regardless of the country it's set in?

Are focus group viewers so retarded they demand this nonsense?

a) most are in British locations
b) if they aren't, they're likely still using classically trained British actors to match the "classical sounding" dialogue
c) they aren't using British accents in every single period piece ever

>a) most are in British locations

No they ain't.

>b) if they aren't, they're likely still using classically
>trained British actors to match the "classical sounding"
>dialogue

That's it though, why do you need british accents to deliver "classical sounding" dialogue? That's a supposition someone made once but it doesn't make any sense. If your movie's in ancient greece why would british accents give the dialogue more weight?

>c) they aren't using British accents in every single period
>piece ever

They are in far more than make sense.

I didn't even know until the movie was over that damn near everyone in that movie was supposed to be French. They were mostly played by British actors (excpet for Ed Norton) and most didn't have French sound ing names (Balian, Godfrey, Tiberias, King Baldwin). It wasn't until the movie was over and the girl I saw it with said something, "You know they were all supposed to be French, right?" I was fairly surprised, and annoyed I forgot my 8th grade history classes.

Wasn't this just an example of having an international cast of folks using their own hometown accents, and since British actors have the classical training to hold the gravitas of the period epic better than most Americans, they simply hold the weight of the cast on their side of the pond?

Didn't even recognize his voice until I saw the credits.

>Wasn't this just an example of having an international cast
>of folks using their own hometown accents, and since British
>actors have the classical training to hold the gravitas of the
>period epic better than most Americans, they simply hold the
>weight of the cast on their side of the pond?

Eh, still shaky. The French still shouldn't sound like the British.

------------------
Cam'Ron - Crime Pays
Diamond District - In The Ruff

i'll be waiting

p.s. what kind of accent did Anglo-Americans have 150 - 200 years ago? I dare say it was still quite "British"

the original star wars?
Troy?
300?

Matter of fact, pretty much any American swordfightin movie, folks gonna have a british accent

>the original star wars?
>Troy?
>300?

These are films with a lot of British cast members.

>
>Matter of fact, pretty much any American swordfightin movie,
>folks gonna have a british accent

I don't agree with this either.

But it's not like Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford were using British accents. Even Carrie Fisher's was more of a snob/prep school accent than an actual British accent. It actually worked really well for the part.

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You've basically just ruined any argument you might of had (although I don't agree anyway).

Still great to see someone from Atlanta wearing an Arsenal top! (presuming that's you)

-------------------------------------------------------

Stop using slang just for you to be cool
Cause I go back to when it was cool to be you

I mean, how many american sword fightin flicks feature vaguely effeminate, british dudes as villains?

Besides the fact that y'all are like "not EVERYBODY had an accent" is kinda proving buddy's point tho.

He was saying, "Why is British the accent of choice in period pieces that don't take place in England?"

Answer: it's not. It just seems that way since they cast a lot of British folks in period pieces due to their superior acting training.

Gladiator is a period piece, just like The Piano is.

One's a period action flick, the other a period drama.

American period films are usually acted with American accents unless the character is an immigrant or a visitor.

Films based on Edith Wharton novels (the recent versions of House of Mirth, Ethan Frome), Westerns, Historical films (Jefferson in Paris, Amastad), Westerns, and WWII movies are all considered American period films and the Americans sound like Americans.

being a different language. if you're talking about a peroid piece in ancient greece for example, the actors wouldn't be speaking english, they would be speaking greek. so for the film to be "accurate" you'd have to have it in greek with subtitles. the mainstream american audience isn't trying to read subtitles for the entire movie (passion of the christ is the only exception i can think of), so you're gonna have the movie in english which throws accuracy out of the picture from jump. so if they are speaking english, do you have them speak in a normal american dialect? this would sound too much like what we hear every day and would throw off the vibe of the period piece. you could have the actors speak english with an accent native to the setting, but the problem with this is they would sound like immigrants to america and not people native to that period. also that accent may be difficult for the mainstream american audience to understand. so that leaves us with the option of using a british accent. this accent sounds "foreign" to americans because we don't hear it around us on a day to day basis, but it is easy to understand because it is the native language of both the speaker and ourselves.

Unless the actor is British.

