# Worst accent in a film... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 15, 2012, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287 "2012-07-15T09:47:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/21 "2012-07-15T18:19:16Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > 90% of BBC stock actors doing American accents. It always sounds sort of nasally to me, is that how they sound to actual Americans? I don’t think Simon Pegg and Andy Serkis quite pulled off Northern Irish accents for Burke & Hare for the parts of the north that their characters came from, but (edited to add) I’m not sure how changed those accents should be over the years since the actual Burke and Hare lived. ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/22 "2012-07-15T18:43:39Z")
Brad Pitt in [The Devil’s Own](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RozG2ejdeh8), perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/23 "2012-07-15T18:43:48Z")
Andie MacDowell in _Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes_, at least we can assume since her entire part was dubbed over by Glenn Close The guy who dubbed over Mel Gibson in the American release of _Mad Max_, which did absolutely nothing to make the film feel like it was set in any place other than Australia. CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/24 "2012-07-15T19:32:54Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Brad Pitt in [The Devil’s Own](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RozG2ejdeh8), perhaps? Not Irish but I can repeat what I have heard. I heard Brad Pitt praised by Irish folk for his accent. He was doing Belfast not Dublin. A very different accent and one that Americans are not used to. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/25 "2012-07-15T19:37:02Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Brad Pitt in [The Devil’s Own](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RozG2ejdeh8), perhaps? That example is always trotted out in these threads. He wouldn’t win any awards for it but it’s not the worst Irish accent I’ve heard in a film. Not by a long shot. Tommy Lee Jones’ accent in [Blown Away](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INERGITKOcE), for example, was way worse. I’m going to nominate Tommy Steele in [Finian’s Rainbow](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BMOcExbWek) though. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/26 "2012-07-15T19:53:29Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > His accent didn’t wander at all - it was solidly American throughout the entire movie. When the film came out, one of my friends opined, “It would’ve been a perfectly good film had they just changed the title to, 'Kevin Costner, American Time Traveler Extraordinaire!” ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/27 "2012-07-15T20:02:37Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > That example is always trotted out in these threads. He wouldn’t win any awards for it but it’s not the worst Irish accent I’ve heard in a film. Not by a long shot. Tommy Lee Jones’ accent in [Blown Away](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INERGITKOcE), for example, was way worse. I’m going to nominate Tommy Steele in [Finian’s Rainbow](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BMOcExbWek) though. Or how about Richard Gere in The Jackal? ---
**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:** [July 15, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/28 "2012-07-15T20:13:58Z")
> [@ArrMatey](#): > > When the film came out, one of my friends opined, “It would’ve been a perfectly good film had they just changed the title to, 'Kevin Costner, American Time Traveler Extraordinaire!” This isn’t an excuse, but strictly speaking, a modern English accent is no closer to a 13th-Century English accent than an American accent is. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/29 "2012-07-15T20:19:16Z")
It’s a pretty minor part in a widely-panned movie, but Allison Eastwood did a fine Texas accent with a bit of Appalachian twang in the movie adaptation of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Unfortunately, she was aiming for a South Georgia accent, which is pretty far-removed from Texas or the mountains. And her shortcomings were highlighted by Kevin Spacey’s fabulous turn as Jim Williams. (Not to mention all the locals in the movie who were using their own normal accents - Emma Kelly, Sonny Seiler, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/30 "2012-07-15T21:14:26Z")
Rosanna Arquette doing a Québécois accent in [The Whole Nine Yards](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190138/). It sounds more like a Paris accent than a Montréal one. ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/31 "2012-07-15T22:09:50Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Also, Kevin Kline’s godawful New Zealand accent in _Fierce Creatures_. Australian accent, surely. (He was supposed to be a parody of Rupert Murdoch, IIRC.) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/32 "2012-07-15T23:29:04Z")
Robin Williams speaking Russian in _Moscow on the Hudson._ Even if you know the language, it’s easier to just read the subtitles than to try and understand what he’s saying. As an aside, Gibbs’s attempts to speak Russian on “NCIS” are unintentionally hilarious. Ditto for Chris O’Donnell’s attempts on “NCIS: LA.” It’s even worse when they have real Russians playing Russians. I don’t know how they keep from cracking up! ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2012, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/33 "2012-07-15T23:30:35Z")
Brad Pitt’s… is that supposed to Austrian?? In 7 Years in Tibet has got to be up there… ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/34 "2012-07-16T05:31:52Z")
One of the worst American accents I’ve ever heard is Genevieve O’Reilly’s on the show Spooks. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/u3CSFM0PbCQ/hqdefault.jpg "Spooks 8 Ep2 Lucas North Sarah Caulfield") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3CSFM0PbCQ) She’s so far off that she sounds like an American making a horrible attempt to perform an Irish accent, except for three random words that she pronounces like she was channeling the ghost of an epileptic Fran Drescher. ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/35 "2012-07-16T05:38:09Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > One of the worst American accents I’ve ever heard is Genevieve O’Reilly’s on the show Spooks. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3CSFM0PbCQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3CSFM0PbCQ) > > She’s so far off that she sounds like an American making a horrible attempt to perform an Irish accent, except for three random words that she pronounces like she was channeling the ghost of an epileptic Fran Drescher. Hey, something just came to me. She says Franklin was her favorite president. I hope some of our British posters know what’s wrong with that. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/36 "2012-07-16T07:10:01Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > Hey, something just came to me. She says Franklin was her favorite president. I hope some of our British posters know what’s wrong with that. She’s too young to have been on first name terms with Roosevelt? ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/37 "2012-07-16T07:27:18Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Not Irish but I can repeat what I have heard. I heard Brad Pitt praised by Irish folk for his accent. He was doing Belfast not Dublin. A very different accent and one that Americans are not used to. FWIW, my great-grandfather was full-blooded Irish. Unfortunately, he has passed away, and I don’t know exactly where in Ireland he was from. But I remember him being upset to the point of offended about Pitt’s accent. I can’t tell you exactly what problems he had with it, so I’ll just chalk it up to him being old at the time the film came out. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/38 "2012-07-16T07:41:17Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > Hey, something just came to me. She says Franklin was her favorite president. I hope some of our British posters know what’s wrong with that. I’ll say! President Franklin (#14) was considered crappy due to being depressed and ineffectual the whole time. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SecretaryofEvil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@SecretaryofEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SecretaryofEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/39 "2012-07-16T07:54:02Z")
> [@WotNot](#): > > She’s too young to have been on first name terms with Roosevelt? > [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I’ll say! President Franklin (#14) was considered crappy due to being depressed and ineffectual the whole time. 😉 My favorite president is James. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/40 "2012-07-16T07:56:42Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Or how about Richard Gere in The Jackal? It’s been a while but yeah that one was rather comical too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287.md?page=3)