>>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.