Foreigners Playing Americans in Movies

[Adam]

Is it just me or does this ruin some movies? I watched that Moon landing movie over the weekend and Neil Armstrong's wife (didn't know who she was) sounded weird at several points. Looked her up. British. You spend millions of dollars on a movie and you cast someone who can't hold an American accent. Ruined the movie for me. 

[Taylor]

There are a million examples of non-American actors pulling it off. David Oyelowo, for example, is a Brit who played MLK flawlessly in Selma.

[cysomeawfulpitcher]

It’s the other way around that usually bothers me.  One recent example I had was watching Harrison Ford fail at a Russian dialect in K19 on Showtime a few months ago.

Boring movie as well.

[NJHalo]

The biggest surprise for me was Matthew Rhys who played the lead character (Phillip Jennings) in the Americans. I had no idea he was from Wales, and had a heavy accent. I was watching an interview with him and Keri Russel, and was shocked when he started speaking. I thought he was joking. 

 

 

[Adam]

1 hour ago, cysomeawfulpitcher said:

It’s the other way around that usually bothers me.  Once recent example I had was watching Harrison Ford fail at a Russian dialect in K19 on Showtime a few months ago.

Boring movie as well.

Agreed. Just as annoying. 

[Adam]

1 hour ago, Taylor said:

There are a million examples of non-American actors pulling it off. David Oyelowo, for example, is a Brit who played MLK flawlessly in Selma.

Totally. I could easily point the finger at the director and editors for not fixing the problem. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

 

[gotbeer]

21 hours ago, NJHalo said:

The biggest surprise for me was Matthew Rhys who played the lead character (Phillip Jennings) in the Americans. I had no idea he was from Wales, and had a heavy accent. I was watching an interview with him and Keri Russel, and was shocked when he started speaking. I thought he was joking. 

 

Yeah, I think it's pretty surprising just how many Aussie and British actors are playing many of these "American" roles.  Outside of Andrew Lincoln, they usually nail their roles.

https://www.clipd.com/actors/48990/25-british-actors-who-played-american-roles

https://www.imdb.com/list/ls071311900/

[Tank]

23 hours ago, cysomeawfulpitcher said:

It’s the other way around that usually bothers me.  One recent example I had was watching Harrison Ford fail at a Russian dialect in K19 on Showtime a few months ago.

Boring movie as well.

kevin Costner as Robin Hood. that was one massive fail.

[yk9001]

9 minutes ago, gotbeer said:

Yeah, I think it's pretty surprising just how many Aussie and British actors are playing many of these "American" roles.  Outside of Andrew Lincoln, they usually nail their roles.

https://www.clipd.com/actors/48990/25-british-actors-who-played-american-roles

https://www.imdb.com/list/ls071311900/

I am with this guy.  Shit, Idris Elba playing the office manager in The Office was good.

The red head guy in Billions who was on Homeland.  Crap, I had no idea he was a brit.

 

I've yet to hear a bad one, but then again, I don't have the keen eye and ear of @Adam.

[Adam]

Yeah a lot of them can do it well. Why cast someone who can't?

[cysomeawfulpitcher]

1 hour ago, Tank said:

kevin Costner as Robin Hood. that was one massive fail.

[Taylor]

Vice was a disappointing movie, but Christian Bale was excellent as Cheney.

[UndertheHalo]

48 minutes ago, Taylor said:

Vice was a disappointing movie, but Christian Bale was excellent as Cheney.

My main problem with vice was that it was about Dick Cheney.