What did y'all think of it? The first time I saw this, I cringed and couldn't stand it. But then it didn't seem quite as bad my second time around. How authentic did she sound to you?
shareNot the best British accent ever, but it didn't bother me. Probably because I love Natalie portman.
shareIt was pretty cringe-worthy. But once you accept that, you can ignore it.
Funny how British actors are VERY adept at doing American accents (the notable exception being Sir Michael Caine), but it seems to be very difficult for Americans to do the British accent. I'm pretty good at "dialect" - Hispanic, Indian, Asian - but the British accent has always eluded me. I can do the perfect BBC version, but the normal street accent is very nuanced. And the cockney? Fuggedaboudit.
==JJS==
After the BBC accent, the cockney is the most commonly heard English accent around the world. Well that's if you ignore The Beatles' Scouse accents.
shareWhat I find baffling is why an American was cast for the role in the first place. I appreciate Portman as much as anyone, but were there no British actresses capable of playing the part? Emily Blunt comes to mind, although she is a couple years younger than Natalie and wasn't as popular at the time. Somebody. And that goes double for Renee Zellweger in "Bridget Jones' Diary."
shareWhat about Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes? He was amazing as Chaplin but that's because he had everything needed to play Chaplin.
shareI thought her accent was fine (I am London born and raised).
And how about Gwyneth Paltrow? Absolutely nailed different British accents, in a couple of different roles.
It is also worth bearing in mind that in Britain we are, generally, more exposed to American culture form a young age than Americans are to British culture. And of course it is probably worth a British film actor getting good at American accents to land more jobs!
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I appreciate reading comments from Brits on Natalie's accent, because I wondered myself how she did. The movie was so amazing I really didn't dwell on her accent that much. The directing, screenplay and acting in this movie were as close to perfect as I've seen.
shareExcuse me, but we Americans DO get exposure to other cultures, just maybe not the same ones you do. What exactly do you know about Native American or Hispanic culture, other than stereotypes? Latinos have been making their mark on American culture for years, and their influence is getting stronger and stronger. And, as a nation that is made up of more cultures than the UK (arguably) I'm quite baffled by any statement that Americans are culture-clueless.
I live in England now and I can't tell you how many people I've run into that don't know anything about cultures on the other side of the pond, or even some European ones for that matter. I was walking around with a friend one day and mentioned that one food that I missed from home was a nice burrito, and a British person passed by me and asked her mate, "What's a burrito?" And a few months ago I went to 4 butcher shops looking for Italian sausage and no one even knew what it was, even after I described it. And let's not even talk about music or art.
Every country in the world is most familiar with the cultures and ways of living that surround them and their country, and sometimes not much more than that. That's normal.
Really? After at least 2 dozen viewings she still bothers the ever living crap out of me (especially when she says "but" like "pah" as if she's only said half a word) so I'm surprised the couple English posters here don't have a problem with it.
I was surprised when she was cast and it would've been great if they got someone else to play Evey Hammond. She's the only thing that bothers me about this movie (well that, and for all his preparation, V couldn't find better body armor?!)
I'm a firm believer in the philosophy of a ruling class, especially since I rule.
thats annoying. its no big deal that all the british actors do american roles and american accents, but if an american actor does a british actor its a big deal? you dont notice it as much when brits are playing americans because it is more familiar to you. take notice.
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It's because English people grow up with American television, just like most English-speaking countries. This means they are more accustomed to the accent, whereas Americans don't necessarily watch much English television, so it's understandable if they can't nail the accent.
shareNever thought of that. Good answer. I'm going with it.
==JJS==
I don't think British people are necessarily better at doing an American accent than the other way around. I think that Americans are just worse at spotting an impostor. Considering the size of the country, the size of the immigrant population, and the number of regional accents floating around, an American probably has a much greater allowance for variation in their acceptance of "American English" and even English in general than a British person does for "British English".
I used to live in Korea and always wondered why if I or any other non-Korea person(American, Chinese, British, etc) spoke a sentence completely correctly, a lot of Korean people still couldn't understand them. And it's because they just aren't used to hearing Korean spoken with a foreign accent. They're a country of 50 million people and for the most part, the only people they really hear speaking Korean to them are other Koreans. They are not easily fooled by anyone speaking Korean who didn't grow up with the language, and even people who did grow up speaking Korean but didn't grow up in Korea are easily spotted.
