I think I thought the accent wasn't great in Phone Booth, but I don't really remember. Have never seen Tigerland.
I go online sometimes, but everyone's spelling is really bad. It's... depressing.
Tara ,'Get It Done'
Spoilage Lite - The Return
[NAFDA] The place for casting and other vague spoilers, for those who merely want to wade, not drown, in the spoiler sea. Episode titles, writers, and preview speculation in black font. Exiting cast, TV Guide and other entertainment articles and their discussion white-fonted. Hard core spoilers are not allowed.
Jesse - Jun 22, 2006 3:09:23 am PDT #593 of 3639
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
§ ita § - Jun 22, 2006 3:55:27 am PDT #594 of 3639
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
I think I saw him first in either Tigerland or the cowboy movie, and had no idea he wasn't American. Then I started liking him in Minority Report and in the course of normal research found out his nationality.
sumi - Jun 22, 2006 4:51:40 am PDT #595 of 3639
Art Crawl!!!
I thought his accent was pretty good in Tigerland but it did slip here and there.
arby - Jun 22, 2006 8:53:04 am PDT #596 of 3639
Guy #1: Man, there are so many hipsters around. I hate hipsters! Guy #2: You're at the wrong place. That's like going to Vegas only to say "I hate titties!" --The Warsaw, Williamsburg (OINY)
You know who's terrible at doing an American accent? Cary Elwes. His accent in The X-Files was so bad it stuck out like a sore thumb. Although he must have gotten better at it because for the most part it wasn't so bad in Saw. (What? The BF dragged me to that movie and in a moment of temporary insanity I agreed.)
Matt the Bruins fan - Jun 22, 2006 11:41:43 am PDT #597 of 3639
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
Bale's done convincing American accents in several movies, most notably American Psycho where he had that bland DJ voice down to an art form. But then he's sort of the male British Meryl Streep regarding accents.
Sadly I don't think Ian McKellen managed a convincing one in The Shadow, but the consolation prize of getting to hear him use a British accent in everything since made up for it.
§ ita § - Jun 22, 2006 11:55:51 am PDT #598 of 3639
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
For some reason Christian Bale reminded me of Jamie Bamber, who can also pass. Ewan can't, can he?
sumi - Jun 22, 2006 12:02:34 pm PDT #599 of 3639
Art Crawl!!!
I know that Jamie Bamber has one American parent, does CB?
Scrappy - Jun 22, 2006 12:15:10 pm PDT #600 of 3639
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Idris Elba and the other British actors in The Wire all have amazing American accents. Sexy, sexy Clive Owen in Sin City, not so much.
Going the other way, I think Mike Myers' various British accents are good--but he has parents who emigrated to Canada, I believe.
Nutty - Jun 22, 2006 12:17:08 pm PDT #601 of 3639
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
Bale's stepmom is Gloria Steinem. (Not from when he was a kid, though.) I always thought that would be kind of cool -- my stepmom, the rabblerousing cause icon!
It would be like if your cousin married Trotsky. (And wasn't murdered.) cool points by proxy.
Nutty - Jun 22, 2006 12:21:07 pm PDT #602 of 3639
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
the other British actors in The Wire all have amazing American accents.
Dominic West, NSM. Elba's is pretty good, though.
I recall thinking that Robert Downey Jr.'s accent in Chaplin was pretty good -- he got the consonants right, which helped when he slipped up on the occasional vowel.
Emma Thompson can do midwestern American -- including that grating Chicago A! It was a whole Very Special episode of that sitcom with the talk show host whose name I am blanking. Emma outed herself as being actually from Cleveland, and said that Laurence Olivier had been from Arkansas.
(N.b. the only Clevelander I know doesn't actually have the Chicago A in his repertoire. Although he does suffer a vowel shotage.)