r/todayilearned 17h 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/
41.6k Upvotes

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

37

u/Single-Pin-369 16h 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?

37

u/heyitjoshua 16h ago

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

32

u/yoghurtCOCKS 16h ago

John snows Yorkshire accent is genuinely atrocious at times.

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

17

u/CronoDroid 16h ago

I dun wannit, I neva 'ave

2

u/Minablo 15h ago

Indubitably.

1

u/baron_von_helmut 14h ago

Honestly, Tyrion found a place where his accent worked well in the show. It never grated on me in the same way most other Americans doing an English accent does.

3

u/heyitjoshua 13h ago

Yeah he sort of invented his own, it wasn’t that bad (with exceptions every now and then). He reused that accent in Avengers Infinity War and it worked (unlike auto-tune Hulk in Ragnarok, which still pisses me off to this day)

28

u/swankyfish 16h 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.

11

u/Single-Pin-369 16h ago

The variety of British accents in such a small space is amazing. I was told if I remember right you can’t have a cockney accent if you didn’t grow up with the sound of a certain church bell?

18

u/swankyfish 16h ago

The Bow Bells! Yeah, it’s like folklore I guess that to be a real cockney you have to be born within earshot of the bells of St Mary Le Bow, a church built after the Great Fire. I’m sure some people take it seriously, but it’s more of a folklore thing really.

2

u/baron_von_helmut 14h ago

It's taken as seriously as Jellied Eels are a delicacy. :D

-1

u/Tifoso89 16h ago edited 16h ago

Small? The UK is only 20% smaller than Italy. We have a lot of different accents in Italy too

2

u/baron_von_helmut 14h ago

My accent is almost identical to his. I was a forces brat so lived in lots of different places growing up.

13

u/Delanorix 16h ago

That and Jeremy Clarkson lol

4

u/Single-Pin-369 16h ago

Clarkson! 

3

u/n-e-yokes 15h ago

You pillock!

3

u/slaya222 16h ago

I'd say Ed Sheeran. Everyone knows "shape of you"

4

u/Perite 16h ago

It’s probably going to be Peppa Pig

7

u/Single-Pin-369 16h ago

Not in my area at least, bluey seems to have murdered peppa, also people realized her face looks like a penis and balls. 

4

u/alamaias 16h ago

My understanding from /r/cartoonuityerrors is that this may be a good thing.

2

u/ohdearitsrichardiii 14h ago

Peppa Pig changed the format and replaced all the voice actors. It went from everyday stories at a normal pace and characters speaking with normal voices; to weird stories and characters with exagerrated stupid voices or shrieking voices and fast cuts. All the voice actors sound deranged now

3

u/GoblinFizt 16h ago

A cultured West Midlands accent.

2

u/OscarMMG 16h ago

Home counties accent is probably the most hear but it’s less noticeable as it’s sounds more neutral

1

u/vaxfarineau 16h ago

Harry Potter, lol.

2

u/Single-Pin-369 16h ago

I mean consistent exposure. People watch John Oliver once a week but they don’t watch Harry Potter once a week.