MovieChat Forums > The World's Fastest Indian (2006) Discussion > How was the accent?

How was the accent?

posted 19 years ago by Neemish
105 replies | jump to latest

I loved the film. Sir Anthony was superb.

But that leads me to a technical question. For those of you who are Kiwi, how was his accent?

A second question, twice he was asked by an unknowing American as to whether he is English, Bert answered with a retort. I missed it both times. I think he referred to the English as "pommie" or somesuch. Could you please explain ... unless of course it is particularly insulting.

P.S. I was popped one on the nose when I was around 12 for asking an aussie kid if he is English. Note to self. Bad idea to ask anyone if they're English :-)

[–] sjp1980 17 years ago

My grandfather was from southland (born in Gore, grew up in Mataura and Invercargill) and was approximately the same age as burt munro.

what a lot of people don't quite get (though admittedly some do on this site) is that the way people spoke in that area was quite distinct, both from NZ accents at the time and even compared to a Southland accent now. Even more distinct than what people think of as the Southland burr now.

Personally, i think it was scary just how like my grandfather Anthony Hopkins sounded! And after seeing a video of burt munro i think that the accent was pretty much brilliant.

[–] wilddaisy666 16 years ago

Being a Kiwi myself, I thought Hopkins' accent was great. I had a problem with the motor"sickle" thing though, as I had never heard anyone else in my country say motorcycle like that, but just put that down to the Southlander thing and the era. :P
As for the pom thing, a lot of Kiwi's tend to get offended if you call us British. So it is derogatory to the British in the sense that we don't want to be them in a way. I guess it just has something to do with how much we wanted to be independent from the Monarchy. It's the identity thing, we like to be different.
We don't hate the British, in fact, they're lovely, we just don't like to be assumed as British.
That was rambley but I hope you got what I meant :P

[–] jesus_sanchezz 16 years ago

It was pretty good, but obviously not perfect. What got me though was the authenticities in the mannerisms. He really acted like a Kiwi (or Australian for that matter), with the delivery of the jokes, the body movement...just really spercific things that I think only someone from down here would notice/appreciate.

[–] DonnyTurtle 16 years ago

Compared to Kiwi accents today, it wasn't bad but could do with a lot of improvement. BUT!, Hopkins wasn't going for a Kiwi accent, he was going for Burt Munro's accent and in that aspect, it was VERY VERY good.

[–] madmod67 16 years ago

I really enjoyed all the comments re: the accent.I,myself,can't comment on the authenticity as I'm an American(specifically USA)who's lived in England for 35 years.However,I've always been fascinated by accents & can remember as a child,in 1950's America,watching "I've Got a Secret".This particular guest's secret was that he could tell exactly where in the USA you were from by having you pronounce 10 words.I only remember the first word:dog.If you said "dog",you were from the north,but if you said:"dawg",you were from the south.Say you said "dawg",then the next word he would give you,would tell him if you were from the southeast or southwest.The same thing applied if you said "dog"---the next word would tell him if you were from the northeast or northwest.By the 10th word,he'd have it sussed.Unfortunately,I don't remember the other 9 words,although I think there must've been more than 9 as the next word depended on your previous answer,but really wished I did.Even tho' I saw that programme around 55 years ago,I still remember it.If anyone knows the list,I'd love you to post it.
By the way,I watched the film because I'm originally from Springfield,Massachusetts where the Indian Motocycle factory was.I used to live near it but it closed when I was a child.
I also loved Jeff-1250's joke:"Sidney sucks---Aukland nil"!

[–] jeff_mcjefferson 9 years ago

Very good, in fact, pretty outstanding actually. He sounded a lot like my Grandad did and they would have been about the same age and would have had the same regional dialect.

Get on the scale son! Get off the scale.