Actor Ethan Hawke goes to great lengths to sound like a New Yawker in the new cop drama “Brooklyn’s Finest.”
And for good reason. His character is a blue-collar dad trying to get his family out of a crumbling home.
Not every actor gives it the ol’ college try when it comes to accents.
Sure, we can point to Kevin Costner’s accent debacle in “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” or, more recently, Tom Cruise’s non-Nazi talk in “Valkyrie.”
These gaffes represent only the most glaring examples of actors falling down on the job.
Meryl Streep remains the queen of movie accents, but too many of her peers stumble when trying on a new speaking voice.
Most recently, Kim Cattrall got slammed for her botched British accent in “The Ghost Writer.”
American actors aren’t solely to blame. Gerard Butler often does a poor job hiding his natural accent in some of his films. Same holds true for Colin Farrell.
And given how many movies are set in New York, you’d think actors – or their directors – would try to sound naturally New York born.
How many rom-coms take place in the Big Apple even though no one sounds like it? Sometimes, the guy who works at the newspaper stand will sound authentic, but no one else will.
It’s why the original “Taking of Pelham One Two Three” jumped out at me recently. Nearly every character in this NY-based thriller sounded as if you could meet them on the city’s streets.
The New York accent – think “tawk,” not “talk” – should be one of the easiest to master. It’s strong, easily recognizable and colorful to boot.
The irony is how often we hear actors intensely researching their roles. An actor cast in a war movie will spend time with soldiers to better understand how they operate, for example.
Why not spend a few hours in, say, a New York pizza parlor to get the feel for how real New Yorkers speak?
C’mon, Hollywood. Either starting making actors earn their keep or set your future movies in Flyover Country.
Just not Pittsburgh. Love the city. Hate that accent.
(Photo: Richard Gere and Ethan Hawke star in Overture Films’ “Brooklyn’s Finest.” Photo Credit: Phillip V. Caruso ©2009 Brooklyn’s Finest Productions, Inc. All rights Reserved.)
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I'm an award-winning journalist and film critic with more than a decade of experience in newspapers, magazines and the Web. I'm a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association and the Denver Film Critics Society.
{ 45 comments… read them below or add one }
What makes the failed NY accent even more ridiculous is that many of the actors live in NY.
If you want to hear good American accents you need to listen to the Aussies who populate American television.
I went to see Fargo with my folks on the release week way back when. We were the only ones laughing in the packed theater because we got everything, including the accents. Some critics were pointing out that the Nodak accent was too much. As a born Fargo, North Dakotan, I can tell you it was right on. Margie sounded like our neighbor and I kid you not, my dad’s co-worker was Chinese but sounded Norwegian. Pretty much everyone reminded us of someone we knew. Kudos Cohen Bros.
Also, thanks to my wife, I can’t really watch any old or new films where the actors plays Nazis or ancient Romans with British accents.
Tommy Lee Jones and Richard Gere are terrible Irish actors too.
you just reminded me of the sing-song accent Brad Pitt adopted in “The Devil’s Own”
Call me a contrarian, but I think some of Meryl Streep’s accents are cringeworthy. “Out of Africa” leaps immediately to mind.
I do think Cate Blanchette does an excellent job with different accents.
first of all the whole speaking in english with a foreign accent is pretty stupid. if youre a nazi you wouldnt speak in english anyways. secondly in todays world there isnt any genuine ny accent. or for that matter pittsburgh. sure if you were born and lived there since the 50’s u might have an accent. but there is such a large segment of the population who arent native to cities today and any accent should be fine. i grew up in pittsburgh but i dont have any pittsburgiez
I’m the opposite, Christian. I would rather not hear a Southern accent than hear a bad Southern accent in movie. New Orleans accents are usually botched as well. I understand sometimes the accent is very important to a role, especially in period pieces, but sometimes no accent is better than a bad one.
So, what exactly does an authentic 12th century Nottinghamshire accent sound like?
I remember reading, a long time ago, that when Jane Seymour needed to develop an accent she would call a telephone operator from the particular locality and just talk with her for an hour or so. I guess that technique can’t be used any more.
For me, it’s partly about consistency. Even if the accent is subpar, if it’s consistent it’s less distracting.
