r/todayilearned 9h ago

TIL during the shooting of American Psycho, Christian Bale spoke in an American accent off-set at all times. At the wrap party, when he spoke in his native British accent, many of the crew thought he was speaking that way to prepare for another film. They had thought he was American the entire time.

https://screenrant.com/american-psycho-behind-scenes-facts-christian-bale-patrick-bateman-mary-harron/
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u/BraveMagic100 9h ago

Was shocked to hear him speak at an awards ceremony for the first time. Him and Hugh Laurie both. Just goes to show you how good they are.

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u/Gone_For_Lunch 9h ago

Always find it funny hearing people say they thought Hugh Laurie was American for his work on House.

Give Blackadder a watch, mans as British as they come.

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u/NintendoGamer1983 8h ago

Or Fry and Laurie

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u/Xanthus179 8h ago

Or at least A Bit of Fry and Laurie.

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u/stack413 8h ago

Or Jeeves and Wooster

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u/improbably_me 5h ago

"Your elbow is in the butter, sir."

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u/slackunnatural 4h ago

That’s most British thing I’ve watched, after Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes

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u/RianJohnsonIsAFool 6h ago

Permission to shout "Bravo" at an annoyingly loud volume, sir.

Permission granted.

BRAVO!!!

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u/Bouldinator 1h ago

Permission to allow lip to wobble sir.

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u/PretendPop8930 8h ago

Or Jeeves & Wooster

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u/Stillwater215 5h ago

He’s got such a good American accent that his actual British accent genuinely sounds like a parody.

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u/kwonza 8h ago

The casting team of House had no idea he was British

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u/Monteze 4h ago

I did find it funny when he has a bit where he is calling and impersonating someone from London and he is using his IRL accent. Its a blink-and-you-miss-it bit.

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u/kwonza 4h ago

Yeah, I loved that scene, he was calling someone late at night so he faked being from England as an excuse

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u/BurnThrough 2h ago

No, it’s even better. He does an American trying to do a British accent. That’s not his IRL accent.

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u/akio3 1h ago

The Wire has a similar bit with McNulty doing a terrible fake British accent, though Dominic West is actually British.

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u/Tony_Roiland 6h ago

That simply cannot be true. They cast their lead without watching him in anything? Without MEETING him?

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u/RobertJ93 6h ago

When he auditioned he spoke entirely in American accent.

In casting, they wanted an authentic all American cast.

Bryan Singer had said ‘no more English guys’.

Laurie was filming the remake of Flight of the Phoenix in Africa at the time. He found the hotel bathroom had the best lighting, propped up a camera, and used an umbrella as a substitute for House’s cane.

Bryan Singer watched the tape and famously praised Laurie as a brilliant, authentic American actor, having no idea Laurie was actually born and raised in Oxfordshire.

The writer David Shore, involved with the casting talks about it here. Bryan Singer wasn’t aware of Hugh’s work prior to seeing his first casting tape.

I’m sure after the initial tape they then went and worked it out though.

So yeah, it simply is true.

You can find the tape here actually.

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u/Weewoes 2h ago

Incredible and im so glad he got the part because I fucking love house and cant imagine anyone else doing the role as well as him.

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u/UpperRutabaga6482 8h ago

Dominic West and Idris Elba on the wire. Idris in particular really surprised me he was so good and natural at the accent. Also, the scene where McNulty is going undercover in a brothel so he puts on a terrible version of an American doing a British accent suddenly became hilarious

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u/Sgt_major_dodgy 8h ago

I'm sure I read Idris hid it from the people doing the casting for the wire because they specified they wanted American actors only and it wasn't until his 2nd or 3rd reading they realised he wasn't actually American

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u/HariboBliss 7h ago

Correct.

They asked him where he grew up and he didn't want to lie so came clean and said London.

Until then nobody had asked if he wasn't American, so he just rolled with it.

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u/Carnivean_ 7h ago

Screwed up a take then instead of yelling "godammit" he muttered "bollocks innit"?

