Final word on the accent debate. - One Day (2011) Discussion

[–] misstrouble 12 years ago

Haha very true. Havent had the chance to see the film yet but im looking forward to it. And ive never been to Ireland and don't know anyone with a Irish accent but apparently I have a hint of one. I'm Welsh lol, and pick up accents quick hence the "never met anyone from Irish before" haha. Accents are weird, I love Robert Downey Jr for example in Sherlock Holmes but others say it's the worst ever! Ah well there's no pleasing everyone I suppose
:)

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[–] Debbieuk 11 years ago

Oh don't talk poo, her accent wasn't correct from the offset! Yes, our accents soften when we're not in our native environment but it doesn't go from kinda generic Northern England to kinda American to kinda Londonish. Anne Hathaway isn't a dreadful actress but by god her accent in this film was insanely poor.

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[–] TheMichael 11 years ago

Why not? It's a voice, not a law written in stone. Voices do stuff you wouldn't expect. But the main point is, Anne did work hard on the accent and she was aware of her change in accent because she intended it that way. What else more do you want from an actor? And It looks like one of the links became messed up since I posted them up, but it was basically a guy who not only thought Anne's voice was appropriate, but also noticed how, even though it changes through the years in the movie, it stays the same in scenes that would have been filmed weeks apart from eachother even though they take place in the same year....... So there's that to think about, eh?

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[–] TheMichael 11 years ago

WAIT A TICK. I just finished reading the book. I can see the differences and stuff left out, but I think the movie captured a lot of moments perfectly. Little details and all that. I'm actually absolutely in love with the book, and I'm very far from being considered a book person.

BUT THAT'S BESIDE THE POINT. In parts of the book it has been mentioned by characters how Emma's accent changes when she goes here and there, over the years. I totally had the impression that she didn't sound entirely native of any part of the UK. So *beep* off about Hathaway's accent.

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[–] Debbieuk 11 years ago

Are you Anne Hathaways' father or something?

Accents do evolve/change, I am not disagreeing with you there but not over the course of one conversation. I must have missed the bit in the film and the book where the character Emma spent five years in America and adopted that accent.

I am pleased that Anne Hathaway tried very hard to portray the accent correctly; if I was paid millions of pounds to do a job I probably would too. The fact is that her accent was horrible.

Are you from the UK? I am and I don't understand how anyone else who is could defend her accent.

Why didn't her or Dexter's accent gain a Scottish infliction? They studied there for three or four years.

I would have understood if her 'Yorkshire' accent had neutralised to a more general RP or London sounding one but for her to coast through about five different variations in one scene is laughable.

Were you watching the same film as everyone else?

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[–] TheMichael 11 years ago

It's just one of those topics that irritates me. Especially coming from people of a country who gave the world the greatest actors of all time who use their own accent in every role they do. It's ironic, But it's a subject I don't even care about, 'cause that's pointless nitpicking. THEY'RE ACTING.

What I do care about is the bickering about accents from people who don't quite know what they're bickering about. They're criticizing an inauthentic accent. I get that and in normal story circumstances I would understand their complaints. But this is not the case here. We're dealing with a unique story of unique characters. Are those critics taking in account of the passage of time?; the many places the criticized portrayal of the character has lived in?; the character's psychological state, emotional state, or personality?; the fact that the original novel says the character has a change in their accent? NO. People just criticize that the accent doesn't sound Yorkshire enough, whatever that means. (I do know what that means, I just mean that what is a person "supposed to" sound like? As if it's a written law.)

It's silly to criticize the accent without studying the character. Something that Hathaway has done with great effort, watching British soap operas, working with dialect coaches teaching her to sway her accent has her character grows. And other critics have pointed this out too and recognize the challenge that Hathaway had in performing a character who MOST DEFINITELY would not have a single set accent. As a matter of fact I've read very positive remarks for Hathaway not being fluent in her accent, but changing as her character changes.

....... That's all I'm trying to say to people. People criticize her accent. I look at her character to see what choices Hathaway made that she shows in her choice of vocalization. And if Hathaway's voice didn't sound ridiculous to me then I don't see the big fuss.

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[–] Debbieuk 11 years ago

TheMichael, did you even read my response to your previous comment? You're just retorting the same stuff again.

I'm assuming that you're some sort of Anna Hathaway super fan?

I read the book before seeing the film and I can't recall them making a big deal about Emma's accent changing but I don't disagree that it may have been mentioned.

It's not that her Yorkshire accent was dreadful, it's that the WHOLE range that she used was off. In the course of one conversation she went through about 5 regions including her natural American one.

What on earth are you talking about when saying that British actors don't take on roles with different accents? There are thousands of examples that would contradict that.

