Dialects/Accents in the Movies

[Edward]

May come as a bit of a shock, but not all us Paddy's talk like Barry Fitzgerald... There are parts of Ireland, up North, where folks really do sound pretty much like Mr. Connery. Perhaps if he'd worn a red wig he'd have been more convincing...

Oh, yes. Plenty of folks much closer to the region itself than in the US struggle to distinguish West Coast of Scotland, Ayrshire area in particular, from Irish accents and dialects in the Coleraine/Protrush/Portstewart area - parts of Larne area too. Many people in the US seem to assume that the Dublin accent is the "normal" Irish accent, but really that's as representative as saying Tim Curry has a "British" accent. My folks are from Ballymena and Larne originally; they're close to (especially my dad, who is Ballymena born and raised) Liam Neeson (also from Ballymena). I would be the same, but slight softer, having grown up further south. Five miles down the road in Carrickfergus, the accent is much harsher and closer to Belfast, but still subtly different. There are at least four different Belfast accents, according to geography; thanks to the demographics of the city you can also often tell someone's tribal affiliation by their accent, if your ears are sufficiently attuned to it. and on it goes.... The accents in the Six Counties change very markedly in a very tiny geographical distance.

FWIW, James Nesbitt is very typically Coleraine in accent, and the boys in Ash (alternative rock group) are all from the County Down area, and again very typical for their part of the world in accents.

I find most non-Irish actors have a hard time putting across a decent Irish accent - a lot of the time it strays into Oirish territory or at worst Darby O'Gill. I have read that the Irish accent is one of the hardest to do - I'm trying to think of someone that has done it successfully and am having some difficulty.

The Northern accents are supposedly the hardest of them all, though I struggle not to sound like a Leprechaun if I try a Dub, alas. (It probably says a lot about my own accent that I can comfortable hold a passable Glasgow all day). The very best take on an East Belfast accent I've ever heard by an outsider was probably David Thewlis (better known as Harry Potter's Lupin) as Dan Starkey in Divorcing Jack, a film which has a wide range of different Northern Ireland accents in it. Derbhla Kirwin I've seen do a flawless middle-class Belfast with no hint of her own Dub. Eddie Izzard (who lived in Northern Ireland for a number of years as a child) can do a very passable accent too, which sounds to me a lot like a Derry accent (think Martin McGuinness).

It's been a long time, but I think I remember Brad Pitt acquitting himself reasonably well in The Devil's Own, which was refreshing after one too many US films and TV shows featuring members of the IRA and like organisations, supposedly Belfast born and bred, sounding like they'd never left County Cork.

Oh..... if you've ever seen PS I love You, Gerard Butler's accent in that was appalling - to the extent I had assumed he'd just given up and used his own Scots' accent for a director that couldn't tell the difference... lol

 

[C-dot]

...a lot of the time it strays into Oirish territory or at worst Darby O'Gill...

Like on the IT Crowd "You'll loick this, it's groit crahck." lol

 

[angeljenny]

Sean Bean in Sharpe and Alan Rickman in anything!

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Bette Davis (I don't miiiiind...) famously put on a working-class English accent in Of Human Bondage (1934).

lol
My husband, who is a real working-class Cockney, thinks she sounds hilariously bad in this movie! But he still loves her anyway!

 

[Chasseur]

At the other end of the quality spectrum, Marcel Pagnol films and actors... But then they really were local to the Marseille area

Saint Just, spot on on this one.

 

[davidraphael]

Don Cheadle's cockney accent in Oceans 11/12/13 is absolutely awful...


And you should hear what German dubbing does to voices. Despicable. Criminal.

Black, White, Asian, Welsh, Russian, Japanese it makes no difference - EVERYBODY gets the grating middle-German 'media' accent.

Tupac Shakur has the same accent as Bertie Wooster, the same accent as Han Solo, the same accent as Shrek, the same accent as Tony Soprano....

It sounds ridiculous.

I wish Germany would have the sense (and decency) to subtitle like France, Switzerland and other European countries..

 

[MisterCairo]

Sean Bean in Sharpe and Alan Rickman in anything!

:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap:eusa_clap

 

[RichardH]

Minnesotans do have a distinct accent, but I thought Frances McDormand overdid it by a wide margin. I loved the movie though. I've also heard a lot of really bad southern accents in various movies over the years. Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump comes to mind. I also thought Sean Connery's Irish accent in "The Untouchables" failed the sniff test although his performance was magnificent otherwise. He's a Scotchman through and through.