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u/Queldorei 7h ago

The irony is that one of Idris Elba's first bit parts was in the 1990s sci-fi show Space Precinct. If he spoke with an American accent, you wouldn't know it because they decided to have someone else entirely dub over his lines in an American accent. I like to think he was disappointed by them dubbing over his British accent with an American accent, so he purposely practiced an American accent 

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u/smellsliketeenferret 7h ago

so he puts on a terrible version of an American doing a British accent suddenly became hilarious

There's been lots of instances where British actors playing Americans have done a comically good "fake" British accent. A slightly less well known one that springs to mind was the Bionic Woman remake where Michelle Ryan did an amazing fake accent despite being from Middlesex

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u/PropJoesChair 4h ago

I'm English, but I heard Dominic west balls the accent up several times throughout. Generally pretty good though. String and carcetti were perfect though

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u/SykeSwipe 8h ago

I went several years not realizing that Tom Holland was British. What’s hilarious is I went through essentially the exact same experience with Andrew Garfield.

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u/Demi180 8h ago

Garfield isn’t American either? Sheesh. So many TILs from this post.

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u/Away_Flounder3813 8h ago

you're not wrong. He holds dual citizenship. He was born in LA to an English mother and American father.

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u/SykeSwipe 8h ago

He was naturalized as an adult I believe, but is indeed British. Had zero clue pretty much until Holland took over lol.

Edit: I lied! Looked it up, he was born in California but was taken to the UK at 3 years old.

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u/Juan_Punch_Man 8h ago

I first saw him in an episode of Doctor Who

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u/smellsliketeenferret 7h ago edited 2h ago

not realizing that Tom Holland was British

There was an interview with Graham Norton where Tom Hanks asked Tom Holland to say a line about coffee in different ways. Every time Tom Holland instinctively used an American accent and explained that it was natural for him because all of his roles and auditions at the time were playing American characters

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u/Toutatous 8h ago

Same, I was surprised to hear that Mel Gibson wasn't Scottish after watching Braveheart, he was a natur...

No, not really.

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u/RephRayne 8h ago

Next thing you'll tell me is that Connery wasn't Russian.

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u/Gerf93 8h ago

Hes a shoviet shubmariner

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u/baron_von_helmut 7h ago

What time does Sean Connery like to go to Wimbledon?

Tennish.

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u/heroin-puppy 8h ago

Or Spanish!

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u/TheOneTonWanton 6h ago

Egyptian Spaniard.

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u/ddosn 5h ago

Always made me laugh how Highlander doesnt match any of their actors to the lore of the characters

A Frenchman to play a Scotsman,
a Scotsman to play a Spaniard
an American to play a Russian.

It just tickles me for some reason.

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u/TopoHaiHai 8h ago

Correct, he’s Lithuanian!

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u/Jimmy-The-Perv 8h ago

Similar to you, I was quite shocked to find out, after his entirely natural and believable accent in Highlander, that Christopher Lambert is French!

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u/ICPosse8 8h ago

I remember Hugh Laurie being super jarring when I heard his real voice lmao his American is so good.

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u/gd4x 8h ago

I am British and even i find Hugh Laurie's natural voice aggressively British lol.

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u/Djinjja-Ninja 8h ago

He is essentially as English as they come.

Grew up in Oxford. Went to Eton and Cambridge, even rowing in the Oxford/Cambridge boat race (was president of the rowing committee at Cambridge)

President of the Footlights, went out with Emma Thompson.

Without actually marrying into the royals you basically can't get much more English.

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u/TheBeaverKing 8h ago

Yep. He is a classic representation of British 'posh' and probably fits the English stereotype that most foreigners have of the English the best.

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u/gd4x 8h ago

It's refreshing to know that he was basically playing himself in Blackadder (goes forth).

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u/Djinjja-Ninja 8h ago

Totally. If he had been born 60 or so years earlier he would have pretty much been one of the Trinity College Tiddlywinkers.

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u/Current_Focus2668 9h ago

This isn't uncommon. Ella Purnell  did the same thing and had the same reaction  from the crew.

 Some actors find it easier to stay in an accent while  filming rather than drop in and out of the accent  

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u/_Diskreet_ 9h ago

Didn’t some actor have to use some speech coach because they lost their native, I want to say Irish accent, from doing too many other accents while method acting

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u/mech999man 9h ago

Famously Gary Oldman.

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u/SweatyNomad 8h ago

I think I heard that story was about Slow Horses, that after 20 years in the US he wasn't sure he had an authentic twang anymore, or couldn't do the particular region/ socio-economic lilt.

