accents - Down (2001) Discussion

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] turboskyline 20 years ago

Yep not everyone there has an accent, nor did everyone in the movie, but for some reason the people who did *try* to have an accent were horrible. In fact the whole movie was so bad it was almost enjoyable just for being dumb. Several times I asked myself "were they purposely overacting like that?"

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[–] mmagee8543 19 years ago

Naomi Watts was born in England, but raised in Australia. In interviews, her speaking voice has a distinct Australian accent. She's a friend of Nicole Kidman, who encouraged her career and assisted with getting her work.

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[–] lindevh 19 years ago

I still think she has more of a British accent. But that could be my mistake :P (I'm not British nor Australian nor English native speaking hee hee). I think it's a mix between those two. I definately heard some British influence ;)

Anyway, I don't mind her NOT having an American accent because I love her own accent! Australia rules!!

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[–] j_eyon-2 17 years ago

Naomi has a perfect American accent. I don't recall if she was trying for a NY accent, so I can't say whether she was successful at that.

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[–] BentWarpedAndTwisted 19 years ago

This is actually a really funny comment, considering that the majority of the principle cast is from various parts of New York. Was there a particular New York accent to which you were referring? One actor is from NYC, one from Queens... the accents are different from borough to borough. I'm just trying to determine what makes one qualified to discern one "NY" accent from another. I live in one part of GA but I know good and well that the accents of those in other parts of the state, and even those in the next county, vary by degrees. I guess some people are accent snobs and others allow a certain amount of latitude...

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[–] tudegirl 18 years ago

This is actually a really funny comment, considering that the majority of the principle cast is from various parts of New York. Was there a particular New York accent to which you were referring? One actor is from NYC, one from Queens... the accents are different from borough to borough. I'm just trying to determine what makes one qualified to discern one "NY" accent from another. I live in one part of GA but I know good and well that the accents of those in other parts of the state, and even those in the next county, vary by degrees. I guess some people are accent snobs and others allow a certain amount of latitude...

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As a Brooklynite, born & bred, I cannot disagree with you more. The only believable NY accent in this movie was that of Dan Hedaya (who's also a Brooklynite). Your mention of two of the actors coming from NY is not entirely correct. James Marshall, although born in NY, was raised in California. Eric Thal, born in the State of NY (his bio on this site says he was born in Schenectedy County (upstate NY), and was raised in Pennsylvania.

Hate to nitpick, but...

Alim: She still keeps plastic on the furniture.
Cary Grant: It keeps the evil fresh.

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[–] briareos02 19 years ago

Do you know how many different ethnic groups live in NYC? I'm a Filipino who lives in Staten Island and works in Manhattan, and I've been here for almost 20 years now. I gotta tell you there is no NY accent, THERE ARE DOZENS, from all different countries, races, and cultures, so the different accents they have on the movie is spot on.

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[–] gsan0613 19 years ago

Yes, there are many different accents in NYC, but that doesn't make them NY accents anymore than a person from Queens or Brooklyn who lived in Manila would be considered to have an accent from there. I'm sure if a New Yorker living in some other part of the world tried to tell the locals that his accent was of there region they would recieve negative coments. New Yorkers, as one of the posters above said, have many different accents. The people in this movie who attemted to do one of those accents did not do a very good job. They came over more steriotypical than actual. This does not make them bad actors, it just means that they did not do a very good job in trying to depicting a NYC accent in this particular movie.

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[–] drzom 19 years ago

Yeah, but if you watch and listen closely it seems that a lot of this movie was dubbed after the initial shooting, like they do in Italy. I imagine the principal actors dubbed themselves but who know who dubbed the secondary characters.

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[–] SteeveBlack 15 years ago

Yes, when I saw it, I had a feeling I was watching a cartoon! The way some of the people talked really sounded like American poor dubbing quality.

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[–] toallitas 10 years ago

Are the outside/street scenes recognizably NYC, or were those filmed in the Netherlands also?

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[–] 10 years ago

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[–] mvario 19 years ago

"I have never heard so many bad attempts at a NY accent in my life."

I live in NYC and couldn't agree with you more. I thought the bad NYC accents were hilarious.

-Mike
"Let's make some art!"

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] forsmeau 19 years ago

I thought they sounded like southern accents y'all.

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[–] dpotesta 18 years ago

Nobodies mentioned Michael Ironsides complete "lack" of a German accent, even though he's suppose to be the mad German scientist.
He's even referred to in the movie as "the German guy".

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[–] j_eyon-2 17 years ago

One cause is the foreign actors embedded in the movie. This is a Dutch co-production and a check of the actors reveals some Brits and Dutch actors. One of the hairdressers, who I woulda swore was English, turned out to be Dutch.

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