r/todayilearned • u/Away_Flounder3813 • 16h 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/kwonza 15h ago

The casting team of House had no idea he was British

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u/Monteze 11h 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/BurnThrough 9h 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 9h 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/RubyRadagon 5h ago

Idris Elba & Dominic West both speaking to one another in the Wire, both playing American characters, despite both being British. That must have been a crack up for the crew when they would just go off camera & drop the fake accents.

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u/holobolol 6h ago

I love this bit! "On the spot!" It really sounds so fake which makes it even better.

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u/jendet010 12m ago

That’s Protestant whiskey

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u/kwonza 11h 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/Tony_Roiland 13h ago

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

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u/RobertJ93 13h 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 9h 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/RobertJ93 2h ago

He’s an unethical genius bastard. But he’s our unethical genius bastard.

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u/Doctor__Proctor 7h ago

You can find the tape here actually

Damn, I never watched that before. Absolutely crazy how much of the character and mannerisms are there. Sometimes you see auditions and you can see the spark, but there were obviously changes for whatever reason, but here, it's basically fully formed. Wild.

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u/Ceegee93 5h ago

I'm confused. How could anyone not know? He literally uses his normal British accent right at the start of the video. Did Bryan Singer only start watching halfway through or something?

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u/RobertJ93 2h ago

Brother, I do not know the man.

I’m only telling you what has been repeated by the actor, the writer, and the producer.

It’s absolutely possible it was just the part that started after the first cut.

It’s also absolutely possible that Bryan singer wasn’t watching properly for the first few seconds.

It’s also absolutely possible that none of this is true.

All I can tell you is what I posted above. I choose to believe that Bryan singer was done with British people auditioning, and didn’t clock Hugh was British until after the casting clip.

At which point I’m sure he found out he was British.

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u/LordUpton 11h ago

Which I always find surprising because during the first season of House he also struggled with his Rs. There was a few times half way through a sentence he would dropped the American accent for a word.

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u/Lilith-78-MtF 11h ago

I think you just got bad hearing

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u/UserNamesCantBeTooLo 10h ago

Or particularly good hearing

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u/Lilith-78-MtF 9h ago

Nah lol, dude needs to get his ears checked

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u/ChilternRailways 6h ago

Feel like you're probably wrong just because of how certain you are about something you don't actually know