10 Worst Ever Accent Fails In Film

The overpowering urge to do an accent has swept over us all at some point. Following up on said urge may lead to laughter or ridicule. In some rare cases it may lead to a compliment. For an actor, often praised more than any one person should naturally be praised in a lifetime, similar compulsions arise. Frequently, the only difference between our provincial imitations and those by some of the Hollywood elite is a $10 million performance fee.

Even the greatest performers have derailed their careers and put off movie goers with bad accents. It seems to be one of the riskiest ventures for an actor to take. Weight is added to this when, if an actor is guilty of doing a terrible accent, people wonder out loud why the film’s producers could not hire a local.

For many of the best known actors, it is especially tricky to do an accent that is drastically different than normal because people have become so familiar with their brand. Sometimes the choice is a successful one, such as Cate Blanchett as Catherine Hepburn in The Aviator.

Some actors make their careers by doing a character with a drastically different accent, like Idris Elba as Stringer Bell in The Wire.

Then there are those who tried and failed miserably...

A lot has been said about the ability of British actors to do convincing American accents. That does not always hold true as will be revealed later on. But for many Americans coming over to the limey side of the pond the loveable British accent, in fact the dozens of varied accents, are a common pitfall.

The likely reason for this being that many Brits grow up with American shows on our TVs every day, whereas in America, British shows are often restricted to BBC America and PBS, or are simply remade.

Hathaway, bless her cotton socks, has tried the British accent out a couple of times with varied results. In One Day there is something unsettling about it. You almost expect there to be a twist at the end of the film where she reveals she was an American all along. Prior to that she played the White Queen in Alice in Wonderland, which was fine because she was part of a world where nothing makes sense anyway.

She is going to be back on the English accent once more playing the White Queen again in Alice Through The Looking Glass, set for release in 2016. And you really do want to believe that each time she does a film in an English accent, she will improve. 

At least she gets extra points for refusing to give in.