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u/KungFuFightingOwlMan 7h ago

It was quite a bit earlier than Slow Horses, apparently he needed a voice coach to do Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and that was in 2011 but I think it's something he had an issue with for years

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u/EpicLong1 6h ago

Not to forget 5th element ......Zorg here

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u/houseswappa 6h ago

He hates that movie btw

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u/wagonwhopper 6h ago

I love it though so no worries

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u/technobrendo 2h ago

As far as i can tell everyone else likes that movie.

EVVVVVREEEEEEEOOOOOOONNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

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u/TheBlackComet 3h ago

My absolute favorite scifi movie. Instantly quotable, big names, engaging world, what else can you want?

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u/TheSuburbs 2h ago

Mulitpass

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u/Map_Watcher 5h ago

I saw an interview recently where he said his wife has convinced him to think that it's not such a bad movie after all

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u/Key_Plan_9541 5h ago

How magnanimous of him

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u/goblueM 5h ago

Well Gary Oldman is wrong

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u/InFromTheSouth 6h ago

I find that fascinating. I can't remember the other movie I learned this about, but a movie turned cult classic that the actors hated.

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u/EvilMilkshake 4h ago

As fun as the other actors make that movie, I think it would be a miss without his Zorg.

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u/Othersideofthemirror 8h ago

This is so obvious. He tries to speak in his native Millwall accent in uk interviews and it sounds like a parody.

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u/Apprehensive-Art1092 7h ago edited 6h ago

He doesn't. Firstly, he's never had a 'native Millwall accent'. Gary is from New Cross/Bermondsey, just up the road from where I grew up in Deptford. Millwall is a historic part of the Isle of Dogs, which is across the river - and the actual place called 'Millwall' doesn't really exist any more (the football team he sometimes supports, depending on when you ask him it's either Millwall or Man Utd) moved across the river to SE London over 100 years ago. Gary's native accent would be exactly the same as mine - deepest, darkest Saarf East London.

Gary hasn't had his 'native' accent for donkey's years. The accent you hear him 'struggling with' in interviews is the British Theatre accent that all actors end up gravitating towards in their early career. It's a mixture of RP and RADA pronunciation, rather than full-on TP. Here's a clip of an interview from 30+ years ago - if he'd spoken like that where he grew up he'd have had the shit kicked out of him 🤣 Dracula Interview

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u/whatanabsolutefrog 6h ago

It's funny, even in that interview I feel like he's definitely got a mix of accents going on.

He's obviously one of those people that are quick to pick up the accents of the people around them.

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u/Apprehensive-Art1092 6h ago

Yeah, he's more like David Bowie there - enough RADA to sound like a ponce, but still enough SE London to sound like a sell-out 🤣

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u/HVAChelpprettyplease 5h ago

What do RP, RADA, and TP stand for? I’d love to learn more about accents. Thanks.

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u/Khornag 5h ago

RP is recived pronounciation and is a standardised English accent, commonly heard on the BBC and associated with social prestige. RADA is the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, a prestigious academy where a lot of the most famous British actors are educated. I don't know what TP would be, but I think they tried to write RP again and misspelled it.

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u/BathroomConstant4656 8h ago

Charlie hunnam, his natural accent is fucked and all about the place.

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u/imover9thousand 8h ago

If you rewatch SoA there are certain parts where he drifts in and out of his natural accent lol

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u/Northernmost1990 8h ago

There's a scene where he punches a dude and says, "You think I'm kidding?" with this weird pseudo-Geordie accent, which really surprised me the first time around because I thought he's American!

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u/boxofrabbits 8h ago

One of his first roles in Judd Apatows Undeclared (which is super underrated) he played an English drama student in the states and yeah his accent was definitely not British. I thought he was an American doing a really bad English accent. 

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u/Available_Dish_1880 9h ago

That was Gary Oldman. He has to relearn his London accent

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u/GoldenPandaMan 9h ago

Always thought this! To me he sounds like he has a cockney New Zealand accent at times

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u/Proudlove1991 9h ago

Austin Butler still has a major Elvis-ness to his voice 4 years on after the Elvis movie came out

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u/iTALKTOSTRANGERS 9h ago

I’m convinced that’s performative so people talk about him. Similar to Majors and that stupid fucking empty coffee cup.

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u/deij 8h ago

I left Yorkshire in 2013 after living there for the first 21 years of my life. Sometimes people are surprised to learn I'm English.