I couldn't help but think of Rome when I saw this post, actually, since I'm watching it again. I always loved that Ereni's accent is treated as foreign when she's Italian...but it still made sense to me.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Boston University: 2009 National Champions

Let's Go Bruins.

2008-09 and 2006-07 Zeno Memorial League Champion

Like if its supposed to take place in Rome why is Joaquin Phoenix talking bout "this vexes me" sounding like Elton John?

it's like it's written for someone British and u have to deliver it that way.


catch a swollen heart, from not rollin' smart

that the British were the biggest Empire in the world for a while.

If it's a period in which we don't have any sound records (a.k.a. most of history), it's impossible to tell what their voices and dialects sound like. It's challenging enough to guess what they talked like with any accuracy in a film, much less how the voices sounded with zero audible evidence.

Also, having well-known actors doing foreign accents can be risky, since audiences know what the voices sound like, and the effect of a star using a dialect can be utterly laughable. Example: Harrison Ford as the Russian sub commander. Another example: Tom Cruise in Valkyrie was going to try the whole film with a German accent, but the filmmakers wisely said, "Fuck it."

So what do you do? Instead of having all these British and American actors take a stab at doing an ancient Roman accent and risking folks laughing at well-known actors doing silly accents, you let them use their own voice. It's a lot easier, and since often you're not using the same words and languages that they would've used in that period, why go for historical accuracy on the accent?

I mean if they're speaking English already what difference does it make?

But it's mostly British actors, so British accents it is.

A lot of American actors will try that sort of bootleg British accent that's supposed to sound like...elegant, high class, etc.

You know, I think most of the time they consider that a straight up American accent will not sound refined and sophisticated. At all.

Usually they're kind of right.

Then again sometimes you get movies like Man In the Iron Mask.

1 Frenchman
1 Brit playing a Frenchman with a British accent
2 American playing a Frenchman with a British accent
And Leonardo DiCapprio. Playing the King of France. With a straight up American accent.

Go figure.

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

I agree with you but honestly the question doesn't make sense and shouldn't have required this much effort put into answering it.

If it's a British or British and American production it's going to have people speaking with British accents. British actors speak with British accents. That's the common sense answer that people used to reply to Kyru99. Most films are made in the the language and accents of their producers and/or their main audience. With maybe the exception of Gladiator, the films he listed are not period films. If they were making a film about the painting of the Sistine Chapel with British actors, they wouldn't speak Italian. It's rare that people speak with accents unless it's germane to the story (immigrant, visitor, traveling, etc.)

If the question was about people affecting a British accents in a non-British setting with a non-British cast and crew to give a sense of "otherness" or to heighten its importance or something like that, I'm not seeing it. It might be there, but I've never noticed it.

Hell, you could go back to all those old 50's and 60's sandal pics/biblical pics...

Waaaaay too many folks are british in places and periods where british accents shouldn't be possible.

It ain't even major like that, but I'm trippin offa all you film lovers never noticing this b4.

Shits a running joke to a lotta folks.

>Hell, you could go back to all those old 50's and 60's sandal
>pics/biblical pics...
>
>Waaaaay too many folks are british in places and periods where
>british accents shouldn't be possible.

They also speak with American accents. Is that acceptable?

>If it's a British or British and American production it's
>going to have people speaking with British accents. British
>actors speak with British accents. That's the common sense
>answer that people used to reply to Kyru99. Most films are
>made in the the language and accents of their producers and/or
>their main audience.

Yikes. Sometimes it's funny to hear interviews with famous British actors that made it big in Hollywood. The dialect will be miles away from the kind people are used to hearing in movies.

>
>If the question was about people affecting a British accents
>in a non-British setting with a non-British cast and crew to
>give a sense of "otherness" or to heighten its importance or
>something like that, I'm not seeing it. It might be there, but
>I've never noticed it.
>
I seriously can't believe you've never noticed it, unless you don't pay close attention or don't often watch period pieces.

Did you ever see the Brothers Grimm? Man the accents were all over the place in that one. Got a Swedish Peter Stormare playing an Italian. British Jonathan Pryce playing a Frenchman (?!?), American Matt Damon, Australian Heath Ledger and Italian Monica Belucci. Oh man, it was the tower of Babel exploding for two hours...

