[HPFGU-Movie] Accents

[TACtalk at adelanta.co.uk]

Me previously:-

>>McGonagall; Scottish (though MS is normally fairly RP)
>
GulPlum's nitpick:-

>"Fairly"?!? Dame Maggie's speech patterns should be used in RP textbooks! :-)

I would have agreed with you until I saw the DVD interview, and was
slightly bemused by a certain London twang which I had never heard in her
voice before. Of course, she rarely gives interviews, so I doubt I have
really heard her true accent much.

Watch the interview; there is a shade of London in her 'a' sounds; when she
says 'dangerous game', 'play' and 'great', the 'a' veres towards the
Cockney 'eye'.

BTW, I saw MS a couple of months ago on stage in London in the two-hander
'Breath of Life' with Judi Dench. An awesome performance. Her accent in
that was definitely RP.

Me again:-
>>Lucius; RP with an aristocratic tinge (naturally JI is a Londoner by accent)
>

GulPlum:-
>Actually, JI's *real* natural voice is Scouse (he's from Liverpool). JI's
>RP is 100% fake thanks to his years at the Central School of Speech and
>Drama. Of course,  his RP has become entirely second-nature and it's the
>way he speaks normally, but I have heard him talk while (really, as opposed
>to be pretending to be) drunk  once and his Liverpool twang became more and
>more apparent.

I believe you. But listen to him on the DVD...no Scouse to be heard (though
presumably he wasn't drunk on this occasion :-)), but a certain choppiness
which originates in London. In the interview, listen to the words
'character' and 'ruthlessness'. Possibly he picked the London up with his
RP during his studies!

As I said before, these things are very slight, and only obsessives like me
would probably notice them.

In my first list, I forgot to mention Filch, who has a strong London
(Cockney) accent. Since compiling that list, I have also watched the extra
scenes again. Colin is really RP-moving-towards-aristocratic, and, to be
frank, it would be extremely unlikely that a boy who spoke like that would
have a father who is a milkman...he would be more likely to own the dairy!

Regards,
Nicholas