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Roight, then! Oi'm Anne Hathaway. Pip pip cheerio.
No matter your opinion of "The Help's" take on 1960s social issues, we can likely all agree on this: Emma Stone's fake Southern accent is ... not great. Today, the similarly bad-accent-plagued Anne Hathaway film "One Day" opens -- a movie that owes much of its Internet buzz to Hathaway's dreadful attempt (so they say! We haven't seen the film) to sound British.
But take it easy on Stone and Hathaway. Emerging research suggests that, at least for some, the ability to imitate an accent may be innate, related to the shape of the brain's auditory cortex.
Neurologist Sophie Scott recently published a study that looked at images of the brains of phoneticians, specialists in phonetics who are able to pick up very subtle differences to regional accents. Through these brain scans, called magnetic resonance imaging, Scott and a team of neuroscientists found differences between the phoneticians and the non-phonetician control group in the shape of the left auditory cortex -- a part of the brain that's developed before birth.
"So I'm sure we won't only find this with phonetics; it's possible that impressionists will have this as well," Scott told the Guardian last month. "It does suggest a biological explanation as to why some people might find the world of sound and speech more interesting."
It's true that with practice, almost anyone can at least improve their ability to imitate accents, says Dr. Amee P. Shah, associate professor and research director in Cleveland State University's speech and hearing program. But Shah, who has taught workshops on "accent modification," says some people she works with, who want a flat, "American" accent, easily pick it up within a few sessions; others struggle for weeks.
Shah also points out that when we're talking actors, accent mimicry goes hand in hand with "how well they're imitating everything about a person. ... Research does show that (mimicry ability) correlates with someone's ability to do good acting," Shah says. Ouch, Stone and Hathaway. Ouch.
What's the worst movie accent you can remember? Leave a comment complaining away.
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Actually many use speech therapists to either remove their accents or learn a new one.
Worst? Absolutely Kevin Costner in Robin Hood-Prince of Thieves. Fun movie, but such a poor attempt to sound authentic.
Did Costner even try? I agree with him being the worst.
Oh amen and amen.
Same here.
Prince John: "And what makes you think the people willow follow you?"
Robin Hood: "Because I, unlike other Robin Hoods, can speak with an English accent."
Don't forget his 1/2 brother Christian Slater, his was even worse. Watch teh scene where he tells him that they had teh same father and asks Costner if " he is going to finish what he started?" Possibly THE worst accent moment I have ever heard. Just sayin'. :)
That's funny! Kevin Costner was the FIRST person I thought of, too....
To be entirely fair about this, it should be mentioned that Cary Elwes (Robin Hood, in Robin Hood: Men In Tights) is an Englishman, who was doing an English accent. ;D
However, I would have to say that he gets my "Best American Accent" vote. For the movie Saw. (Believe it or not!)
Johnny Depp would be my "Best English Accent" vote. (Although I felt that in Sweeny Todd, he used a more 'natural' accent, than he did in Pirates of the Carribbean.)
JMO
Alas you are wrong. Robin hood was pretty terrible. But shortly thereafter Kostner did a movie about the Cuban Missle Crisis and actually TRIED to do an accent. It...just look it up. It was supposed to be a new England accent and it was... kind of spanish or something.
My least favorite actor. There is very few movies that Kevin Costner is in that I like.
Worst fake accent ever? Sarah Palin's faux-folksy accent. The one she uses when she's trying to be adorable.
Yeah, that is almost up there with people who insert their partisan rhetoric in response to non-political stories.
Spot-on Casey13!
That's right up there with Dubya trying to sound like a real Texan, when he's a coddled, rich, spoiled Northeasterner.
It can be a problem if you are in an area long enough to pick up the local accent (which I have done). People may think you are making fun of them, but I don't realize I am doing it until it is pointed out. I've even done it after watching a bunch of BBC shows at home.
I travel a lot, and that happens to me too. Just start unintentionally picking up the accent very quickly, and it seems to locals that I am mimicking them....
