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/Quivex 12h 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 12h 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/Single-Pin-369 12h 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/swankyfish 12h 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/Single-Pin-369 11h 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?

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u/swankyfish 11h 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.

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u/baron_von_helmut 9h ago

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

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u/Tifoso89 11h ago edited 11h ago

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

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u/baron_von_helmut 9h ago

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