Heh. Good comments, mostly.
My take – they are not actors; they mostly – especially the Americans – are movie stars, and therefore have a different tack to the craft.
This is the reason why so many of the more respectable actors – particularly on series television – are coming from across the pond(s) or from theater. Cherry Jones would NOT err on an accent.
D.
That’s true; I think that Hugh Laurie gets away with his fairly appalling accent in House simply because it’s completely consistent, which makes it sound ‘natural’.
Well as far as current actors accent skills go ,then I’d go with Russell Crowe. Crowe really creates characters who are believable . His appearance changes as is needed and he does accents very well, like his Jim Braddock,Cinderella Man ,New Jersey accent. The western bandit Wade in 3:10 to Yuma or Captain Jack Aubrey in Master and Commander.
With the plethora of voice coaches out there, it is a little surprising that an actor cannot find one to accent his/her role. An accent can be important because many facets of character development come out of development of the accent. The face and posture change to accommodate the accent. Many times it can be the catalyst for fully understanding a role. I agree with Paula also that sometimes an accent can become a cringeworthy distraction. Marlon Brando, most of all proved that you could do Mark Anthony without a British accent so there is is something to be said for weighing the necessity of an accent for a role. It is the actor’s responsibility to ultimately decide what character development will and will not include.
Israel, indeed a German Nazi would be speaking German so Tom Cruise speaking English with a German accent would just be Colonel Klink.
Jic, a 12th Century Nottingham accent may well have sounded like a mid-20th century New York accent, if historian Daniel Boorstein’s assertions are correct.
As for myself, in Australia I sound English; in England, I sound Australian. Anywhere you have a large migrant population, accents are mongrels.
I agree that many actors just can’t handle an accent. I just heard from an actor recently – and now I can’t remember who – who said that the key to doing an accent is not to do an accent, but rather a voice. Probably what Jane Seymour was talking about. Listen to a particular person and imitate their voice not their accent. I think trying to do the accent makes it harder and more apt to fail.
I think Streep’s accents are all good. I’ve heard from some that they think they are dreadful, but I’ve always thought she’s been spot on.
Only one actor has ever pulled off a credible Boston accent – Alfre Woodard. Not in her role on St. Elsewhere ironically. Some movie, the name I don’t know. She presented on an awards show, back in 94 or so, and was still ‘in accent’. I knew instantly she must be working on a movie set in Boston.
Never heard another actor do anything that wasn’t cartoonish.
By far (imo) the worst attempts at a regional accent are found in Boston based movies. Yes, not everyone is from the locale in which the story takes place but when you are sold on it being story about locals then you better do your homework. Ironically, again in my opinion, in “The Departed”, Boston natives Matt Damon, and Mark Wahlberg, did a less true sounding Boston Irish working class accent than Leonardo DiCaprio. That said, it is true that when you live away from your roots for a long time you develop an odd mix of accents. At least that is true in my case. I was born and raised in the inner city of Boston and over twenty years later, I sound more like I’m from Rhode Island than Boston. Btw, there is a very distinct difference if you are familiar with the two. Akin to Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh. My vote for the master of accents is Tim Roth. In “Little Odessa” he not only nailed a Brooklyn accent but a the distinct sound of a guy from Brighton Beach.
I think it is being lazy on the part of the actors. I don’t think we even have a strong lot of method actors in Hollywood. Not like we had 3o years ago. There are some that are great at accents. Garry Oldman comes to mind. He can switch in and out to any accent at well it seems like. I don’t think he being British is part of it. He is just a hard working actor. It is to bad this is happening.
The most common accent attempted in movies (for American actors), seems to be the British one. And so many fail. It seems like it’s a rite of passage for any up and coming young actress to show she can go “British”, with horrible results (Gillian Anderson, Jennifer Love Hewitt, even Demi Moore way back when she can up and coming). Even Johnny Depp’s British accent(s) is over the top, but he’s always been given that latitude via the strange, hard to define characters he plays. As for excellent accents, the two actors who always come to mind are Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Jr.
DiCaprio stumbled a bit, but now does a perfect Boston accent when required. He was convincing in “The Departed,” but of course he had Matt Damon and Mark Wahlberg there to coach him!
