Best & Worst accents performed in a movie

[AndyD]

I thought this could be a good topic for discussion but also a cringe worthy one at the same time.

I would like to know the members opinions on what are the best & worst accents performed by actors in film. Whether the movie is popular, well known or a straight-to-dvd crapfest, it doesn't matter. Just give the actor/actress name, the movie, what accent they did or tried to do and whether it was good or not (in your opinion of course).

You can get into specific regional accents if you want.
I imagine bad accents are going to outnumber the good but we'll see.

Also, please comment only if you know what said accent really should sound like and not what you imagine it in your head.

OK, I'll get things started...

Good

Leonardo DiCaprio - Blood Diamond - South African accent: I thought Leo pulled off a terrific South African accent here.

Brad Pitt - Snatch - Irish (traveller/gipsy) accent - For what it was, Pitt actually did a very good job with this accent.

Christian Bale - Dark Night trilogy - American: Bale can pull off a solid American accent with little effort it would seem

Bad

Julia Roberts - Michael Collins - Irish accent: No Julia...just no.

Richard Gere - The Jackal - Irish accent - Awful Irish accent from Gere here

Michael Fassbender - X-Men: First Class - English accent: He didn't hide his Irish accent well enough in the latter half of the movie IMO. This ones open for debate here since his character is not actually English but as he becomes Ian McKellen's Magneto, I'm commenting on the English accent

Mel Gibson - Braveheart - Scottish: Not a great accent here. Not truly awful but still falls into my bad category

[Zero_Cool]

Kevin Costner using an English accent for Robin Hood.

[pap64]

I have here both the best AND the worst accent ever...





Seriously, Dick Van Dyke's accent in Mary Poppins is legendary at this point. It is bad because it is a ridiculously over the top effort on Dick's part, and it is constantly slipping in and out. Yet, it is great because it really adds a lot to Bert's character, so I can't imagine Bert without his really fake cockney accent.

[tigertron]

Good

Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond - He had a convincing South African accent.

Andrew Lincoln in the Walking Dead - He really does sound like hes from the Southern States.

Sam Worthington in Avatar - thought he sounded quite convincing and managed to disguise his Australian accent well.

Bad

Tom Hardy in TDKR - What was he supposed to be? English or American? he would be speaking with a posh English accent one minute then an American accent the next.

Liam Neeson in Taken - I loved him in this but he sounded more Irish than American. Or was he supposed to be Irish?

[leey]

Originally Posted by tigertron

Good

Leonardo DiCaprio in Blood Diamond - He had a convincing South African accent.

Andrew Lincoln in the Walking Dead - He really does sound like hes from the Southern States.

Sam Worthington in Avatar - thought he sounded quite convincing and managed to disguise his Australian accent well.

Bad

Tom Hardy in TDKR - What was he supposed to be? English or American? he would be speaking with a posh English accent one minute then an American accent the next.

Liam Neeson in Taken - I loved him in this but he sounded more Irish than American. Or was he supposed to be Irish?

Hardy did the "Santa Prisca"-accent. Caribbean-alike English accent. I thought he pulled it quite well.

[El_Jay]

Originally Posted by leey

Hardy did the "Santa Prisca"-accent. Caribbean-alike English accent. I thought he pulled it quite well.

Santa Prisca is close to Cuba and Bane in the series and video games sounds Hispanic. Just sayin', I don't think they were aiming for that region.

[csdot]

Originally Posted by tigertron

Bad

Tom Hardy in TDKR - What was he supposed to be? English or American? he would be speaking with a posh English accent one minute then an American accent the next.

it was supposed to be Irish

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by pap64

I have here both the best AND the worst accent ever...





Seriously, Dick Van Dyke's accent in Mary Poppins is legendary at this point. It is bad because it is a ridiculously over the top effort on Dick's part, and it is constantly slipping in and out. Yet, it is great because it really adds a lot to Bert's character, so I can't imagine Bert without his really fake cockney accent.

