The 10 Worst Accents in Movie History- Page 3

[Color and Light]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 3:33am

I still can't wrap my brain around any sort of casting that involves Keanu Reeves speaking in anything but his typical "dude" accent. After Dracula, Much Ado About Nothing, and -perhaps the most excruciating- Little Buddha, I've had enough!

[nmartin]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 8:46am

spiderdj82 is exactly right about Southern accents. For the most part in any movie, play or tv show I have ever seen, the accents are terrible. I am a Southerner and no one down here sounds like that...only idiots who "think" they know what Southerners sound like.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 9:42am

As fabulous as Dick Van Dyke is in Poppins, and he is terrific... his accent IS terrible.

Who cares? Well, it was even mentioned in the original reviews for the film as being terrible... and some believe it cost him an Oscar nomination.

Still, I can't see anyone else in the part, to this day. He's every bit as good as Julie Andrews in that movie...

...except for the damn accent.

The last one I remember being noticeably terrible was Michael Caine's in The Cider House Rules. It was also mentioned in the reviews... and he won an Oscar anyway (for a terrific performance with a crappy accent). I guess Academy voters softened up over the years.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 9:47am

There are plenty of legendary performances by actors who didn't even attempt regional accents.

Clark Gable in Gone With the Wind... Rhett's from Charleston, SC... with NO accent whatsoever. (He actually told them in advance, he wouldn't do one PERIOD.)

W.C. Fields in David Copperfield... brilliant! No accent.

Oh! And I forgot another Oscar-winning sucky accent: Spencer Tracy's "Manuel" in Captains Courageous. Ouch.

Updated On: 3/26/07 at 09:47 AM

[StageManager2]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 9:51am

Leslie Howard didn't try for an accent in GWTW, either. In fact, he looks bored. I hate him in that movie. Besides, he's miscast. Ashley should be in his early twenties, not some over-the-hill fortysomething.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 10:07am

SM2---He was bored because HE thought he was too old for the movie, and he didn't want to do it. Selznick agreed to let Howard produce "Intermezzo" if he would play the part of Ashley in GWTW. That's how they got him for it. He hated the wig and makeup they made him wear to "young" him up. It was a very uncomfortable experience for him.

Clark Gable was in a similar situation. Selznick gave up the distribution rights to MGM for GWTW just to borrow Gable for the lead. And MGM agreed to pay for Gable's messy and expensive divorce so he could marry Carole Lombard... all to get him to play Rhett Butler.

Neither actor wanted to be in that movie. They thought it would be "career suicide" to tackle the world's most popular novel. And neither wanted to play the second banana male roles in a "woman's picture." And it turns out to be the roles they are most remembered for.

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 10:24am

Even though Leslie Howard was miscast, I still think he's wonderful in that movie. Of course, I'm a huge fan of his anyway and GWTW is far from his best work, but it's still excellent aside from factors that were beyond his control, i.e. his age.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 10:29am

Everybody knew "Ashley" was a terrible part. He can't commit to anything, won't follow his heart OR his head, and he's a genteel wuss of a noble Southern gentleman.

Yeah! Sign me up for that!!

Blecch.

Still, many fans and many in the industry wanted to see Howard in this part... and that's why Selznick went after him. Once they saw his screen test, it was clear they had to nab him for Ashley.

EDIT: I will say this... It doesn't bother me that he has a modified British accent as Ashley. We don't know everything about his past, and he or his parents could have easily come from England to the South, just as Mr. O'Hara came from Ireland (via Thomas Mitchell and his modified Irish accent). It works fine for me.

Updated On: 3/26/07 at 10:29 AM

[StageManager2]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 10:32am

In the book, I preferred Ashley to Rhett (more my type), but that's just me.

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 10:41am

I love the part of Ashley, but he's a Southern genteel wuss.

GWTW is one of my all-time favorite movies, but some actors just aren't into playing (what may be perceived as) flawed, unlikeable or unheroic characters.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 10:46am

I meant, Ashley was more up my alley. I could understand why Scarlett pined for him. Rhett, not so much.

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 10:51am

I never really got into Rhett either. Clark Gable, although I think he's a wonderful actor, always looked oily and smarmy in that movie. I think Leslie Howard was way better looking, even if he was a jellyfish of a man. Hmmm... I guess most of the men in that movie weren't really ideal. I might as well just pick that Yankee who knocked up the white trash girl at the beginning of the movie. At least he married her later on.

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 3/26/07 at 3:12pm

Colin Farell pretending to be American in "Phonebooth"

Ralph Fiennes pretending to be American in "Maid in Manhattan" (or anything else)