# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/41 "2012-07-16T08:05:55Z")
In Day Of The Dead the guy playing John(the pilot) has the most bizarre fake Jamaican accent I’ve ever heard. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/42 "2012-07-16T08:35:59Z")
I thought _Highlander_ topped the polls for the worst ever movie accents… > [@](#): > > Sean Connery is meant to be Egyptian-via-Spain. Christopher Lambert is meant to be Scottish. So that’s a Scot playing an Egyptian and a Frenchman playing a Scot. Si ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/43 "2012-07-16T08:54:19Z")
> [@MacSpon](#): > > Australian accent, surely. (He was supposed to be a parody of Rupert Murdoch, IIRC.) I haven’t seen the film, only clips, but I’m pretty sure it’s specified he’s from New Zealand. If you’re right with the Murdoch comparison, then I guess it’s just an extra degree of differentiation. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/44 "2012-07-16T08:58:57Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I don’t know if this counts, but in the animated series _Star Wars: Clone Wars_ the actor who voices the Clone Troopers, Dee Bradley Baker, is trying to emulate the New Zealand accent of Temuera Morrison. He does a terrible job of it. > > . I don’t think it is simply a poor imitation, he seems to be channeling some older American WW2 movies. I got a good laugh out of the episode where the clone cadets were in barracks and one starts talking about women…and then another tells him he has never even SEEN a woman.😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/45 "2012-07-16T09:15:21Z")
Baker and James Arnold Taylor on _The Clone Wars_ both say “kant” and not “cahnt” for “can’t” and “fasst” instead of “fahst” for “fast” when doing non-U.S. accents. Otherwise, I find their accents quite good. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/46 "2012-07-16T11:05:02Z")
I guess. Still irritates me, though. Ironically, Daniel Logan, who has voiced young Boba Fett in the animated series since he originated the role in _Attack of the Clones_, a genuine Kiwi of course, is losing his accent the longer he lives in America. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/47 "2012-07-16T11:21:45Z")
> [@tomcar](#): > > This falls into the “it’s so bad, it’s good” class. Malkovich hamming it up as a Russian is one of my favorite things about the movie. That bad accent and eating the Oreos… awesome. Wow. I have a really lousy ear for accents. I assumed Malkovich got the Teddy KGB role on the strength of his accent. Same goes for many of the other cited movies in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/48 "2012-07-16T12:12:51Z")
> [@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. How about Julia Roberts in _Michael Collins_? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/49 "2012-07-16T12:35:50Z")
> [@Shakester](#): > > Meryl Streep doing the worst Australian accent ever in Evil Angels AKA A Cry in the Dark. Guess you didn’t see Jude Law in [Contagion](http://video.au.msn.com/watch/video/jude-laws-awful-australian-accent-in-contagion/xac9k70)? ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/50 "2012-07-16T14:00:09Z")
Gene Hackman’s attempt at a Polish accent in _A Bridge too Far_ hurts my ears every time. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/51 "2012-07-16T15:21:04Z")
Meryl Streep in _Silkwood_. If you’re going to do a horribly bad accent, woman, at least _stay in it_ for Og’s sake! I can’t think of much anything more humiliating than being out-acted by Cher and Kurt Russell. ---
**Author:** ![Arabella\_Flynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8491ac/32.png) [@Arabella\_Flynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arabella_Flynn)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/52 "2012-07-16T15:42:11Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > It always sounds sort of nasally to me, is that how they sound to actual Americans? It tends to sound as if they think all Americans are from either Brooklyn or Texas. Some of them can even do a pretty good Brooklyn-or-Texas – it’s just that those two accents are very distinctive to Americans, and it’s jarring when a character seems to have one for no apparent reason. There are several neutral American accents (Hugh Laurie does a very, very good west coast one), but very few actors manage to hit them. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/53 "2012-07-16T18:08:18Z")
Nick Nolte got a raft of shit for his Italian accent in _[Lorenzo’s Oil](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104756/)_, but I saw an interview with the man he was playing, Augusto Odone, and damned if he didn’t sound exactly the same. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/54 "2012-07-16T20:21:00Z")
I don’t know if that’s how some people sound in Louisiana, but everyone in Steel Magnolias gets my nomination. Even Julia Roberts, who is from Georgia. In fact she grew up quite near me, so our accents should be similar, but she is doing something totally off in the movie. (Again, unless that’s how they actually talk there.) Dolly’s is at least real, but it’s Tennessee real, not Louisiana real. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/55 "2012-07-16T21:30:56Z")
> [@mrpayday](#): > > Sean Connery’s Lithuanian accent in The Hunt for Red October? His French accent in “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” wasn’t fantastic, either. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/56 "2012-07-16T21:49:35Z")
Jar Jar Binks had the worst accent ever in any movie, ever, really, ever, even considering it was the accent of of a non-existent alien species. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/57 "2012-07-16T22:33:47Z")
> [@Labtrash](#): > > Carrie Fisher switched accents a few times in Star Wars. She actually jokes about this herself in _Wishful Drinking_ (which would be a funny show except she needs to speed it up by about 20%). Anthony Hopkins is that rare British actor who does not do a good American accent. His inner Brit (RADA trained/Welsh born so whatever that makes his regular speaking voice) slipped out several times when playing _Nixon_ and in the abysmal _Road to Wellville_ among others. I’ve mentioned before, but Lucas Black is a native of north Alabama, yet when he played Helen Keller’s brother (who was from north Alabama) in a TV remake of _The Miracle Worker_ he spoke in a southern accent so ridiculous I can only assume it was the director’s choice. ---
**Author:** ![medicated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@medicated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medicated)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/58 "2012-07-16T22:52:12Z")
Perhaps I missed it, but has anyone mentioned Keanu Reeves in _Dracula_? I can only imagine that there were boos when English audiences first heard him speak. Speaking of which: I saw _The Pantom Menace_ at a theatre in Glasgow. When Ewan McGregor first spoke in his Alec Guinness accent, a few people actually did make disapproving sounds. Hillarious 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/59 "2012-07-16T23:57:52Z")
> [@Labtrash](#): > > Carrie Fisher switched accents a few times in Star Wars. Not sure if I’m being whooshed here, but that’s deliberate, ya know. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287/60 "2012-07-17T00:34:18Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Not sure if I’m being whooshed here, but that’s deliberate, ya know. Yeah doesn’t she have a formal accent and then an everyday one? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-accent-in-a-film/628287.md?page=4)