Accents

[Falstaff]

I was just thinking about this, what accents would the actors have to use to play the parts. I've read that some people think that British accents would be fitting but I personally think that British accents would ruin it for me.

[Lord O' Bones]

I think it would be cool if one region had British accents, one had American accents etc.

Bonus points if they make the Starks Canadian. Winter is coming, eh?

[Tyro Lannister]

There's always European accents to consider, maybe a Scandinavian accent for the Ironborn, Russian for the North.. someone's gonna end up sounding English though without a doubt and if we have American accents let them be for the Tyrells.. I can see Mace Tyrell as sounding like some American, Texan bigwig.

[Lady Blackfish]

I can see (erm, hear) American accents more for the Westerlands, though in my head they are all European, maybe I'm brainwashed by most fantasy movies. Though Westeros being based off of Europe must have a lot to do with it, right? For the North I usually think northern English or Scottish accents. The Reach tends slightly toward French accents in my head, and for the Dornish I'd take anything vaguely Mediterranean. The rest of Westeros is some kind of English accent, and the eastern continent and free cities are my best recollection of whatever influences Martin drew from there. But I really don't care about the particulars as much as what LoB said, regional consistency. That would be keen.

Admittedly I can also hear American accents more for the smallfolk. Heh.

[Sis Who Swears]

:agree: 100 and fifty-freakin-percent!!

[freakinmayhew]

[quote name='Mister Manticore' post='1587513' date='Nov 13 2008, 01.24']No accents. Thank you, Come Again![/quote]

Yeah, but what do you mean by "no accent?" Any place has an accent from the point of view of somewhere else. It seems like a good idea to at least keep regions consistent (Don't have Jon speak with one accent while Robb speaks another and etc.)

[Anubiel]

I can live with either American or British accents.

But please - no fake "foreign" accents! It's seriously annoying when say a movie set in Russia, with Russian characters, speak "Russian accented English" among themselves. Either have them speak Russian or let them speak proper English...

[Auburn Dragon]

[quote name='freakinmayhew' post='1587593' date='Nov 13 2008, 04.15']Yeah, but what do you mean by "no accent?" Any place has an accent from the point of view of somewhere else. It seems like a good idea to at least keep regions consistent (Don't have Jon speak with one accent while Robb speaks another and etc.)[/quote]
Hehehe everyone should just practice their American "non-regional diction" (everyone sounds like they are from Ohio)

:-p

[Ran]

The only thing that really matters is that families speak consistently. If they just have everyone speak in a similar accent, that'd be fine. We don't need to have accent distinctions for the show, really. George mentions them, but almost all of them are not particularly noteworthy (Pyp mentions Sam's accent once, I think there's a reference to Dunk's speech marking him out as a Kingslander) and it doesn't make a bit of story difference.

[Naknakkus]

'American' is definitely an accent, believe it or not. The stereotypical North American accents (both US and Canadian) sound very nasal to me. I'm not saying that they shouldn't have a place in the series, just that they can't be considered the de facto 'neutral' accents.


I very much hope the Starks and Wildlings are Scottish, though I have a feeling the Starks will be given standard issue medieval 'English' accents.

I imagine, due to Dotrice's reading, Tyrion and Tywin as Welsh. However, for some reason I imagine Jaime with a drawling English toff's accent.

I think foreign accents would be necessary for people from the Free Cities, Dorne etc. Light accents maybe, but I think they'd be needed to emphasise the admirable diversity of the world.

[Morrigan]

I absolutely do not want to hear any North American accent. I don't know why, but characters in a medieval-like settings speaking American just doesn't work. British, Irish, Scottish, Aussie, or "foreign" European accents such as Swedish, Russian, or even Spanish or hell, French, fine by me... but no Yankees or Canucks, please!

/is Canadian, for the record

[SpaceNinja]

Hmm.. how about..

