Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Robert Pattinson are three of the biggest names in Hollywood,
and they also have something else in common: an uncanny gift for accents.
"I enjoy to speak English."
In fact, they often use voices that are so far from their natural accents, you might
be surprised to hear them speaking in real life.
Tom Holland has been dancing his way into audiences' hearts since he was little, starring
in the West End production of "Billy Elliott" and wowing movie crowds with his stunning
debut in the 2012 disaster drama "The Impossible."
At the very beginning of his career, the London-born Holland used his natural English accent.
"No, what are you doing?
No, this is my mom's bed.
Get off.
No, get off."
It didn't take long for Holland to join the web of international fame once he nabbed the
role of Peter Parker.
As Parker, Holland has a New York affectation, but he also has a soft-spoken, chipper, and
sometimes even quizzical sound to suit his status as an upbeat teen superhero.
"Sup guys, you forgot your pin number?
Woah, you're the Avengers.
What are you guys doing here?"
Beyond his work in the Spidey suit, Holland has also mastered many other vocal styles
in his films.
In "Pilgrimage," for example, he adopted an Irish accent, while he took on a deeper, darker
drawl as a justice-seeking southerner in "The Devil All the Time."
"Grandma, that ain't no preacher.
He's as bad as they got on the damn radio.
Heck I bet he just wanted them chicken livers all for his own self.
That's why he did that."
But what about in real life?
Well, he still has the same natural accent as his earlier on-screen counterparts.
He's just so good at doing accents it's easy to forget that.
"If you don't get the accent right, then you may as well not do it."
His real-life speaking voice makes him sound both sophisticated and soothing -- even in
those moments where he's getting silly -- which is pretty true to character as far as we can tell.
"So anyway, so we go to the gym and we start working out.
You know, we're doing ab exercises and leg exercises, and then he turns to me and he
goes, 'Uh, Tom, do you wanna hop on the treadmill and warm up?'
I'm like warm up?
I'm roasting, mate.
I'm finished."
Clearly, he's gotten so good at it that he can switch accents on a dime.
But he's not the only one who's mastered that skill.
Andrew Garfield is another vocal chameleon.
In fact, most of Garfield's iconic screenwork sees a radical shift in his accent – each
one different and unique.
In his award-winning role as real-life war hero Desmond Doss in "Hacksaw Ridge," for
example, he adopted the Southern sound of the Virginia-born combat medic.
"Well what the hell are you saying, Doss?
You lose half your body sleeping?"
"I sleep pretty hard."
Meanwhile, he took on the New York stylings of Peter Parker in the "Amazing Spider-Man"
films…
"Who are you?"
"No one seems to grasp the concept of the mask."
…and convincingly depicted a Portuguese Jesuit priest in Martin Scorsese's "Silence."
He most recently stunned audiences with his electric portrayal of visionary Jonathan Larson
"Tick, Tick ... Boom!"
– a role for which he not only adopted an on-point Manhattan accent, but actually learned
how to sing.
"I usually write a song in a day.
Last week I wrote a song about sugar.
It took me three hours."
"Song about sugar?"
"Sugar!
She's refined.
For a small price she blows my mind."
"Why would you do that?"
Andrew Garfield delivered so many onscreen accents over the years that if you're a casual
fan, you might not know he's actually British.
"In my own fantasy, if I was Spider-man, Peter Parker, what would be the way I wanted to
express and experience my super powers?
It would be, like, the craziest skateboarding stuff ever, so that was my pitch."
Though the actor was actually born in Los Angeles and has an American father, his mother
was British.
When Garfield was still just a toddler, his family relocated to Surrey, England, and he
eventually adopted the regional dialect of the area, which sticks with him to this day.
"It was a whole new challenge and a whole new part of myself that I got to express and
explore, and then like, to be able to learn piano, it was just like a wonderful, wonderful thing."
Garfield's accent game just continues to get better and better – just like our next star
with a command of accents that's out of this world.
Robert Pattinson also reached the realms of global superstar with a diverse set of accents,
although he started out with his native London accent.
"You know the prefect's bathroom on the fifth floor?
It's not a bad place for a bath."
After making a splash with his natural British accent with his breakout role as Cedric Diggory
in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," Pattinson had to pivot straight to an American
accent for the role of Edward Cullen in the 2008 adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's vampire
romance saga "Twilight."
"What if I'm not the hero?
What if I'm the bad guy?"
Over the years, Pattinson has continued to prove his talent for taking on new accents
in films, from portraying the renowned Spanish artist Salvador Dali in "Little Ashes" to
his surprising and delightful appearance in "The King."
"And the sound of your wives and your children weeping shall lull me to sleep at night."
More recently, Pattinson took on a swampy southern dialect that took his natural voice
down a few notes in his celebrated performance in "The Devil All The Time."
"Delusions.
Blaspheming the lord in your mind and in your heart for some wrong done to you by another person."
Whether he's using his own natural accent or reaching for a new sound, Pattinson's performances
are always captivating.
"When I started acting it was always really fun, and then when you start doing it professionally,
it's terrifying and so competitive.
It doesn't feel fun for awhile, and I kind of, over the last few jobs, I mean doing jobs
like this, when it is…I mean it's really fun."
Thanks for watching.
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