hi i'm eric singer
eric is a dialect coach who helps actors
with their accents in film and
television let's look at some clips
[Music]
southern accent
brad pitt and glorious bastards they're
the foot soldiers of a jew-hating mass
murdering maniac and they need to be
destroyed tennessee accents and southern
accents in general have something called
goose fronting sound good which is that
the vowel in words like goose jew jew
humanity humanity cruel we will be cruel
to the germans is fronter in the mouth
so jew humanity cruel he doesn't really
get that's what i like to hear
nigerian accent
will smith concussion if you continue to
deny my work
the world will deny my work smith is
playing a real person here that's it
that's all i am bennett omalu who has a
somewhat americanized nigerian accent i
said oh wiltzman playing me smith
doesn't seem to be going for omallo's
voice so much as uh the truth kind of
generalized nigerian or african accent
tell the truth listen to those th sounds
in this this is bigger than they are
they should be tantalized this day this
is bigger than they are
impersonation of truman capote philip
seymour hoffman capote i had only just
handed them the final scene when the
bellhop told me i had a phone call this
is just amazing in every way his
particular vocal quality and mannerisms
are just like capotes i think journalism
can be taught but i don't think creative
writing can be taught the accent is dead
on perfect it was my stepfather joe
capote and the accent's totally
integrated calling to say that my mother
died it's integral to the character and
what the actor is doing as the character
he had quite a lot to say about us
[Laughter]
boston accent michael keaton spotlight
this is our town jimmy
everybody knew something was going on
and no one did a thing he's going for a
boston accent that has one of the
stereotypical markers which is a lot god
hot valve he says on one time come on
and he says on the next time something
was going on he doesn't do that rounding
on
confirmation unless i get confirmation
confirmation confirmation he should we
got to put an end to it
polish accent
kate winslet jobs that you told her
you weren't going to pay for harvard
this is really good for the most part
thank you a thing that she doesn't quite
get is the oral posture her mouth is
very open again maybe theater training
the more you open your mouth the more
sound comes out
it's a little thing have a look at
johanna hoffman's jaw all software
developers it's a much closer joy it's
much higher less space between the teeth
extremely easy to use look at kate
winslets but what you make isn't
supposed to be the best part of you
much more open meryl streep and sophie's
choice check out her jaw jake had a
lover who was very very good to me
belfast accent
tom cruise far and away grace isn't
she's a dancer in the barley queue she's
my sister you know i'm sure this could
have been better enough the actor
probably wasn't given enough time to
prepare said that
that's enough the vowel sounds in like
why can't you say you like my suit and
hat did you say you like my hat keep
going all over the place you like my
house sometimes they're close sometimes
they're just say it tom cruise
i've earned this
french accent
joseph gordon-levitt the walk
the stairs going up
go back to the hotel if i'm not back in
five hours look for me the police
station yeah so this is pretty good
there are definitely things that could
be improved here's a good thing listen
to the vowel in stop they just rise and
never stop it's not human pretty dead on
so you might pull out his r sounds here
as being inconsistent sometimes he's got
a french uvular uh there's a
sometimes i'm more american-sounding
they just rise they just rise but people
are inconsistent that's real that th
sound i'm mad with this
this is my dream he nails it and it's
too easy that's hard for a french
speaker
idris elba mandela long walked to
freedom my lord
it is not i but the government that
should be put in a dock this is a great
job elba does a lot to capture mandela's
particular vocal characteristics and
mannerism and placement which i hope to
live for he's actually got a little bit
of a retracted a pulled back tongue root
listen to the word prepared i am
prepared as opposed to prepared i am
prepared prepared
we call that the square lexical set it
should be a monophthong for mandela and
jose accents generally whereas elba
makes it a diphthong i played not guilty
southern accent
nicholas cage conair i got nothing in
common with them with you they were
insane
it's my daughter's birthday today
i don't know what happened to the actors
prep here my first thought would be a
lot this doesn't really hit any of the
marks southern accents have vowel
breaking in words like creep and freak
they somehow manage to get every creep
and freak in the universe which means
that's a little wiggle creep and freak
creep and freak also a vow in a word
like plane onto this one plane should
start lower you're not hearing any of
that one of my fault
wyoming texas accents jake gyllenhaal
