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Cracked.com has put together a list of what they think are the worst accents ever. The ones that come immediately to mind for me are:
Holly Hunter in Once Around
Angelina Jolie in Alexander
Don Cheadle, Oceans 11
Michael Caine, The Cider House Rules
Al Pacino in Scarface (even though it’s totally great)
Kate Winslet’s American dialect in Titanic (it just fell flat for me, I know, how dare I?)
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Saturday, January 23, 2010: Nominations polls close 5 p.m. PT
Tuesday, February 2, 2010: Nominations announced 5:30 a.m. PT, Samuel Goldwyn Theater
Wednesday, February 10, 2010: Final ballots mailed
Monday, February 15, 2010: Nominees Luncheon
Saturday, February 20, 2010: Scientific and Technical Achievement Awards presentation
Tuesday, March 2, 2010: Final polls close 5 p.m. PT
Sunday, March 7, 2010: 82nd Annual Academy Awards presentation
Awards So Far
NBR Winner+/top ten*
LAFCA Winner+
BFCA Critics Choice Win+/Nominee*
NYFCC Winner +/*
SEFCA Winners+/*
Golden Globes Nominee+/*
SAG Winner+/Nominee*
National Society of Film Critics winners+
Producers Guild Winner+/Nominees*
Directors Guild Winners+/Nominees*
Art Directors Guild Nominees*
Writers Guild Nominees*
American Cinematographers Society*
American Cinema Editors*
Cinema Audio Society*
BAFTA Nominations*
Best Picture
The Hurt
Locker*+++**+++******
Avatar*+********
Inglourious Basterds***+****
Up in the Air+*+*******
Precious******
District 9*****
A Serious
Man*****
An
Education*****
Up****
The Blind Side
Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart++++*
George Clooney, Up in the Air+*++***
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker**+*
Colin Firth, A
Single Man****
Morgan Freeman, Invictus+***
Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side+++
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia++++**
Carey Mulligan, An Education+****
Gabby Sidibe, Precious****
Helen Mirren, The
Last Station**
Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds+++++++*
Woody Harrelson,The Messenger+***
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones****
Matt Damon, Invictus***
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station*
Best Supporting
Actress
Mo'Nique, Precious+*+++++*
Anna Kendrick, Up
in the Air+****
Vera Farmiga, Up
in the Air****
Penelope Cruz, Nine**
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker++++*++*
Jim Cameron, Avatar*+**
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds****
Jason Reitman, Up in the
Air***
Lee Daniels, Precious**
Best Original
Screenplay
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds+*
Joel and Ethan Coen, A Serious Man+*+*
Mark Boal, The Hurt
Locker***
Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Up*
Oren Moverman, Alessandro Camo The Messenger
Best Adapted Screenplay
Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner,
Up in the Air+++++*
Armando Iannucci, In the Loop+
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious**
Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell, District 9**
Nick Hornby, An
Education*
Best Editing
Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua, James Cameron, Avatar+**
Chris Innis, Bob Murawski,
The Hurt Locker***
Julian Clarke, District 9**
Joe Klotz, Precious
Sally Menke, Inglourious Basterds**
Best
Cinematography
Mauro Fiore, Avatar+**
Christian Berger, White Ribbon+++*
Barry Ackroyd, The Hurt Locker***
Robert Richardson, Inglourious Basterds***
Bruno Delbonnel, Harry Potter
Best Art Direction
Avatar+**
Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus*
Nine*
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria
Best Sound Mixing
Avatar+**
The Hurt Locker***
Star Trek* **
Inglourious Basterds
Transformers: Revenge of the
Fallen*
Best Sound Editing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Up
Star Trek
Inglourious Basterds
Best Costume Design
Sandy Powell, The Young Victoria +*
Catherine Leterrier,Coco Avant Chanel*
Janet Patterson, Bright Star**
Colleen Atwood, Nine*
Monique Prudhomme, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Best Original Score
Michael Giacchino, Up+*
Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders, The Hurt Locker!
