Zoe ,'War Stories'
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
New Orleans accents are always terrible.
Simon Baker is pretty good, but there's some particular vowel-consonant combination that gives him away. I forget what, but it's something to do with an American rrrrrrr.
Agreed on Owain Yeoman and Damian Lewis. (Damian Lewis. Yum.)
Edit: Oh, and Rose McIvwer on iZombie is flawless. I had no clue, and I can usually pick up on it.
I watched a cute-if-predictable rom-com a few months back called "Man Up" and thought Lake Bell (who's from NYC) had a pretty decent British accent to my admittedly untrained ears.
Well she did direct In a World... so I figure she has access to good vocal coaches. I highly recommend both that one and Man Up, which is very cute. I particularly liked the dynamics of the older couples in the latter.
Agreed on Owain Yeoman and Damian Lewis.
My theory is all (or at least most) of the British actors who cannot manage a good American accent stay in Britain and do tv and theater there. It's a relative few who can make the leap to the US.
Considering how good the British accent tends to sound to American ears, why not just change the character to a Brit if one of those actors gets cast?
Has Tony Head ever done an American accent?
Yes, on the TV show Dominion, a couple years ago.
Not good.
The guy who plays Rick Grimes. I don't watch the show but my husband does and I had to ask what was up with that accent.
Yeah, it often comes out as (or defaults to) either Southern or generic New Yorkish. Like the guy on Legends of Tomorrow. Wouldn't have guessed he was British, but did think something bizarre was up with his accent.
Lincoln managed what sounded to me like a decent Kentucky accent at the start, but it kind of got away from him.
The guy who plays wally West is Australian--that was a surprise. And, of course, Idris Elba in The Wire.