Accent Expert Reviews American Accents in Movies, from 'The Departed' to 'Fargo' | Vanity Fair

hi I'm Amy Walker hey yous guys I'm Amy Walker that's right I'm Amy Walker oh gee oh geez that's Ryan Walker jeez I'm Amy Walker okay I'm Amy Walker actress singer and writer most known for authentic accents and today from my home caves to yours we are looking at American accents in movies marathon a bridge exciting thing about that I was getting rid of it give me a minute Bert we're in the middle of practice we am thank me later this is the Blind Side directed by John Lee Hancock in 2009 and we're looking at Sandra Bullock doing a Memphis Tennessee accent this team is your family Michael you have to protect them like the way she says Michael and it's a little bit nasal you can thank me later you know that kind of a tighter Tennessee accent that's not real drawly down in here some of the things that make a Tennessee accent different from like a Texas accent the the jollies a lot more time so the sounds are gonna be a little bit flatter a little bit wider lockup and here in the wild she really grasps I think the placement of it and I will be by there after a while I gotta call you back but when she says after a while there's that WH but then she says I gotta call you back back and then the tongue drops down a little further than I would if it was saying up in here I gotta call you back and then when she just went back it dropped into more of a standard my name is on it deliver what I ordered all right thank you when you say what the mouth is gonna be tighter up in the back and then it's gonna just flip down a little bit there hot hot and it's gonna scoop back a little bit and then you get to it height your W you can just go wah wah instead of what other dialects where you'll get more of a what more of a schwa sound uh but the wat that's nice and a little bit more north it also gives that emphasis that she's choosing to use to put her foot down there when you're playing someone real who existed then you got to listen not just for the general accent but what what are those isms that that person has that are unique to that person families are always rising a fallen in America my right who said that Hawthorne it's a matter smashing only Shakespeare this is the departed directed by Martin Scorsese in 2006 so we're gonna look at three actors from this film Mark Wahlberg Martin Sheen and Leonardo DiCaprio Mark Wahlberg is the only one who's actually from Massachusetts I know what you are okay I know what you are and I know what you're not obviously Mark Wahlberg is all over the Boston I know you are that's that ah totally relaxed so it's not are it's not aa it's I know you are and I know what you not ah and not strangely are very similar like if it's in New York not and AH I'm gonna feel really different but for Boston they're really similar do you want to be a clock but you want to appear to be a cop when my machine says cop it's nearly there but when you get that ah for a Boston it's like your tongue is a dead fish ah ah hey way it's like a brick so it's not wha that been one into like Brooklyn a lot of guys want to appear to be cops your gun badge pretend they're on TV and then it's just it's just gone he's got kind of the rhythm but it's just not like that open it's a little bit tight I think he was from Ohio or something I'll sit without your own personal job application leo is so in the emotion and sometimes when we get in the emotion the accent goes out the window they're kind of painting it in that it's okay for him to just like sometimes have one and sometimes not the only thing about 2002 is that it's a palindrome this is ladybird directed by Greta Gerwig in 2017 starring Saoirse Ronan who's Irish actress oh so now you're mad no this is set in Sacramento in Northern California so and she says because I wanted to listen to music I wanted to that wanted I call it a hard end it's not wanted it's not wanted with Addie it's just wanted some of the distinctions of Sacramento or Northern California accent people tend to soften the consonants a little bit like when she says East Coast those T's are very East Coast but if you put those consonants and people might feel like you're pissed off or something so it tends to be pretty relaxed in the mouth not a lot of different and 'red accent the thing about emotional scenes is that it can be really hard to maintain something that doesn't feel like you because you're in your most primal state not going university that's famous Bert's agricultural school the way she says school in this American accent it goes out you know school she'd be used to school so to be like her there's so much that's different in Ireland I mean the melody you know and the under tease and the way it's so soft it's like water but to take all that and open it up a little bit at the corners of the mouth and let it just sit in the mouth would be more challenging singing is really a whole different territory it can be easier sometimes to sing in an accent because you hold the vowels more for whatever reason a lot of people can at least sing in an American accent she nails it she totally nails it who here was this the hook mode I know though this is Brokeback Mountain directed by Angley in 2005 and we'll be looking at Anne Hathaway's southern accent she's originally from New York it might be some pretend place where a blue birds sing and there's a whiskey spring the way that her mouth is kind of puckered down here that's gonna work real well so you can see it real well in this scene because it's nice and close what's going on here and then when she says close or or call or something but she's got an l word you can see that w hashing you've