James Horner, Avatar*
Alexandre Desplat, The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Hans Zimmer, Sherlock Holmes*
Best Foreign Language Film (submissions)
A Prophet, France+*
The White Ribbon, Germany**
El Secreto de Sus Ojos, Argentina
Ajami, Israel
The Milk of Sorrow, Pru
Best Documentary Feature
The Cove++**+
Food, Inc.**
The Beaches of Agnes++*
Burma VJ*
The Most Dangerous Man in America
Which Way Home
Best Animated
Feature
Up+++**
The Fantastic Mr. Fox+*+***
Coraline****
The Princess and the Frog***
The Secret of Kells
Best Visual
Effects
Avatar+*
District 9* *
Star Trek**
Best Makeup
The Young Victoria**
Star Trek*
Il Divo*
Best Song
The Weary Kind – T Bone Burnett, Ryan Bingham, Crazy Heart ++
Down in New Orleans, The Princess and the Frog
Almost There – Randy Newman, The Princess And The Frog***
Loin de Paname, Paris 36
Best Live Action Short
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants
Best Animated Short
French Roast
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death
Best Documentary Short
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of
Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Music by Prudence
Rabbit a la Berlin
112 Responses for "The Worst Accents Ever"
Since you mentioned Kate Winslett I guess it’s not crazy for me to throw Meryl under the bus. I was not enamored with Meryl’s out of Africa accent. Accent’s are not Meryl’s forte.
orlando bloom in elizabethtown was SO BAD. LOL!
The Eagle Has Landed is way up there on the Mount Rushmore of movies with bad accents. Donald Sutherland, Michael Caine and Robert Duvall all do horrible, horrible accents. Donald Sutherland’s Irish accent in particular is pretty entertainingly bad.
I remember back in 06, several readers commenting that Leo’s accent is actually accurate for someone who was raised in Liberia (these comments were actually from native Africans).
In spite of our high school connection, I have to pick on Kevin Costner in Robin Hood, not because the accent was particularly bad (though it wasn’t good), but because he inexplicably drops it about halfway through the film.
Mel Gibson’s accent in Braveheart is absurd.
For the record – best accents ever? – Russell Crowe and Guy Pearce in L.A. Confidential. When you watch the extras and hear them speak in their regular Aussie accents, you realize how amazing their performances are.
I always thought Leo’s accent in ‘Blood Diamond’ was pretty great.
Empireonline put together a list of the worst British accents ever:
http://www.empireonline.com/features/worst-british-movie-accents/default.asp
Why must we focus on the negative? How about the best accents of all time?
Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs of New York.
Kevin Costner’s boston accent in Thirteen Days (horribly underrated movie).
Still haunts me to this day. Thankfully, it appeared he just gave up and dropped it by the end of the movie.
Mel Gibson in “Braveheart”
Bad accent, bad actor, weak movie!
I agree John.
DiCaprio in “Blood Diamond” is nice!
Tom Cruise in ‘Far & Away’ the worst ever…
Christian Bale’s Batman accent annoys a lot of people I know.
Oh…and let’s not forget Sofia Coppola in Godfather III, whose accent in that film appears to be flat nasal whine.
Okay, maybe not a failed accent, but possibly the worst line readings ever put in a film that important.
Who was the dude in Just One of the Guys? He couldn’t even say Cindy Lauper.
lol I didn’t know there was such a thing as a Batman accent.
I’m gonna go ahead and defend the Great Bale once again. In Batman Begins it is established that there is a “voice changer” in the cowl of the Batsuit so that not only Bruce Wayne’s face is disguised but also his voice. So EVERY TIME Batman is in the Batsuit Bale’s voice HAS TO sound like that. If not, it’s a continuity problem. So if people think he should only sound like that when he’s mean and dealing with criminals and not when he’s talking to pals, like let’s say Gordon, it doesn’t matter. It’s whether he’s in the suit or not.
I know too few people saw Alexander but Angelina’s accent was simply the worst!
ps I thought Leo’s accent was great!
