accents schmaccents (was Kidman & Paltrow and accents)

[chanteuse thalia chaunacy]

David (assumedly a Brit) wrote: [Gwyneth's] accent in Sliding Doors was 
weird. It sounded British to me, but rather a rare brand. Very adenoidal, 
conveying a sort of rootless upper class impression.

I did 'Steel Magnolias' in high school with a British exchange student 
playing Truvy (Dolly Parton's character in the movie) and she had no 
trouble -- cept with tissue (she said tih-syoo instead of tih-shyoo) and 
garage (she said GEHR-aj instead of gu-RAJ).  :) She couldn't do it at 
ALL without the heavy southern accent, though.  And that's often how it 
is for actors from the States, in my experience: if it's extremely 
cockney or snotty we can mostly pull it off, but just a run-of-the-mill 
(no offense intended, I couldn't think of a better way to put it) British 
accent?  <sigh> I've given up. I can impersonate Alan Rickman's character 
in Dogma pretty well, though. Is his accent normal? ;)

"In general I think most actors seem to be able to do accents when they 
need to. The notorious exception being Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins."

That makes one an *excellent* actor. *Good* actors can falter at accents. 
Then again, I liked Kevin Costner as Robin Hood. <ducks>

Now, fifteen years ago (ie when I was seven) Mary Poppins was my absolute 
fave. Thus I still have to tell myself that Dick van Dyke is not, indeed, 
British.  Yay for childhood illusions.

My vote for noteriety per a perpetually heinous accent--Viggo Mortenson 
in LOTR. Yeah, the man's hot and a did a fine acting job--but I wish 
they'd spent a little less time teaching him Elvish and little more time 
teaching him the accent he was supposed to be sporting.

"Disney went through a phase of having a token Brit in their animations, 
and these often sound a bit phoney. I'm not sure whether this was because 
the actors couldn't really reach what they were aiming for, or because 
Disney thought the real thing wasn't what was wanted for the American 
audience: the aural equivalent of insisting on red phone boxes and 
policemen on bicycles, without regard to reality."

Disney trafficks in stereotypes. Want smart, upper-class characters? 
*poof* Make them British. Want royalty? *poof* Make them British.

We don need no stinkin reality!

Thalia 'can't wait to move to England and make fun of bad American 
impressions' Chaunacy ... You do have accountants in England, don't you?

'I think this is how Chicago got started: a bunch of people in New York 
said, 'Gee, I'm enjoying the crime and the poverty, but it just isn't 
cold enough.  Let's go west.' -- Richard Jeni