I thought her attempt at an Australian accent in *Evil Angels * (aka A Cry in the Dark) was terrible.
Out of interest, what’s the opinion of the Americans here on the accents in Band of Brothers, given that a higher-than-you’d think percentage of that cast is British as well?
Hey, I’m watching that right now.
Damien Lewis’s (Captain Winters) accent is pretty good, but it definetely doesn’t seem natural. He talks real slowly and deliberately in real life and that kind of makes his accent seem forced.
Marc Warren (Private Blithe), whom I just realized is the guy from Hustle, sounds like he’s doing a passable Carolina type accent. Again, its pretty deliberate, but that might just be how his character is supposed to talk.
Shane Taylor (“Doc” Roe) had to do a Cajun accent which is pretty difficult for anyone who hasn’t heard it their whole life to try and attempt. I’m not entirely sure if he’s accurate. It doesn’t sound Cajun, but it definetely doesn’t sound British.
Those are the three that come to mind immediately and they’re all fairly good, as were all the other aspects of that series.
I think he spoke in his native accent when he guested as Daphne’s no-good brother on Frasier.
Wait, she’s from Michigan. Ummm…
Oh, yes, Hugh Laurie as House, very good, yes. :slinks out:
But Daphne’s supposedly English isn’t she? Her accent sounds a bit Scouse to my ears. Why would her brother have an Australian accent?
Which means he can do what most Americans can’t.
Regarding whether Americans or Brits have an easier time doing each other’s accents, I’d guess that Brits have it easier. In the first place I’m pretty sure they get more access to hearing bona fide American accents than Americans do to bona fide British accents. In fact I’d say that non-Americans in general get to hear more real American accents than Americans get to here real non-American accents.
Additionally the regional differences in American English are not as pronounced as in British English so its easier for Brits to choose which accent to use (whereas Americans will often have the problem mentioned above in connection to Brad Pitt where he used bits from a bunch of different regional accents).
Daphne was from Manchester. However, I thought her brother sounded more Cockney. (Not being from the UK, how much of a difference is there between Cockney and Manchester accents?)
Oh, and as an American I think Hugh Laurie’s accent in house it pretty good.
I was under the impression that most Brits thought that Anthony LaPaglia’s accent as Daphne’s brother was a mess. He was supposed to be from Manchester, but his accent came out like a bad try at Cockney. I blame whoever the casting director was for Frasier for hiring LaPaglia without checking if he could do a Manchester accent.
Daphne is an example of an English actress doing an English accent very badly. Jane Leeves is from London/Sussex and does a terrible Mancunian accent.
Yes. The reason I asked: I have a waiter friend who said one of his English customers pronounced it AHL-buh-muh. I wondered if maybe that was common over there.
Nope, never heard that one at all.
I’ve read an interview with Jane Leeves, where she said it was a deliberatly-false accent, because it needed to be one recognisably-British to American ears, but also one they could understand. Not patronising, just realistic - a genuine working-class Mancunian accent would cause as much trouble as Trainspotting did.
Pointless trivia - there was one genuine Mancunian in the main cast of Frasier. John Mahoney - Marty Crane - was born there.
Was she supposed to be American? I always assumed she was expat European, just on accent alone. She’s just “Laura”, no obvious surname, IIRC.
Jonathon La Paglia, Anthony’s brother, was never obviously not American in Seven Days.*Interesting to find out he’s a qualified MD.
How was Cillian Murphy (Irish) in Batman Begins? I seem to recall him sounding pretty American.
Melanie Lynskey (Kiwi) doesn’t sound off to me as Rose in Two and a Half Men*
- I know these are not Brit, but I think we’ve drifted away from that
foolsguinea, referring to Madonna, said: “Huh. Funny, I think her natural Philly accent is so sexy. But I can see why she would try something like that.”
Why would she have a Philly accent? Wasn’t she raised in Detroit?
I think some people are going to get a bit of a shock when they watch The Wind That Shakes The Barley and hear Cillian Murphy’s real (Cork) accent.
He’s done American in Batman Begins and Redeye, and Irishman living in the UK in 28 Days Later, he even managed a passable Ulster accent in Breakfast on Pluto, but most people won’t have heard him speak like a true Corkman.
You mean Jamie Bamber? I had no idea he wasn’t American either!
I also have to remind myself that Paltrow is American and Hugh Laurie isn’t.
In my experience, it seems that it’s easier for a foreigner to do American than the other way around. I wonder if it’s the exposure rate… do people outside of America hear a lot more American accents than Americans hear Brits or Australians?
I meant to add: Hugh Jackman does well in XMen, unless he gets really mad, then his Aussie shows.
Madonna is from Detroit.