been going up to Wyoming all these years why can't everybody come down here to Texas and fish it's kind of a fishing melody why can't you do this hmm it's got a bit of weight to it that kind of melody is quintessential Texas no you're worse than Bobby when it comes to losing stuff you know you're worse than Bobby when it comes to losing stuff that is a little more forward it's up in here you know if someone has the same allotted pattern every single time and if they have a lexicon of all the different melodies they might have you know there's more flexibility there it feels more natural her posture is great her armature her face is nice and relaxed which is important for this kind of accent you're gonna fill it right down in here be lifting up a little bit in the back of the tongue to get some of that twang happening but it's not real tight it's nice and loose and it's just letting the sound roll out your mouth and settle right down in here I thought you were gonna call I thought you were gonna call that L isn't so much of an L as it is an L with your lips which is similar to something they do in in the UK with L in the South you got places where you stick a nail instead of a W like South or where you put in a W instead of a nail [Music] even though we ain't quite sorority sisters we just man to dance with ourselves laureen's and affairs has this whole different thing going on and it is also Texas that's all part and parcel and something you can choose as whale Anne Hathaway's character especially later on she's getting real settling down in there there's something about the NASA T's and the undertones there that reminds me a little bit of you know in England where you can sort of smile through your insults people had the ability to invite or not invite their friends to join this is the social network directed by David Fincher in 2010 we're looking at Andrew Garfield who was born in California but grew up in England he's doing an American accent here in a world where social structure was everything now when he says structure structure he's got a bit of a glottal catch in an English accent you'd say structure yeah and it's got that up bit where you stop the sound in your throat in a standard American you're gonna say structure was structure but you're not gonna go structure struck so it's the same thing if I was gonna go into British from American I did the shapes correctly but I said structure that was the thing that was was that's another common thing that Australians and English people often say was instead of was so usually in a standard American it's gonna be a swath a different to British schwa which is a bit more forward yeah back here uh was that was the thing and was not usually an important word so I wondered why he was coming to me and not his roommates there are so many ways to say tea here he's going coming to me which is often done in England so the person he's playing does have quite a tea that he does so you can say coming to me instead of the where the tongue is on the it's not behind it's a bit higher and it's behind your teeth if I didn't know that he had an English accent I would pick it up because of those few tells especially the glottal catch because that's something that's really hard to teach an American never ask this is Winter's Bone directed in 2010 by Debra Granik we're looking at Jennifer Lawrence and her breakout role doing this Ozark Missouri accent even the way she says evening and it starts with a a it's got that little bit of a twist to it what I've seen about this region is that there's a lot of stillness in the face and it's not a real drawl the accent he's hoping for do nothing for dad like it can't be improper in hunting for dad that's where that Jay is there you just don't say it how about some deer stew that sound good about some deer stew we still got that little bit of a twist that's one of the things of characteristic of a lot of southern accents all right both of you need to get over here and watch oh and make it how I make it in a standard American accent I would be a diphthong in here we've got a diphthong is when you've got to so die for - sounds to vows that we pronounced together as one so my name is Amy a that's not a me or a me it's a me for southern accents there are a lot of things that wouldn't be a diphthong in a standard accent that become diphthongs and then you've got other things that would normally be a diphthong like I that become just ah you won't know one of the fun things about different southern accents is the different tonality is different melodies he what now that's a kind of a question that time what now it's got wait you want me to I'll be whoever you want me to be this is the town directed by Ben Affleck in 2010 it's a bank heist movie we moved into the filth all right we smoked through the filter right she's kind of backing off on the voice a little bit so sometimes it's a little hard - yeah a lot of the sounds are there you can feel like the heaviness right here the relaxation in the tongue that kind of a droop kind of resigned to life are and it tastes the run whatever you want Dale my mom taught me that mom Jesus my mom and you might want my mom my mom my mom just a little bit more like it's falling out you don't gonna thank me but you're not walking away you don't go out to thank me that guy that's great but you're not walking away so when he says but you're not that are you don't need one trick is to slow it way down cause it's like muscle memory but you're not walking away made it one thing that's not always talked about what is one of my favorite things about a Boston accent the T at the end of some words sometimes it's super random but it's one of those things