I dislike how everyone always disses Bale’s Batman voice; the Batman voice is fucking awesome. I think The Dark Knight is the single most overrated movie of all time, and I still think the Batman voice is awesome.
Would you rather have George Clooney playing himself in a Batman suit? Because that’s all he did. And he’s supposed to be a great actor…
Viggo in Eastern Promises never once stopped being entirely laughable to me.
Dude Viggo’s accent was spot on in Eastern Promises….
DiCaprio’s was pretty good in Blood Diamond, it’s just a little awkward seeing his familiar face with that language coming out (for the record, it’s more than just an accent of the English language).
Dicaprio’s accent in Gangs of New York, however, is quite bad. As is Cameron Diaz’s. Neither are as bad as Tom Cruise’s “oyrish” in Far and Away, or Brad Pitt’s even worse attempt in the Devil’s own. DDL in Gangs of New York was good, but a little over the top.
Keanu Reeves should add Dangerous Liaisons to the atrocity that is his performance in Dracula. Kevin Costner is quite horrible in Robin Hood, but not nearly as much as he is in Thirteen Days (though his perfomance is otherwise quite good).
Michael Caine’s attempt at an American accent in Cider House Rules was not especially successful, even if he did get an oscar for the performance.
Sean Connery didn’t so much fail at playing Irish in the Untouchables, as much as not try at all. His Irish street cop simply sounded like Sean Connery. Simple, right?
Meryl was fine in Out of Africa, bearing in mind that it was a Swedish accent, not Afrikaans or anything. Her accent in A Cry in the Dark was a little thick, but not terrible. Gwyneth Paltrow is known for her supposedly perfect English accent, but that’s just Americans who think that. It worked well in Shakespeare in Love, not so much in Sliding Doors.
Natalie Portman in V for Vendetta: solid film, solid performance, terrible, terrible accent.
Oh, right, and an honorable mention to Don Cheadle for Ocean’s 11-12-13. But after the first one he knew how much it sucked because he seemed to enjoy it’s terribleness more and more with each new installment.
prize for worst ever? Heather Graham: From Hell. My brain hurts just thinking about it…
Russell Crowe’s awful accent in Beautiful Mind ruined the movie for me.
And Bale’s voice as Batman makes my throat hurt just listening to it. So bad.
I’ve spent time in South Africa and Di Caprio did a fine job of a very difficult accent. I’d be surprised if Matt Damon does as well. Also, in the Cracked.com clip, Leo is talking a slang dialect, whereas for most of the movie he talks with a regular SA accent.
Oh, and I forgot:
Brad Pitt in Seven Years in Tibet.
I think sometimes we forget that in real-life, people have ‘bad accents.’ For instance, I live in a small town in North Carolina, where southern accents vary wildly. If my town were a movie set, you might think some of the citizens are overdoing their accents. But no, that’s just the way they talk. What I’m trying to say is this: If an actor’s accent seems overdone or exaggerated, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s unrealistic.
i recall a lot of bad ones in divine secrets of ya ya sisterhood.
Kate Beckinsale in “Van Helsing”
The absolute worst!
Almost everyone who spoke in The Thin Red Line.
Mel Gibson in Braveheart was fine.
Depp’s in Sweeney Todd was terrible.
The only thing worst than Dicaprio’s acting was that horrible accent in blood diamond idc what anyone says it was horrible, especially juxtaposed in the same year with Forrest Whitaker’s perfect ugandan accent.
-Richard Gear’s Irish accent in The Jackal.
-Brad Pitt’s Irish accent in Devil’s Own.
-People are saying Mel Gibson in Braveheart, I say Mel in Lethal Weapon 1 where he keeps slipping out of of his American accent. It’s so bad it’s charming. Also, it bugs me when actors like Gibson, after working in America for a while, either loose or pertend not to have their native tongue.
