So much great stuff in that, including John Wayne not even trying to talk like Genghis Khan but just doing what I assume is the only reason they made that Genghis Khan movie, being John Wayne. Virtually everything else is actors doing a fantastic job, and Erik Singer (a dialogue coach) talks about exactly what they are doing. Personally, I dislike biopics, and I find accurate copying of speech patterns too distracting. I'd rather see documentary footage of the real person. That is, I find it impossible to put up with more than a half minute of Natalie Portman talking like Jackie Kennedy. But I like when the actor chooses some things to copy and then brings something new to understanding the famous person — like Cate Blanchett playing Bob Dylan.
AND: Here's more of Singer doing his thing (haven't watched this one yet):
IN THE COMMENTS: Ken B said:
Maybe it’s just me, but I thought Eisenberg was the best there. The others, no matter how accurate, sound like mimicry. He was playing a character and bringing out the arrogance, assorificery, and brilliance very naturally and convincingly.I agree.
I singled out Blanchett, above, but while writing about what she did I was also thinking about how Eisenberg did Zuckerberg. It's an even better example of of what I'm talking about. Maybe I'll watch that movie ("Social Network"). I've seen so few of the movies Singer analyzes, because I don't like biopics and I love documentaries.
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The problem is there is so little footage of Genhis Khan, and none of it in color.
Dylan should have sent Blanchett to pick up the Nobel.
I couldn't agree more. Wayne played it so well I felt that I was actually there. And Susan Hayward sealed the deal. An inspired look at life was during the tumultuous 13th century 5 stars.
Maybe it’s just me, but I thought Eisenberg was the best there. The others, no matter how accurate, sound like mimicry. He was playing a character and bringing out the arrogance, assorificery, and brilliance very naturally and convincingly.
Portman was awful. Skillful perhaps, but artificial.
To paraphrase Elmore Leonard, if it looks like acting you should re-act it.
"Thank you, come again!" -- Gandhi
Oh, and Baldwin was good because in mockery the mimicry is a natural part of mocking. So is the exaggeration.
We grow up hearing many people from many places talking on the television and radio. That has to have changed every idolect, no?
the series VIKINGS had the Vikings speaking english, and the english speaking old english (with subtitles), which worked well.
You do NOT notice your Own accent, so you shouldn't notice the protagonist's accent either
I love it when the Guardian commenters criticize British regional accents and it turns out that is their real accent--they were raised there. I also hate having to use subtitles to understand Brit actors doing the weirdest accents possible.
Jackie always sounded retarded to me. I still don't get it.
Was that some elite girls' school accent? Or was she just a little bit slow?
However, fashionable
-but-stupid was the style in 1960 IIRC.
Was that some elite girls' school accent? Or was she just a little bit slow?
Valium?
Talk about hubris. Joaquin Phoenix didn't lip sync Johnny Cash but used his own voice. That's just wrong. And wIth all respect to Diana Ross, she's not Billie Holliday. Doris Day used her own voice when playing Ruth Etting. That's okay because no one remembers what Ruth Etting sounds like. Also, Barbra Streisand has a better voice than Fanny Bruce, so that's okay too......But it's obscene for Joaquin Phoenix to play Johnny Cash using his own singing voice. He wouldn't pull that crap if he was playing Caruso.
We don't have any photograph or recording of Genghis Khan or Napoleon. We do, however, have such records of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. What's striking about them is their lack of star quality. They look and sound underwhelming. I wonder if Genghis Khan wasn't a bit of a nerd. Some first hand reports say Napoleon was.
In the show 'Allo, Allo' the actors spoke English with a French accent to indicate they were speaking French, with a German accent to indicate they were speaking German, and with an English accent to indicate they were speaking English. Some would switch back and forth.
Maybe I'll watch that movie ("Social Network").
It's worth watching for the scene where Zuck is on a date with Erica Albright alone.
I might queue it up this weekend myself.
The Brits are the best actors WRT accents. It's part the classical training and part basic need to get work. Ever seen a Brit Actor CV?