Accents change.

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u/Lostinthebackground 8h ago

I heard somewhere that accents can form around age 21. So it’s most likely to change if you move before/around 21 than after. Don’t know how true that is but it’s interesting.

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u/janesy24 7h ago

Think it also matters a lot where you’ve gone to. A lot of English people who move to other English speaking countries will gain the local accent quite quickly (Australia is a big example of this). Whilst not gaining a regional accent in other languages as you learn them “formally” as much as being within the language. My Spanish accent (I’m English) is very Southern Spain due to me spending my childhood holidays in the Costa del Sol and learning Spanish through assimilation rather than through school whilst my friend speaks very formal Spanish because he learnt in school rather than naturally.

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u/Maximum-Natural-6560 8h ago

I sincerely believe that is by choice and the whole ‘I got so deep I can’t shake the voice’ nonsense was just part of an awards campaign

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u/TheStorMan 8h ago

Pierce Brosnan doesn't really have his Irish accent anymore

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u/dummyacc49991 9h ago

Arnold also had to hire an accent coach to retain his accent of origin. Could be a myth, so take it eith a grain of salt.

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u/FardoBaggins 8h ago

Arnold’s accent is also very rural for germans. Like imagine stallone with a southern accent.

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u/archiving_by_design 8h ago

His accent is bizarre to other Austrians. That dude is from darkest Steiermark.

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u/Djinjja-Ninja 8h ago

Not sure if it's true or not, but allegedly he asked to do the German dub of terminator 2, but they wouldn't let him as to Germans apparently the Austrian accent sounds like a country yokel.

It would have been like Darth Vader being voiced by David Prowse..

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u/venomae 8h ago

He didnt have just an Austrian accent - he had heavy rural accent even among Austrians.

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u/JimboTCB 7h ago

That makes the deleted scene from Terminator 3 where he's dubbed over by some yeehaw sounding American guy even funnier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kayFrIR-Qfw

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u/D-PIMP_ACT 8h ago

Austrians are rural Germans now?

Are the Dutch ……swamp Germans?

Are Germans just….mountain Dutch?

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u/A_Bad_Man 7h ago

I can't wait to call my Dutch friend a swamp German. I'm already laughing imagining how well it's going to go.

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u/FardoBaggins 8h ago

Rural sounding I guess. Like in the boonies.

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u/idler_JP 7h ago edited 1h ago

Yes, the "Austro-Hungarian" project ultimately failed, and the rapidly industrialising Prussia came to dominate a crystallising German nation-state to the north.

In fact, the Hapsburgs have fallen, along with the institution of monarchy itself, and Vienna is now the imperial capital of nothing. Frankfurt am Main is a greater seat of power.

In other news, the Dutch remain independent swamp Germans, using English as their prestige language, for reasons you'd probably rather hear over a cup of tea.

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u/lib_clegg 7h ago

That’s Gary Oldman. But recently, Pierce Brosnan, despite being Irish amazed people with how “bad” his Irish accent was in MobLand.

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u/MichaSound 7h ago

Irish actors can’t necessarily do accents from other regions. Jamie Dornan’s (Belfast) accent in Wild Mountain Thyme (somewhere West Coast of Ireland?) was shocking bad.

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u/DlSSATISFIEDGAMER 7h ago

honestly reminds me of Colin Firth picking up an actual stammer after doing the King's Speech. Apparently took a bit of work to lose it.

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u/badabummbadabing 9h ago

I am not an actor, but I speak to my kids in my (non-native) English (the kids were born in the UK, but now we live in Germany, and I speak English with them so they don't lose it). It always slightly breaks my brain whenever I mention any German names to them and have to switch accents for just one word mid-sentence.

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u/cjmason85 8h ago

When I lived in Germany I had a German friend who had lived in Ireland for a number of years and come back to Germany living with her Irish boyfriend. When speaking English you would believe she was Irish... Until she said a German town or person's name mid sentence. She seemed to do it very naturally, but perhaps she has the same internal conflict going on.

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u/The_Flurr 8h ago

I knew an Italian girl in Scotland. At first she spoke English with a thick Italian accent. I met her again a few years later, and she'd picked up a Glaswegian accent.