The American ear is probably less sensitive to a pure or genuine american accent because of growing up with so many accents. The ear just becomes less sensitive to the little differences. British people are probably a bit better at spotting their own accent because, even though there are a ton of accents in the UK, we're looking at 63 million people speaking "generally" the same way vs. 350 million people in the US and Canada speaking another. With that many people, it's probably easier to just blend in. That and the fact that Americans can't really tell when people from anywhere are faking an american accent if they're halfway decent. They don't have to be from the UK or even an English speaking country to fool the American ear.
I don't think British people are necessarily better at doing an American accent than the other way around. I think that Americans are just worse at spotting an impostor. Considering the size of the country, the size of the immigrant population, and the number of regional accents floating around, an American probably has a much greater allowance for variation in their acceptance of "American English" and even English in general than a British person does for "British English".
The American ear is probably less sensitive to a pure or genuine american accent because of growing up with so many accents. The ear just becomes less sensitive to the little differences.
That and the fact that Americans can't really tell when people from anywhere are faking an american accent if they're halfway decent. They don't have to be from the UK or even an English speaking country to fool the American ear.
It was OK but like all American's doing an English accent, it was overtly posh. Only people from a wealthy background and are privately educated speak like her.
Evey didn't seem to be from that type of background so it was out of place.
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I've only ever heard Micheal Caine do an American accent in 2 films (The Cider House Rules and On Deadly Ground) and in both of them his American accents were horrible. Offhand, I can think of a few English actors that can do brilliant American accents though like, Hugh Laurie, Daniel Day-Lewis and Christian Bale. But there are also plenty of American actors that can pull off various English accents. Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jake Gyllenhaal and Peter Dinklage all do a pretty good job.
The Irish accent, however.... very few American actors can seem to get that right.
<sharp intake of breath> Ooooooh... you did not just call Heath Ledger an American actor.
<whispers> sacrilege...
*beep* Most Americans can tell you that your general British actor or actress trying to speak like an American do a pretty bad job of it.
shareThat is not my experience at all. I've been fooled by many British actors, especially lately. Hugh Laurie is an example - didn't know he was British till I saw him interviewed. Another is Jamie Bamber of Battlestar Galactica. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051397/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t3
The most notable exception would have to be Michael Caine in Around the Bend http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0384810/combined. Dreadful! And I think he knew it.
==JJS==
Seriously.
shareI'm English and I thought her accent was apropo. Unbeknownst to most Americans the English accent is quite diverse, and diverse enough to include Natalie's accent in. I've heard Devonshire lasses who sound more 'American' than British. The stilted 'Queen's' English is actually fairly uncommon and not the norm.
shareIt's still cring-worth in this film. And yet in the Other Boleyn Girl, her accent was perfect. Strange...
sharePretty much this. Natalie's accent was off if she was aiming for BBC English, but there are just so many accents that unless you are Dick Van Dykeing it (over the top bad cockney) or missing any accent by miles (Keanu Reeves perhaps), you will be close enough.
There are plenty of regional accents in the US, but the size of the country over here and the way the accents evolved means that these days a room with 10 people and 10 different accents is not slightly unusual. They also change over time to the point you have no exact accent.
One example I always find funny, was two college friends from the center of Glasgow coming to the south to study. It took me about 3 months to tune properly into their accents to the point here I got everything they said. When I told them this they laughed and explained that back home their friends had started to mock them about how soft their accents had become.
I thought it sounded alright if she was trying to sound like a fairly well-spoken proper woman, which I think she was. I'm not English, I'm Irish but I still hear a lot of authentic British accents on a daily basis.
shareMuch more appealing than a cockney accent
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Don't like it? Don't watch it.
It's poor, very poor. Not so much that it ruins the movie, but its among the worst I've heard on film.
shareAgreed. It was simply awful.
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as another poster said its not the best British accent ever, however seeing as her overall performance was brilliant in my opinion its not a problem, i mean in one scene shes on the floor literally crying with emotion and still holding the accent, so i must say outstanding acting, this is the film that's really brought me to admire her, once you get into the movie you get over it.
i would like to add that seeing as she was dedicated enough to shave her hair off then i think she would of been dedicated enough to do the accent so it really must be hard to maintain a foreign accent even for a top level actor or actress.
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I wouldn't dare go so far as saying British actors are absolutely great at American actors, some are better than others, but the Brits aren't as noticeable as Australian actors whose attempts at doing American actors usually stand out like a sore thumb. Usually foreign actors improve their American accents after they have lived in the USA for a few years although Roddy McDowall never seemed to have a convincing Yank accent despite living there for decades.
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