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 9, 2021)

Chz said:


> I think the goal was to be incomprehensible, rather than any particular accent.


I mean, it is a non-trivial plot point!


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## DotCommunist (Sep 9, 2021)

its supposed to be traveller accent, I've heard the accent for real loads over the years, but I couldn't say if brads was a bad fist of it.


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## Orang Utan (Sep 9, 2021)

krtek a houby said:


> Brad Pitt's accent in _Snatch_. Disappointing.


only if you were expecting it to be any good!


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## Elpenor (Sep 9, 2021)

DotCommunist said:


> Swazilander


Eswatinian now I suppose


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## Orang Utan (Sep 9, 2021)

Elpenor said:


> Eswatinian now I suppose


Swiss, actually


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## Orang Utan (Sep 9, 2021)




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## 8ball (Sep 11, 2021)

DotCommunist said:


> its supposed to be traveller accent, I've heard the accent for real loads over the years, but I couldn't say if brads was a bad fist of it.



Yeah, not an accent I heard til much later but figured at the time he wasn’t trying to do Terry Wogan.


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## krtek a houby (Sep 11, 2021)

8ball said:


> Yeah, not an accent I heard til much later but figured at the time he wasn’t trying to do Terry Wogan.



There's many, many Irish accents out there. Brad's wasn't one of them.


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## ska invita (Oct 6, 2021)

eeeeeeek


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## Orang Utan (Oct 6, 2021)

DotCommunist said:


> wow kevin spacey should be fucking ashamed of himself


this post has aged well


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## krtek a houby (Oct 7, 2021)

Orang Utan said:


> Oh ffs. It doesn't kill to quote so people know what you're banging on about. Esp after a big bump



Goddam right


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## Ming (Oct 7, 2021)

Ax^ said:


> ill just leave this gem here


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## DaveCinzano (Oct 9, 2021)

Riklet said:


> Ray Winston in the Departed.
> 
> Hands down. Just so terrible.


Just watching _Black Widow_ and shocked - _shocked! _- to discover that his Russian accent is on a par with his Bostonian. A truly versatile board-treader


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## 8ball (Oct 10, 2021)

ska invita said:


> eeeeeeek




I’m just imagining how awesome this would have been if instead of the old Caribbean lady this had been Michael from I’m Alan Partridge.


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