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DEL.ICIO.USFake Southern accents
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A reader responding to an earlier blog post, about the final performance of the play Peachtree Battle brought up a dreadful topic I thought we could discuss.
Fake Southern accents.
“I did not feel that the fake Southern accents of some of the actors were credible enough to use,” Margaret says.
She’s not the only one noticing slapped-on Southern speech on the stage or screen. Fake South-in-the-mouth syndrome drives me nuts.
How about you?
Glenn Close is, of course, a magnificent actress. Her overwrought, vapors-on-the-veranda accent in the 1999 Southern flick Cookie’s Fortune was not.
Nicole Kidman’s Aussie voice arm-wrestled with the twang she affected in Cold Mountain.
Kyra Sedgwick won a Golden Globe for her lead role in The Closer, but who’s buying that molasses drawl?
On the other hand, Scarlett Johansson and John Travolta both sounded like they were raised in sugar cane country in A Love Song for Bobby Long, a superb 2004 indie film set in New Orleans.
What Hollywood doesn’t seem to get is that not all Southerners sound alike. There’s a big difference between the Virginia gentleman and the Mississippi belle, the West Virginia coal miner and the Tidewater skipper.
Does it bother you when characters in plays, television shows or movies mangle Southern accents?
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Comments
By Darin
September 10, 2008 8:55 AM | Link to this
Bad southern accents in movies drive me crazy. I absolutely cannot watch Steel Magnolias because of the abundance of hackneyed drawls — and the strangest part is that even Smyrna-raised Julia Roberts (who is otherwise a fine actor) does an over-exaggerated, unbelievable southern accent in both that movie and in the recent Charlie Wilson’s War.
Robert Duvall, on the other hand, is from New York and does an excellent southern accent. I guess some people are better than others at it, no matter where they’re born.
By leigh
September 13, 2008 4:19 PM | Link to this
here here on that b!tch who does the closer. nothing angers me more than that fake syrupy sweet southern drawl. i have never watched that show due to her fake accent.
By Margaret
September 16, 2008 1:20 PM | Link to this
Yes, I would have to agree that Olympia Dukakis who is a good actress failed with the Southern Accent in Steel Magnolias. Another person that comes to mind is Aunt Bea on the Andy Griffith Show. What was up with her accent? Southern Boston maybe?
By Agathe
December 3, 2008 5:01 PM | Link to this
I, too, hate the fact that almost no actor can get a southern accent right. I am from New Orleans, and movies with New Orleanians having Cajun accents (hint, hint, “Skeleton Key”) drive me nuts. Only our grandparents have Cajun accents!