STREEP TO PLAY MRS. LOVETT IN FILM!! -- I heard it from someone in LA who w- Page 5

[FOAnatic]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 7:27pm

Exactly, Munk.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 7:30pm

And remember when the dingo ate her baby? We could barely understand her, her Aussie accent was THAT GOOD.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 7:34pm

Yes, and her accents were equally "terrible" in FRENCH LT. WOMAN, IRONWEED, and OUT OF AFRICA. Old Tin Ear. That's what they call Meryl.

[sicetergo]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 7:35pm

"She can't do acccents? I hope you're joking.

Her accents in SOPHIE'S CHOICE and ANGELS IN AMERICA were perfect"

Yes and the performance became all about the accent. Her Australian accent was dire and her English RP laughable, in that no-one has ever spoken like that. In the words of Geilgud, it was her "party-piece".

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 7:40pm

Sicetergo, its fine if you don't like Streep, but seriously to criticize her dialect skills renders you laughable. I don't care if Geilgud thought her English RP was "party-piece" - a great many more celebrities and phonetics teachers have praised her as one of the finest masters of dialect in the history of American acting.

[sicetergo]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 7:50pm

There is a difference between being able to emulate an accent or dialect and use it convincingly. I would say that Streep's ability as an American actress to do this is noteworthy because the bar is set pretty low. Whereas in the UK it's not particulary noteworthy because a wide range of accents is expected as an absolute norm in the theatre. I'm sorry she doesn't convince me. And I can wheel just as many experts to back that up.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 7:52pm

Really? Because other than Kate Winslet, UK actors seem to have a hell of a time with American accents.

Even the great Glenda Jackson sucked at it.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 7:53pm

Name three actresses who have shown as many varieties of dialect in their film careers and have done it as well as Streep and I'll be a little more convinced of your arguement.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 7:57pm

WOW!!! What a great choice!! Hopefully we'll get an official announcement soon! I'm really pulling for Sweeney to be a hit movie unlike Rent, Phantom & Producers.

Maybe with Dreamgirls coming in December it'll start a long list of great movie musicals. Dreamgirls, then Hairspray, then Sweeney Todd, then....???

Updated On: 9/16/06 at 07:57 PM

[sicetergo]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 8:24pm

American actreses don't seem to excel in it at all - as Robert Easton, Hollywood's leading voice and dialect coach said in conversation not so long ago, "Americans are not used to listening. When they can do it {the accent} they show it off"

It becomes like Eliza at the races, lots of style but no substance.

British actors don't get that many chances to have that sort of film career so it's difficult to give fim examples. However, I would point you at the stage career of Dench, Thompson and Mirren who have been called upon to perform various Irish accents - North Sout, Belfast, Dublin; Scottish accents - the notoriously hard Glaswegian, Fife, Edinburgh along with all the various English dialects, as well as assorted American and European accents.

Streep is great at the generic on the surface but she doesn't get convincing because the accent doesn't come from anywhere for instance her RP was perfect, except that it wasn't grounded in the reality of where the RP came from - she sounded exactly, what was a foreigner who'd learnt to speak the language. She'll undoubtedly do an Eastend accent but it won't be one that obviously comes from anywhere.

BTW - I took my Father (an American) and his new wife (an American) to see the revival of Sunday in the Park with George lately in London. And they complained about the broad and unauthentic American accent employed by one of the actors. This was also highlighted by an American reviewer of the cd. The only problem was that the actor in question was the only American in the cast...so based on that unscientific straw poll, I'm slightly dubious about American's ability to judge whether an accent "sucks" or not...





Updated On: 9/16/06 at 08:24 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 8:49pm

Well, to be fair, SWEENEY TODD is somewhat of a musical fantasy and will be even more so in a Tim Burton directed film: I'm not sure even Angela Lansbury was doing the kind of detailed "pinpointed to a particular street in London" dialect that would have pleased a professor of phonetics like Henry Higgens, nor would I argue do some of the other brits like Julia McKenzie or Shelia Hancock who have played the role.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 8:53pm

Yes, all Americans are exactly alike. If they thought the accent was bad, I'm sure we all would have thought that.