heath ledger broke back mountain have
you been a mexico jack twist cause i
hear what they got in mexico for boys
like you hell yes i've been in mexico
gyllenhaal nails his wyoming accent here
listen to the vowel in one and once how
it's all the way back in his mouth i did
once i did once you can also hear it in
a couple of high altitude couple
of high altitude once or twice a
year i love heath's performance here i
ain't joking the character's tightness
and repression and kind of struggle with
himself is mirrored in his posture
nowhere look the way his jaw and his
lips are held tight all the time you can
even see him listening through that
posture why don't you just let me be huh
english accent
kevin costner robin hood prince of
thieves the sheriff calls us outlaws
but i say we are free so this is like
the paradigm of bad movie accents this
is the one everybody brings up
for good reason and face with the price
for it may be dear
he can't make up his mind whether to
leave the ours in or take them out he's
more powerful than 10 hired soldiers
nothing's right here then i say we can
win
wrong
creole accent from sierra leone leonardo
dicaprio blood diamond you get for pay
me first for them you get one more dead
body
instead of aeroplane way forward grenade
launcher dicaprio is speaking a west
african creel here called creole then
government at least then go pay me huh
oh rotten aka then no rotten ak them can
stand government true against then
government troops it's a creditable job
but this no fine huh it's a little
marred by some west indian intonation oh
you chris otherwise it's pretty good are
you chris david or yellow selma for we
shall be victorious in our quest
we shall cross the finish line hand in
hand david's not doing an impersonation
it's more of an evocation which means
he's just suggesting this very familiar
voice i'm so glad
we're here together today listen to how
much of his vocal range martin luther
king jr actually uses a man dies when he
refuses to stand up for justice and
compare it to david or yellow we shall
cross the finish line hand in hand not
quite the same baltimore accent idris
elba the wire you're not gonna bring
that corner up in here you hear
me i want this to run like a true
business this is amazing elba
was working on this accent for years one
thing this accent doesn't have is a
really interesting baltimore specific
african-american pronunciation of words
like to
you what do you do follow through what
about you which you can hear from other
actors in the same show who are actually
baltimore natives listen to prop joe
nail it my nephew my nephew
japanese accent
mickey rooney breakfast at tiffany's you
disturb me you must have a key me
what the let this happen
vintage new york city accent daniel day
lewis gangs of new york and i want you
to go out there you nobody else to
punish the murderer this
poor little rabbit it's always tough to
do a historical accent do you go for
absolute accuracy at the risk of
alienating the audience and making it
inaccessible you may have misgivings but
don't go believing that jack and i think
he walks the line brilliantly here the
tip of his tongue hits a different place
hits his teeth which is characteristic
of a new york accent tell me tell me
tell me this charge does it sit uneasy
with you it also gets a lot of nasality
into the accent what in heaven's name
are you talking about still maintains a
lot of color and expression help
yourself to some decent meat on the way
out
scottish accent
mel gibson braveheart and i see
a whole army of my countrymen
here in defiance of tyranny you know i
think maybe gibson gets a bad rap for
this performance yes
it does slip out why does it go but when
it's on it's pretty good for example
fight and you may die run and you'll
love
that's pretty good i give you thanks
russian accent
viggo mortensen eastern promises if you
can prove baby was his and girl was
underage that is statutory rape yeah
mortensen does a pretty creditable job
here but please it doesn't feel quite
integrated it's a little general for
poetic reasons it's not that the sounds
are off they're all pretty good okay
it just feels a little stiff and a
little careful the accent hasn't quite
settled in yet thank you not like a real
person speaking i don't know what you're
talking about
[Music]
afrikaans accent
matt damon invictus please mr president
it makes complete sense to me in the bus
on the way to the stadium nobody talks
damon prepped really well for this role
and it's just a great job on an accent
that's usually really hard for americans
this is our destiny there's always
something to pick on listen to the line
that has chosen and no in it something
i've chosen one we all know nails that
vowel the first time something i've
chosen not so much the second time when
we all know
paraguayan accent john voigt anaconda
never look in the eyes of those you kill
they will haunt you forever
i have no idea what that accent was i
know
cate blanchett the aviator he's a
urologist but it's all tied up inside
the body don't you mind so this is a