For the Starks and the North.. MILD Scottish accents.. I'm thinking Ewan McGreggor type.
For the main central area of Westeros.. the Queen's English accent ( At least, that is what I am told is the term)
For the Reach... mild French accents seem right. After all, it's the "flower of chivalry".
Dorne....Spain....Spanish accent!
Iron Islands... obviously inspired by Vikings.. so yeah...
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Now... the East and the Free Cities.. are much less clear-cut..
The Dothraki are pretty easy.. since they are so inspired by nomadic Mongolians, they should look and sound like them.
The Free Cities.. maybe greek, since they seem to be inspired by the Greek city-states concept. Otherwise.. I dunno.
As for the lands of the East that Dany travels.. I think Arabic fits.
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Oh well.. that's my 2 cents.. and probably about 2 cents higher than it's actual value. :cheers:

[naz]

I'm not sure how you're going to get different consistent accents for an entire region and not have at least some actors doing poor fake accents. I mean, it'll be too hard to cast only Scots for one region, only Frenchmen for another region, etc.

[Falstaff]

I think the lord of the rings approach with mild accents would be acceptable but hard core accents would just be too confusing.

[Tywin's bastard]

I want British accents for this since it will fit much better with the feel of the series compared to North American accents in my eyes. British accents have a better connection to the old and that's important for me. I won't be disappointed if they don't put too much effort into creating accents for every region since that's not really necessary, even if it can make it more realistic.

[quote name='Ariel' post='1587595' date='Nov 13 2008, 10.18']But please - no fake "foreign" accents! It's seriously annoying when say a movie set in Russia, with Russian characters, speak "Russian accented English" among themselves. Either have them speak Russian or let them speak proper English...[/quote]
I understand what you mean but in my opinion there's a big difference between using a "foreign" accent as a natural accent in a fantasy world and using it to represent a completely different language.

To make a couple of examples, I could be fine with something like the Dornish having a somewhat Spanish accent if they did it well but I would not find it good in any way if they still spoke english when someone spoke in the Dothraki tounge.

[freakinmayhew]

[quote name='Mister Manticore' post='1588337' date='Nov 13 2008, 19.13']No deliberate affectations of pronunciation or word-choice.

I'm sure there's an argument to be made that somebody somewhere can think anything an accent, but that's not really something that can be avoided.[/quote]

So would everyone speak with whatever accent they have, no matter who they're playing? That would sound kind of weird if they decided to cast a British actor as Jaime and an American actor as Tyrion.

[Wargonaut]

I am American, so people may see the POV from which I speak, but accents have always intrigued me. In movies, it always seems like Aussies do a great job with English and American accents. Maybe they just have great actors. The English do a pretty good job of putting on an American accent (except for Clive Owen - maybe he just has a naturally hardcore English accent). But American actors always seem to have the damnedest time with foreign accents. I can't figure out why. But we seem to struggle with this. It's where the whole "fake" accent thing comes from - it's Americans trying to do another accent.

On the same topic, as an American, I have always just assumed we have a flat, boring accent. Since it's natural to me, I've always classified American as "no accent," though surely that's incorrect. Having said that, I've wondered what our accent must sound like to others, ie non-Americans. The "nasal" description by the earlier poster helps. But it's curious. Enough rambling.

As for the series, I tend to agree that the regional/family accents should at least be uniform. English throughout may be the easiest. But many of the casting suggestions would fail. For instance, Josh Holloway as Jaime (oft-mentioned, though I don't see it) could have no accent outside of American. If his character is supposed to speak with an English accent...it ain't gonna happen. Speaking as a fellow South'ner, it would be nearly impossible. Think Brad Pitt in Troy. I don't mean to crank on the guy's acting chops, but it would be tough for a great actor. Same with Ed Harris as Tywin. Maybe he has used an English accent before, but I just can't picture it. So...I try to think about that with casting, because it sure seems a lot of American actors are being suggested. Sure, dialect coaches work wonders, and some actors are probably naturals (Johnny Depp), but it might be tough.

In my mind, as a reader, I've played with different accents for the regions. For instance, in Dorne I used French and pictured Vincent Cassel as Oberyn and Jean Reno as Doran. In the North, Scottish seemed to fit (as has been suggested and may be a bit "too" convenient). In the rest of Westeros, I have stuck with the mainstay English. I toyed with American for the Westerners, but it didn't hold for me. Spanish and Middle Eastern for the East.

That's just me. I enjoy reading all of the suggestions. But if I had to guess how they would make the show, I would assume they would stick to the regular English, and its variations, just to keep things simple. Other things, such as the scenery, imaging, effects, costumes, sets, writing, acting, and - let's not forget - the story, will probably take priority for the writers/producers/directors.