But I digress. To restate, I think again Man in the Iron Mask is a perfect example of what the original poster was talking about. You got Gerard Depardieu going over the top...and then Jeremy Irons, Gabriel Byrne and Malkovich all doing British accents, though the story, setting and characters are all supposed to be French through and through. And the fact that Irons and Byrne are from the UK doesn't factor in here, or excuse Malkovich. And then regular American accent from Leo which screws it all up.

Oh and 'period piece' intersects with 'fantasy'. Period Piece doesn't just signify Victorian Era. It's a pretty general term.

>>If it's a British or British and American production it's
>>going to have people speaking with British accents. British
>>actors speak with British accents. That's the common sense
>>answer that people used to reply to Kyru99. Most films are
>>made in the the language and accents of their producers
>and/or
>>their main audience.
>
>Yikes. Sometimes it's funny to hear interviews with famous
>British actors that made it big in Hollywood. The dialect will
>be miles away from the kind people are used to hearing in
>movies.

Yikes? Anyway, I don't know why this is that hard. Yes, some British actors do American accents. Some American actors do British accents. Many Brits can act in regional British accents. As can Americans. But that's not what this post is about.

>
>>
>>If the question was about people affecting a British accents
>>in a non-British setting with a non-British cast and crew to
>>give a sense of "otherness" or to heighten its importance or
>>something like that, I'm not seeing it. It might be there,
>but
>>I've never noticed it.
>>
>I seriously can't believe you've never noticed it, unless you
>don't pay close attention or don't often watch period pieces.

Nope. I haven't noticed it. I do think a lot of people confuse British with American patrician, but that might not be the case. There are enough American period pieces where Americans (or Brits, French or whatever country the actor comes from) use the appropriate American accents for the time period for me to think what you're saying you hear is not that common. If you have a specific example (few have been provided so far) I'll see if I hear what you hear.

>Did you ever see the Brothers Grimm? Man the accents were all
>over the place in that one. Got a Swedish Peter Stormare
>playing an Italian. British Jonathan Pryce playing a Frenchman
>(?!?), American Matt Damon, Australian Heath Ledger and
>Italian Monica Belucci. Oh man, it was the tower of Babel
>exploding for two hours...

None of this has anything to do with the initial question. I think everyone is addressing different things. Yes, a Swede can play an Italian. A Brit can play a Frenchman. None of that goes against what I've posted. I didn't use those specific examples but yes, people from one nation can play people from other nations. There's nothing odd or inappropriate about that and that's what the post is about, oddly placed accents, not playing characters from different backgrounds.

>But I digress. To restate, I think again Man in the Iron Mask
>is a perfect example of what the original poster was talking
>about. You got Gerard Depardieu going over the top...and then
>Jeremy Irons, Gabriel Byrne and Malkovich all doing British
>accents, though the story, setting and characters are all
>supposed to be French through and through. And the fact that
>Irons and Byrne are from the UK doesn't factor in here, or
>excuse Malkovich. And then regular American accent from Leo
>which screws it all up.

As you say (unless you can explain why their nationalities don't factor, not just state it) Jeremy Irons and Gabriel Byrne are British so it's likely that will be the accent they use. Malkovich almost always speaks NE patrician American, similar and often confused, but if it's British in that film then so be it. As the setting is French, these native English-speaking actors making a film for a primarily English-speaking audience are not likely going to adopt fake French accents. There's no need for it and it would be distracting. Nothing new there. Leo's accent was regular American, which is a big part of why the film was weird for people. But I don't think it was done for any other affect than for them not to take on French accents, they spoke in their natural dialects and let the story be central to the film.

I'm not saying there aren't accent problem in films due to bad performances, miscastings,etc. But it doesn't seem as if misplaced British accents is the trend the OP was making it out to be.


>Oh and 'period piece' intersects with 'fantasy'. Period Piece
>doesn't just signify Victorian Era. It's a pretty general
>term.

Yes, they can. But in this case, the films mentioned are fantasy. I could probably move off of Troy with some convincing, but not 300.

