Bad Irish accents in TV/Movies

rob316

I was watching the third season of Sons of Anarchy last night and some of the attempts at an Irish accent are awful. Got me thinking about some other bad ones - Kevin Spacey in Ordinary Decent Criminal, Julia Roberts in Michael Collins and the worst of all was when I heard Gerard Butler in PS I Love You.

How hard is it not to sound like a leprechaun? Anyone else have some bad ones?

The Backwards Man

Colin Farrell in anything.

Raytown Rocks

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1837709/?ref_=nv_sr_2

Russell Crowe

castletownman

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in Far and Away :eek:

kingtiger

Tommy Lee Jones and Richard Gere instantly spring to mind

Sheep Lover

Sean Bean in the Patriot Games, actually any actor in that film trying to do an Irish accent was atrocious.

iDave

Some old guy in Shallow Hal

maximoose

Brad Pitt in that crap IRA movie.

That TV show with Jorah from Game of Thrones in it - Jack Taylor. His accent is brutal.

allibastor

PS I love you with Gerard Butler.

Oh my god that was shocking.

wilhelm roentgen

Alan Partridge

'Deres more to Oireland dan dis'

rob316

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVIkgK6eyn0

I'll just leave this here

DellyBelly

Liam Nesson as Michael Collins....woeful attempt of a Cork accent

ordinary_girl

Jared Leto in Last of the High Kings. I cringed anytime he spoke in it.

rob316

Just to mention a good one Kate Blanchett in Veronica Guerin was excellent.

Turtyturd

DellyBelly wrote: »

Liam Nesson as Michael Collins....woeful attempt of a Cork accent

On a similar note, the lads in Cool Running's.

Shocking attempt at a Cork accent.

Trond

Anyone mention John Boy in Love Hate?

Mesrine65

Mickey Rourke in Prayer For The Dying.

pajor

Pierce Brosnan in Evelyn.

Snake Plisken

maximoose wrote: »

Brad Pitt in that crap IRA movie.

That TV show with Jorah from Game of Thrones in it - Jack Taylor. His accent is brutal.

Brad redeemed himself bigtime with his note perfect traveller accent in Snatch!

MadsL

Brad Pitt should at least get a pass for the brilliant accent in Snatch!

De ye like dags?

Salvation Tambourine

Julia Roberts in Michael Collins. Awful.

Also Kelly MacDonald as Margaret Schroeder in Boardwalk Empire, which is strange because her Dublin/Irish accent in Intermission as Deirdre was excellent.

Motivator

Caddyshack.

Maggie.

That is all.

somesoldiers

rob316 wrote: »

I was watching the third season of Sons of Anarchy last night and some of the attempts at an Irish accent are awful. Got me thinking about some other bad ones - Kevin Spacey in Ordinary Decent Criminal, Julia Roberts in Michael Collins and the worst of all was when I heard Gerard Butler in PS I Love You.

How hard is it not to sound like a leprechaun? Anyone else have some bad ones?

that series and the accents nearly turned me off SOA for good but was glad I gave it another chance. Watch out for Keith the ex-mechanic from Carraigstown making an appearance in s5 (I think)!

TerrorFirmer

The Boondock Saints was pretty bad as well - though to be fair it more played on the ridiculous stereotype, I can't think of any excuse for that dreadful clip from Sons of Anarchy.

FunLover18

The Knick with Clive Owen. The Irish accents are woeful, I'd be tempted to stop watching if the rest of the show wasn't so good.

Arturo Bandini

somesoldiers wrote: »

that series and the accents nearly turned me off SOA for good but was glad I gave it another chance. Watch out for Keith the ex-mechanic from Carraigstown making an appearance in s5 (I think)!

His northern accent is terrible in the most recent season.

Dano from Love/Hate is in it too.

mikom

A masterclass here..........

Load a bollox

dmc17

Richard Gere - The Jackal

Alun

I've just been watching Penny Dreadful and Billy Piper's Belfast accent is truly appalling.

