November 20, 2008
American and British Houses
Even knowing that Hugh Laurie played Bertie Wooster (one of the funniest television series ever), I have a hard time associating his current persona with anybody but House. So hearing him speak in his "normal" voice makes me think he's "acting." I never even suspected that some of the other actors mentioned in this story were British or Australian. I saw Anthony LaPaglia a couple of years ago in an Aussie arthouse flick (Lantana) and thought at the time, "What'd they cast an American for?"
Labels: language, television
Comments
Band of Brothers threw me off; every now and then someone from the show appears in a TV show and I'm surprised to hear their accents (or not.)
What's funny is hearing people who don't speak with a specific accent, pass judgment on one. I've hear a lot of criticisms of Laurie's House accent, but the critics don't realize just how varied east coast accents are. And explain George Plimpton's accent.
The funniest situation, though, was a discussion trashing an actor's colloquial British accent. Someone finally pointed out that the actor in question was not only British, but the accent was actually his natural one--he grew up in that area, but had previously used regional accents for his parts.
(That said, Hugh Grant's attempts at American accents are as cringe-worthy as Zellweger's British accent.)
What's funny is hearing people who don't speak with a specific accent, pass judgment on one. I've hear a lot of criticisms of Laurie's House accent, but the critics don't realize just how varied east coast accents are. And explain George Plimpton's accent.
The funniest situation, though, was a discussion trashing an actor's colloquial British accent. Someone finally pointed out that the actor in question was not only British, but the accent was actually his natural one--he grew up in that area, but had previously used regional accents for his parts.
(That said, Hugh Grant's attempts at American accents are as cringe-worthy as Zellweger's British accent.)
Another funny example is Craig Ferguson. He says he played "Mr. Wick" on The Drew Carey Show with a "ludicrously posh English accent" in order to make up for the "generations of English actors doing crap Scottish accents." He had me convinced.
Critics trashing the "real" accent of an actor reminds me of Angel fans criticizing Glenn Quinn's Irish accent. Well, Glenn Quinn is/was Irish. In one of the commentaries, a writer, Jane Espenson I believe, points out that Glenn's accent was SO real, he sometimes had to come in and rerecord dialog so American viewers could understand it.
Which brings me to how cool I think it is that unfiltered British accents are becoming more and more common. Everything from Britain used to be BBC. No more! Although it does mean, I have to put the subtitles on sometimes just to understand what is being said (Torchwood is a notable example.)
Which brings me to how cool I think it is that unfiltered British accents are becoming more and more common. Everything from Britain used to be BBC. No more! Although it does mean, I have to put the subtitles on sometimes just to understand what is being said (Torchwood is a notable example.)