Eric Balfour's Irish Accent - Backcountry (2015) Discussion

[–] Marco_From_Tropoja 10 years ago

As someone from Ireland, this was one of the worst Irish Accents in an acting role that I've ever heard. It's a tie between this and Tom Cruise in "Far and Away". I also agree, why make this guy Irish - made no sense. I mean it's set in Canada.

reply

[–] lord_greybro 9 years ago

Why can't ya say ya like me hat, Shannon?

reply

[–] Doc_Cochran 9 years ago

Oh come on mate I'm irish too and every irishman knows brad pitt gave the worst irish accent ever in the devils own, leave blafour and cruise alone they at least were on point 50% of the time.

reply

[–] Marco_From_Tropoja 9 years ago

Can I ask if you're actually from Ireland or counting ancestry and grew up somewhere else?
Brad Pitt's accent in the Devil's own wasn't the best but it was a passable nordie (Northern Irish) accent. Meanwhile, even if one has a hard-on for the cruise midget the far and away accent of the little man was terrible - it seems like his main point of reference was Sean Connery from Darby O'Gill and the little people.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg9_DBLFmQA

reply

[–] Doc_Cochran 9 years ago

Im from dublin, now I live in the US. I don't hunk any american or candian has ever been perfect but I think balfour and cruise were good enough. Yes I am a fan of both of them but i could at least tell what they were going for. Pitt's accent was in and out constantly, I spent a lot of time in belfast growing up.

reply

[–] Marco_From_Tropoja 9 years ago

ok fair enough for doubting your provenance! (but no one really says "mate" in Ireland fyi and if they do it's only in the pejorative sense). we'll have to agree to disagree on the accents.

reply

[–] Doc_Cochran 9 years ago

I went to uni in england so that probably explains my use of mate.

reply

[–] R_Redbeard 10 years ago

Maybe to make it seem like he can act and that he isn't just fodder used to get little girls to watch dumb movies... I highly doubt some young random Irish guy is ever going to be leading Canadian wilderness expeditions though. His somewhat weird introduction into the film built tension but they could've used anyone else and not made him Irish. French Canadian would've made more sense.

reply

[–] standrkm 9 years ago

yeah it's like when Sean Connery in Highlander where he's in Scotland speaking with his Scottish accent but he's playing a Spaniard

kinda funny though because usually we see Brit's for example faking American accents for no reason, the director flipped it around for no reason

"how's a fella go about gettin' a holt of the police?" -Karl

reply

[–] Doc_Cochran 9 years ago

too be fair connery was spanish in highlander but his character had been in scottland for many years. He would have probably picked up the accent.

reply

[–] standrkm 9 years ago

yes but it still seems a bit silly to me

"how's a fella go about gettin' a holt of the police?" -Karl

reply

[–] bdickus 9 years ago

Connery's accent doing Russian in Hunt For Red October was funny.

reply

[–] Seth_Rogue_One 9 years ago

I actually liked that it wasn't that good cause it made you think "is he really Irish? or is he a psycho who's pretending to be a charming Irishman too woo the lady"

I also really liked that in the end he ran to rescue the woman, completely oblibarating any ideas that he was a psycho... The way he had left them made it look like he was gonna come back and kill them or whatever

So it kept a bit of mystery in the movie

FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!

reply

[–] bigboss25262 9 years ago

lool total red herring

reply

[–] bigboss25262 9 years ago

lool total red herring

reply

[–] LittleBAnne 9 years ago

That's what I liked about it! I thought he was spot on. Was he just a manipulator or legit. Showing us at the end he is just maybe a con artist, but not a douche bag, bad guy, was awesome!

reply

[–] jjk50 9 years ago

If you ever watched Haven, you know this guy is one of the worst actors working today. Why he keeps getting parts is a mystery to me.

reply

[–] alexbourbon 9 years ago

I always will have a soft spot for Balfour because he played Xander's best friend on Buffy the first two episodes of that show. I honestly was hoping Balfour would show up again earlier in the movie after the campfire dinner with the couple. It sucked it happened at the very end. It would have been nice to have an additional romance with the woman.

reply

[–] standrkm 9 years ago

yeah I watch "british" t.v. all the time and as an american if I didn't recognize the guy from the texas chainsaw massacre then I'd have thought he was irish, I thought the accent was pretty good, especially for a low budget horror-esque film

I'm guessing they made him irish just so that the boyfriend could accuse him of lying about knowing the american wilderness

"how's a fella go about gettin' a holt of the police?" -Karl

reply

[–] BlackDog123 9 years ago

Just finished it and that was my take as well. As the boyfriend says, "he learned to navigate forests? In Ireland? There are no major forests!" (or something like that).

It made him all the more suspicious. Who knows if he was a poser or not, but it turns out he was honest about leading hikes, and definitely not throwing rocks at their tent ....

They're coming to get you, Barbara!

reply

[–] bdickus 9 years ago

Well, the film 'The Survivalist' is a good take on a Northern Irishman 'surviving' in the Wilderness.

reply

[–] bdickus 9 years ago

Well, the film 'The Survivalist' is a good take on an Irishman 'surviving' in the Wilderness.

reply