# Movies with inappropriate fake accents
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 10, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462 "2005-08-10T16:37:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/21 "2005-08-10T18:37:21Z")
> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> In the trailers for the movie [The Brothers Grimm](http://imdb.com/title/tt0355295/), U.S. born Matt Damon and Australian Heath Ledger both speak in lower-class British accents. I find this annoying considering that the Brothers Grimm lived in what’s now Germany and probably wouldn’t even have recognized a modern stock-company lower class British accent.
Since the real Brothers Grimm were linguists and folklorists and not the con men they are in this movie, I wouldn’t let myself get too bothered by this “mistake.” The movie is supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek, fantasy-adventure romp and not an earnest biography of the Grimms. However, if you’re a fan of Terry Gilliam’s movies, I would be worried about the fact this movie has has been buried among the summer “dog days” releases and that Gilliam, after having his suggestions overruled by the studio, supposedly decided to do this movie only to collect a paycheck.
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### Author:  [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/22 "2005-08-10T18:52:15Z")
> [@NDP](#):
>
> However, if you’re a fan of Terry Gilliam’s movies, I would be worried about the fact this movie has has been buried among the summer “dog days” releases and that Gilliam, after having his suggestions overruled by the studio, supposedly decided to do this movie only to collect a paycheck.
It was originally scheduled for a January or February release, I believe, which is even worse than August, so I haven’t given up hope. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/23 "2005-08-10T18:53:05Z")
> [@Raguleader](#):
>
> Re: Picard’s accent: I think there’s some fanon (fan canon)
Also known as “fan wanking.”
> [@](#):
>
> (IIRC, Dr. Bashir on DS9 was supposed to be Russian, despite his overwhelming Britishness, right down to joining O’Brien for Battle of Britain reenactments in the Holodeck)
I don’t remember any suggestion of Bashir being Russian, but it doesn’t make sense to me. “Bashir” is an Arabic name (and Siddig El Fadil is half Sudanese Arabic). His middle name is “Subatoi,” which also seems to be a Semitic name. His mother’s name is “Amsha,” which seems to be an Arabic or Indian name and she was played by Fadwa El Guindi, an Arab. His father, Richard, was played by Brian George, an Israeli-born actor who has made his career playing Indians and Pakistanis. All of this implies to me that Bashir has Semitic or Indian origins, not Russian.
> [@](#):
>
> Of course, maybe Picard was just schooled abroad, or affected the accent to screw with peoples’ heads (always keep 'em guessing!)
In _Generations_, Picard’s fantasy life was very Anglo and not at all French. It seems likely that he has both English and French heritage.
> [@](#):
>
> As for Costner’s accent, it wasn’t faked, and that’s what miffs people.
In that case, it still misses one of the criteria.
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### Author:  [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/24 "2005-08-10T18:57:05Z")
Oh, another example that comes to mind. Ewan McGreggor as Grimes in Black Hawk Down. He played a US Army Ranger with a distinct English accent. Of course, I stopped complaining about that when I heard how the guy ACTUALLY talks on an interview once. That is a thick accent the man has, and it’s certainly not the English one he used in Black Hawk Down or Star Wars.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Ioan Grufford is excellent at mimicking both English and American accents (at least well enough for this Texan not to be able to tell he was faking before I found out he was Welsh). For years I didn’t realize that he was in Black Hawk Down because he didn’t have the English accent I was used to identifying him by (from the Hornblower movies). Of course, he was only in Black Hawk Down for all of 5 minutes, tops, and was dressed identically to everyone else in the room.
Also, anyone who has seen “The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia”, how good a job does Mark Hamil do of trying to sound Southern? I don’t know Southern accents well enough to tell, but his seemed to stick out from everyone else’s in the movie.
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### Author:  [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/25 "2005-08-10T19:02:02Z")
> [@Raguleader](#):
>
> Oh, another example that comes to mind. Ewan McGreggor as Grimes in Black Hawk Down.