The thing is there is no ‘American’ accents but as far as getting the various regions right the Aussies do a much better job than the Brits for US accents – but by far are the ‘Jersey’ accents – i am from NJ – central – and we sound different from the folks up north and way different from the ones in southern NJ and none of us sound like anybody on ‘House’ and Hugh Luaries ‘American’ is pretty bad – but Anthony Lapaglia on the other hand is spot on.
I think Colin Farrell does a good job of taking on an accent. It must be ridiculously hard to bury a Dublin accent. Trying to take on an “American” accent, when there are hundreds of them, seems impossible to me. I just watched Phone Booth the other day. Once in a while, his accent would come through. It seemed cute, though.
I know exactly what you mean and I agree. One example however of a great accent used by an American actor is Robert Montgomery’s, as a insane Irish murderer in the 1937 version of “Night Must Fall”. It was understated just as it should be, an accent shouldn’t and wouldn’t be the focal point of a conversation. I do have some problems with how this story unfolded, particularly concerning Rosalind Russel’s character it was inconsistent, but not with Montgomery’s performance.
As a side note, in my opinion Robert Montgomery (Bewitched, Elizabeth Montgomery’s dad”) is one of the all time greats, and doesn’t get enough credit. If you want to get a good example of his ability I recommend 3 movies for starters.
1) Night Must Fall
2) Here Comes Mr. Jordan
3) They Were Expendable
One more thing, I don’t mean to denigrate Rosalind Russel she’s was great also, it was just the direction her character was taken. Sorry I guess I got side tracked.
For anyone who thinks British actors are better at American accents than American actors are at British accents, I give you Gerard Butler in “The Ugly Truth.” (The movie would have been horrible even if he pulled off the accent, mind you.)
Well, yes and no. In general, the Australian actors who are best at playing Americans don’t even really try to imitate the accent. As ladykrystyna put it above, they do the voice, not the accent – they put more effort into putting across how people talk than to imitating the exact sound they make.
I don’t consider a perfect accent particularly important to a performance in general, but that’s just a cop-out. He’s an actor. It’s his job.
That would be true if the goal was to take on ‘the’ American accent, i.e. to sound like ‘all’ Americans. But asking an actor to take on ‘an’ American accent – to find a particular American accent that would suit the character they are playing, and to do their best to apply it – is not at all unreasonable.
Talk about bad accents – anyone remember Keanu Reeve’s Southern accent in Devil’s Advocate?
Kenneth Branagh is my favorite actor when it comes to doing accents. He played both a German and an American flawlessly in Dead Again, and his Florida drawl in Robert Altman’s Gingerbread Man was outstanding. Heck, he even pulled off a young FDR in Warm Springs.
I think he should be coaching today’s up-and-coming actors in how to do accents right.
The question is why can’t American Actors use dialect in their performances. British and Oceanic actors have been doing it for years. In fact the the only British actor of note who can’t do an American dialect is Hugh Grant. Of course if Hugh Grant can’t use a posh British dialect why cast him?
As far as Boston accents go “The Friends of Eddie Coyle” makes “The Departed” look like it was made by Pixar. Robert Mitchum is outstanding in this endeavor as well as other movies that called for an ear for accents, regional or foreign.
There are it seems a plethora of British actors mainly not well known actors, who can pass for Yanks. Conversely there are only a handful of Americans who can reciprocate: Gwyneth Paltrow, Claire Danes, the aforementioned Robert Downey, John Hillerman (Higgins on Magnum PI) and his fellow Texan Alan Tudyk. Gillian Anderson, who a previous commenter said had a horrible British accent actually spent most of her formative years in England.
I actually though Pitt actually did a fair approximation of a Northern Irish accent in “In the Name of the Father” but his masterpiece was as the “Irish” traveller (piker) in “Snatch”. Mickey Rourke as well did a good job with Northern Irish which is an accent so different from the Lucky Charms leprechaun Americans think is Irish that at first Rourke didnt sound authentic.
My favorite German accent was done by Jon Voight in “The Odessa File”. And for some reason, there has yet to be a German who can pull of an even mildy convincing American accent.
My biggest complaint is the treatment of southern accents where they either sound like Scarlett O’Hara or Corporal Cornpone. The worst in my mind was Martin Sheen’s Robert E. Lee in Gettysburg. Just terrible.
