MovieChat Forums > Crank (2006) Discussion > Statham's Accent

Statham's Accent

posted 17 years ago by meathooksodomy
26 replies | jump to latest

...is epically awesome. I especially like the way he says "Oi!". It's just sort of a general, all-purpose exclamation, applicable in almost any situation. I'm seriously considering incorporating it into my own vocabulary. The key is to say it with just a hint of that rough British accent (what is that anyway? Cockney? Scouse? I'm not familiar with the variations), without actually sounding like you're affecting an accent. That, and bollocks. Bollocks is like balls, with a touch of British class. Kickass.

[–] monkey_smuggla 17 years ago

Here's some British slang to get you started... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_slang

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PECQV2DrEKU

[–] ejmcisaac 17 years ago

The accent sounds South London to me.

[–] TheLankyOne 12 years ago

Somewhere in between of Cockney and Estuary, me thinks.

[–] crchadwick 17 years ago

I'm not an expert on British regional accents (despite being British) but Statham definitely has a Londonish sort of accent.

It's certainly not Scouse - Scouse is the Liverpool accent, which is very distinctive and sounds completely different from Statham's.

[–] LaraCroftLegacy 17 years ago

Jason accent cool

DarkAlessa now the end of day and Iam the Reaper:silent hill

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] crchadwick 17 years ago

Don't you think that was a little rude and OTT, Bourne_HD?

[–] giuri 17 years ago

Way to go, DUDE. Obviously the original poster here claimed to know just about everything about British accents, so that was quite a witty retort there, nerd.

I found it funny too, in this particular case, Statham just reminds me of Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels in every movie he's done since. Speaking of London accents...

[–] Rusty-Shackleford-4 17 years ago

at least Americas diverse enough to have more than one accent

though i could end this with a sterotypical comment about funny hats and using the L85A2 as a drill weapon being stuid and idiotic i have a friend from london and i think that it would be better not to say one

[–] last-minute-rescue 17 years ago

yes america has a huge range in accents; the north, the south, the east, the west and the centre... the country is thousands of miles long and wide...

England or hell, Britian, is only 500 or 600 miles top to bottom and no more than 150 miles at any location in this country to the sea...

yet to say we have no more than one accent is ridiculous, there is the london accents both posh and cockney, then we have liverpool, manchester, birmingham, yorkshire, newcastle, southern countryside, various accents around the coast...

hollywood only cares about one though, the "yes geeza, 'aving a bubble, get in my son" football factory, lock stock, snatch dodgey con artist street fighter coke sniffer londoner stereotype voice...

i don't assume everyone in california were brights shirts, says "dude" and skateboards... or every texan is racist, says "yeeha" and wears spurs...

[–] nikovich 17 years ago

Its south London

[–] huzzie 15 years ago

Eh? Britain has the largest number of accents on the planet. That is official and pretty well known, I'm not talking dialects here, although UK still has more dialects than the USA.

IN England, if you travel 12 miles out of any city, you can hear as many different accents. There is nowhere else like it, especially in the English speaking World. The only place that would come close is Eire.

That said, the wanker who was having a go at Americans for being interested in the accent is an absolutely obnoxious prick and deserves a slap!

[–] Ro-bust 15 years ago

hmm i dunno about alot that said on these boards.

firstly the english accent hollywood is most concerned with is the super posh upper class accent, which is why such crap actors/actresses like hugh grant and keira knightley are so popular. its very rare to see a film with 'normal' english people in a hollywood film these days. Then you will get the cockneys in films like crank here but even then there not so common, and although there are people around who speak like stratham in london you are more likely to find them in essex, if hollywood heard what the average working class londoner sounded like these days they probably wouldnt understand half of what was being said.

The whole most diverse accents in the world thing sounds a bit far fetched to me as well, i could imagine africa or brazil holding that title or some other place that was colonised by multiple countries but it is true to a point i guess.

finally the see u next tuesday on my forehead line was yes indeed classic, such a typical cockney, working class english thing to say.

p.s. I didnt have a problem with strathams accent-it seemed logical for a english man who has obviously been living in america for a long time to speak in such a way. I wouldnt be surprised if stratham talked like that himself in real life as being in la will surely have affected the way he speaks by now

[–] crchadwick 17 years ago

at least Americas diverse enough to have more than one accent

Ummm, so is Britain. Do you honestly think that all British people talk alike? Don't forget, Britain comprises England, Scotland and Wales and it has a very diverse range of regional accents.

[–] Lubezki 17 years ago

at least Americas diverse enough to have more than one accent

Wow.....deluded much?

"If you were in your office right now we'd be having this conversation face to face."

[–] last-minute-rescue 17 years ago

his accent here was terrible. he seemed to get caught up in being around americans too much, maybe it was the case, maybe it was his idea for the character, but to me his voice depending on who he was with in the scene changed his accent, he went from being a proper londoner when he was on the phone to people or the blowjob scene in the car... to doing a piss poor american sounding accent when he was with the black gang and when talking to most of the characters face to face!

it was mostly just certain words, but sometimes ran for a whole sentence.

he did it in the italian job once as well (the basketball scene)

please tell me its not my imagionation

[–] trappl 17 years ago

No one says "Oi" like Gene Hunt in Life on Mars ;-)

[–] SuperJohnMcGinlay 17 years ago

When I saw the title of this thread I knew it would descend into UK Vs. US squabbling. It's easy to be a dick from behind a keyboard and thousands of miles of ocean. Keep to the subject please.
For what my opinion's worth, I think Statham using his own (?) accent makes Crank different from all the billions of films released since 1990 that offer a similar story. That said the story and humour set it apart from all its peers anyway. I doubt it would be so much fun with Ben Affleck or Orlando Bloom as Chelios.

[–] joeymcjoe 17 years ago

Thats because Blooms a giant ponce!

[–] SuperJohnMcGinlay 17 years ago

You got that right. Who in their right mind would trust anyone with a first name like Orlando? Nor I...

[–] subotica500 17 years ago

The one thing that annoyed me about the dialogue was that near the end he kept describing his Latino foes as "bitches" just like they do. We just don`t do that. Wanker would be the usual term.

http://www.last.fm/user/Nearco/

[–] MrPink101 17 years ago

Although i think he made up for that with the *beep* on my forehead?" bit lol

"These are the old days, the bad days, the all-or-nothing days.They're back! And I'm ready for war"

[–] TakuyaAus 17 years ago

Why make fun of Americans not knowing what part of England his accent is from?

i'm Australian and we have no freaking idea either! so its not just America but basically anyone who doesn't live in England!

GOT THAT POMMYS?

[–] lathe-of-heaven 10 years ago

I'm sorry... Did you say that you have your dick caught in the keyboard...?

I now have over 6700 films; many of them very rare and OOP. I LOVE to trade. PLEASE ASK! 

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] IMDb-Rot_in_Hell 9 years ago

It's impossible for British accents to sound cool. They sound retarded.