Some of you people are nuts. Accents are Meryl’s speciality, and Bloom’s accent in Elizabethtown was spot on.
did someone really say accents aren’t meryl’s forte?
even if you think its bad in out of africa (which its not), think about:
A Cry in the Dark
Doubt
Sophie’s Choice
watch this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPUedwHP_Ro
Dan, viggo’s accent in Eastern promises was universally praised, I am russian and trust me his accent was perfect. Sometimes when we know someone doesn’t actually sound a certain way we always bash their fake accents.
lovespike,
Sweetheart, Leo got an Oscar nomination for his performance in Blood diamond, you disliking him doesn’t change the fact that he is a great actor. Get over it.
Wow, there are a lot of accent experts on here!
@James: no need to be snooty especially if you’re citing an oscar nomination to mean some sort of greatness. next, you’re going to tell me that “the departed” was truly the best movie of 2008.
back to the original post, the worst accent is method man’s jamaican accent in “the wackness”. nearly walked out the theatre.
I gotta agree with Bob – sometimes, in real life, people have weird, exaggerated accents. I was living in Minneapolis, Minnesota when “Fargo” came out. At first, I thought the accents were totally exaggerated. But then I met people from outside Minneapolis… and um, yeah, the accents were not exaggerated. Same goes for Los Angeles. Most women in Los Angeles do not have the exaggerated “Valley Girl” accent. But I have definitely known girls here who DO have a VERY exaggerated Valley Girl accent and I think: Are you for real? Oh, but they are.
That’s not to say, of course, that there haven’t been some horrendous accents in film. Personally, I’d say the worst were Sean Connery in “The Untouchables” and Kevin Costner in “Robin Hood”. Those guys weren’t even trying to change their accent. At all.
Two wtf’s for the price of one:
Julia Roberts and John Malkovich in Mary Reilly.
Brad Pitt’s accent in Inglourious Basterds was really atrocious. Thank God he didn’t ruin the movie…
…and not only is Mickey Rooney’s accent horrendous in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but I nominate his performance as one of THE worst of all time. i literally wanted to saw his head off. That performance went beyond camp straight into the pits of hell.
@ OscarMovieBuff84 – Are you serious? Have you seen Sophie’s Choice or A Cry in the Dark? Her amazing accents are what she is known for!
Also, I find it quite funny that most of the discussed performances as “the worst accents ever” are either oscar-nominated or oscar-winning performances.
I thought Leo’s accent in Blood Diamond was spot on. I have a co-worker from South Africa who was amazed by how realistic the accent was.
I think people think the accent was bad, because it’s so different and awkward sounding, even though that’s just how the accent is.
As much as I love her to pieces, Nicole Kidman in Cold Mountain
I’m another one who think Leo’s accent in Blood Diamond was pretty good, especially his attempt at pidgin in the clip they posted. I’m sure it wasn’t easy, but it sounded effortless.
Why even patronize Cracked by mentioning them here? That website is terrible in every way, and the movie section is the worst part.
Cracked.com have to be right. Many readers here are perhaps, too young to have ever heard Dick Van Dyke’s attempt at a cockney accent. I’m a Londoner and trust me; It’s not bad or comical or even pathetic. It is just so jaw-droppingly – all wrong. It’s in a complete class of its own and I’m sure always will be.
Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. I actually thought people from London spoke like that. Heinous!
Worst: Adam Sandler in ‘Sense and Sensibility’ – had he been in it.
snowballa, yes sweetheart I am citing an Oscar nom as a sign of greatness, Oscar noms matter in the film business, the irrelevant opinions of people on the internet do not.
Exactly mike, it just shows that the internet crowd is so out of touch with reality.
Kate Beckinsale in “Van Helsing”
The absolute worst!
Agreed. It was ear rape.
Accent’s are not Meryl’s forte.
Disagreed. Isn’t Meryl known for her accents?
@James:
No, it’s just that Cracked is one of those websites that automatically assumes if a movie is loved when it doesn’t features breasts or nonstop explosions, it cannot be good.
Add me to the list of people who thought Leo had a spot-on accent in Blood Diamond. Also liked his accent in Gangs of New York (it’s not supposed to be a perfect Irish accent, his character spent most of his childhood locked up so the accent is supposed to be bastardized).