M. Colins – I think that Diane Kruger is a German who can do a convincing American accent.
Hey Frankie Boston you’re right about The Friends of Eddie Coyle, a great flick and the Boston accents were great. There was one thing though I grew up in Natick in Massachsetts. and it was great hearing my town name in the movie and everything but they killed the pronunciation, should be Ney-tick long A, not a short A Na-tick, even though that’s how it’s spelled go figure.
You just had to go after the ‘Burgh accent, one of the more annoyingly charming accents out there. C’mon, Christian, love the city and its inflections. Chicago-wannabe, Country Polack, as I like to call it.
>> Talk about bad accents – anyone remember Keanu Reeve’s Southern accent in Devil’s Advocate?>>
Which part? He was in and out of that accent so many times in the course of that otherwise awesome movie, I lost track.
Any accent that ends in ‘n at’ must be stopped! I do love me some Mineo’s Pizza, Eric.
Eh, that’s just an annoying/funny verbal tic. “Go’n dahntahn to see dem dere Stillers ‘n get a Priman’i sammich!”, there’s yer accent.
And, yes, I do miss me some Mineo’s (and Firori’s and Beto’s and Il Pizzaiolo). Very surprised I wasn’t heavier when I lived there.
Enrico Biscotti Company!
“And for some reason, there has yet to be a German who can pull of an even mildy convincing American accent.”
Not to be too technical, but there is no American accent unless the American is speaking a foreign language. Dialects are determined by the region where you live. English speakers have a number of dialects, so they usually have the ability to mimic other regional dialects and sound realistic to most English speakers. On the other hand, they usually can’t fool natives of a particular region. They really have to emerse themselves in that region to fool natives.
If you speak a foreign language, it’s almost impossible not to have the accent marks of your native tongue. Even when speakers haven’t spoken the old language in years, they still have accents in their adopted language. That’s why you’ll rarely find a German speaker do a realistic English accent from any region – not unless that German speaker was raised in a bilingual environment.
Eahh, tell your story walkin’ before I call a cop!
That’s mainly because Americans as a group are not terribly sensitive about accents, so they tend to give foreign actors a pass with their attempts at an American accent as long as the sound ‘natural’, i.e. consistent and comfortable. British audiences (and American Anglophiles), on the other hand, will only consider an American actor’s attempt at a British accent passable if it’s virtually perfect.
I’ve lived all but the first six years of my life in England, and I still can’t do an English accent. Gillian Anderson’s English accent is OK, but it sounds affected.
Damien Lewis is completely believable as an American in Band of Brothers and Life. That guy from House is completely believable as an American. Yvonne Strahowski is believable as an American in Chuck. Texan Sarah Shahi is completely believable as a Californian, born and bred, in Life.
But these are all lower tier, TV actors, not zillion dollar movie actors.
In the studio system, actors took lessons for diction and accents, singing, dancing, fencing, horseback riding, etc. Whatever you were expected to portray, you had to ace it. Comedians grew up in vaudeville, working for years before they were ready. Sure, they all had talent, but to perfect your craft, you had to work your BUTT off. Laziness seems the order of the day – plus, no studio taskmaster ready to fire them if they didn’t produce.
Hugh Laurie? Are you kidding me? He may be believable, but it’s nothing to do with his ridiculous accent. You’re right about Yvonne Strahowski, though. I haven’t seen enough of Damien Lewis to judge, and I’ve never even heard of Sarah Shahi.
They forgot to mention Dennis Quaid in The Big Easy. The worst Cajun accent every. Made me sick to listen to him butcher it.
FYI, being English myself, I consider Gillian Anderson’s English accent to be excellent. Watch the BBC adaption of Charles Dickens’ ‘Bleak House’, and then come back and try and tell me that it’s not flawless throughout. It’s very ‘middle class suburban North London’, which makes sense seeing as that’s where she was raised from the ages of 2 to 11. When her family moved back to the States (Michigan), she was forced to adopt an American accent to fit in. She was bullied for her entirely natural English accent.
She’s now lived back in London for nearly 8 years. Her partner is English and her two youngest kids are English (being that they were born and raised here). Her accent is not ‘fake’, people.