MovieChat Forums > The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (2009) Discussion > Accents -not from New Orleans.

Accents -not from New Orleans.

posted 15 years ago by dazfiddy
20 replies | jump to latest

I am sick of watching films set in a particular city, where no one speaks like a native of that city.All the policemen sounded like they were not from Louisiana.

You would imagine that Nicholas Cage being a second generation cop on the NOPD would have a regional accent.Somehow this detail seems to have slipped the minds of the movies's writers/director.At least with the Big Easy starring Dennis Quaid, the actors affected regional accents.

Thoughts, anyone?

[–] raimund-berger 15 years ago

Move Hollywood to Louisiana.

[–] takeocyber 15 years ago

I must say, I agree. (About the accents, not moving Hollywood to Louisiana.)

[–] raimund-berger 15 years ago

Definitely. I'd also prefer all Hollywood movies taking place in current day Los Angeles. On the good side, I found out that for those in need of accents there's always the local tv station to watch.

[–] lilanalannie 15 years ago

I disagree. No where in this film does it talk about where anybody is born. As far as it goes no one should have had to put on a stupid accent because as far as we know we aren't given information on where the characters were actually from. Except of course Cage's character but that to me seemed like it was more of a creative decision by Cage to not use an accent.

[–] dazfiddy 15 years ago

I know that the film never referred to where the characters are from. It's just that none of the characters seemed like they were from New Orleans. This film could easily have been set in Seattle or Boston!

At least with Gone Baby Gone (set in Boston), there was an attempt to make the characters sound like inhabitants of the city.

[–] adriebaby82 15 years ago

I SOOOO DISAGREE!!!!

I hate it when actors try to do a New Orleans accent because it comes out as a generic southern accent and that is NOT AT ALL like a real New Orleans accent. I would rather hear them speaking in their normal accent than a f&#ked up accent, because it just pisses me off!!!!!!

"Destiny is a fickle b!tch" LOST

[–] raimund-berger 15 years ago

Precisely. You want accents, stick to local actors. Because accents can't really be learned, they can only be mimicked but will always sound false.

So instead of spending days or weeks on learning some accent, I'd rather have an actor studying his role and character. And maybe do some rehearsals. This accent hype of recent years has gone way overboard.

[–] activista 11 years ago

@raimund-berger

Wrong---people learn accents and nail them for specific movies ALL the time---look at how British actors learn American accents and master them very well on top of that. Heck,actors do it all the time---people pick up accents by being in one place for a long time, picking it up from your parents as a child, your friends, or your relatives,anywhere you are. That's how it's done in everyday life.

[–] anthonyalex 15 years ago

I disagree. New Orleans is a major US city, with people of all walks of life in it. Everyone there does not need to have an accent.

Further, if you want to see Nic Cage do a regional accent, watch his awful attempt in "Con-Air". I rest my case.

In other news, is it just me, or does the "N'oleans" accent always sound a little like a Boston accent? The way native Louisianans say certain words is very similar to what you hear in New England.

[–] TequilaMockingbird5150 8 years ago

Nm

The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. Samuel Beckett

[–] emdiski 15 years ago

What I wondered was why Cage started channeling Ed Sullivan for a random 20 minutes right in the middle of the movie, voice, accent, mannerisms and all. Was that intentional, or did he just have an inconsistent take on the character during filming?

[–] morganseer 15 years ago

Lol, I knew he kept reminding me of someone.

[–] Profondorosso75 14 years ago

LOL, I thought he was doing Big Bird

"everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die"

[–] merlinsbearddd 11 years ago

I was wondering when someone was going to bring that up! I'm surprised there's no thread for it on this board. I watched it with someone and he warned me about a weird 20 minute lapse of time where Cage adopts this bad southern drawl and I thought he was just exaggerating and it would be a minor thing, but oh my god, no. The accent just comes out of nowhere and gets worse and worse until he just drops it all together. I think that and the random closeups of the reptiles are my favorite parts about the movie.

[–] scruppyandthecoolcats 14 years ago

The way he said "Biloxi" made me want to die. I could believe he's from New Orleans with the accent he had, but absolutely nobody here pronounces "Biloxi" the way he did. It momentarily took me out of the movie.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] marktheaardvark 13 years ago

I'm with those who would rather actors not do an accent at all, unless they were going to really do it right, and it's not easy if you're not local. There's too much risk for a generic southern accent that is even more inauthentic. Some people from New Orleans don't have strong accents at all, and only a local will notice the subtleties. It's as much about the word choices, and the pronunciation of certain words, as it is about general accent.

Sometimes people I meet away from N.O. tell me that I have no accent, because they're expecting me to sound like Scarlett O'Hara. I then cut to a very precise "announcer" voice and say "But I don't sound like I'm from nowhere, do I?" In this movie, Cage didn't sound like he was from N.O. but on the other hand, he certainly didn't sound like he wasn't.

[–] panik65 13 years ago

The accents were fine. "The Big Easy" had ridiculous, completely wrong, accents. New Orleanians don't have a southern accent, they talk just like the actors in this film - the DA, the "Oh yeah" guy, and Brad Dourif were perfect.

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