Why there are no German accents in Valkyrie

[Sussudio]

From Bryan Singer:

"We didn't want that to be what the movie was about. It's a thriller, it should be exciting-- the audience should be taken on a ride through the film. The actors speak wonderfully the way they do, in their current dialects, and the characters are all supposed to be German anyway. To have everyone putting on affected German accents, when in reality they're supposed to be speaking German, I promise you after 20 minutes you would be sick of it."

Uh hmmmm...

Guess this kind of makes sense.

[Beast]

Man, he's certainly gone downhill since X2: X-Men United.

Talk about a copout.

[tunerfreak87]

Originally Posted by Beast

Man, he's certainly gone downhill since X2: X-Men United.

Talk about a copout.

That made me laugh. Good word usage.

[JJ]

Does Tom Cruise even DO any other accents?

But thats a reason why as much as I want to see this, I'm holding off on it. This looks like another Hollywood history lesson gone awry about the Stauffenberg plot. And I love my history accurate, which is why I prefer to read it rather than see it...

To heck with it, I'll go see it.

[sonnyworld85]

The same can be said about the film 'Enemy at The Gates' where Jude Law suppose to portray a Russian sniper...and he has a British accent...

[Heart&Soul]

Because Tom Cruise can't do accents, so they didn't want to make him look bad if everyone else had one.

[GORT]

Yes it would have been great if everybody had spoken german and the movie used subtitles but given the average reading test scores in the U.S. you can see why them made it easy for people

[JJ]

Originally Posted by GORT

Yes it would have been great if everybody had spoken german and the movie used subtitles but given the average reading test scores in the U.S. you can see why them made it easy for people

Quexos? lol.

But, no, seriously, GORT, I agree - they weren't trying to make a historical pic for buffs like myself but turning a point in time into a hollywood movie.

[cartman781]

Originally Posted by Heart&Soul

Because Tom Cruise can't do accents, so they didn't want to make him look bad if everyone else had one.

Totally agree

[gamer4eva]

i guess it would be wierd if they spoke english and had a greman accent cause germans dont speak english, so there's no point having the accent. although if the whole movie was in german and they had little english dialogue only then it would make sense if they used german accent

and y all tom cruise hate he's a good actor

[UK_fan_05]

Originally Posted by Beast

Man, he's certainly gone downhill since X2: X-Men United.

Talk about a copout.

Singer has been downhill since he was born.

[SpdDmn2k2]

Cruise did have an Irish accent in Far And Away.

In my opinion, if you're gonna play a foreign role....don't have to speak the language, but at the very least....have some kind of an accent. It sells the roll. Big case in point...Costner as Robin of Locksley in Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. Though he started out with a little British accent....lost when he actually got to the shores of England. I personally still liked the movie, but I like realism....unless Robin was an American and lived in England or something. lol jk

Again....gonna make a foreign movie? Have a foreign accent. Helps sell the roll!!!

[Dotpattern]

I'm surprised at the number of threads regarding Cruise's lack of an accent in Valkyrie, and I don't understand the double standard.

I mentioned this before and I'll say it again; I don't remember seeing any complaints about Sean Connery not having a Russian accent in Red October, or Anthony Hopkins in The Mask of Zorro, or Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur, or Liam Neeson in Schindler's List, or Russell Crowe in Gladiator, or any of the characters in Amadeus, or Casablanca, or Spartacus, etc, etc, etc the list goes on and on and on.

This is nothing new, but do people hate Cruise so much that they'll look for any little reason to dog him, and then act like no other actor or movie has avoided using accents?

[Sussudio]

Originally Posted by Dotpattern

I'm surprised at the number of threads regarding Cruise's lack of an accent in Valkyrie, and I don't understand the double standard.

I mentioned this before and I'll say it again; I don't remember seeing any complaints about Sean Connery not having a Russian accent in Red October, or Anthony Hopkins in The Mask of Zorro, or Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur, or Liam Neeson in Schindler's List, or Russell Crowe in Gladiator, or any of the characters in Amadeus, or Casablanca, or Spartacus, etc, etc, etc the list goes on and on and on.

This is nothing new, but do people hate Cruise so much that they'll look for any little reason to dog him, and then act like no other actor or movie has avoided using accents?

just fyi i didnt start this thread because i agree/disagree with cruise not having an accent, just to point out what singer's explanation was and people can form their own opinions. i actually think he is a phenomenal actor--as a person i think he can be a little...off, but as an actor i truly admire his talent.

[Mr. HiDef]

Yeah, this is the main reason I won't go see this movie.

[GreenScar]

I'm fine that no one has an accent. What is off putting is when half the actors do and half don't. As long as it's consistent. there are a lot of movies that choose to go this route. The higher profile the movie the more criticism it gets. And it seems as though people just want to pick on Cruise lately.

[plenipote]

I don't mean to defend Cruise, but I do want to defend the lack of accents in this movie. What kind of sense would it make if all the Germans in this movie spoke English with a German accent? If this was real life, they would all be speaking German! The reason they speak English is because this is a movie intended (mostly) for an English speaking audience! Sure, it would be cool if the movie was in fact filmed in German, but then it would require predominantly German actors. This is a Hollywood movie, intended to tell a story, taking a period in world history and relaying that story to the masses. They are speaking English for you (and for me, for us, etc.), to entertain us. If I were to try and tell you the story of the Mexican revolution, I would not use a Mexican accent, or a Spanish accent, or tell it to you in Spanish. I would speak English so you could understand. Does that make sense?

[DeeChizzle]

OMG another Valkyrie thread about German accents? Of course the other two threads were opinions about the movie itself that turned into discussions about German accents.

[J_UNTITLED]

For anyone wanting a bit more of an explanation, click here and listen to this.

Originally Posted by Heart&Soul

Because Tom Cruise can't do accents, so they didn't want to make him look bad if everyone else had one.

Incorrect -- Tom had a fine German accent and a dialect coach ready to go before the decision was made to nix the accents.

[Kaiju]

That movie was awful...so so so boring and totally unnecessary.