that you just know that they've got it if they do this you made it maybe this you made it and it's like this little tiny flick similar to like an Irish tea you made it it's got that little tongue flick but it's like you made it so somebody native to Massachusetts like Ben Affleck Mark Wahlberg you might hear it but then not necessarily from Jeremy Renner or Blake Lively I get up in the morning breakfast math tutor Latin tutor lunch tennis lesson dance lesson sometimes clothes this is the notebook directed by Nick Cassavetes in 2004 we're gonna look at Rachel McAdams who's a Canadian actress doing a southern accent my days are all planned out oh oh that's so cute it's all planned out it's a little bit Canada it's not quite as south so all planned out a lot of this maybe it was really cold and so she just got tight in here that can be hard but it's gotta be out no not everything but the important things if you're gonna drop the G in an IMG it's not an inn it's not everything you gotta go everything it's like it's there thank you and wish in washing those kind of things instead of thinking wishing washing that just feels like there never was a J there to begin with there's a J there you just don't say it Ali yeah me too mr. Kelly she got the the melody there of Ali that Ali you know real soft and that hmm that's real common why wait until the summer huh why don't you just do it right now okay well now we have a code of different southern accents we've got one that's says summer and over and we have one that says over most the time she's doing a rhotic southern Rohtak it just means you have the are at the end of a word like far instead of fall or fall for right if you've got an AR that'll cap it then that's Rohtak non-rhotic for southern accent would be like summer car that kind of thing I saw your picture in the paper got a challenge here because you got picture which doesn't have a cook in it so you can just pitch it or are we doing picture for the non-rhotic you'd say picture in the paper that's all your picture in the paper so now I don't know whether we're doing erotic or non-rhotic mom look Governance Committee better let me think so the difference between look where the tongue is going uh and look where it drops down down in here the governor's coming and then she's gone non-rhotic here and her mama does a non-rhotic accent so you know maybe she does that around a mama if you don't get inside the feeling of this feeling natural for you it'll always feel like a little bit of ear and imposter this is the beguiled directed by Sofia Coppola in 2017 and we'll be looking at Nicole Kidman Nicole's doing a non-rhotic southern accent in this and she's originally from Australia mr. Chesser there hold nicely the stitches are there holding nice thing we got that kind of you know kind of gentle sound that's a melody I wouldn't say in a standard an egg will modify by the morning now we're in a different southern accent mornin that's that's Rohtak so now we've we've got the arse coming in there instead of moaning we got morning the lake is badly broken I can't repair I'm not a surgeon so now we're into a different southern accent worth our is happening when she says I'm not a surgeon that would be surgeon if she's doing the other southern accent she was doing and then she says morning instead of moaning if you're doing a particular southern accent you just have to be careful about the odds go to the smokehouse get the salt now hurry when she says now and it's up here instead of now down down up in here hurry is a little bit more maybe British hurry then hurry quickly he's losing blood blood sounds a little bit Irish losing blood Colin Farrell's Irish in the scene so maybe she's picking it up a little bit or maybe it just randomly sounded a little a little bit Irish there overall I think she does a better job of this axe in Cold Mountain I don't know what quite happened here thanks a bunch so what's the deal now Gary says triple homicide this is Fargo because it's not Fargo directed by Joel and Ethan Coen in 1996 we're gonna be looking at Frances McDormand and William H Macy doing Minnesota accents jeez oh jeez oh jeez you see kind of the corners of her mouth coming down a little bit odd geez I get that the defensive wound I guess that's a defensive wound won't bring it down a little bit on the edges of your mouth to create that nice round old there's a high-speed pursuit ends here and then this execution type deal and then this execution type deal high-speed pursuit so you've got a lot of JA happening in here keepin it it's it's cold up there in Minnesota some lilting little sounds in there and then the round cold where it's colder you'll have usually flatter sounds more tight when you're getting hot you got a lot of places where you're gonna open your mouth yeah how you don't yeah how you doing the yah that's some of the Scandinavian influence in there you can hear you've got Norwegian Swedish oh ya betcha yeah you betcha it's a local colloquialism and I think that's what's funny about this movie it's so dark but when you put it with the sweetness of this very innocent sounding accent it's just a wonderful juxtaposition my name is Dalton Russell pay strict attention to what I say because I choose my words carefully and I never repeat myself this is inside man directed by Spike Lee in 2006 and Clive Owen is doing an American accent as an English actor I've told you my name that's done this is really interesting because I don't think he's doing a New York accent but he's got this THD thing happening that does occur in New York the difference here if we go D for Dalton or don't don't don't so that the that's the D I've told you my name instead of my