I always felt that Dick Van Dyke wasn't playing someone with an actual Cockney accent, but someone pretending to have a Cockney accent. Who is Bert in that movie, anyway? He's like Puck, breaking the 4th wall, always showing up and gently motivating the plot. He's a magical figure who knows more than he lets on. I don't know, as soon as I saw the thread title I wondered how many posts it would take for Van Dyke's Bert to show up -- it's just never bothered me in the slightest, because I don't think Bert is really serious about it. I just find it part of the film's charm.

[SirMontyPython]

That guy that plays Jason Stackhouse (his name escapes me) in True Blood plays a very awesome Southern accent, and here he's British!!

I know it's not a movie, but dammit it's worth mentioning!

[Saints 2010]

Originally Posted by SirMontyPython

That guy that plays Jason Stackhouse (his name escapes me) in True Blood plays a very awesome Southern accent, and here he's British!!

I know it's not a movie, but dammit it's worth mentioning!

You're thinking of Ryan Kwanten, he's Aussie by the way.

[El_Jay]

Strange, I actually thought DiCaprio's SA was a little weak, and Brad Pitt's accent in Snatch is so bad they had to write a gypsy character around him to accommodate it.

I'm always impressed at how well English and Aussie actors can pull off American accents while most American's struggle with them.

Good:

Matt Damon, Good Will Hunting.

Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood.

Al Pacino, Scarface.

Johnny Depp, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Guy Pearce, LA Confidential.

Tom Hardy, Warrior.

Alec Baldwin, The Departed.

Bad:

Angelina Jolie, Alexander.

Tim Roth, Reservoir Dogs.

[Clark Kent]

Originally Posted by El_Jay

Strange, I actually thought DiCaprio's SA was a little weak, and Brad Pitt's accent in Snatch is so bad they had to write a gypsy character around him to accommodate it.

I'm always impressed at how well English and Aussie actors can pull off American accents while most American's struggle with them.

It's easier for native Brits to imitate an American accent than the other way around. The normal American accent is flatter and has less inflection than the typical working-class British accent, making it easier to perform. Most linguists think the current American accent is actually closer to the British accent of several hundred years ago and that modern Americans sound closer to what the British sounded like in the past, than an actual modern Brit.

[Bluray_ne1]

John Lithgow's brittish accent in Cliffhanger was attrocious.

[spolcyc]

Maria Bello In The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. The British accent was horrible. Why coudn't they get..I don't know.. someone who was actually british to play the role.

[Rocket75]

Don Cheadle's british accent in the "Oceans Trilogy" is pretty horrendous

[Kaiju]

Originally Posted by spolcyc

Maria Bello In The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. The British accent was horrible. Why coudn't they get..I don't know.. someone who was actually british to play the role.

Lol indeed.

[Mahatma]

Originally Posted by Bluray_ne1

John Lithgow's brittish accent in Cliffhanger was attrocious.

I disagree.One of the better villains in screen history

[RocShemp]

Originally Posted by andydlp

Michael Fassbender - X-Men: First Class - English accent: He didn't hide his Irish accent well enough in the latter half of the movie IMO. This ones open for debate here since his character is not actually English but as he becomes Ian McKellen's Magneto, I'm commenting on the English accent

Although his end speech is the most glaringly obvious moment, he slips in and out of his Irish accent throughout the entire movie.

And apparently he does not become Ian McKellan's Magneto. Fassbender stated in an interview that he studied McKellan's take on the role but chose to ignore it completely and go his own way. And Vaughn has stated that, although First Class (and it's upcoming sequel) shares elements with the other films, it's actually a reboot and exists in its own continuity.

[kiltymchaggis]

One of the worst accents by far is Ewan Mcgregor in The Island. You can hear his British accent slip through several times during the movie.

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[Sylentwolf]

Originally Posted by kiltymchaggis

One of the worst accents by far is Ewan Mcgregor in The Island. You can hear his British accent slip through several times during the movie.

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I can understand an actor who may have his or her accent "slip" every now and then in a movie due to a poor performance but coming from a very credible actor as Ewan Mcgregor, and seeing that his character in the movie The Island is a "clone," and not a twin, isolated from a Scottish society, probably will have some sort of deminished accent elements to his character especially after being confined to an island for that matter.

I thought The Island is by far one of the best films coming from Michael Bay.