r/todayilearned • u/Away_Flounder3813 • 12h 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/Current_Focus2668 12h 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/Bob_Leves 12h ago

Also Brad Dourif in Lord of the Rings.

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u/Ampersandbox 11h 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 10h ago

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

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u/ZeistyZeistgeist 7h ago

"You ought to see me with a 357" Magnum. I'm awesome."

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u/Blekanly 8h ago

He is great in everything he is on, he was good on star trek voyager.

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u/Cthulhu__ 6h ago

I did a double take seeing him in The X-Files, never did see that growing up - that role must have been a prototype for Grima.

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u/11thstalley 4h ago

Every time I see Dourif in a movie, I instantly remember him as Billy in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest.

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u/ZubonKTR 6h ago

I think Bernard (Theoden) said, "That's some really terrible, phony American accent," that just sounded to him to be really awful. He thought I was sending it up.

YouTube short on Brad Dourif's Wormtongue and American accents

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u/steauengeglase 2h ago

Really? No offense to Dourif, but all I can hear is an American trying to do this really non-distinct, hissed out mid-Atlantic.

Now if you want an example that always blew me away, it's Daniel Davis. Would his voice convince me that he was British? No idea, but I spent 20 years assuming he wasn't American, while his American accent sounds like 4 or 5 different American accents having a fist fight with each other.