He seems pretty authentic in _Big Fish_, but I’m way more familiar with Kentucky and Carolina accents than Alabama, so I can’t be positive.
And on the slight-hijack subject of non-Americans pulling off perfect American accents–has anybody seen the trailer for _Red Eye_? I almost didn’t recognize Cillian Murphy because he sounded so damn American. Of course, that can be said for most of the cast of _Batman Begins_, it seems. 😃
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/26 "2005-08-10T19:06:27Z")
> [@Raguleader](#):
>
> Oh, another example that comes to mind. Ewan McGreggor … That is a thick accent the man has, and it’s certainly not the English one he used in Black Hawk Down or Star Wars.
He’s a Scot. I wonder how close his real accent is to the Edinburgh accent of _Trainspotting_’s heroes.
> [@](#):
>
> Ioan Grufford
There are no _R_s in the spelling or pronunciation of Ioan Gruffudd’s name. Think of it as a variation of “Griffith.”
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/27 "2005-08-10T19:09:06Z")
> [@acsenray](#):
>
> His middle name is “Subatoi,” which also seems to be a Semitic name. .
steppes, actually, Subotai was a general under Ghengis Khan running the armies that entered eastern europe and made it all the way through Hungary.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/28 "2005-08-10T19:09:39Z")
> [@Draelin](#):
>
> And on the slight-hijack subject of non-Americans pulling off perfect American accents
In my opinion, Rachel Griffiths in _Six Feet Under_ does the best fake American accent I’ve ever heard. It’s to the point that I can no longer imagine her Australian accent at all.
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/29 "2005-08-10T19:13:46Z")
> [@acsenray](#):
>
> There are no _R_s in the spelling or pronunciation of Ioan G **r** uffudd’s name.
(bolding mine) Say what?
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### Author:  [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/30 "2005-08-10T19:18:22Z")
> [@bordelond](#):
>
> Yep.
>
> Dennis Quaid, in _The Big Easy_, plays a native New Orleanian and “accordingly” puts on a Cajun accent. However, nobody born and raised in the New Orleans area speaks with a Cajun accent (which is found in rural areas about 100 miles west and southwest of the city). There are several legitimate New Orleans accents – some of which approach the stock Brooklynese – but Cajun is not one of them.
>
> I’m sure making the mental leaps from “New Orleans” to “Louisiana” to “Cajun!” was convenient – but it was intellectually lazy, IMHO.
Speaking of this, is Emeril Lagasse’s (“Kick it up a notch! Bam!”) accent New Orleans or New York? I know he came up as a a chef in New Orleans but he sounds like he’s from New York. He sounds like he’s from Long Island or Brooklyn or somewhere???
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/31 "2005-08-10T19:19:10Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#):
>
> (bolding mine) Say what?
:smack: In the _second syllable_ of his name. D’oh!
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### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/32 "2005-08-10T19:24:13Z")
Mickey Rooney, _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_, the less said the better.
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### Author:  [@bryanmaguire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanmaguire)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/33 "2005-08-10T19:38:58Z")
> [@Sampiro](#):
>
> I thought Jude Law (U.K.), Brendan Gleeson (U.K.), Ray Winstone (U.K.) and Nicole Kidman (Au.) all did good southern accents in _Cold Mountain_, for example; it was odd watching them do readings from the book on the “Music of Cold Mountain” special becaue they had their natural English/Irish/Australian lilts.
Minor nitpick but Brendan Gleeson is Irish.
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### Author:  [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/34 "2005-08-10T19:53:50Z")
> [@acsenray](#):
>
> :smack: In the _second syllable_ of his name. D’oh!
Now, stand your ground, man! You were right! There ARE no "R"s in Ioan Gruffudd’s name. There IS an “r” however. 😃
On the subject of his accenting abilities, though, I have to mention when he did the intros for the documentaries History Channel did about King Arthur. He starts with his textbook Horatio Hornblower middle-class English accent, and then as he continues to speak, it begins to slowly transition into a more Welshish accent (or what I assume is a Welsh accent) until, by the time he’s done with his intro, it’s kinda difficult to understand what he’s saying. Then, for the rest of the episode, it’s either Patrick Stewart or someone who sounds just like him narrating. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/35 "2005-08-10T19:57:32Z")
> [@hajario](#):
>
> Mickey Rooney, _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_, the less said the better.