Interesting discussion, however.

[Wargonaut]

[quote name='Wargonaut' post='1588569' date='Nov 13 2008, 23.47']I am American, so people may see the POV from which I speak, but accents have always intrigued me. In movies, it always seems like Aussies do a great job with English and American accents. Maybe they just have great actors. The English do a pretty good job of putting on an American accent (except for Clive Owen - maybe he just has a naturally hardcore English accent). But American actors always seem to have the damnedest time with foreign accents. I can't figure out why. But we seem to struggle with this. It's where the whole "fake" accent thing comes from - it's Americans trying to do another accent.

On the same topic, as an American, I have always just assumed we have a flat, boring accent. Since it's natural to me, I've always classified American as "no accent," though surely that's incorrect. Having said that, I've wondered what our accent must sound like to others, ie non-Americans. The "nasal" description by the earlier poster helps. But it's curious. Enough rambling.

As for the series, I tend to agree that the regional/family accents should at least be uniform. English throughout may be the easiest. But many of the casting suggestions would fail. For instance, Josh Holloway as Jaime (oft-mentioned, though I don't see it) could have no accent outside of American. If his character is supposed to speak with an English accent...it ain't gonna happen. Speaking as a fellow South'ner, it would be nearly impossible. Think Brad Pitt in Troy. I don't mean to crank on the guy's acting chops, but it would be tough for a great actor. Same with Ed Harris as Tywin. Maybe he has used an English accent before, but I just can't picture it. So...I try to think about that with casting, because it sure seems a lot of American actors are being suggested. Sure, dialect coaches work wonders, and some actors are probably naturals (Johnny Depp), but it might be tough.

In my mind, as a reader, I've played with different accents for the regions. For instance, in Dorne I used French and pictured Vincent Cassel as Oberyn and Jean Reno as Doran. In the North, Scottish seemed to fit (as has been suggested and may be a bit "too" convenient). In the rest of Westeros, I have stuck with the mainstay English. I toyed with American for the Westerners, but it didn't hold for me. Spanish and Middle Eastern for the East.

That's just me. I enjoy reading all of the suggestions. But if I had to guess how they would make the show, I would assume they would stick to the regular English, and its variations, just to keep things simple. Other things, such as the scenery, imaging, effects, costumes, sets, writing, acting, and - let's not forget - the story, will probably take priority for the writers/producers/directors.

Interesting discussion, however.[/quote]

I don't mean to sell Josh Holloway or Brad Pitt short, because I think they are both good actors. And Brad Pitt was pretty spot-on IMO with the Snatch accent. It's my opinion Holloway wouldn't be able to pull it off, but I could be very wrong. I mean, these guys are professionals. I just thought I needed to tone down my maybe "too" opinionated and conclusory post.

[Robb19]

As an English teacher in a foreign country, Midwest American IS considered accentless English (for the person who suggested Ohioans, nicely done, we would have also accepted rural Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and parts of Nebraska and Kentucky). That's the reason that a lot of news reporters in cities around the US are Midwesterners.

For the record, I don't prefer accent-less English. I think dialects and accents help to keep regional culture. I think for a culture that wants to be English-speaking they need to keep their own accent (I'm looking at you Korea!). For example, in English there are tons of different English accents which are all just as proper as the next. American, Kiwi, Aussie, Jamaican, Indian, South African so on and so forth.

For the series I think that since it's written by an American author and the readership and viewership is/is going to be mostly Americans (guessing), that I wouldn't have a problem with American accents. How funny would it be to have the Lannisters be Massholes?

Ultimately I think it's too genre-defying to use American accents and they won't do it. It's just a shame, I mean who decided that ancient Romans and made-up worlds spoke British English? Seems unfair to me and I'll just have to work on my accent all the harder when they finally call me and ask me to play Jon.

[Robb19]

[quote name='Mister Manticore' post='1588603' date='Nov 13 2008, 23.38']Absolutely, because for one thing, there's at least half a dozen major accents in the United States, such as Boston or Chicago accents.[/quote]

My personal favorite: New Hampshirian with Wisconsonian a close, but definitive second.