My mother first noticed this ability in me. We had an exchange student staying with us for a few days (a break for the regular host family). By the time he left our home, my speech patterns and sounds mirrored his. Once I realized that this came easy to me, I used it to generate a lot of laughs during high school, and even went on to help record some radio dramas while in college. I still enjoy various voices and accents. If it were not for caller ID, I'd have a lot more fun calling home and talking to the kids.
I still remember a time (when we didn't have caller ID) when I convinced one of my sons that a military detachment was on the way to the house with supplies, and that he had better have the table cleared by the time they arrived. When my wife and I arrived after our trip to the grocery store (the "supplies"), he wouldn't believe that it was actually I that had called him. Such memories!
Some years back, I flew cross country (USA) from NY with a seatmate from Ireland and my speech patterns started to fall in rhythm with his as we talk about travelling experiences. When we parted ways at our destination, people noticed I had an accent -- it faded away fairly quickly.
I've had the same experience when I go to Montreal and visit the CA branch of the family.
This happens to me as well, PJ. I live across the border from Canada, and go there often. When I'm there for even a few hours, I notice that I come home with Canadian inflections in my voice. Last month I spent three days in Toronto with a friend, and when I got home my husband teased me that I had exchanged myself for the Canadian model while I was gone. I used to think it was all in my head, but other people say they hear it in my voice, and think I'm putting it on deliberately. But it's all completely unconscious; it just happens, and then gradually fades away a day or so after I return. I've never been to other countries, but hearing your story I wonder if it would happen there as well. Interesting!
I am very interested in accents and quite good at them myself. I have noticed that a few people can live here for 6 months and have only the slightest of accents while others sound like thaye just stepped off the plane after being here 20 years. Fascinating stuff.
Fake Southern accents drive me nuts. I can't stand watching The Closer because of that.
Nicolas Cage's Southern accent in "Con Air" was offensively awful. So very bad.
The closer is absolutely horrible!!! It's like she's chewing jerky or something .....with a bizarre cadence.
I'm from Texas, have a light "Houston" accent, now live in New Orleans, and VERY VERY few people can get that one, mainly because there about three distinctive New Orleans accents. The most egregious one to my southern ears is leaving off the final g on everything. We may say everthang, but no southerner I have ever heard says everthin. Curiously, I believe English actors get it right more often. Perhaps they really listen instead of going with the Hollywood stereotype southern hick/dumass accent.
Hollywood has never gotten its mind around the fact that there are a lot of different Southern accents. My vote for one of the best and one of the worst Southern accents in a movie are both in the movie "Big Fish" -- Ewan McGregor's accent is terrible, but Albert Finney's is incredibly good.
Kivrin - LOL! I completely agree. It was painful to listen to. The absolute worst! I can't watch anything with Nicholas Cage in it without thinking of the stupid "put down the bunn-ay" line he says in that film. Cringe.
I actually like the Closer, but after 5 years in LA, you would think she could "lose it". I try to tune her voice out!
I agree. 20 years ago I would have said there was only one Southern accent, but after living in the south for this long I've gotten an ear for the nuances. One co-worker said there was a real push to lose the accent when he was in school (1960s-1970s Raleigh,NC).
When I go north now I find those accents harsh.....
If you live in NC, you'll find several accents depending on which end of the state you're sitting as well as how high in altitude you are! I've got a mild southern accent after living here for 29 yrs, but there are still some mountain folks that I CANNOT understand! ....Oh, and we drop the "g" off the end of words around here! Never noticed it until I started listening to recorded lectures from my coworkers (and self!).
Beverly, you haven't been around many Southern people, then. Or else, you haven't paid attention. The dropped G is a dialectical feature of Southern American English, as any linguist can explain to you. That you claim not to hear it has no meaning to established linguistics.
The worst is Tony Curtis in one of his first movies playing an Arab prince- "Yonda is de palace of my Fadda"- translation?- "Yonder is the palace of my father"
but he wasn't faking!
