The secret to affecting a credible on-screen accent is to perform it in such a way that the audience doesn’t notice . . . If during the performance the audience is thinking, “Great accent,” uhm, no it’s not, because obviously it’s taking you out of the story.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Film and Language: The Art of the Accent
Dirty Harry has a nice post about the art of the accent. Language lovers, take a look! Here's a snippet:
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And for the life of me I am constantly amazed to find out one of my favorite actors is from England or somewhere else in the Anglosphere because the accent is not obvious. While an American attempting an accent simply sounds like they are reciting lines of poetry written by a dyslexic.
In fairness I should say that in the last twenty-five years I can think of only three actors who nailed an accent; Rod Steiger in The Pawnbroker, though he admitted that he just copied his father's accent. Meryl Streep in A Cry in the Dark as Lindy Chamberlain though an Australian friend said the accent was fine but why did she move like she had a stick up...(you can guess the rest). And the gleefully indecipherable Brad Pitt in Snatch.
My personal theory is that we know what our actors sound like from many viewings over the years and notice an attempted accent immediately. But are more forgiving of others who attempt accents because we are unfamiliar with how they normally sound.
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