name tighter on the vowels there would get it even more in the pocket because I can because I can ken can but for a lot of it he's sitting there it's just kind of fluctuating between the resonance up here for a little bit more British and then sometimes a little bit with the the that's done that's the who dah dah instead of that's the who for a lot of English actors and just foreigners in general it's hard to get a grasp on what is the American accent so a lot of times they'll go a little bit southern get a little bit of twang or a little harder of an are English grammar is viewed as more correct than American grammar which is true in England but here it's different remember that trip we took to Miami with the boys you just sat and drink wine and ate peanut brittle and I shared things with you that I've never shared with anyone this is bridesmaids directed by Paul Feig in 2011 we're gonna look at rose burns accent she's originally from Sydney Australia I still need my drunken Saturday nights at rockin sushi okay there's a lot that's working really well here even some of that okay there's a couple times it can be challenging for people who come from a non-rhotic accent if there's a lot of ours in a row then that often the tendency is to skip one or two remember that trip we took to Miami remember that remember instead of remember right there in the beginning that's can be a tricky one to just go remember the decade the couple of you if you're gonna elongate that totally go for it but it's gonna stay at schwa of instead of of we'd say a couple of it's a really subtle nuance water which will be quarter in Aussie you'd say a quota when you've got multiple R's in a row sometimes it can just be hard to go core you know core is kind of a challenging thing to get your mouth around put your hands on the heater I'm gonna hurt you kid this is from x-men Hugh Jackman who's an Australian actor plays Wolverine and he does a pretty standard American accent for it something like my life doesn't look that bad maybe if you perform the road I remember watching it and thinking Paul what he's Australian at first I didn't notice his accent at all I just was right into the character he says preferred which just has that little bit of twists often when you have multiple R's in a row people will hit one and then skip another one prefer it's just a lot of our prefer to a an American it might just seem really easy to just hold that arm you know it's a muscle memory thing as well so if you used to going prefer and then instead of opening it up you actually bite it again prefer you've got a vowel that we don't have an American which is good so for that the tongue is a little bit forward and it's like it's like you're Korea it's like you're holding out for for some rain water in Australia it's a lot higher there's some more open sounds and a lot more different and so he's just kind of flattening that and holding that right in his mouth a little tighter some Dutch German English I'm a mutt this is the wolf of wallstreet directed by Martin Scorsese in 2013 we're looking at Margot Robbie who is Australian and she's doing a Brooklyn accent yeah I still have family over there though in London yeah I still have family over there though you know that over I still have family over there you know that's over there it's a tiny thing but I wouldn't a guess from that that she was Australian there are some interesting similarities between a Brooklyn accent and an Australian there's generally a lot of space in the mouth I can open it up and have some dipthongs over there over there similar amount of space but the the diphthongs a little bit different but still both of them are non-rhotic so you're not gonna pronounce the R like you would for a standard Americans hey guys stop please can I get a straw that oh it's not over done sometimes people go like straw like as she moves in through the scene she opens up a little bit with a jaw that I've already talked to the lawyer he said even if you don't get convicted I've got a good chance of getting it's hard to say I've already talked to the lawyer like that's a lot oh I I've already talked to the lawyer so the way that she's got her teas and she's working at ease and all of that that's important you know sometimes people just get an idea about a Brooklyn it's so like there's this little o thing that happens and the best way I can describe that is like you makin and then you wrap it up with a little hint of an R but not like boy just Oh some people say I'm an overachiever but I think they're just jealous this is election directed by Alexander Payne in 1999 we'll be looking at Reese Witherspoon doing her Nebraska accent my mom always tells me I'm different you know special my mom Nebraska is gonna be pretty Midwest won't sound particularly like much to a lot of people but then it's just gonna be a little bit tighter in the back of your tongue and then they'll be just certain things that people might say differently she's got it right there with my mom so my mom is really devoted to me and I love her so much it's a hard one to judge because you can hear someone from Nebraska and not really know where they're from or hear anything much particular unless you hear you know wait a minute or you hear like certain isms it's a little tighter than like Southern California overall it's not like a showpiece accident like Fargo or something like that the joke was telling us who is targeting get a unit over the Sevilla's house tell words to find again this is the Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan in 2008 and we're looking at Gary Oldman's American accent he's originally from England silver bullet no one in all right til I get there