Characters on tv shows or movies with wrong accents
- Thread starter Charles Foster Kane
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Damian Lewis and David Harewood in Homeland
Both Brit actors and maybe because I know there english I can never fully buy their accents. Lewis in particular accent dropped so many times it was hilarious.
Also Stephen Graham as Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire used to be pretty appalling go back and look at his first appearance it was very hard to shake his original accent he has improved a lot though it still borders on parody.
Charlie Hunnam is another one once again maybe because I know his a brit hearing him speak doesn't ring true. Again his someone who has improved over time.
Oh and House. It's weird as Hugh Laurie for years over here in the UK was the epitome of upper class comedy so first seeing him as House threw me for a loop. As again his accent was so silly.
Both Brit actors and maybe because I know there english I can never fully buy their accents. Lewis in particular accent dropped so many times it was hilarious.
Also Stephen Graham as Al Capone in Boardwalk Empire used to be pretty appalling go back and look at his first appearance it was very hard to shake his original accent he has improved a lot though it still borders on parody.
Charlie Hunnam is another one once again maybe because I know his a brit hearing him speak doesn't ring true. Again his someone who has improved over time.
Oh and House. It's weird as Hugh Laurie for years over here in the UK was the epitome of upper class comedy so first seeing him as House threw me for a loop. As again his accent was so silly.
fluffydelusions
Member
I love Jason Statham in movies generally but in the movie "The One" with Jet Li it's the worst American accent I've ever heard.
No, the character is American.
AcademicSaucer
Member
You meant you don't just want to convince me that you are a native speaker, but you are from Chile, with that accent? good luck with that.
This, chileans speak in a particulary butchered spanish that isnt easy to pull, so i can forgive that, but he doesnt eve sound like a native speaker
IISANDERII
Member
Spoiler:
He's not supposed to be.
Alx
Member
Yeah it's true that most movies fail at providing a convincing French accent (but I suppose only the French will notice, like I wouldn't care about all the variants of English accents mentioned here). Although l'inspecteur Clouzeau is a very specific case.
It's even strange sometimes to see in the same movie a mix of good and bad accents, depending on the actor/extra playing. I remember some funny scenes in Iron Man 2 where extras playing very similar roles (jail guards or police officers) had obviously different native languages, one was hilariously fake ("hé prisonnier, arrête toi !") while the other was very convincing ("j'te laisse pas seul avec lui...").
On the other hand, many Russian actors can have a very, very convincing French accent. Some even play in French movies and you wouldn't notice it until you go read their profile on imdb (or it's mentioned in the commentary).
:Motorbass
Member
Every German which isn't a German ever
ThisWreckage
Banned
I thought Laurie did a great job with House as a character and with the accent. A lot of Americans didn't even know he was British.
DimmuBurgerKing
Member
Yeah, but isn't he from the Revolutionary War period in this version? I mean, I don't pretend to know exactly how much accents had diverged at that point in history, but it's not particularly jarring to me that he'd have an English-sounding accent.
Edit: Whoa. Actually, found kind of a neat post on this: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2604480/posts
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
My main gripe is that he sometimes didn't finish the words he was speaking. He gets all this emotion into his acting, but you just can't understand what he said.
It's like someone with a transcranial magnetic stimulation kit was suddenly shutting down his speech.
sixteen-bit
Member
I'm glad the Spanish in Breaking bad was already covered by the OP.
GuitarAtomik
Member
Most of the Baltimore accents in The Wire are off. Having lived here for a few years, it's VERY obvious who's actually from Baltimore and who's not (sometimes it's pretty obvious from their acting ability as well). Characters in the show who are from Baltimore include but are not limited to: That one older cop with the glasses and mustache, the principal of the school, Snoop, and Frog.
AcademicSaucer
Member
He just talks like your every day american reading spanish from a lonely planet guide
Probably the only time I saw it right was in the brazilian birthday party scene of Signs, which is one of the reasons the scene was so "omfg imersive" for me.
I always laugh when there is some brazilian extras talking spanish xD
GuitarAtomik
Member
No, he's British. He taught at Oxford (in England) before being recruited in to the British Army. Then he defected to the Colonial Army while he was in America.