Agricola

pajor wrote: »

Pierce Brosnan in Evelyn.

Pierce Brosnan in real life more like. He should just adopt an American or British accent as his default, like Christian Bale!

AnonoBoy

Nokotan wrote: »

Also Kelly MacDonald as Margaret Schroeder in Boardwalk Empire, which is strange because her Dublin/Irish accent in Intermission as Deirdre was excellent.

That one I'd say was how she was asked to do it so the Americans would know she was Irish. The Irish accent would have been different back then though so I suppose that's the excuse.

My vote goes to Kevin Spacey in Ordinary Decent Criminal.

FTA69

Snake Plisken wrote: »

Brad redeemed himself bigtime with his note perfect traveller accent in Snatch!

He doesn't sound one bit like a Traveller in that film. It's a sh*te impersonation.

ciaranlong

There is a Facebook group based on this topic called "Dreadful Hollywood Irish Accents". The group description is: "a group which honours the 'ordinara dacent craminals' of this world making a balls of the Irish accent!"

AnonoBoy

FTA69 wrote: »

He doesn't sound one bit like a Traveller in that film. It's a sh*te impersonation.

It's a daycent attempt for a Yank like.

Bipolar Joe

The main two in Burn Notice do just awful Irish accents. It's just terrible.

JaseBelleVie

Has any Hollywood film or American TV show ever had an instance where an Irish accent wasn't awful in it?

December2012

JaseHeath wrote: »

Has any Hollywood film or American TV show ever had an instance where an Irish accent wasn't awful in it?

Kate Hudson was really good in About Adam

wylie

I thought Jon Voight in the General was brilliant, Kevin Spacey in Ordinary Decent Criminal was ****e! Like woefully ****e.

La_Gordy

Arra it has tae be Kevin Spacey. James McEvoy but, I really thought he was an Irish actor after Inside I'm Dancing.

FunLover18

I haven't seen Ordinary Decent Criminals in years but it's weird that Spacey was so bad given how good he is at impressions.

Bipolar Joe

FunLover18 wrote: »

I haven't seen Ordinary Decent Criminals in years but it's weird that Spacey was so bad given how good he is at impressions.

He's awful at impressions!

FunLover18

Bipolar Joe wrote: »

He's awful at impressions!

Awful?

fleet_admiral

Brad Pitt in Snatch

AndonHandon

Chris O'Dowd in that rom com; reeked of wannabe American, smug yet cannot escape the Irish accent. Ugh.

Bipolar Joe

FunLover18 wrote: »

Awful?

I think it's safe to assume you have never heard Walken, Caine or Clinton speak.

Mezcita

Adian Gillan in Game of Thrones. His Irish accent gets progressively worse with each series.

Bipolar Joe

Mezcita wrote: »

Adian Gillan in Game of Thrones. His Irish accent gets progressively worse with each series.

I don't think his accent was meant to be Irish, at first, was it?

maximoose

It was all over the place, accent seemed to change from ep to ep. He is a woeful actor.

Intifada

That Irish kid in The Simpsons movie.

Have any directors been called out on this? I mean it's not as if there isn't a plethora of Irish actors that could be used, or that it takes much effort to find out stuff like Donegal isn't pronounced "Donnagal".

Only reason I can think is if a TV show is completely geared toward an American audience and they won't know any better. Even still..

Yamanoto

Just to flip this a little, Brendan Gleeson cannot manage an American accent to save his life.

On the film 'Green Zone', he was brought in in post production to overdub some of his takes.

FunLover18

Intifada wrote:

Have any directors been called out on this? I mean it's not as if there isn't a plethora of Irish actors that could be used, or that it takes much effort to find out stuff like Donegal isn't pronounced "Donnagal".

More to f do with the casting and producers I would imagine. You would think that only are there Irish actors available but they'd probably be cheaper