Although I love Michelle Rodriguez and have a huge crush on her, the on again-off again British accent she had in BloodRayne was terrible.
Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins.
Not only is it an awful attempt at Cockney - it isn't even as good as Mockney, let alone approaching the pinnacle that is Spinal Tap's Squatney - but it's also the accent that Americans seem to think is appropriate to throw at you when you say you're from the London area. Infuriating to the point of inviting a physical response. Truly, no other bad movie accent can be as bad as this one.
The absolute worst was Tony Curtis in one of his first staring films The Black Shield of Falworth. Its hysterical.
I'm still trying to figure out the casting of two native Noo Yawkers (Scarlett Johannson and Natalie Portman) as the Boleyn sisters in "The Other Boleyn Girl". Tony may have been their dialog coach.
Many of the people in my office are British, and I've become very good at guessing what Country/region they are from based on their accent. It's especially fun with the British, because there are so many kinds of British accents!
(If you're wondering, most of them are from south Scotland or northern England.)
I can also decently imitate Cockney, Cambridge, and what most people think of as the "standard English" accents, though it's definitely harder than being able to just tell them apart in native speakers.
I've never thought of myself as a very good actor, but maybe I just need some coaching?
Definatley Kevin Costner in Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves. His accent was terrible, but good for a laugh.
I don't know, Costner was bad, but Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder in "Dracula" were pretty horrible, too. Reeves had some kind of weird British/Surfer thing going on and Ryder was just...bad.
Agreed. While Costner was awful, the duo of Reeves and Ryder left my ears bleeding for weeks. The only good thing in that movie was Gary Oldman.
Yeah, Keanu's Reeves' accent ruined the whole movie for me....
Has Keanu Reeves ever not ruined a movie?
How 'bout another Kevin, i.e. Kline, attempting Richard III: "A hoss, a hoss! Mah kingdom for a hoss!"
Re: accents, for some reason a friend and I would get silly after having a beer and start joking around in fake southern accents, neither of us are from the south, and we'd have a great time. It was like we could better express a more laid back part of our personalities that way. I think our accents were pretty good!
interesting article. I have been good at various accents since childhood. My family actually "requests" different ones. Southern, Northern ("dontcha know!"), Boston, NY, Mexican, etc. Comes very easily to me. I am sure I've offended certain ppl when they think I'm making fun of them when I start talking back to them in their own accent, but it's purely my ear picking it up and mirroring what I hear. I like "being" different ppl. Always nice to be able to amuse ones self! LOL!
Yeah. I was bawn in Noo Yawk and I lived in uthu places in da kuntry- like da Deep Sout. Dose peeple shaw tawk funny! Fowatunately, I don't have any aksent!
All joking aside, regional accents are often used to negatively sterotype people i.e. NY'ers are all con artists who just step over dead people lying in the street on their way to work, Southerners are dumb hillbillies who sleep with their sisters.
WORST - Kevin Spacey in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil".. I can't remember the exact quote I read but it was something like "There are 38 different regional variations on a Southern accent. Spacey missed them all". He's one of my favorite actors but yeah, that was a terrible accent..
Jack Nicholson is a great actor. Yet his attempt to pull-off a Brooklyn/Italian-American mobster accent in Prizzi's Honor (1985) is not only unsuccessful, but is rendered almost absurd by the addition of the weird, over-the-top lisp-like lip-pursing he adds to the mix. The result is almost like play-acting and bears no resemblance to any accent I've seen before (or since).
but his lines more than made up for it!
.
What's worse than Sean Connery's non-attempt at a Russian accent in 'The Hunt for Red October'? Love the movie anyway though :)
Have you listened to Craig Ferguson's stand-up about this? It's pretty great.
Or in Highlander, where he's supposed to be a Spaniard, and the one that's supposed to be Scottish is played by a Belgian?
oops, hate when I double post!