DiCaprio’s accents in Blood Diamond were nearly perfect. Do these people know how difficult it is to pull off a southern African accent AND a West African one? These people have no idea what they’re talking about.
And Kevin Costner’s lack of an accent in Robin Hood was just horrible and distracting.
lovespike,
“The only thing worst than Dicaprio’s acting was that horrible accent in blood diamond idc what anyone says it was horrible, especially juxtaposed in the same year with Forrest Whitaker’s perfect ugandan accent.”
Why compare a South African accent with a Ugandan accent? They are two different countries. Africa is a continent, so you can’t lump the two accents together just because of that.
Anyways, have you lived in South Africa? I know someone from there, and she can atest to the realism of Dicaprio’s accent.
@james: you seem to forget that the academy are made up of regular people like you and i with opinions. they don’t possess any higher knowledge of films as clearly evidenced by their choices, so sweetheart, it will still behoove you to drop the tone
and as for oscar noms being important, it may get a couple of doors open, but it is not as powerful as it once was. it’ll guarantee more auditions, but it won’t guarantee financial success which is still the end all be all in this film BUSINESS
There’s Christain Bale in TDK and then there’s everyone else.
snowbala, no sweetheart they are not regular people like you and I. The Academy is made up of people within the business who know far FAR more about films than anyone on the internet. Clearly you don’t want to accept that fact because it makes you feel insecure. You disagreeing with their choices doesn’t make their choices bad, grow up.
More auditions ? Most actors who get noms don’t even have to audition ever again, at the most they have to screentest.
Oh and real artists like Day Lewis don’t care about box office garbage, it’s about doing good challenging work, not making movies about giant robots so mindless sheep will go to theaters to see it.
marlon brando’s foppish brit portrayal of Fletcher Christian in the remake of MUTINY on the BOUNTY is one of his major missteps. Gable had the good sense not to even try an accent.
snowbala if you think so little of Oscar nominations and the Oscars in general, one has to wonder why you are on a website dedicated to Oscar buzz. Nothing better to do I guess.
“Kate Winslet’s American dialect in Titanic (it just fell flat for me, I know, how dare I?)”
Indeed how dare you.
Kate THE GREAT Winslet was absolutely, undoubtedly brilliant in Titanic. I am saddened by your comment.
That’s not to say, of course, that there haven’t been some horrendous accents in film. Personally, I’d say the worst were Sean Connery in “The Untouchables” and Kevin Costner in “Robin Hood”. Those guys weren’t even trying to change their accent. At all.
Exactly Laura. Connery never tries to change it all. Maybe that makes him less of an actor, but you can’t say he does the worst accents, because he doesn’t do them at all. Personally I’d rather a Scottish Russian Submarine Commander and a scottish Irish cop then have his performances ruined by him trying to do the accents.
I love Meryl, but as an Australian I find her A Cry in the Dark Accent just hard to watch. It is very rare to hear someone fake your own accent and not find it cringeworthy though.
Also, not awards type movie here, but Nic Cage in Con Air. That was terrible.
Meryl Streep in Out of Africa, good lord what a laugh.
Daniel Day-Lewis has done several good accents. The guy is a master. His Bill The Butcher is very early New York. Two scenes in particular… When he’s talking to Boss Tweed about controling the lower east side and when he is talking to Amsterdam in the rocking chair.
Then his Daniel Plainview was perfect midwest. And his Irish accents in In The Name Of The Father and The Boxer are very good. ” I’ll tear his fookin’ thrut at ! “
Kurt, DDL is the king of acting, he does every accent perfectly, don’t forget his accent in last of the mohicans.
RENEE ZELWEGGER IN COLD MOUNTAIN!
HORRIFIC!
Malkovich in Rounders. Come on!
Whenever I do a British accent, I do a spot on Dick Van Dyke impression:
“Cheerio, Guv’na!”
JULIA ROBERTS IN MARY REILLY IRELAND BY WAY OF TEXAS.
Malkovich in Rounders – terrible, but I think it was kind of supposed to be. I love it.
Hanks in Catch Me If You Can – there are no words. Just awful.