seal the building no one out till I get there that kind of a tee you know till I get there very New York now this town the fewer people know something let's say for the operation something that's sort of a catch you're not gonna do that in New York gonna be tell me something or if you're just doing more of a standard American with like a few little flavors in New York sometimes then it's still not gonna be something I don't get political points from even I can't list I have to do the best I can with what I have so this one makes me think he's not so much trying to do in New York accent because it's mostly not there it's sometimes creeps in it's also a little bit under the voice so sometimes it's it's hard to tell because it's not just out there because we have to chase it I felt a bit British because we have to chase him because or for New York because he deserves but not the one it needs right now so this is good if it's a standard American accent that we're doing because it's the hero Gotham deserves but not the one it needs right now but then if we're gonna do it more New York deserves with that little or but not what it needs right now it's a little difficult to tell what he's going for here back don't come any closer just give me your hand I'll pull you back over no stay where you are Titanic the epic by James Cameron was made in 1997 set in 1912 and we're gonna look at Kate Winslet's accent no stay where you are I mean it let go it seems she was directed to have a more contemporary standard American accent which would go along with what leo is doing for her class at that time in 1912 she really would have had more of a transatlantic accent like her mother is doing she's got the sounds pretty solid when she says stay where you are stay where you are she got one of the ARS they are an R but missed it and we're stay where you are it can be tricky because it goes so fast pretty much everyone in this movie has a different accent were those choices from the director maybe he wanted Leo and Kate to sound more similar and so gave them kind of a contemporary accent I know what you must be thinking the space that Kate has in her mouth is just a little bit open I know what it could translate to transatlantic if if the other things were there if it was non-rhotic and if it was resonating up there but it just feels like she's trying to get her tongue around the arse and that they're a little labored I know what you're thinking instead of I know what you're thinking who said I was getting rid of it this is rear window directed in 1954 by Alfred Hitchcock starring Jimmy Stewart and we're gonna look at his transatlantic very unique accent listen how did you ever get to be such a big editor with such a small memory Jimmy Stewart the transatlantic accent was created by Hollywood to merge all the cool things about American accents with the cool things about British and now you add Jimmy Stewart on top of that and he's got his own you know way of of resonating and you feel it all up in here she expects me to marry her I don't want to that oh that's not an American oh it's not really even a British ooh it's just ooh there are certain things about it that can sound a little bit southern some of the lilting it is a very tight kind of an accent you don't really open your mouth much it's you can do it all while you're grinning over a cup of tea like some very posh British accent if you were gonna look for a textbook transatlantic accent I wouldn't go for Jimmy Stewart because he's got his own awesome essence to it okay let's have a quick swim to brighten it up this is the Philadelphia story directed by George Cukor in 1940 and we're looking at Katharine Hepburn doing the transatlantic accent that she was famous for the most wonderful well anyhow I'm I'm so delighted that I can offer it to you wonderful delighted so you can hang all that accent on her cheekbones it just rests right up in here if you get a sly smile it'll create that tension naturally volume I've heard that she's the only person that actually grew up with an accent like this I'm so delighted that I can offer it to you - you're there so it would be offer non-rhotic but because the next word is it which starts with a vowel we get to say offer it that's where the transatlantic where you can really feel it is in the ours now tell me you for thinking y'all beloved whiskey and whiskey's your beloved whiskey and whiskey's so she she H's heard of use in this context it does give you a bit of class whiskey weather which it's a little trademark of this accent as well how about you mr. Connor you drink don't you alcohol I mean little and you are writer what's fun here is that you get to see Cary Grant who was English do also transatlantic accent it's a little bit more British but a writer that is the particular transatlantic so he doesn't say a writer he says a writer it's like this tiny little bit that you cup with your teeth just just write the bottom with Jimmy Stewart you can hear him being a little younger here than in rear window some of that this kind of a resonance it's all a little bit more relaxed here I think Catherine is probably the most famous example of a transatlantic accent she's certainly what I think of when someone's doing an accent it's like I hear it in the energy I feel something I'll feel whether there's a little delineation whether they're doing something or whether it's integrated into their body and into the character and that's all woven into one thank you so much for watching I hope you've enjoyed this and learned a few things and that the next time you watch a movie you'll really be able to appreciate how much work goes into all the aspects of it and especially the accents