Mr. Connery sounded scottish to me in that movie.. He's the only guy who can play a lithuanian submarine captain with a scottish accent lol!
I still like him a lot as an actor though, yeshh..

 

[Rats Riley]

Maybe it's all the years working with the Irish Cultural Society or Irish Fest in Milwaukee, but ever since I saw Nichole Kiddman in Far And Away, when I hear a female accent like that my heart melts like butter.

Then when I see actresses like Rachel Weisz, with the cute innocent baby doll eyes and the librarian outfit, again my spine gives way and I melt like butter...

Hmmm? maybe it was because Moreen O'hara in The Quiet Man... But throw in the Red Hair and I'm ready to take over a small country!

Simply not fair and not my fault

 

[C-dot]

lol
My husband, who is a real working-class Cockney, thinks she sounds hilariously bad in this movie! But he still loves her anyway!

Oh yeah, she was terrible lol I think it added to the overall charm of the performance, though. "Wipe my mouth!!"

 

[Edward]

Zx

Maybe it's all the years working with the Irish Cultural Society or Irish Fest in Milwaukee, but ever since I saw Nichole Kiddman in Far And Away, when I hear a female accent like that my heart melts like butter.

Then when I see actresses like Rachel Weisz, with the cute innocent baby doll eyes and the librarian outfit, again my spine gives way and I melt like butter...

Hmmm? maybe it was because Moreen O'hara in The Quiet Man... But throw in the Red Hair and I'm ready to take over a small country!

Simply not fair and not my fault

Only George Lucas could have made Far and Away worse. Dreadful, dreadful film. Both leads made Mick Jagger sound like a native...

 

[Edward]

Like on the IT Crowd "You'll loick this, it's groit crahck." lol

That *is* Chris O'Dowd's own accent, though.

 

[VitaminG]

That *is* Chris O'Dowd's own accent, though.

only it wasn't Chris O'Dowd delivering that line - it was a Londoner patronising him when he found out he was Irish

 

[Amy Jeanne]

The best accent is Leslie's Howard's posh British accent in the deep American South in GWTW. lol

 

[hatophile]

The best accent is Leslie's Howard's posh British accent in the deep American South in GWTW. lol

Wasn't Ashley educated at Hahvahd?

 

[C-dot]

only it wasn't Chris O'Dowd delivering that line - it was a Londoner patronising him when he found out he was Irish

Yes, to which he answers "Mad for crack!"

The best accent is Leslie's Howard's posh British accent in the deep American South in GWTW. lol

That was interesting, especially when you consider that Vivien Leigh was British and did a wonderful Southern accent! Which is something I believe we overlooked: she did it in both Gone With The Wind and A Streetcar Named Desire - Two of the most famous Southern Belles in history.

I'm also reminded of the Southern twang Elizabeth Taylor used in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'm a big fan of the idea that Ancient Romans always spoke with posh British accents. What ho, Brutus?

 

[Widebrim]

For an Aussie, Russell Crowe did a pretty good '50s Angeleno accent in L.A. Confidential (although he never said "Las Angle-es").

 

[Trombone]

Fargo by the Cohen brothers. I had no idea Minnesotans had a distinct accent, never mind the particular accent depicted in the film.

Minnesotans do have a distinct accent, but I thought Frances McDormand overdid it by a wide margin. I loved the movie though.

I take a huge offense to this!

We Minnesotans do not talk like this (we're not Sarah Palin!). You have to search the lakes to find someone who talks like that, and there's a better chance of finding someone talking like that in Wisconsin or North Dakota! You go sit in a chair and each your hotdish! We get a bad rap because we are the home of Paul Bunyan, ya know Do ya think I'm proud of my state...YOU BETCHA, AHUH!

Fargo's a good movie, so is Grumpy Old Men (and yes, there are a lot of Gustafsons in my state), but you want a real Minnesotan accent, watch the 1985 film, That Was Then, This Is Now staring Emilio Estevez, yeah, we sound like many other non-Minnesotans.

Minnesota Rant Over...

 

[Flipped Lid]

Huh? Good grief! I said she overdid it by a wide margin. Just for the record, I've been to Minnesota probably thirty times in my life and the folks up there all have a very distinct accent. I live in the Midwest and I know I have an accent. I'm not offended when someone tells me, but your mileage obviously varies.

I take a huge offense to this!