Actors have one job.
Delivering a believable performance while making a film entertaining.
It can be a challenge, with a lot of weight and money riding on them.
Now, this is much, much harder when there is something slightly off about a characters
performance -- usually, this comes down to an accent.
Accents often trip up Actors because it takes a lot of time and effort to break out of your
natural accent.
Some succeed, however, some epically fail.
So today on Top 10 Beyond the Screen, we’re going to be counting down our list of the
Top 10 Worst Accent Ever Attempted In Movies.
Lets jump in.
10 Gerard Butler - Every Movie Ever, but mostly The Bounty Hunter
Gerard Butler is Scottish, we all know this.
We know this because he literally can’t do any other accent than Scottish-American
-- and this was proven when The Bounty Hunter was released in 2010.
Starring Jennifer Aniston, Gerard Butler and literally no one else of merit, the film follows
a bounty hunter who learns that his next target is his ex-wife.
Yep, grade a story telling, obviously.
Now, once again, like in all of Gerard Butler’s films, he attempts to quell his Scottish accent
by doing an American one -- which never seems to work out for him, and Butler seems to be
award of this.
In one interview he admitted that when he would do an American accent his friends would
say that he sounded like an idiot.
Very fitting.
9 Anne Hathaway - One Day This one films me with pain -- it’s always
a little bit harder when it’s your accent someone is unintentionally butchering.
Released back in 2011, One Day follows a man and a woman, who, after spending the night
together after their college graduation, are shown each year on the same date to see where
they are in their lives.
They are sometimes together, sometimes not.
Yeah, it’s dumb, but lets discuss anyway.
Now, Hathaway is of course American, but she was cast to play the British lead in this
film with her opting to go for a Yorkshire accent which did not go over well.
Even James Corden made fun of her, to her face, during The Late Late Show rap battle,
I quote, “This isn’t just for me, it’s for the whole UK.
Mad at your awful British accent in the movie One Day.”
-- He’s not wrong.
8 Julia Roberts - Mary Reilly Mary Reilly isn’t the greatest film to begin
with, even though its cast is completely stacked with the likes of Julia Roberts, John Malkovich,
Glenn Close and Michael Sheen.
Released back in 1996 the film follows a housemaid who falls in love with Dr.Jekyll and his dark
counterpart, Mr. Hyde.
Julia Roberts of course place the housemaid, an Irish servant to John Malkovich -- however,
Roberts’ performance is just straight up awkward, and use the word “Aye” before
almost every vowel in order to pronounce a word.
Rookie mistake.
It sounds like she’s mocking the accent instead of attempting to speak it.
Now, I wasn’t the only one to notice this, the Razzies also did and nominated her for
the Worst Actress award.
7 Tom Cruise - Far and Away Now, before I start bad mouthing Tom Cruise
-- I love this movie.
I really do, and I hate to include it on our list, but it could not be avoided.
Released back in 1992 and directed by the incredible Ron Howard, this drama follows
a young Irish couple who flee to the United States, but subsequently struggle to obtain
land and to prosper.
Now, like our previous number, an Irish accent was heavily butchered by none other than Tom
Cruise -- but not Nicole Kidman, she can do no wrong.
Apparently Hollywood is in dire need of an Irish dialect coach, because Cruise’s accent
throughout this film is truly appalling.
However, one scene takes the cake.
Cruise bullies Kidman, yelling, I quote, “Tell me you like my hat!” -- sadly, she can’t
because we have no idea what the hell you are saying Tom!
6 James Van Der Beek - Varsity Blues Another one of my many guilty pleasures at
this numbers -- Varsity Blues was released back in 1999 and follows a backup quarterback
who is chosen to lead a Texas football team to victory after the star quarterback is injured.
Now, this film was released during the early days of Dawson’s Creek when the young actor
was becoming the hot new teen commodity in Hollywood -- but you can’t help but feel
this film destroyed his career ever so slightly.
Now, set in Texas Van Der Beek of course needed a Texan accent, however, either he lied about
being able to do one or produces just didn’t care, because his accent is borderline cartoony.
It was later revealed that he struggled so much he had to write all of his lines phonetically
in his script, yet, that didn’t seem to help him much either.
5 Brad Pitt - The Devil’s Own Yes again, we have another terrible Irish
accent, this time though, at the hands of Brad Pitt.
Released back in 1997, The Devil’s Own follows a police officer who uncovers the real identity
of his house-guest, an IRA terrorist in hiding.
Now, this was Pitt’s first time playing an Irish character, and it shows, with the
actors falling victim to the “Aye” mistake to mask his non-existent accent, much like
Julia Roberts did in Mary Reilly.
No matter how hard he tried he could not make his Irish accent believable, yet, crazier
still, he went on to book more Irish roles.
Bizarre.
4 Jon Voight - Anaconda Anaconda is one of my favourite guilty pleasures,
yep, I will openly admit that to you all -- judge away.
Released back in 1997, starring Jon Voight, Jennifer Lopez, Eric Stoltz and Owen Wilson,
the film follows a National Geographic film crew who are taken hostage by a hunter who
forces them to join him in capturing the world’s largest and deadliest snake.
So dump, but so great.
Now, I still have no idea what accent Voight is trying to do in this film, it ranges from
spanish to southern, to even a little bit Irish.
It’s confusing to say the least -- and perhaps was the scariest part of this
reptile monster movie.
3 Angelina Jolie - Alexander I love Angelina Jolie, but Alexander was truly
abysmal so I feel no guilt for sh**ting all over it.
Released back in 2004 and starring Colin Farrel, Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie and Rosario
Dawson, the film follows Alexander, the king of Macedonia and one of the greatest military
leaders in the history of warfare, as he conquers much of the known world.
Now Jolie’s accent in this film is just baffling, it’s British but also Greek, and
sometimes American, I guess?
And at times she sounds more like a harsh Russian than the beautiful Greek Olympias.
Honestly though, Colin Farrell who played her son, Alexander, which just as terrible
with a borderline Irish-British accent -- making their lineage utterly confusing.
2 Keanu Reeves - Dracula Oh Keanu.
I love you, I do.
We all do -- but Dram Stoker’s Dracula may be the worst thing you have ever done in your
long, prolific career.
Now, don’t get me wrong, the film itself is great!
Really good.
Released back in 1992, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Bram Stoker’s Dracula stars
Keanu, Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, and Anthony Hopkins to name a few, and follows the centuries
old vampire Count Dracula as he arrives in England to seduce his barrister’s fiance
and inflict havoc.
Now, I’m allowed to criticise Reeves because he taints my homelands accent.
I won’t say that it’s unbearable but it’s dainty and aggressively high-pitched.
However, it gets worse, following an encounter with Dracula the accent descends into madness,
as he incorporates a much deeper voice to sound wearing and more British I guess?
I mean, just take a listen.
1 Dick Van Dyke - Mary Poppins Look, I know this is an obvious choice, but
I can’t put any other person at number one, I just can’t.
Yes, Dick Van Dyke is endearing in this 1964 musical, but it does not hide the fact that
his accent is the worst thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life.
Now, we all know the story of Marry Poppins, a magical Nanny who uses music and adventure
to help two children become closer to their father.
Now, Van Dyke plays a chimney sweeper, a role which required for him to speak, and sing,
in a British cockney accent -- and it was a disaster --
and is considered to be one of the worst accents in cinematic history.
Well, there we have it!
Do you guys agree with our list?
Were there any terrible accents that we missed?
Leave us all your thoughts and feelings in the comments down below and perhaps we can
do a part 2.
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And until next time, see ya later.