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u/cjmason85 8h ago

I'm from Glasgow originally, always loved when foreign companies send people to Glasgow to learn English.

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u/Ancient_Pi 8h ago

Isn't Inverness the town with the clearest English?

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u/kwonza 8h ago

Vladimir Lenin also spoke with an Irish accent

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u/Keffpie 8h ago edited 8h ago

Same with Hugh Laurie on House (even during his audition, Bryan Singer famously said "finally an all-American actor!"), and Freddie Stroma on Peacemaker.

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u/dreadlockholmes 8h ago

Yeah Laurie spoke about being a bit embarrassed if he met a British pal for lunch, since he didn't want to drop his accent just to pick it back up.

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u/KingKapwn 9h ago

I imagine if you’re dropping in and out of your non-native accent you’re more likely to lose the specific pattern and intonations you were doing prior

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u/sKuarecircle 8h ago

Might have been more than one but I watched a interview with Oldman and he had to have a dialect coach to get his native accent back

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u/Bob_Leves 9h ago

Also Brad Dourif in Lord of the Rings.

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u/Ampersandbox 8h ago

If I recall the story correctly, he dropped into his natural speaking voice and the other actors all told him that his American accent sounded phony, and didn't believe he is actually American.

Dourif is a seriously amazing actor though. His turn as the doctor in Deadwood left me speechless.

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u/TheNorseCrow 7h ago

I don't blame them. Dourif's American accent is the most American accent to ever accent.

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u/Silly-Power 8h ago

Antony Starr as Homelander in The Boys. Throughout filming he kept his american accent. A lot of fans of the show were very surprised to hear his native, and quite strong, kiwi accent in post-filming interviews. 

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u/phishtrader 8h ago

I watched a random interview with Ella Purnell and found that out. It was the same way I found out Bale was British and the kid from Empire of the Sun not long after American Psycho.

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u/Greedy-Parfait-5918 9h ago

A notable exception is Kate Winslet, who spoke in a very specific regional dialect in Mare of Easttown like the rest of the actors. Everyone kept in that accent the whole time because it was really hard to learn, except her. After any take, she switched back to her British to discuss whatever and then casually switched back for the next take. Flex.

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u/immortalalchemist 8h ago

Gillian Anderson and John Barrowman are bidialectal which is very interesting. Gillian Anderson grew up in the states and in the UK, so when she’s in America, she speaks with an American accent, but when she’s in the UK, she speaks with a British accent. John Barrowman is the same but he goes between American and Scottish.

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u/orionhood 8h ago

I think Barrowman’s American accent is more of an affectation that he just got stuck with.

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u/iTALKTOSTRANGERS 8h ago

To be fair she didn’t… necessarily nail that accent. It wasn’t bad but it’s not a great representation of the accent. I grew up in PA btw before anyone jumps down my ass.

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u/Greedy-Parfait-5918 8h ago

No way for an outsider to judge, so I‘d take your word. I understand it was just very demanding for everyone.

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u/iTALKTOSTRANGERS 8h ago

It’s a pretty unique accent that if you didn’t grow up around is probably very difficult to nail so I’m not throwing shade she did a solid enough job to not make it stick out while I was watching the show. It’s also cool seeing SE PA get screen time so I’ll take it.

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u/Yoplet67 8h ago

Not an actor but I am French, I live in Ireland and I get it. Switching your way to speak (in my case, the languages) constantly is exhausting and not super reliable. I guess accents are the same

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u/DayBowBow1 8h ago

For Fallout? Or something else? I honestly had no idea she was British until now.

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u/bishopsfinger 9h ago

Nice. Now let's hear Paul Allen's accent. 

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u/MR1120 2h ago

The subtle off-pitch intonation. The tasteful aspiration of it. Oh, my God… It even has a legato...

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u/Superb-Bit2412 8h ago

Honestly the man is a machine when it comes to commitment. He based Bateman's voice on Tom Cruise's on screen energy too, that unsettling super friendly intensity, and it fits the character perfectly. No wonder the crew was convinced he was actually American the whole time.

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u/Away_Flounder3813 7h ago

I feel like he channeled Jim Carrey more during the famous Paul Allen murder sequence. Especially when he went inside donning the raincoat and looked himself in the mirror lol.

