Changing accents?

[Mithalwen]

Although, I felt Dom Monaghan was the most convincing of the four hobbits .... I half hoped that Merry might have a slightly Welsh accent, because of Buckland representing the "celtic" fringe of the Shire. But I guess that to have Welsh and Scottish would be too much.

As for Viggo, I wondered if the strangeness of the accent was because he was allowing Danish influences in? But I didn't to much trouble with the multi-lingual multi-cultural Aragorn having a varying accent. I thought Liv was having to try quite hard with her British accent but I guessit was obviously a lot easier for Hugo Weaving who was raised here and Cate Blanchett who lives here........

But Sean Astin's was all over the place.....

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

As a distinguished ( ) actor myself, I shall now offer a claim strong and vain; that it is easy to act and to put on a convincing accent, especially in a project as big and as edited as The Lord of the Rings. I mean, how many opportunities do the guys have to perform one line just right?

(To note, I am not criticising the mentioned actors. I am just arguing that there's no real excuse for not getting an accent right. Please argue with me. )

[Imladris]

I wonder if "changing accents" gets put in the same bucket as "the scar is over the right eye in this scene yet over the left eye in that scene."

[Elennar Starfire]

Although, I felt Dom Monaghan was the most convincing of the four hobbits .... I half hoped that Merry might have a slightly Welsh accent, because of Buckland representing the "celtic" fringe of the Shire. But I guess that to have Welsh and Scottish would be too much.

Too much? Nay, indeed 'twould never be enough.
(at least for such people as myself...but then, I'm very strange...)

I think I've heard an explanation of Pip's Scottish accent, having something to do with hints of the Tooks being Scottish; one point was their invention of Golf. It might have been on the extras of the FotR DVD...

The director's commentary perhaps? I remember that, though not where it was. I'm fairly sure it was in a commentary.

[Morquesse]

I never really noticed that Viggo had various accents, I'll have to pay attention next time.

Sam always sounded like he spoke with an American accent and rural British frases: "there's nothin' for it" and "if you understand me", to name a few. I'm not sure if he spoke in a British accent ever.

Elijah did a pretty convincing job, exept in one spot: where he and Sam camped outsidd after seeing the Elves. After Sam complained about a root sticking in his back, Frodo tells him to think of his bed at home. Elijah's line right there sounded SO American, it distracts me.

~M

[Encaitare]

Sam always sounded like he spoke with an American accent and rural British frases: "there's nothin' for it" and "if you understand me", to name a few. I'm not sure if he spoke in a British accent ever.

Having very little first-hand experience with British accents, I can't really pass judgment on whether he spoke with one or not -- but it certainly was not an American accent. Perhaps somewhere in between... any Brit Downers wish to comment on it?

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by Eomer of the Rohirrim

I am just arguing that there's no real excuse for not getting an accent right. Please argue with me.

OK then.

I do think that it is very difficult for someone to nail an accent such that it sounds faultless to a native speaker. Some people have the knack for mimicry, but it is not something that necessarily goes hand-in-hand with acting ability.

Personally, I'm hopeless at accents. Then again, I'm no actor. Not since my Uni days, at least.

Originally Posted by Morquesse

Sam always sounded like he spoke with an American accent and rural British frases: "there's nothin' for it" and "if you understand me", to name a few. I'm not sure if he spoke in a British accent ever.

As I said, I thought he did pretty well given that he was going for a regional English accent. Not perfect, but he was certainly no Dick Van Dyke.

[Evisse the Blue]

Originally Posted by Eomer of the Rohirrim

(To note, I am not criticising the mentioned actors. I am just arguing that there's no real excuse for not getting an accent right. Please argue with me. )

Well, I for one won't argue with you. I agree. And I'm not criticising the actors either (well, not much anyway); but there were two dialect coaches in the team. I figured they were there to help with the Elvish language and the pronunciacion of the names, but they messed up here as well. Have you noticed that names like Mordor or Gandalf are mispronounced? Chris Lee can tell them that the 'a' in Gandalf is pronounced like the vowel in "come', but the majority of the cast will still pronounce it as in 'came', which would be bearable, but for a minority of the cast who pronounces it correctly and so you have two different ways of pronouncing it - and even the same character might use both of them at one point or another in the story: I'm going to pick on of poor Viggo again, because I'm almost sure he pronounces Gandalf in both ways. It may sound like nitpicking, but it sure takes away a bit of the realism of the story; it's these little details that somehow count.

SPM - I stand corrected, if you as a Brit tell me that Sean did a better job with accents than Elijah. Although I still hold that this is not how it sounds to my profane ears.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

This is going off on a slight tangent but I think it's worth a mention here. Why did no-one working on the films notice that Gandalf pronounced the word wrath as 'Roth' yet Theoden pronounced it as 'Rath'? That irks me no end!

[Estelyn Telcontar]

I don't see a problem there, Eomer - why shouldn't people from different countries pronounce the same word differently? Just listen to the many different pronunciations for English words all over our own earth! Even those whose native language is English - U.S., Canada, Australia, England, Ireland, Scotland and more - have great variations in pronunciation.

[Lalwendë]

I have to say though that although I liked the way he played Boromir, Sean Bean's Yorkshire accent jarred because Faramir and Denethor spoke standard English. It seemed a shame when they had picked actors who looked plausible as a family group, that they hadn't synchronised accents.

One of my favourite things about Sean Bean in the films was how he failed to hide that fantastic Sheffield accent! It had me imagining that when the plot finally arrived at Minas Tirith, its seven levels would somehow be transformed into the seven hills of Sheffield and the Gondorians would be saying 'thee' and 'rayt' and 'duck' all of the time! I was sorely disappointed. *wonders if Sean Bean was offering round bags of 'spice' on set and confusing people...*

Seriously, I think that Sean Bean is from a 'school' of British actors who have been trained not to lose their accents entirely. If you notice, Bernard Hill also retains vestiges of his accent - for a good example listen to him when he is talking to Gandalf after Theodred's burial - "No parent should have to bury their child". My dad reckons he sounds almost like Yosser Hughes* there. Having said all of the above though, Ian McKellen has definitely lost his Bolton accent.

*from Boys From the Blackstuff.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Concerning the word wrath, I don't think it was an intentional case of having a Wizard and a Man of Rohan pronouncing a word differently to 'shake things up', so to speak.

Perhaps I am wrong but I have always had the impression (and my somewhat unreliable dictionary agrees with me! ) that rath is an incorrect pronounciation of the word. To add to this, from a 'booking' point of view, I think it made King Theoden look bad to have Gandalf practically correct him a few minutes later.

But Bob knows I am as fallible as they come so please don't hesitate to correct me if I am mistaken.