Glenda Jackson as Patricia Neal is only one of the glaringly bad attempted performances by a Brit of an American accent. They can do Southern because that's very distinctive, but any other American dialect is generally lost on them.

[best12bars]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 9:01pm

sicetergo --- You haven't done your homework, when many others have.

When "Sophie's Choice" was first released, I was studying voice (rather intensely) at the university with a professor who had formerly been a leading tenor with the New York City Opera. He was from both German AND Polish decent, and spoke both languages fluently, in addition to having one of the best "ears" for accents, pitch, and musicality, in general, that I've ever encountered before or since.

I remember his comments and high praise about Meryl's astounding work as Sophie... specifically pertaining to her accents while speaking THREE languages in the film (English, Polish and German). He was particularly taken with her German accent, since she apparently was speaking all her GERMAN lines... with a POLISH accent! He knew this, because he knew the dialects and languages very well himself.

Now, how many audience members would actually know this watching the movie? ...That Meryl "bothered" to speak her German dialogue... with a POLISH accent that was true to the character of Sophie?

I really think you're off-base here in your assessment of her talents, skills, and dedication to perfection in performance.

She has an incredible "ear," and this comes from experts in languages and dialects, as well as people who have "lived" in the very languages themselves.

[sicetergo]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 9:08pm

"Angela Lansbury was doing the kind of detailed "pinpointed to a particular street in London" dialect that would have pleased a professor of phonetics like Henry Higgens, nor would I argue do some of the other brits like Julia McKenzie or Shelia Hancock who have played the role."

Angela Lansbury was certainly not doing any kind of a cockmney acent that anyone would recognize as such. Hancock and McKenzie certainly did.

"I really think you're off-base here in your assessment of her talents, skills, and dedication to perfection in performance."

I may well be but she's an actress I have little time for and it's only my opinion.

"sicetergo --- You haven't done your homework, when many others have."

I never mentioned her Polish accent in Sophie's Choice it's a film that I've neglected to see. But my Polish friends loved sending her up. As for Out of Africa - I wonder if that is how Karen Blixen would have spoken, given that she was fluent in English and so many Danes of her class have excellent English accents....


"Yes, all Americans are exactly alike. If they thought the accent was bad, I'm sure we all would have thought that. "

Of course. I wasn't suggesting that.


Updated On: 9/16/06 at 09:08 PM

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 10:27pm

Who has time for Streep's accent when we are subjected to all those ticks?

[SweeneyTodd3]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 10:31pm

OT if cindy lauper gets piked do you think she will be beter or wors at acting then madona

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 10:35pm

A tick would be a better actor than Madonna.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 11:12pm

I think Kate Winslet's American accent is a little overdone (along with Christian Bale sometimes) to be honest. I can forgive that because she's such a tremendous actress, though.

I think Emily Watson does American accents pretty effectively.

[alterego]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 11:50pm

While I admire Streep I think she is a little too old next to Depp. I also would have prefered someone a little more, um blowsey.

Rath, Streep's accent in EVIL ANGELS was not that good to Aussie ears.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 11:54pm

Cyndi is a better actress than Madonna.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 11:55pm

Well, what do I know from Aussie accents anyway?

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 9/16/06 at 11:58pm

"I also would have prefered someone a little more, um blowsey"

She's pretty blowsey in Death Becomes Her.

[FoscasBohemianDream]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 12:01am

Well, from what I've read on the board it was Sondheim's request that the actress who plays Lovett is older than Depp.

[alterego]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 12:04am

Blowsey as in just out of bed, been through the mill.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 9/17/06 at 12:05am

Emma Thompson is older than Depp.

And British.