Channel: Vanity Fair

Views: 1,080,389

Rating: 4.9333816 out of 5

Keywords: american accents, accent expert, amy walker, accent review, american accent review, accent breakdown, american accent breakdown, american accents vanity fair, american accent vanity fair, accents vanity fair, accent vanity fair, fargo accent, midwestern accent, southern accent, boston accent, movie accents, accent analysis, different american accents, new york accent, accents, accent expert vanity fair, accent expert reviews, accent, vanity fair reviews, vanity fair

Id: 0kDzdJ07Vho

Length: 29min 34sec (1774 seconds)

Published: Tue May 19 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Sirah81]

She did an amazing Northern Kalimdorian "Hahahahaaa!". Accent on point.

[u/felixlicat]

No way! I remember her from her viral accents video a while back on YouTube. Love Lunara's voice acting so great connection

[u/reuse_recycle]

She really thinks elune favors her???

[u/superjase]

lunara's voice lines for those who want to listen to her voicing them.

[u/PoEScionHentai]

Why is it so satisfying to kill Lunara ingame?

[u/Bennyi]

That's funny. Lunara's German voice actress was on the The Voice of Germany a couple of years ago. She's also a "famous" German gaming streamer.

[u/Erfeo]

Cool video! But I'm not sure she's right about the Transatlantic accent. It's my understanding that it was developed by the East Coast upper class in an effort to sound more posh, like their British counterparts. From there it was adopted by Hollywood. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent