# Bad Southern Accents in Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 29, 2004, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-southern-accents-in-movies/266637 "2004-09-29T06:31:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-southern-accents-in-movies/266637/41 "2004-09-29T22:16:32Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Wasn’t that the whole point? I mean, considering his _actual_ origin. He spoke the way a Northerner would think Southerners speak. > > (Note: I didn’t see the movie, but I’ve read King’s story). I didn’t read the book or see the movie, so you may be right. My review of Turturro’s accent is based on seeing extended previews of the movie. > [@Mississippienne](#): > > Not from the Appalachias, but in my part of Mississippi we pronounce ‘something’ as ‘sum’im’ with a soft gottal stop in the middle. Yes, I believe you’ve described the pronunciation better than I. It is the same here. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-southern-accents-in-movies/266637/42 "2004-09-29T22:26:42Z")
Most offensive recently was _Big Fish_. Helena Bonham Carter’s came closest to being acceptable, but only because she seemed to have the attitude of “I’m affecting an accent, so by damn I’m going to run with it” and didn’t care for accuracy so much as the feeling of the thing. Jessica Lange did a pretty good job, too. The other big names dropped the ball, and all the child actors – oy! > [@vibrotronica](#): > > Kenneth Branagh did a killer Georgia accent in Dead Again (I think). I remember being amazed that it was identifiably Georgian instead of generic “Southern”. I don’t think we’re talking about the same movie. _Dead Again_ was the one where he and Emma Thompson were reincarnations of ex-lovers from the 30’s, right? It was all set in LA, and he was affecting (a **lot** ) a “generic American” – actually, LA – accent. His big tagline was “I’m not Roman!” and he sounded just like Mira Sorvino to my ears. > [@Lynn Bodoni](#): > > I don’t recall ever hearing a GOOD southern accent in a movie. Natascha Richardson in _Nell_ just nailed it. I know dozens of women who talk exactly like she did in that movie – well-educated, living in an urban area, with enough of the accent that it doesn’t come out in certain words but colors everything she said. (Of course, I’ve heard people point hers out as one of the worst they’ve heard, so to each his own). I thought Jodie Foster in _Silence of the Lambs_ was really good too; you could tell it was affected, but it sounded like someone trying to get rid of a strong accent – it flared up when she was under stress. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-southern-accents-in-movies/266637/43 "2004-09-29T23:24:00Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I see nobody will admit to having seen **Con Air** , home of (IMHO) the worst movie Southern accent, bar none. Oh crap. I forgot about that one. That could be the [winner](http://new.wavlist.com/movies/054/con-bunny2.wav). ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-southern-accents-in-movies/266637/44 "2004-09-29T23:29:01Z")
I don’t recall being bothered by Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump. But in **LadyKillers** his accent was so distracting that at first I thought the Coen’s wanted him to play obviously false and he would be revealed to be a Yankee or Brit or something – but no such luck. I \*think \* he was being serious. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-southern-accents-in-movies/266637/45 "2004-09-29T23:45:04Z")
> [@jimmmy](#): > > I don’t recall being bothered by Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump. But in **LadyKillers** his accent was so distracting that at first I thought the Coen’s wanted him to play obviously false and he would be revealed to be a Yankee or Brit or something – but no such luck. I \*think \* he was being serious. Serious? There wasn’t a serious moment in the movie. _Every_ character spoke with exaggerated accents or mannerisms. Hanks especially was playing what essentially was a cartoon character. ---
**Author:** ![YWalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/6f9a4e/32.png) [@YWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWalker)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-southern-accents-in-movies/266637/46 "2004-09-30T00:20:33Z")
Charlton Heston, starring in a TV miniseries called _Chiefs_ was memorably bad. It was such a shock to see someone I knew to be a good actor totally ruin it on a horrendous accent. Hey, **CrazyCatLady** — My Mom grew up in Paintsville at about the same time that Loretta Lynn was growing up nearby. My Mom sounded nothing like her, but when I went up there to visit my Grandma, I heard some cousins and plenty of other folks who did. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-southern-accents-in-movies/266637/47 "2004-09-30T01:29:54Z")
Duvall also nailed the accent in _The Apostle_. I think that most of the other actors were authentic. ---
**Author:** ![Jplacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85f322/32.png) [@Jplacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jplacer)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-southern-accents-in-movies/266637/48 "2004-09-30T05:11:06Z")
> [@Strainger](#): > > I’ve always been impressed whenever Tom Berenger does a Southern accent (I see he was born in Chicago) Tom Berenger lives on the South Carolina coast. His house is in Beaufort, near Hilton Head. ---
**Author:** ![kka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/54ee81/32.png) [@kka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kka)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-southern-accents-in-movies/266637/49 "2004-09-30T12:34:26Z")
[QUOTE=lissener] The leading southern dialect coach in Hollywood (memory of an old NPR profile) is a guy in New York who’s never been south of Greenwich Village. This is the guy who they had teach Julia Roberts a Georgia accent for Steel Magnolias. See, she was pronouncing her Rs, but this guy said she should be dropping them. Oh, and Julia Roberts is from Georgia. [QUOTE] I thought Steel Magnolias was supposed to be set in Louisiana? ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-southern-accents-in-movies/266637/50 "2004-09-30T13:49:54Z")
Someone mentioned Jessica Lange in **Big Fish.** She, too, lives here in VA (Charlottesville), as does Sissy Spacek. Both of them are very down to earth and pleasant - Robert Duval not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-southern-accents-in-movies/266637/51 "2004-09-30T13:59:23Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I see nobody will admit to having seen **Con Air** , home of (IMHO) the worst movie Southern accent, bar none. We were all pretending that the accent never happened. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bad-southern-accents-in-movies/266637.md?page=2)