This isn't about an American actress doing a terrible accent, this is about an actress full stop (period).
Renee Zellweger also studied tremendously hard to get Bridget Jones's accent correct and (unlike Anne Hathaway) she was brilliant.

And I do know what I'm talking about! I used to be an actress, I work in the media and many of my friends are actors. Acting is a profession where you don't have to be good to succeed, which Anne Hathaway (as well as Jim Sturgess) demonstrated in this film. There were probably thousands of actors who could have done a better job but got overlooked because a 'name' is needed to sell tickets. It's quite unjust when you think about it but until the age of celebrity ends then actors that do accents badly will continue to get paid absurd sums of money.

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[–] Mitzishark 11 years ago

Considering how much Anne Hathaway gets paid, is it really that much to ask for her to get an accent coach? She is hopelessly miscast in this film- not just her accent but her whole persona. I don't get why they didn't just choose someone from England, someone from Yorkshire. Even if that meant casting an unknown, they should have had the guts to take a gamble. It was a such a great book, it deserved to be made into a good film, not a fairly bland, unmemorable 'blockbuster'-ish type one.

That is all.

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[–] Debbieuk 11 years ago

Well said Mitzishark! Although I don't think it matters where an actor comes from, as long as they can convincingly portray the character that they are playing. We forgave Dick Van Dyke's terrible accent in Mary Poppins because his performance (aside from that) was terrific but Anne's wasn't in this film.

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[–] Debbieuk 11 years ago

Well said Mitzishark! Although I don't think it matters where an actor comes from, as long as they can convincingly portray the character that they are playing. We forgave Dick Van Dyke's terrible accent in Mary Poppins because his performance (aside from that) was terrific but Anne's wasn't in this film.

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[–] Mitzishark 11 years ago

Yeh that's true, Debbieuk. As long as they were good it wouldnt matter where they came from. What I meant, I think, is that the casting directors/producers obviously just went with the choice that they felt would guarantee the best publicity and the highest chance of attracting an audience- Hathaway. Whereas it would've been so much more effective if they scoped out an actress who was a convincing Emma, and the easiest and most obvious way they could have done that would have been to look around the Yorkshire area.

Haha bless Dick Van Dyke and his 'cohrk-a-nee' ways.

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[–] Prelude-in-C-maj 11 years ago

First thing I have to say is, I totally agree with you that a person's accent can and will and does and is able to change and waver depending on situations and circumstance. I'll get to more about that later on in my post.

But the next thing I'll say is -- I just saw the movie and I'm in the camp that feels pissed off by her accent's inconsistencies.

And this is coming from someone (myself) who has a wobbly accent that goes all over the map!

I was raised in a "posh" part of east London, England, where I was exposed to both extreme London Cockney accents and very correct "RP" posh English such as the Queen speaks. I picked up bits of both accents, and even wavered between them depending on who I was talking to.

Add to the mix a Scottish mother and a Liverpudlian father. I picked up bits of their accent too, saying "kerrful!" for "careful" and other stuff.

By the time I was an adult I then emigrated to the USA and lived there for two decades -- and started having a hybrid Americanized accent! Some people even thought it sounded Australian, as I never totally lost the London accent yet never fully took on an American accent, so it wound up being a very queasy mix that sounded like neither.

I still have all this going on when I speak. I'm actually embarrassed and self conscious about it, so a lot of the time I suppress whatever part I deem is going to get me too much teasing depending on who I'm trying to talk to. If I talk to strangers in a London location, I almost have to fake a fully London accent because it's now no longer actually my "real" accent anymore -- I lived too long in the US and it DID change.

I still "do" my original accent with strangers, but it's actually no longer natural to me, it's only to get by in the world without undue attention, and when I'm at home or around people I'm comfortable with, I let the "hybrid" out again.

Okay, sorry for the long backstory, but I only tell it to show that I totally understand mixed-up accents that alter a lot because I have one myself!

And yet -- I just did not buy this character's accent one bit.

Her's did not waver around in a way that is consistent even in an unconsistent thing like a "mixed" accent. There's ways in which this can be made to sound like that's what's happening, but I don't believe Anne succeeded in this. It really was a case of Anne not fully understanding that even when a Northern girl takes on an RP sound, even that RP is a different "brand" when spoken by someone who was not originally RP, and you can tell, if you have the ear.

As a Brit with a mixed accent also, and who has also known other Brits who have mixed British accents because of change of location, education etc, it still just didn't come out right.

Just my opinion.

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[–] sirjeremy 11 years ago

Of course an accent can change and considering the character grew up in one county, studied for a degree in another, and then moved to London I can understand from personal experience how and why. But I heard RP, Yorkshire, Irish, Liverpudlian and Anne's own American accent throughout the film. I also think that doing a decent English accent can be very hard to imitate - hardly anyone's done it to my satisfaction - but she really should have worked harder on it.

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