Christian Bale in Public Enemies – I’m not even sure what he was trying to do, exactly.
You can’t really give DDL points for his Irish accent. He is from Belfast after all.
@ricky: oscars, like most contests, are fun. nothing more, nothing less. being rude as james was simply because someone didn’t agree with him is infantile.
@james: insecure? you are the one being rude to people who simply disagree with you, a clear showing that you feel the need to put down others in order to be heard. do everyone a favor, sweetheart, and work that out with a therapist.
To give a recent example: The two girls from In Bruges were supposed to be Flemish, but one was clearly French and the other Dutch. So those definitely fit in the category of worst accents ever. Ever. EVER. Really everyone could easily identify the French girl’s nationality. But perhaps it was an inside joke that Americans wouldn’t hear the difference anyway.
@snowballa: honestly… just no. I take it you’re not a regular visitor here?
Hugh Jackman playing an Australian in Baz’s Australia!
He sounded like an American actor playing an Australian.
Cringe!
@johan: long time reader, not that it should really mean anything.
snowbala, don’t blame me for your delusions. I’m done arguing with you, I’ve made my point. Our opinions are irrelevant in the real world. Bottom line Leo was nominated for an Oscar and got great reviews, his performance will be remembered as great, end of story.
Sorry sweetheart but Oscars are not “fun”, they are the top award for someone in the film business, the legacy and prestige of winning one moves people to tears. You are not an actor yourself so you cannot understand what it means to one of us to even be nominated for an Oscar.
You need to stop this whole, “oh I don’t like their choices so that means they don’t know about film”, yes kiddo they know far more about film than any of us.
Say whatever you like, i won’t be reading. Good bye.
dlen, Jackman is Australian, he was doing his real life accent. Saying someone did a bad job of playing themself ? That’s just illogical.
Ralph Fiennes American accent in Maid in Manhattan was lousy.
Snowbala I don’t think James was being rude, just a little over the top. You are the one who acted as if being nominated for an Oscar is a little thing and not anything of importance. In show business even being nominated for an Oscar gives you “brilliant performance” status. You may not agree with the AMPAS choices but everyone disagrees with them on some stuff, that doesn’t lessen the Oscars value nor does it increase the importance of our word on an internet site. Just saying.
@ricky: well you’re entitled to your opinion about his attitude. the difference between james and i is that i won’t be an asshole about our difference of opinion. that’s all.
Without wanting to speak ill of the dead, Heath Ledger in Monster’s Ball. Fortunately, he redeemed himself several times afterwards (TDK, Brokeback, Lords of Dogtown)
And how can you forget John Travolta in Battlefield Earth? I mean it, can someone please tell me how I can forget it.
Well I think you pissed him off with the whole “Oscar doesn’t mean brilliant” thing which is really offensive to anyone who has ever been nominated or won an Oscar. Not only is it offensive but also untrue. And speaking of difference of opinion you did act a bit snobbish with the whole ” are you next going to tell Departed was the best movie of the year”, so what if someone thinks it was the best movie of the year, it was a very good movie and won best picture, it’s not like saying Transformers is the best movie of the year.
Worst accent and perhaps worst performance in Film History…..
PETER STORMARE in The Brothers Grimm
But it doesn’t mean “brilliant”. It means “most votes”. Some of the most brilliant performances I’ve seen have never been nominated, much less won.
Anyway, back to accents. How about Laurence Olivier’s ridiculous accent in “The 49th Parallel”?
@cc: “But it doesn’t mean “brilliant”. It means “most votes”. Some of the most brilliant performances I’ve seen have never been nominated, much less won.”
you said it better than i. another horrible accent? christian bale in “newsies”.
Most votes by people within the film business. Yes some performances you find brilliant may not have been nominated, i feel the same way – Emile Hirsh for Into the wild. The point is being nominated may not mean your performance is brilliant but it does mean it is at the very least very very good. Now one or two people may not like the performance but it doesn’t change the fact that it is very very good or possibly great.
back to great accents…what about meryl streep as ethel rosenberg in angels in america. absolutely perfect accent (and mesmerizing performance).