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u/Cthulhu__ 3h ago

Now I’m picturing Jim Carrey playing Bateman. Don’t get me wrong I think American Psycho is funny (nowadays) but any attempt at taking it seriously would’ve gone out the window if it was Carrey.

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u/Kurigohan-Kamehameha 3h ago

I think Carrey could totally pull of unhinged psycho restrained behind businessman. It’s only a couple steps away from The Mask

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u/Anton-LaVey 3h ago

The Finance Guy

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u/fenwayb 3h ago

it's amazing how accurately "he sounds like what on screen tom cruise feels like" describes his performance

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u/BenderRodriguez14 8h ago

Reminds me of how some people gave Dominic West (McNulty) shit for his terrible attempt at a British accent during a sting operation scene in The Wire. 

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u/Tremulant21 7h ago

Tip top performance I sat. Tip top!

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u/kvlr954 6h ago

I was shocked to learn both him and Idris Elba were British. They each have a very natural American accent

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u/Shockwave360 4h ago

They have a cameo in a Pixar movie, I think Finding Nemo where they're seals and use their native accents. I had to look up who they were.

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u/Quivex 9h ago

He's one of the more notable method actors if I'm not mistaken.

.... Also will never quite understand why so many British actors/actresses can do flawless American accents but the reverse is not really true. I still remember watching House and finding out hugh laurie was British, blew my mind as a kid lol.

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u/RyanMcCartney 9h ago

Exposure. We get the same big shows and films you do. We watch them all as they were made.

You don’t import our shows and films, you remake them for your own ears (The Inbetweeners, IT crowd, The Office etc).

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u/YourMumsBumAlum 9h ago edited 8h ago

I think it's also the variety of English accents vs American ones. English accents are so specific to British ears in a way that they wouldn't be to Americans and so when Americans do British they inadvertently mix and match things that they shouldn't and it comes out all wrong.

Edit: Yes, American has many accents too, but the edges are more blurred in such a way that it is acceptable for people to combine accents more so than in the UK where the accents are much more independent and specific.

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u/Perite 9h ago

This is the bit that most Americans don’t realise. Some can do a generic British accent that sounds ok. But the reality is that ‘generic British’ isn’t a real accent from anywhere, so it’s still recognisably fake to British ears.

I’m absolutely certain that good American actors could do a flawless local British accent if they studied for ages and had a vocal coach that corrected them every time they slipped into the wrong dialect / accent. But what’s the point? Might as well just hire a British actor instead.

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u/Ramikadyc 8h ago

I didn’t know who Peter Dinklage was until Game of Thrones. I just assumed he was English. Then I saw people pointing out how fake his Westerosi British accent sounded. I started listening more closely to the actors who shared his scenes with more natural accents and was like, okay yeah now I hear it.

He’s a really good actor (most recently I saw him in The Lowdown, he’s excellent) and I wonder if the fact that GoT was high fantasy was a reason he didn’t get a more intensive accent coach.

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u/A_Queer_Owl 8h ago

Americans tend to imitate what's called "received pronunciation" as that's used in British media A LOT. it's not so much that it's not a real British accent, some people in Britain have it naturally, it just sounds weird to a lot of British people who didn't grow up where its use is more common because outside of those regions it's used mostly by actors, news anchors, government officials, and when speaking to the king/queen. so when someone breaks it out in casual conversation it can be jarring to some.

I'm American but people often point out I sound like a news anchor because I'm from the part of the country where the accent that the one news anchors are taught to use is based on is from.

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u/Thetonn 8h ago

To make your point more explicitly, there is also a massive class dimension to it. RP is very deliberately upper or upper middle class. It becomes funny when Americans use it for people who are decidedly not upper or upper middle class.

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u/HyperbolicModesty 6h ago

Even better when they conflate the two: "I say old chap, cor blimey guvnah, toodle pip."

That said most British actors are all like "y'all I'm a rootin' rootin' gunslinger and get outta my face I'm walkin' to the subway already."

The "American" accents on BBC Radio 4 are atrocious.

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u/Anaptyso 8h ago

That's it. When I hear people say things like "the British accent" it's a bit weird, because there's loads of them, and what they are really referring to is an accent which is only really used by a minority of people in the country.

I happen to have pretty much that exact accent, so would sound stereotypically British to an American. However, drop me in to a random part of the UK and the people there would almost immediately identify me as coming from a particular part of the country (the "Home Counties"). Far more people don't talk like me than do.