I thought it was kinda funny how in the movie the guy said Holly couldn’t do a convincing English accent, so he taught her to speak French, which somehow allowed her to affect an English accent. Then, for all of I think one line, she picks up the Okie accent (or something similar) right after her song-and-guitar routine at her window before switchign back to Audrey Hepburne English (Keep in mind, the character was supposed to be from Oklahoma, so it’s not weird that she picked up an Okie accent but that she only used it for the briefest period of time).
Love that movie.
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/36 "2005-08-10T20:14:53Z")
> [@hajario](#):
>
> Mickey Rooney, _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_, the less said the better.
Mickey put the Asian in Caucasian. (“Mizzes Go-right-ry I plo-test!”)
Buddy Ebsen had a good accent in that movie for a Chicago boy.
I love some of the old Western movies in which the Indians (usually played by Mexican or otherwise darkskinned white actors) speak in broken English (and ‘white man speak with forked tongue’ cliches) when _when they’re talking to each other_! Or Hogan’s Heroes, where the Nazis played by Americans (like Tennessee born Howard Caine as Major Hochstetter) have way thicker German accents than the cast members who were actually born in Germany.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/37 "2005-08-10T20:21:09Z")
Another whack on the dead horse: 99% of all movies set in the South. I’ve lived here for nearly 42 years and have heard maybe 1 or 2 people who sound like that.
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### Author:  [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/38 "2005-08-10T20:34:58Z")
> [@devilsknew](#):
>
> Speaking of this, is Emeril Lagasse’s (“Kick it up a notch! Bam!”) accent New Orleans or New York? I know he came up as a a chef in New Orleans but he sounds like he’s from New York. He sounds like he’s from Long Island or Brooklyn or somewhere???
Emeril’s accent is probably a melange. He is of Portugese and Qubecois ancestry, and was born in Fall River, MA (Boston accent in use that far towards Providence?). He worked for a family bakery in Fall River, and went to culinary school in Providence, so I am assuming he spent all of his formative years near Fall River.
IIRC, Emeril spent much of the late 1980s to mid 1990s working in New Orleans. He was an adult by then, though there still may have been some assimlatory influence on his accent.
All that said – a lot of people in New Orleans talk a lot like Emeril. The main – but subtle – differences would be in use of vocabulary and of some familiar New Orleans catch phrases (“How’s ya mom ‘n’ dem?” in place of “How’s your family”).
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### Author:  [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/39 "2005-08-10T20:47:48Z")
I really dislike movies where non-English-speakers talk to each other in accented English. In _The Boys from Brazil_ for example, all the Germans speak to each other in German-accented English. Also in _K12: the Widowmaker_ all the Russians speak to each other in Russian-accented English.
Either speak regular English or in the foreign language with subtitles. Non-English-speakers speaking in accented English to each other is just silly and distracting.
RE: Picard. I’ve mentioned this before, but I see no reason to believe that Picard is French and that all French people in the 24th century either learn English as a second language or learn English at the same time as French. I also have no trouble believing that the brand of English they learn is of the British variety. Why teach a Frenchman American English?
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### Author:  [@uglybeech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uglybeech)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-inappropriate-fake-accents/316462/40 "2005-08-10T20:49:00Z")
> [@butler1850](#):
>
> Any movie, set in Boston, containing actors that aren’t from Boston.
>
> If you aren’t “from here” you can’t do the accent. Period.
>
> Granted, I’m from here, but trained out the accent years ago. I often get grief about claiming that I’m a “native” as I don’t have the accent… until I’ve had a few big drinks, or I’m working on 20 hours or so without sleep.
>
> -Butler
Oh my God yes. It invariably ends up being some bastardization of a New York accent.
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