great evocation of katherine hepburn's
particular idiolect if i had to quibble
with it i'd say that blanchette relies
really strongly on hepburn's timbre and
intonation you're dead she doesn't quite
have the posture she has a very open jaw
perhaps from her theater training if
you're deaf you must own up to it as
opposed to sort of high tight and
slightly forward jaw that katherine
hepburn had women and men simply are not
the same men god be friends with women
they're just not the same
english accent angelina jolie maleficent
i really felt quite distressed not
receiving an invitation so julie's going
for a slightly old-fashioned very posh
english accent here oh man what we call
received pronunciation and she does a
great job of it oh dear listen to the
way she says the words
royaltic royalty nobility nobility
gentry gentry and those short ending eh
sounds you won't really hear that in
english accents anymore how quaint
russian accent
john malkovich rounders
and in my club i will splash the pot
whenever the
i please
respect is wool you have left in the
morning so russian speaking english will
sometimes stick a little yet sound in
alligator blood and what malkovich does
here is something that no russian
speaker speaking english would actually
do which is palatalize everything the
way malkovich says this
i quote i quote is over enthusiastic
you'll never hear that from an actual
russian speaker
london accent renee zellweger bridget
jones's diary the greatest book of our
time one of the top 30 music oral
posture these things are all going
really really well thank you she does
lateral plosion on words like gentlemen
gentlemen that's exploding the t sound
straight into the l sound when it's
difficult for a lot of people gentlemen
gentle gentlemen and it's that estuary
english accent that she's going for with
a character properly
german accent brad pitt seven years in
tibet the one
raising their flag is an honor the
chinese don't deserve this could be
better listen to the words have you have
the entire palace in the panic and kind
kind of difficult in a glass house no in
german the consonants at the ends of
words are devoiced and this carries over
into english so word like have you have
the entire palace it's to have a sound
at the end a word like kind kind of
difficult is going to have more like a
sound at the end so half and kind which
is really hard for a german to do
speaking english
belfast accent
brad pitt snatch
brings a fella the size of you unless
you're trying to say something they're
talking right bye why the do i want
a caravan it's got no weirds
belfast english can be really hard for
american ears to understand yeah what's
about how you saw it listen to vowels in
the words car if she got a car she got a
car which was just great contrast that
with in the devil zone when he says see
and sleep there is no more peaceful way
of going to sleep and he just doesn't
have it
new york city accent heath ledger the
dark knight but i know the truth there's
no going back you've changed things
forever this is a weird idiosyncratic
american accent you for a weird
idiosyncratic character complete
me i love the way he's able to maintain
his accent even with this weird tongue
flicky audi gesture that he does that's
part of the character
english accent
keanu reeves bram stoker's dracula i
know where the bastard sleeps
i brought him down i've seen many
strange things already
bloody wolves chasing me through some
blue inferno so southern english accents
are non-rhotic you leave the r sound out
after a vowel in a word like inferno
blue inferno he can't make up his mind
whether to do it or not i will give it
my full attention
vintage california accent daniel day
lewis there will be blood one night i'm
gonna come to you inside of your house
wherever you're sleeping and i'm gonna
cut your throat so this is another
flavor of vintage or early american
totally different from gangs of new york
is this about buying up my tracks here i
love the way he seems to build the
accent and even the character around the
oral posture of course you do
of course you do he has his tongue
bunched up in the middle of his mouth
and bracing against the molars and he
lets his cheeks be very loose yes i do
his mustache is also perfect what else
would i do with myself english cockney
accent don cheadle ocean's 11. hang on
are you accusing me of booby trapping
there's no way the actor was given
enough time to prepare oh
for example listen to this line it'd be
nice working with proper villains again
none of those vowels really hit their
targets you had one job to do conclusion
look this stuff isn't easy good or bad
these actors all took some serious risks
for our entertainment big asterisk here
when an accent doesn't go right it's
usually not the actor's fault it's
usually a combination of actor coach and
production and often is about not having
enough time to prepare before shooting
starts if there's one thing to remember
it's that accent is a crucial layer of
storytelling
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