SmashN'Grab
Member
As someone who doesn't speak Spanish at all, Gus Fring and the cartels in Breaking Bad never bothered me.
I'd love it if someone who speaks both Spanish and English could perhaps draw comparison as to what the English-speaking equivalent would be in this situation.
As in, is it like a Mexican actor trying to affect a British accent but coming off as a German person speaking broken English or something?
Also, are South American accents when speaking Spanish more or less removed from Spain than a US accent is from England?
I'd love it if someone who speaks both Spanish and English could perhaps draw comparison as to what the English-speaking equivalent would be in this situation.
As in, is it like a Mexican actor trying to affect a British accent but coming off as a German person speaking broken English or something?
Also, are South American accents when speaking Spanish more or less removed from Spain than a US accent is from England?
Gareth Bale
Member
This guy in everything.
AcademicSaucer
Member
In comparison to english, well, he speaks like a non native with a REALLY HEAVY russian accent , in this case his spanish has a REALLY HEAVY american accent with some fake chicano thrown in.
As for the second question, well , in south america there is a myriad of accents, some are closer to spain, but in some areas is way more removed, almost like a different language, in the case of chileans, is the second, they almost speak in their own language .
PjotrStroganov
Member
Christopher Lambert.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
Imagine a man speaking English, but you don't realize it is English for the first couple of seconds. It's really weird because his acting makes you believe that he is just speaking some other language, since he doesn't visually show any struggle with it.
South american Spanish is removed from European Spanish about the same compared to US and UK in some countries but is more distant in others. Say England is Spain, and Colombia is The East Coast, then Venezuela is the South of the US; and Argentina would be South Africa. Not really an accurate comparison by any means, but it gives you the idea.
poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
This is pretty accurate though. Most Italian Americans don't speak Italian, they just sprinkle in some half remembered words with a stereotypical accent.
AcademicSaucer
Member
good comparison, may i add that gus being chilean , in this comparison, should speak like an australian.
You shut your whore mouth.
Sean can do EVERY accent flawlessly and is a god.
I think Lewis, Harewood and Laurie suffer for you simply because you know what they actually sound like. I'm fairly sure there are plenty of Americans that thought that Laurie was American and probably at least Lewis as well.
As for other terrible accents.
These two from Pacific Rim were awful.
The younger of the two, Robert Kazinsky, can play a great bad guy/moody asshole with his normal voice. Just because he was in an Australian Jaeger was no need for him to be Australian. Truly awful.
Loved the film though. Fuck you haters.
ZiZ
Member
any Arabic speaking character on TV.
worst case they make some Arabic sounding grunts and snorts.
best case the actor can speak arabic, but the accent is totally wrong.
Imagine watching Sherlock on BBC, but Holmes or Watson spoke with a Jamaican accent. yeah it's hilarious at first but it gets old real fast breaks the immersion.
worst case they make some Arabic sounding grunts and snorts.
best case the actor can speak arabic, but the accent is totally wrong.
Imagine watching Sherlock on BBC, but Holmes or Watson spoke with a Jamaican accent. yeah it's hilarious at first but it gets old real fast breaks the immersion.
spindashing
Banned
late but hoLY SHIT
toastyToast
Member
Idris Elba's accent in Prometheus. What was it even supposed to be? So distracting... which wasn't too bad because the movie was shit
Charles Foster Kane
Rosebud
That's what I said in the op. For fucks sake, finish it!
It was easier to understand the subtitles than what he's trying to say. I know they make actors try to speak a language for authenticity, but if there's a choice between a character straight out speaking a proper English or a terrible "native" language, I prefer the English; it's less offensive. I used to think it was bad that they made characters in movies/shows speak a language other than they're native when they were supposed to, but BB is proof that the right way is not always the best.
What worse is when you have two alleged "native" speakers talking in Spanish between themselves when by they're accent you can tell they'd be able to communicate better if they just spoke in English. Shit feels forced and unnatural.
lol at the last part. Yes, it was as if the words were sucked out of his mouth as he progressed. The longer a phrase the, the worse it got. It's not even an accent thing, he just can't speak it. Same for Hector.
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