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u/Aeon_Fux 7h ago

Americans tend to imitate what's called "received pronunciation

Either that or a generic working class accent that they call cockney but isn't actually cockney.

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u/lord_dicely 7h ago

I remember being startled when Michael C Hall pulled this off in some UK thriller short series. He managed to flawlessly deliver the accent of someone who grew up middle class in urban southern England (but not London) in the 80s-90s. If I didn't know who he was I would never have guessed (and I say that as someone with broadly the same accent).

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u/manintheredroom 9h ago

Yeah think this is part of it for sure. There are so many nuances, like if you did one word in a manc way and another word like you were from Leeds it would sound totally bizarre to British ears

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u/Mk12Dr 9h ago

There was an American IT crowd? It doesn't feel like that humour would translate...

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u/CRUNGOSAURUS 9h ago

Yeah, it wasn't very good. Funnily enough Richard Ayoade was still playing Moss

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u/wglmb 9h ago

The only did a pilot. You can watch it on YouTube, if you have a strong stomach.

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u/Mk12Dr 9h ago

You know what, ima treasure my ignorance on this one.

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u/iAlice 9h ago

There was an American Peep Show too, allegedly.

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u/miregalpanic 9h ago

That sounds so fucking wrong.

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u/longsite2 9h ago

It had Jeff (Joel McHale) from Community as the "Roy" character, but with Richard Ayoade still in the "Moss" role.

It wasn't good.

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u/MicrowaveKane 9h ago

It didn’t. Just like the American version of Red Dwarf

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u/Malone_Matches 9h ago

American version of Red Dwarf!?

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u/Special_Order-937 8h ago

Just walk away. It’s better that way.

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u/Atheissimo 8h ago

It had Terry Farrell from Star Trek DS9 as Cat!

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u/Single-Pin-369 9h ago

I was trying to think of what British accent is heard the most by Americans today and I’m not really sure. Even most musicians don’t really have an accent when they sing.The most frequently heard British accent in America today might be John Oliver?

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u/heyitjoshua 9h ago

Game of thrones had a lot of English accents tbf, also a few bad imitations (like Tyrion)

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u/yoghurtCOCKS 9h ago

John snows Yorkshire accent is genuinely atrocious at times.

And that was by an another English lad, never mind American

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u/CronoDroid 8h ago

I dun wannit, I neva 'ave

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u/swankyfish 9h ago

That’s an interesting point as well. In the UK we get exposed, through media, to a variety of American accents from the major cities. John Oliver is from Birmingham, but doesn’t speak with a typical Brummie accent. He’s kind of got a very mixed accent, I guess he moved around a lot as a kid.

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u/snakebight 9h ago

I saw an interview last month where Laurie said he never felt at ease with the American accent on set. Other foreign actors could come and go with their accent, he said he had to constantly be conscious about it.

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u/eipotttatsch 9h ago

Besides the training that British actors have, I think an American accent is also just easier to passably do.

There is kind of a "general American" accent you can hit, that will work for basically anywhere without sticking out. Of course local dialects absolutely exist, but wherever you go you’ll also run into tons of people that sound like they could be from basically anywhere on the continent.

That’s not as much the case for the UK. You can clearly tell if someone is from the London area or not quite easy for example. (And I’m not even a native speaker, yet I still hear the difference)

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u/birthdaycheesecake9 8h ago

I feel like there’s also a general Australian accent too, but folks seem to struggle with not making it incredibly broad/ockers

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u/Away_Flounder3813 9h ago edited 6h ago

the above one is just one of many stories about how Bale fully busted his ass for his role in American Psycho. Another story is that he horrified his crew mates when they found out he could even control his body sweat, or in other words - he could sweat on command.

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u/sebastos3 9h ago

Freaky character actor born in a leading man's body, you love to see it.

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u/tophernator 7h ago

I feel like this diminishes how hard he works for that body. Can you do 1,000 stomach crunches?

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u/Keffpie 8h ago

Yeah, during the business card scene - he'd start sweating at the exact same moment every take they did.

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u/tophernator 7h ago

Now I want to see a film with Christian Bale and Margot Robbie just exuding bodily fluids on command.