It’s probably been said above, but Leo’s BLOOD DIAMOND accent doesn’t belong on here, ask an Afrikaner.
@brandz: milla jovovich in “the fifth element”. i know she was speaking a made-up language and not necessarily doing an accent, but it’s worth noting
Accents in LOTR were all over the place. No wonder most of careers never took off. In fact, with the exception of Bloom, only actors who had respectable careers before the trilogy continue to have success. Other wanished and rightly so. I mean, Viggo`s accent went from American to faux-Brit to who-knows-what, but he has proven his metal before and nailed Russian in Eastern Promises so I don`t hold it against him. However, the loser who played Bean`s brother was beyond ridiculous and his speech in 300 the worst speech ever. No wonder he`s got no important work after these embarrassments. The list goes on.
Sorry for asking this crap, but i couldnt resist it, is Afrika dead? Because it’s been a long day without his douchebag act. Sometimes i miss him. Haha. *wink*
for whom, saying Leo’s accent was fake, please check your ears to doctor.
Yes, Dick Van Dyke’s cockney was hackneyed. And I am half-British. Al Pacino, wonderful actor that he is in most respects, is not good at accents, but his power as an actor mostly carries him through anyway. Double ditto for Robert DeNiro, who did a superb imitation of Brando’s Don as a young man in GFII, but who otherwise seems to have no use for even trying accents. DiCaprio is, as some have attested here, generally exceptional at doing accents and is known to be a gifted mimic at least behind the scenes. My sister went to South Africa not long before BD came out and said she was stunned at how authentic he sounded to her. I suspect many people don’t have a clue about what a good accent is — only about what they think an accent should sound like, and they aren’t always as knowledgeable as they think. And Meryl Streep is generally terrific with accents — almost a little too perfect.
Oh yeah, Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder were beyond awful in Dracula — laughable is more like it. A good case of actors trying way too hard to sound BRITISH.
Gerard Butler in almost everything he does.
As I understand it, Kate’s accent in Titanic was supposed to be a kind of “mid-Atlantic” one; the character is an American, but one from a privileged background who’s very familiar with Europe and Europeans, and it wasn’t unknown for people in those social circles to use a more British inflection to sound more “posh”, whether consciously or unconsciously. (If Madonna’s pseudo-British accent is/was any indication, people are still doing it.)
Now, Winona Ryder in Dracula…as a former roommate of mine once put it while we were watching the movie on TV: “Jesus, girl, that accent! Pick a part of England and stick with it!” (Yes, Keanu’s accent wasn’t so great, either, but I concluded long ago that perhaps his performance being rather wooden was actually a good thing–after all, when you’ve got Gary Oldman, Anthony Hopkins and Tom Waits chewing the scenery to shreds, *somebody’s* got to step back and let ‘em have at it…)
Please, Bale´s accent is always great.
He´s like Streep.
the worst Olivier accent was
INCHON. it was painful. he was
the greatest, but accents weren’t
his strong suit.
his French pickpocket in LITTLE
ROMANCE was cartoonish but very,
very charming.
#74
James, I am well aware that Jackman is Australian, as am I. What I was suggesting is that his accent was made so deliberate and “ocker” so as to “sound Australian” to overseas audiences rather than actually play it straight, which I accept is a tough ask in a Baz Lurhmann(sic?) film.
#87 Does Orlando Bloom have a career? Outside of LOTR and POTC what does he do, other than date a minor Australian celebrity in Miranda Kerr?
Academy Award winner Benicio del Toro in “Traffic”. He got mistaken with the accent. And they gave him the Oscar! Lol.
Not related, but Tom Ford’s A Single Man has been added to the Chicago International Film Festival line-up, it will screen on Monday. Is this the first official U.S. screening?
You know what I love about this forum? About 95% of all posters steer clear of message board “wars” that degenerate to personal attacks!
Anyway…I’m surprised no one has mentioned this but…
How about Tom Hanks in The Terminal? Sure, Krakhozia is a made up country…but I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t sound like that.