It's like reading a Diplomats. a Good Brit lists 6-16 different Anglophile variants.
Welsh
Irish
Dubliner
Northern Irish
Glasgow Scots
Highland Scots
Yorkshire
Public School
Londoner
Midlands
Cornish
Devon
Cockney
Aussie
Kiwi
South African
Cannuck
American
New York
Bostonian
etc
Celebrity Nano-Impressions
And some more
And still more Nano Impressions
Isn't the real problem here that these actors assumed ethnic roles that should have been given to the actors of that ethnicity? In the 21st Century, Jennifer Lawrence talking with a Russian accent is the equivalent of black face acting a century ago, right? Her role in Sparrow could have been played by Gia Skova.
Sometimes you got to translate.
Korean is really hard.
Erik Singer is wrong about Alex Baldwin/Donald Trump and Meryl Streep/Julia Child. Those are NOT brilliant impressions. Baldwin's intention isn't humor, it's derision. And Streep is doing a standard upper-crust ditsy accent I've heard a hundred times before--often by female impersonators.
Her role in Sparrow could have been played by Gia Skova.
Depends on her meeting with Harvey Weinstein in his hotel room.
And Streep is doing a standard upper-crust ditsy accent
She sounds English, Julia was from California.
Check out Bob Dylan as Alias in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. He sounds just like he's from Superior Wisconsin.
On Netflix, "I Know That Voice" examines the work of voice actors. Fascinating.
I know Dylan wasn't playing a real person in that movie, but he has his own very well-known idiolect. Zimmeman's movie acting was never highly rated, but he was pretty much acting all the time, playing the part of Bob Dylan to perfection.
Don't diss the Duke! He did the best impression I've ever heard of Temujin.
I admire the way that Sean Connery never tried to hide his Scotch burr when he played a Soviet submarine captain. He made the right artistic decision. Sean Connery is a movie star and more fun to watch than a Soviet sea captain...Claire Foy really inhabited the role of Elizabeth Ii in The Crown, but she's no movie star. All her other roles and movies have bombed. It's much harder to be a movie star than to be an actor who's good with accents,....,,Saorise Ronan should use her Irish accent as much as possible. She's a movie star with that accent. Without it, she's a good actress.
Netflix documentary "Cosmodrome" explores some fascinating facts about the Soviet rocket program. One of the Russian engineers interviewed is dubbed in English with a Scots accent, which I find fitting.
Re John Wayne as Genghis Khan: who the heck today knows what GK really sounded like? Or even what a Mongolian accent of that era was like?
And re Bob Dylan as Alias: why wouldn't that character have come from Wisconsin? Except for the Mexicans and Indians, very few people in the Old West actually came from the West. As Louis L'Amour often wrote, Western men and women came from all over; and not just from all over America, but from all over the world.
Did Christine Blasey Ford idiolect Jackie voice for testimony?
Although the character of "Alias" in PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID was fictitious, it was supposed to have been based (albeit very loosely) on an actual person, Ash Upson, who would "collaborate" (i. e. ghost write) with Garrett on a biography of Billy the Kid and an account of Garrett's pursuit and eventual killing of The Kid.
Whittaker's Idi Amin was the best. Portman's Jackie Kennedy the worst. I think Portman studied the voice too hard -- the details are good, but the personality doesn't come through.
The actress playing Marilyn Monroe puts herself forward too much. Monroe has a slight reticence, as though she's confiding some secret in you. It focuses attention on her much more than if she were consciously showing off, which is many Marilyn imitators do.
Eisenberg's Zuckerberg is far more charismatic than the real thing, which was a good choice. I don't think I could listen to Zuckerberg's real voice through an entire Sorkin script. So much of that movie consists of Eisenberg talking, it's better to make a good dramatic choice than an "accurate" one.
"And re Bob Dylan as Alias: why wouldn't that character have come from Wisconsin?"
I never said he shouldn't have been from Wisconsin. Dylan was a good choice for the role, and he played it well. Kristofferson as the Kid, at age 37? Not so much.
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