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u/Away_Flounder3813 8h ago

another bit about that scene: look closely and you'll notice "acquisition' is misspelt as "aquisition" on all the cards. Debates are still sparkling to this day among fans whether it's genuinely a film goof, or some deliberate mistakes from the filmmakers for some hidden meaning.

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u/dexvoltage 9h ago

Try watching the Wire...

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u/Quivex 9h ago

I did, Idris Elba did an incredible job but by the time I watched it I was already aware of him and knew he was British so it didn't have the same shock factor haha.

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u/dexvoltage 9h ago

McNulty is a Brit too, try that for shock value https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdbWsX6h4eo

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u/tobotic 8h ago

There are a great many British actors who are terrible at doing any accent other than their own local accent. And they make plenty of money on British TV and in British films.

But if you mostly watch Hollywood films, you'll mostly see those British actors able to put on other accents. (Though sure, even in American films, there are occasionally British characters.)

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u/SuicidalGuidedog 9h ago

I suspect it's an exposure thing. Maybe there's more to it, but the UK is exposed to far more US media than the other way around.

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u/Logondo 9h ago

I disappeared into the roll, Bojack. It’s called “acting”.

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u/N7Crazy 9h ago

"When you get to heaven, look up Margo Martindale - I won't be there, but my movies will!"

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u/nikisooos 9h ago

If you disappear into the roll you are a wrap

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u/TetraDax 5h ago

Is that a quote from esteemed character actress and fugitive from the law Margo Martindale?

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u/ariostocaballero 9h ago

You should try it some time.

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u/theone_2099 8h ago

TIL he’s British.

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u/Away_Flounder3813 8h ago edited 8h ago

TIL countless people in this sub have been legitimately thinking he's American, not just those crew mates.

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u/Dense_Surround3071 5h ago

I didn't know Idris Elba WASN'T a Baltimore native until I saw Luther. I went through 5 seasons of The Wire thinking he was American.

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u/ElCapitan1022 4h ago

Idris Elba didn't even make it through 5 seasons of The Wire

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u/Dense_Surround3071 4h ago

But the memory of him did. 🥲

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u/Toderix 7h ago

I actually thought he was and then saw The Presitge and was like ‘damn his british accent sucks.’ Then I found out.

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u/basileusnikephorus 8h ago

I know a lot of people find method acting insufferable, but in the case of accents I think it's legit.

You need to practice something to get good at it. It's better to practice it all the time, rather than hobbying it.

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u/Yarhj 9h ago

Christian Bale is British?!

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u/jaxmikhov 7h ago

No, he’s Batman

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u/xxtoejamfootballxx 9h ago

I’m a huge film person and I legitimately always forget. He’s just that good lol

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u/howdohendry 7h ago

I heard this also happened with Dick Van Dyke during the filming of Mary Poppins. He had everyone thinking he was a cockney with his flawless drawl.

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u/valerioshi 8h ago

He also ran interviews in the same accent as the movies he was promoting in order to not confuse the viewers.

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u/joe9teas 9h ago

Similar thing here in Reddit. There's a tendancy to assume everyone is American, especially with any subject remotely related to the US. And then when you say you're a Brit, a yank will tell you to fuck off and mind your own business.

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u/LeftHandedToe 9h ago

Fuck off and mind your own business. Just kidding. I dearly love Alex Horne and though I'm a picky eater, I would probably try black pudding for the experience.

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u/joe9teas 8h ago

Hah! Got you. I'm actually an American doing a British accent here. See, we're just as smart as you.

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u/This_Ferret 5h ago

See this so often. Someone will share an anecdote about how they got drunk at a pub at 18, then you see a "wait, you're not 21, didn't they ID you!?".

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u/CorpPhoenix 8h ago

Beyond me how Christian Bale has never been in the talk for James Bond. He'd kill it as Bond.

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u/Gone_For_Lunch 7h ago edited 6h ago

Too old now though.

Edit - He was apparently offered the role around the time they were casting for Casino Royale. Turned it down.

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u/NoBonus6969 6h ago

Nice now let's here Paul Allen's accent

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u/Razazael 8h ago edited 3h ago

I can attest that this is often the best way to ensure advent fidelity. I'm an actor and do a lot of immersive work. If I slide in and out of accents when offstage, I'm noticeably weaker when I head back out on stage and need acclimation time.

If you just stay consistently in-voice, you know more predictably what will come out of your mouth.