[HPforGrownups] Casting; ages; accents

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 12317

"Hillman, Lee" wrote:

> A final comment about American actors and British accents: I must take
> exception to this remark. Kevin effing Costner aside, I am a
> professional actor, I am an American, and I can do a number of British
> dialects. Maybe not 100% perfectly, but in point of fact, it took two
> Exchange Student friends in high school--one English (Simon) and one
> Scottish (Malcolm) to teach me NOT to pick up other people's accents.
> It can be learned--just like British actors (such as Jeremy Irons,
> Alan Rickman, and even Cary Elwes) can
> learn to speak with an American accent. So there! ;^P

Calm thyself. Last year, I think the group had a case of the collective
heebees at the thought of Rosie O'Donnell, who *cannot* do accents,
actually wangling the part of Molly Weasley, and it caused us to protest
too much. Dialects can be done convincingly, yes--remember Roger Rabbit?
The cabbie? It's still a complete shock when I hear him in his native
dialect--he's British--because he sounded so truly American (New York, I
think; it's been a while). But I think we're all so worried about the
purity of the storyline and details, we don't want to have to worry
about them *sounding* wrong, too....

--Amanda


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]