To find bad accents so off-putting?

[FrostyChocolateMilkshake]

Watching a film on Netflix and I cannot get past the terrible American accent of the male character, played by a British actor. His English accent keeps slipping in and it distracts from the storyline.

I just find it so annoying and off-putting - surely they could have cast an American actor as the lead role!? It's one of my biggest bugbears.

Does anyone else find this irritating or has lockdown turned me into an accent-ravaging arsehole?

Arrrghhh

Peaky Blinders is the worst. I had to stop watching it. Polly was just ridiculous. My sisters think I'm bonkers because they loved it and can't believe I stopped watching it because of the accents, but it really grated on me.

The WORST ever though, is Cameron Diaz in Gangs of New York, being 'Oirish'

'I'll leave ya in da grace and favour of de lord' 🤣🤣

@StanfordPines

I couldn’t watch Peaky Blinders either. I’m not a Brummie but I have enough family that are to know the accent is laughable.

I read somewhere that the accents in Peaky Blinders were supposed to replicate how the accent would have sounded in the early 20th century, not modern Brummie.

I agree. They butcher African accents because to them, they all sound the same so they seem to learn only one type of African accent (from perhaps one African country or a mish-mash of two) and use it for any country they're playing.

I keep wondering if they couldn't find any person from that African country to teach them or was this all they could manage to learn in the time frame they had? Possibly the latter, I hope.

There's nothing worse than an American A-lister (who really should put in more effort given their status) doing a bad English accent. Why can't they just hire an English actor?!

@Afromeg

I agree. They butcher African accents because to them, they all sound the same so they seem to learn only one type of African accent (from perhaps one African country or a mish-mash of two) and use it for any country they're playing.

I keep wondering if they couldn't find any person from that African country to teach them or was this all they could manage to learn in the time frame they had? Possibly the latter, I hope.

Similar happens with Pakistani accents, there are a number of very distinct Pakistani accents, yet TV shows etc almost always give Pakistani characters very bad Indian accents. Its like giving a German character a crap French accent.

Its always interesting listenting to ‘urdu’ on screen, pronunciation is always poor and what the character is saying doesn’t actually make sense.

@JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows

There's nothing worse than an American A-lister (who really should put in more effort given their status) doing a bad English accent. Why can't they just hire an English actor?!

My thoughts exactly.

Anything where Brad Pitt tries to do an Irish accent .

@Afromeg

I agree. They butcher African accents because to them, they all sound the same so they seem to learn only one type of African accent (from perhaps one African country or a mish-mash of two) and use it for any country they're playing.

I keep wondering if they couldn't find any person from that African country to teach them or was this all they could manage to learn in the time frame they had? Possibly the latter, I hope.

This must be disappounting for the Black African community as a lot of ethnic groups don't have the proper representation that they deserve. If the casting directors cannot find a good enough actor from a certain African nation then surely they should cast someone who can at least replicate the desired accent well?

Its like giving a German character a crap French accent

Exactly @SimonJT

Don Cheadle in Oceans 11.

He is such a brilliant actor but he sounded like he had done some sort of " Speak cockney like Dick Van Dyke" linguaphone course!

I saw the guy who plays Sandy in Shetland in The Bay and he was doing an English accent which is very good. I always assumed he was Scottish as his accent is very thick and unlike any Scottish accent I’ve ever heard. Had to google and he is actually Scottish. If anyone watched Nashville too I was so shocked Scarlett was Australian and Gunnar was English.

Renee Zellweger as Bridget Jones did a good job overall but still didn't sound quite right. I can't help thinking a British actress would have been preferable.

@FrostyChocolateMilkshake

I know, it's funny. Not because it's literally funny but it's just one of those things you're not surprised at, so just chuckle and shake your head.

I've also heard terrible Scottish accents and the actor switching so much from their American accent to an exaggerated Scottish or Irish accent, that I couldn't figure out where they were supposed to be from.

I think the Directors just think "Sod it! That'll do. Fans love you so they'll watch anyway". Lol

I'll tell you who did a superb accent though. Kate Winslett in the dressmaker - I'm from western Victoria and she nailed the accent of my grandparents' generation....

Sometimes the producers don’t even bother. “Traces”, a recent series on BBC 1, was set in Dundee, and not a single Dundee accent was heard in the whole six episodes, despite all the main suspects supposedly having lived there all their lives. Some of it wasn’t even filmed there.

I love audible books. But the amount of times I have had to send them back because of the awful accents. I have got to get point if it is a book where the narrator is American and likely to do a British accent ( Scots is the worst) then I dont order it
Mind you its the same sometimes with a British narrator trying to do an American accent.

@SimonJT I believe what they're going for is South Asia = India. You'd think it would be easy to find the right people to teach them what they need to know. It's not like they don't have the resources.

Im English but I lived in Scotland for 16 years and thought I knew Scottish accents well. Until I watched both Brave and the Last King of Scotland and thought what terrible inauthentic accents the leads had - only to find they are actually both very much Scottish

My pet hate is that most Americans think brits all talk cockney or very posh 😩

Can't remember what the film was but turned it off after 10 minutes because the accents the actors were trying and failing to do were so bad you couldn't understand a word they were saying.

I would far rather no accent, or the actor's own accent than a bad accent, but would infinitely prefer actors to be taught clear diction far too many mumble incoherently.

Daphne and her family in Frasier. They were from all over the place 🤦🏼‍♀️

I watched Legends of the Fall last week for the first time since it came out and Anthony Hopkins sounded American, Irish, generic Northern England and whatever depending on how he felt at the time. It was like someone just told him to be not-Welsh and so he ran with a different accent in every scene. It was a almost a relief when he stopped being able to talk as by that point it was really grating.

At least Sean Connery owned the fact he could only do one accent. Spanish guy in Highlander - Scottish accent: done.

Actors have accent coaches though - is it the fault of the actor or is the coach lacking knowledge about specific accents?

In defence of Brad Pitt, I thought his Irish traveller accent in Snatch was a very good attempt and came out pretty close, probably not convincing to a traveller but good enough for someone like me who hears it sometimes.

The most annoying for me was a series called Burn Notice where the actress was supposed to be ex IRA. Not only did she not have a NI accent, the RoI accent that she was attempting was straight out of 1950s Hollywood. About three episodes in they changed her accent to an American one (the character said she was affecting the accent to blend in better). I have no idea whether it was a good American accent or not, the actress was from England.

Yes I can't bear Americans doing really bad 'British' accents - most are terrible. Strangely I've tended to assume that British actors are good at American accents - but who's to know what Americans think - they might be cringing.

When Matthew Rhys gave his acceptance speech for his Emmy award for The Americans, the audience were apparently astonished to hear his Welsh accent!

I couldn’t watch Broadchurch because the accents were so bad.

Olivia Coleman kept switching between her own home countries accent and what seemed to be an attempt at a yokel accent last heard on a Worzels record. I don't get why she's hailed as a great actor, she seems to play a variant of one or two characters (brusque and posh or downtrodden and harassed) in most things she's in.

I read somewhere that the accents in Peaky Blinders were supposed to replicate how the accent would have sounded in the early 20th century, not modern Brummie.

I grew up in the Midlands, my grandparents and great grandparents and had family who lived in Birmingham who'd be of the same generation and class as the peaky blinders. They sounded absolutely nothing like the aural assault on the Brummie accent. I suspect that the 'oh we are doing early c20th Brummie accents' is after the fact justification when people have rightly pulled them up on how crap the actors' attempts at the accent are. The only one who pulls it off convincingly is the one who plays the youngest Shelby brother. He's really good.