I'd like to post about one of the BEST accents out there -- Hugh Laurie's American accent on "House." It's nuanced and real. He's daaaaaaamn good. And when you hear the dismal attempts of other Brits trying to do American accents, you appreciate him even more. Meanwhile, Anne Hathaway, whilst being a sweet person I'm sure, is no great shakes in the acting department for starters, but when you add a foreign accent it's all just too much to bear. This new movie "One Day" looks AWFUL. The trailer already stinks up the place. People who can't innately grab accent should just STEER CLEAR of those roles. PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU.
Amanda Tapping (Stargate SG1) deserves props too. I was floored when I found out she was Canadian - I would've bet money she was American. I was giving her compliments for her BRITISH accent when "Sanctuary" started.
Yes - Hugh Laurie has it nailed!
The late, great Sir Peter Ustinov was another Brit who could shame us Yanks with his ability to mimic regional accents. I once heard him vocally "wander" around the US with dead-on versions Brooklynese, southern drawl, and midwestern flatness just to name a few.
I agree with you about Hugh Laurie. Another actor that floored me when he spoke is Englander Andrew Lincoln who plays Sheriff Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead. Amazing.
Amen to this thread! I think Kevin Costner is completely incapable of any accent other than his own folksy pseudo-southern.
Honorable mention to the Former Governor of California, who has lived almost exclusively in the USA since 1968! C'mon Arnold, can't you get a little more comprehensible?! Maybe the Kennedy accents messed him up.
"Maybe the Kennedy accents messed him up."
Uh, no.
Canadian accents are forever. We're pretty close to the border, there's lots of back-and-forth here, but that "oot and aboot" for "out and about" never goes away. I just picked someone out as a Canada native, and she has lived in Michigan for over 20 years. I still heard the accent in the "oo" sound instead of "ow", it's actually quite a charming accent.
I was born and raised in Detroit, now living in LA, and folks here (and in other parts of the US and world) variously think I'm Irish, Scots or Canadian. I guess we picked up more from the Canucks than hockey, eh?
Like curling, Molson's, Labatt's and Channel 99, out'a Windsor.
Some Michiganders tend to add an "s" to nouns in speaking. I shop at "K-Marts" instead of "K-Mart", "Meijers" instead of "Meijer", and--seriously, I've said this--"Searses" instead of "Sears". Clearly, I'm a native, because I don't have the money to shop at "Lord and Taylors" or "Neiman-Marcus-ses". (I didn't add apostrophes, because I'm trying to convey sounds, but they could be included.)
'bye, gotta run to Krogers!
Oh, lord, my sister does that (add "s") constantly - took me years to overcome that. I'm going home in a few weeks - can't wait to re-acquaint myself with Labatt Blue (Molson is good, but I've always been a Labatt man).
It's Labatts and Molsons.
Essie, put down the apostrophes and back away slowly.
An apostrophe is used to indicate missing letters (a contraction) or possession.
It doesn't belong on mere plurals. Don't do that. Ever.
Kevin Costner in Robin Hood - awful! However, you really shouldn't say "British accent" since there are hundreds. Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish and a multitude of English accents.
Costner in Robin Hood (English)
Costner in 13 Days (Boston/Mass)
Costner should stop playing anybody with an accent other than Southern/Western.
Rob Morrow in Quiz Show (Boston/Mass) was a bit distracting. Great movie though.
On another note Gweneth Paltrow is really good at British accents. A Brit I worked with actually thought she was British and told me her "American accent" in a recent movie was horrible.
Keanu Reeves in Shakespeare's "Much ado about nothing" from the mid 90s. His accent made me cringe and ruined the whole movie for me.
It was the same accent he used in "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure". The WORST ever.
Keanu doesn't need an accent to ruin a movie, though...
No, Keanu in ANY movie ...... his "British" accent in Dracula.... his "Southern" accent in "The Devil's Advocate" .... in Drac, I kept waiting for: "Oh, sorry, your dudeship, I didn't know I'd totally harshed your mellow!"
I like him in "Constantine." What? He's good in that part, and no accent required.