Most convincing artificial accents in the movies

[doczinn]

American is a lot more than one accent.  Same goes for English accents, and others.   

True; what I meant, and should have said, was one type of accent.

[roo_ster]

I was born in Iowa and spent the first few years of my life in the Midwest.

I have since lived in Georgia, Florida, Arkansas, Texas, and spent some time in SW Missouri.

So, I am not an expert in Southern dialects, but I have a certain familiarity.  What is jarring to me is to see some actress playing a gal from the Ozarks with an accent that sounds like she watched Gone with the Wind too many times.

My own accent is mostly Midwestern with some South/Western colloquialisms, but has some odd grammar I picked up from my grandparents, whose first language was Low German.

[Perd Hapley]

You know, that Natalie Portman did a great English accent in them pirate movies. 

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

You know, that Natalie Portman did a great English accent in them pirate movies. 

That was Lindsay Lohan.

[robear]

That was Lindsay Lohan.

Actually it was Keira Knightley, and she IS British.

[Iain]

Actually it was Keira Knightley, and she IS British.

Whoosh

[robear]

Whoosh

Was that the sound of a joke flying over my head?   Wouldn't be the first time.

[Perd Hapley]

Hee-hee.   

[BlueStarLizzard]

i will say renee zelwegger in Cold Mountain had a good grasp of Appalachian. also. kidman did well for a southern bell, and her natural soft spokeness aided her as well. however, jud law got a bit on my nerves.

i would say that river and badger are supposed to have a more historical cockney anyway. that would fit more with the general theme of the show. occasionally, the old west lexicon would get to me as forced, especially with non regular characters.

nobody has mentioned Depp, but i liked him a lot in From Hell. i thought he did a good job.

as for colin ferrel, you can tell when he's been allowed to drink/party and get away with being lazy by a director. when he's on the spot doing his job, he can nail an american accent. in stuff like S.W.A.T. you can hear him slip up a lot.

iain, correct me if i'm wrong, but most americans don't really get the diffrence between modern cockney and the classical cleaned victorian type cockney. Layer Cake is the modern.

[Iain]

iain, correct me if i'm wrong, but most americans don't really get the diffrence between modern cockney and the classical cleaned victorian type cockney. Layer Cake is the modern.

Haven't seen Layer Cake. Supposedly only a very small area of London is truly Cockney, but the pervasiveness of the Laan-dan and Essex accents and Estuary English in British films has meant that quite a lot of people have picked up aspects of that sort of speech.

I'm really not sure how much of the c19th Cockney stuff, with its associated rhyming slang, is a dramatic stereotype popularised by adaptations of Oliver Twist and the like.

Footballers as an example of the diversity of British accents:

Stuart Pearce - quite London-y
Jamie Carragher - have fun with that one
Alan Shearer - intelligible Geordie accent
Gary Neville - Manchester accent

[freedom lover]

Iain: I have a question. Is Eddie Stone's accent lowland Scott or highland? I would assume its lowland.

He's the round faced guy in blue that starts talking at 1:10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55zawUndP50

Sorry I couldn't find a better vid.

As for annoying accents what gets me is the stylized fake southern twang put on by many country music singers in their songs. I know accents are regional there as well as here, and I'll admit I know few southerners but I have never heard ANYONE speak like that.

[seeker_two]

nobody has mentioned Depp, but i liked him a lot in From Hell. i thought he did a good job.

Don't forget SWEENEY TODD....he even had to sing with the accent...

iain, correct me if i'm wrong, but most americans don't really get the diffrence between modern cockney and the classical cleaned victorian type cockney. Layer Cake is the modern.

...thanks again....Daniel Craig's accents from LAYER CAKE to the Bond films was notable..

[Iain]

Iain: I have a question. Is Eddie Stone's accent lowland Scott or highland? I would assume its lowland.

Haven't a clue with Scottish accents. Googling him indicates that he grew up in Campbeltown, Argyllshire. That's on the very narrow finger of land that extends into the sea west and to the south of Glasgow. Although attached to the mainland it is to the west of the isle of Arran. Nearer to Northern Ireland than to Glasgow.

I'm not very attuned to Scottish accents, I'm much more sensitive to south-western accents. It annoys me when people do the broad 'Oooh aarrr Faaarmer Giles' and call it a Cornish accent - but it's the Gloucestershire accent that sounds like that. Cornish doesn't, can't find a video, you'll have to take my word for it.

[Jocassee]

Haven't seen Layer Cake. Supposedly only a very small area of London is truly Cockney, but the pervasiveness of the Laan-dan and Essex accents and Estuary English in British films has meant that quite a lot of people have picked up aspects of that sort of speech.

I'm really not sure how much of the c19th Cockney stuff, with its associated rhyming slang, is a dramatic stereotype popularised by adaptations of Oliver Twist and the like.

Orwell spent a great deal of time among poor urban populations and documents their speech, esp the cockney. The rhyming slang you just mentioned is something he described in detail. Quite interesting.

[Hutch]

As a lifelong Southerner, allow me to disabuse you of the notion that Michael Cainea in Secondhand Lions got it right.  It's horrible.  Nothing is so grating as a (n obviously fake) Southern accent.  Among the worst were the aforemetionined Caine, Olympia Dukakis in Steel Magnolias, and Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump.  Curiously, I think Hanks got much better coaching for his accent in The Green Mile.  Not nearly so bad.

[freedom lover]

As a lifelong Southerner, allow me to disabuse you of the notion that Michael Cainea in Secondhand Lions got it right.

Who are you replying to? I've never even heard of the guy.

[S. Williamson]

Who are you replying to? I've never even heard of the guy.

Posts 9 and 22 on the first page.  The "a" at the end of the name is a typo; undoubtedly, he means Michael Caine.

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

As a lifelong Southerner

What area of the South? Texan here, and the accent sounded pretty close to the ones I've heard for years.

[Hutch]

F. Savalas, I am from Alabama.  I have done phone support for computer S/W before, and I have at least weekly been asked if I'm from Texas, usually by a Canuck or Northeasterner.  Those are the same group that mis-hear me when I introduce myself as Mike, and call me Mark.

I am astonished to hear that Caine's accent rings true to you.  Both my wife (Alabaman) and I cringed thru the movie when he spoke.  No "in your grill" argument, as I certainly can't tell you what your opinion should be in this matter.

I now also recall Shirley McClain's (sp?) "accent" in Steel Magnolias.  Buncha hooey.

Regional accents are making a comeback, I believe.  It was popular opinion in earlier decades, when major corporations paid to move employees from one section of the country, and there was much more internal migration, that these accents would sort of blend away.  Now, I doubt it.

[CNYCacher]

Hello, my name is Amy Walker. . .

[doczinn]

Her southern is a bit off, so I suspect others are as well. Very impressive anyway.

[tyme]

Would anyone from the U.K. care to comment on David Anders' accent in Alias?  I was quite impressed when I read that he's an American, but that could be because fake U.K.-region accents are so rare in Hollywood.