>Nope. I haven't noticed it. I do think a lot of people confuse
>British with American patrician, but that might not be the
>case. There are enough American period pieces where Americans
>(or Brits, French or whatever country the actor comes from)
>use the appropriate American accents for the time period for
>me to think what you're saying you hear is not that common. If
>you have a specific example (few have been provided so far)
>I'll see if I hear what you hear.
>
Try There Will Be Blood, for instance. Or even Daniel Day Lewis' performance before that in Gangs of New York. Two great movies, but his accent in them was way off the wall, and directly clashed with the accents of the other characters, all because he based it on a certain figures approximating the period, or even a way the hell off estimation.

The accents people for 'confusing' for British is certainly NOT American patrician. There's a pretty huge difference between that and the faux-British accent that's often used on screen. I know some actors will research heavily prior to a role, but I think you might be giving many of them far too much credit.

>None of this has anything to do with the initial question. I
>think everyone is addressing different things. Yes, a Swede
>can play an Italian. A Brit can play a Frenchman. None of that
>goes against what I've posted. I didn't use those specific
>examples but yes, people from one nation can play people from
>other nations. There's nothing odd or inappropriate about that
>and that's what the post is about, oddly placed accents, not
>playing characters from different backgrounds.
>
My point was that the accents were all over the place, and a large number of the characters in the movie were supposed to be British, although there was absolutely no cohesion and the guy playing the Frenchman ending up sounding far more British than the main guys that were playing the British characters. I mentioned the other roles/actors just to emphasize how jarring it can be. I think pertains to the initial question.

>As you say (unless you can explain why their nationalities
>don't factor, not just state it) Jeremy Irons and Gabriel
>Byrne are British so it's likely that will be the accent they
>use. Malkovich almost always speaks NE patrician American,
>similar and often confused, but if it's British in that film
>then so be it. As the setting is French, these native
>English-speaking actors making a film for a primarily
>English-speaking audience are not likely going to adopt fake
>French accents. There's no need for it and it would be
>distracting. Nothing new there. Leo's accent was regular
>American, which is a big part of why the film was weird for
>people. But I don't think it was done for any other affect
>than for them not to take on French accents, they spoke in
>their natural dialects and let the story be central to the
>film.
>
Of course that's why they did it. But it's not good. It's quite bad actually. And anyone that really pay attention will probably think it's laughably bad. And more so when some of the characters actually do assume the proper accent, and others don't.

>Yes, they can. But in this case, the films mentioned are
>fantasy. I could probably move off of Troy with some
>convincing, but not 300.
>
Calling it fantasy and not a period piece is mostly you're own opinion, though, right? I mean, I'm with you, I don't want to set 300 right up there next to the Age of Innocence, but there isn't exactly any set standard to qualify your statement. There aren't any strict borders to it (well, you could probably say that LOTR is fantasy and not a period piece, since it isn't set in this world). Once you try to set those borders suddenly you get tons of movies that don't fit on either side.

enemy at the gates and Valkyrie are two RECENT examples. Go back to the 50's and 60's and i'm certain there are tons more.

All them old biblical epics? Damn near everybody was apparently educated at oxford, lol.

lol

It's not because they want the Germans to sound British. They want the actors who can play the roles, and those men are almost always British. It's not hard to understand.

...and these british actors haven't ever appropriated any other accents for films?

Shit if ANYBODY has appropriated other accents fairly well, its the brits.

C'mon man, you pullin shit outta your ass now

>Shit if ANYBODY has appropriated other accents fairly well,
>its the brits.

Only to find out in the pre production phase that it will sound comical at best and just very strange if you start to get too accurate. I am trying to think of some examples in modern stuff but with plays for example.

Shakespeare in 99% of the performances using totally incorrect pronunciation for the time it was written in. If you were to do it correctly you would need to hire actors with Appalachian accents that pronounce words very differently. Not many people realize that a lot of Shakespeare's stuff actually rhymes because they pronounce all the words wrong. For instance "one" is pronounced *own* NOT *won*.

Anyway the problem is the unintended comedy produced by doing things authentic like that. They said the originally tried to do Deadwood with authentic dialogue but everyone sounded like Yosemite Sam.

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Snark don't work if you ain't really sayin shit, playboy.

sorry just had to say that lol

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