I heard that Baz asked Hugh Jackman to do a more broad Australian accent for AUSTRALIA, so even though Hugh is Australian, the accent is not quite his real voice.
what’s all the fuss about accents? actors use this to enhance the reality of their portrayal, but important is characterization. Of course, some parts just won’t be fleshed out fully without the right accent, but even for these, the accents must only give an authentic impression and not have to be genuine since there is no one genuine british, german, french or italian accent but variations of. liking or disliking the accent does not compute in judging a performance. In Dangerous Liaisons, all actors portrayed french people, but all spoke no french accent. But Keeanu Reeve speech cadence was stilted so only in this I say his accent was terrible compared to how his costars spoke. By the way, I’d say Meryl’s part in Out of Africa was more effective with accent as she was the central character not British which serves to underline her alienation from the colonial community even more. And her accent was very good. Take it from me I come from Denmark.
Wasn’t Kate Winslet’s character in Titanic an American who had spent extensive amounts of time in Britain? It would therefore stand to reason that here accent would have a British twang to it.
god yes @ whoever said Zellwegger in Cold Mountain.
That is easily the worst Oscar-winning performance of all time.
I dont like leo as an actor any accent he does to me will never be good enough. Everyone has their own opinion and I refuse to worship actors who are making a living just like me. While I think it is prestigious to get an oscar nom I also believe its political and once u get an oscar nom or considered an oscar fave if u are in a semi-serious role a nom is sure to come. True great performances win i.e. Forest Whitaker..Last King.
WOW, somebody said accents aren’t Meryl’s forte! This person is clearly being sarcastic…MERYL IS THE QUEEN OF ACCENTS!!!
lovespike, so you are saying that you let your bias against Leo affect your opinion of his acting, what you just said was that no matter how good his accent is you will never say he is good because you dislike him for whatever reason.
evan, Hanks accent in Terminal was just fine, he was directed to sound like that. That’s what most of you don’t understand, direction.
#95 “Does Orlando Bloom have a career? Outside of LOTR and POTC what does he do, other than date a minor Australian celebrity in Miranda Kerr?”
Well, at least he is dating a supermodel. He`s not hitting convention circuits. But that`s beside the point. I`m not here to defend Bloom who is 34 years old pretty BOY with nothing but that. I`m just amuzed how LOTR sank so many careers. Lol.
Whether you agree that Dicaprio’s performance in BD was good or not, it is not the performance that is the topic of discussion, but the execution of the accent. If you don’t like him as an actor, that’s fine, but as many have already stated, his South African accent is spot on, ask any Afrikaner, S. African.
For me the worst accent was Natalie Portman in V for Vendettta.
@ Aaron: Comment #37;
Not sure where you’re from Aaron, but I’ve lived in Nashville and Knoxville, Tennessee most of my life and (with the exception of a few Brad Pitt-esque tendencies slipping through) his East Tennessee was pretty darn close to the real thing. In fact, I saw the movie with a couple folks from Maynardville itself who were pretty impressed.
(Besides, how seriously can we regard the sanctity of accents in a movie that features Mike Myers as a British Army officer?)
Meryl as Julia Childs. You’d think after all these years of bad accents she could get one right.
also:
James van der Beek’s “Texas” accent in Varsity Blues. Yuck!
PS: Winslet’s accent in Titanic is tricky to judge, she was going for upper class? She was going for amglicized American? She was compensating for the time period (btw, the American accent has changed considerably less over the past century than the English one). I bought it at the time, is all I remember.
PPS: Again, DiCaprio spoke Afrikaans in Blood Diamond. It’s not an accent, it’s not even a pidgin or a creole, it’s a seperate language, and as such recognized, even if it does have strong English (as well as Dutch) influences. DiCaprio pulled it off quite well, but it’s weird to match that familiar face and voice with the unexpected sound coming out, and that can throw a lot of people off.
What about Keanu Reeves AND Winona Rider in “Francis Ford Coppola Presents Bram Stoker’s Dracula”?
Worst ever.
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