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

My Son is a bit obsessed of a fan of Greyfriars Bobby. If you want to laugh until you cry watch the old Disney film of the same name. Oh my goodness the accents...who cast it?!
Also watched Once Upon a Time with my Daughter and the Scottish accents in that (plus whatever Aladdin was meant to be!) Painful!

One thing I liked was the HBO mini series Chernobyl, they didn't do any accents and it made it a lot more serious.

I understand that casting directors want well known names but there must be enough actors from the right area to play the parts surely??

It annoys viewers so much and it's such a lazy and stupid mistake.

What gets me is, these directors/casting people get paid zillions and yet we laymen can see what a shit job some of the actors do! It's not rocket science.

As someone said, do proper accent tests at the audition! Better still, use an authentic actor!

Take a huge production like Peaky Blinders; I don't know the accent well but even my ears hurt listening to some of them, especially that aunt (?). OMG.

It's the stupidity and short sightedness of the production team that is so annoying.

I watched one episode of Peaky Blinders and watched no more as I couldn't understand how every single member of the family had a different accent. It just jarred me.

Anything where people are trying to do Norfolk and sound Devonian, don't bother.

The King of accents is the guy who plays Steve in Line of Duty. Nothing Scottish gets through at all.

@MistleTOEboughski

One thing I liked was the HBO mini series Chernobyl, they didn't do any accents and it made it a lot more serious.

Yes apparently the director said he'd rather do English accents than bad Soviet ones.

I much prefer this - same with Sound of Music, the actors speak in their own accents despite the characters being Austrian and it makes for far pleasanter viewing

Lord Baelish in Game of Thrones -hilarious

Martin Compston does an amazing London accent in Line of Duty but refused point blank to do Dundee in Traces and just stuck with a watered down Glasgow.

I think Hugh Laurie's accent in House is quite good. That series is one of my all time favorites; also I think I have a pretty decent "ear" for accents. I recall only one word in which he used a British rather than American pronunciation of a word ('placard"). He uses an accent that many Americans themselves use when trying to be more "generic" and less regional.

The biggest mistake that British actors often make when doing an American accent is to over-do the rhotic "r". That "r" is actually softer in many rhotic American accents than it is in some rhotic British accents.

And speaking as an American Southerner, the biggest mistake that many actors, American and British, make when doing a Southern accent, is to over-do non-rhotic pronunciation. Even in parts of the South where the accent has non-rhotic elements, most people will use rhotic pronunciation on certain words.

Agree with Don Cheadle in the Oceans films - truly awful.

On the other hand, Hugh Laurie's American accent in House was that good even Americans were apparently surprised to find out he wasn't American!

Also, Jodie Comer can do pretty much anything.

Anyone mentioned benedict cumberbatch trying to do an American accent in dr strange? I’ve never finished the film because of it.

@MistleTOEboughski

One thing I liked was the HBO mini series Chernobyl, they didn't do any accents and it made it a lot more serious.

I loved that too. I've never understand the point of something scripted in English, with English speaking actors, all speaking English to each other as if it's their second language. I don't see what it brings to the drama.

As an American, this thread has surprised me, as I've always assumed that British actors are fabulous at accents and Americans are generally pathetic. I've heard some fairly bad American accents on British shows though (now that I have BritBox and Acorn). Disagree with the poster who said that Hugh Laurie's accent was horrible on House. He'd slip up in tiny ways once in a while, but overall, he was really good. Just as American actors seem to try for Cockney and posh for English accents, Brit actors try for Southern and New York, generally Brooklyn. There are great variations in southern accents, though, and New York accents seem to be particularly difficult for UK actors.

We watched 'Greenland' recently and Gerrard Butler just gave up attempting American by the end of the film; full-on Scottish.

The film was crap anyway but his appalling accent made me give up on it quicker.

The most recent one for me was Peter Quint in haunting of Bly manor... that Scottish accent oh my god. It was absolutely horrific, totally butchered and like nothing I'd ever heard before.

Ruined an otherwise decent programme.

Watch at your own peril...

I think it takes the cake for the worst Scottish accent ever.

@wellthatsunusual

I'm the same. Although mostly I can only recognise it as being particularly bad when it's my own accent. I had to stop watching Sons of Anarchy when they had the Belfast characters because I was laughing so hard at the appalling accents and sets (pigs trotters in a jar on the counter of the corner shop) that I couldn't buy into the drama at all.

That was awful wasn't it? and the storyline wasn't much better - talk about ignorant.

OP - The reason so many Brits get work in USA is they are cheaper and adaptable.

@Takeoutyourhen

I’ll watch out for that. I watched The Trial of the Chicago Seven and Eddie was a bit 😬 at times but sometimes even Sacha Baron Cohen slipped and he uses a lot of accents anyway!

I abandoned that film within the first ten minutes thanks to SBC's awful, awful accent.

@StormcloakNord

The most recent one for me was Peter Quint in haunting of Bly manor... that Scottish accent oh my god. It was absolutely horrific, totally butchered and like nothing I'd ever heard before.

Ruined an otherwise decent programme.

The most annoying thing about Peter Quint is that as I recall, there was NOTHING about the character that required him to have any kind of accent. I think any fair well spoken British accent would have fitted the character as I recall.

Agreed. Hate it when people try to mock a Yorkshire accent, they sound like total idiots. It might amaze anyone not from Yorkshire but we don’t all wear flat caps and walk around saying ‘ee by gum’. We also don’t add random t’s before words, I’ve never heard anyone do this and I’m unsure why people think this happens. T’ cow won’t leave t’ barn for example - we don’t do this!

@sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea

Try being from Norfolk. I don't even HAVE a Norfolk accent, but the wince-inducing attempts by pretty much every actor ever makes me want to cut the county adrift and sail it into the North Sea. It always, always, always ends up as a mangled Zummerzet garble, which is nothing like a generic Norfolk accent (it varies a lot across the county, there are at least four pronunciations of Norwich).

@thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter Properly laughed at that! I thought Keith Fit's accent was great, but always assumed proper Geordies would hate it

Apparently a Norfolk accent is notoriously hard to get right. It’s the juxtaposition of words like move and mauve that makes it so difficult.

There are great variations in southern accents,

This is very true. Just within the regions of my native state of Georgia, there is a considerable variety of accents.

I think it’s sometimes simply a problem of seeing someone whose normal voice you know so well putting on a very different accent. Cumberbatch’s accent in Dr Strange might be impeccable for the character but I spent the first half hour of the movie doing a “why is Sherlock pretending to be an American????? ” double take. Yes consciously I am aware that there is such a thing as “acting” but it plays havoc with my subconscious suspension of disbelief.

I had the same problem with Hugh Laurie in House, because I’m so familiar with him in all his UK work, but because it only lasted half an hour or so, that’s nothing in the context of the hundreds of hours I’ve watched of House.

@MolyHolyGuacamole

I was watching Tiny Pretty Things on Netflix and found the British character's accent so fake that I googled where she was really from.

She's from London.

I did EXACTLY the same. Her accent sounded horrifically overkill but turns out she is actually English 😂

@DynamoKev

OP - The reason so many Brits get work in USA is they are cheaper and adaptable.

Why are British actors cheaper?