Accent Expert Reviews British Accents in Movies, from 'Mrs. Doubtfire' to 'Maleficent' | Vanity Fair

hello I'm Amy Walker is I'm Amy Walker I'm you woke up in it tight one hello I'm Amy Walker I'm an actress most known from the accents and today we're gonna look at some British accents in films this is Maleficent directed by robert stromberg in 2014 and we'll be looking at Angelina Jolie's English accent awaken that nails two things there that people often miss when they're doing this sort of an accent it can be a tendency to go awaken in America we'll take that E and we'll just make it an a that ear in this accent becomes a awaken and then you had that bit of an aspiration that sort of an H breathy sound on the K and it gives it this awaken I had wings once they were stolen from me stolen from me from staining you can you can say stolen from me that works we could say stolen from me are they big so big they dragged behind me when I worked when she says walked that's really excellent the a lah aw all those things that an American or ah they're all different in English accents so we've got warped and it's very long what people have a tendency to do is go warped or something very tight and odd royalty nobility the gentry and how quaint even rather even the facts oh I had high expectations for this RP will receive pronunciation it's called received because you're not born into it you have to learn it you have to be educated I have a few theories as to why so many villains in Disney movies and VR I have this received pronunciation accent and for one the tones you get to use and play around with I'll just deliciously good fun it's as if you really don't care what they think of you but also it sounds extremely educated because you can't get it unless you are educated into it and then the stillness of how good then I'll inject them yeah and I'll find a spot to get rid of the body all valid ideas this is Ocean's thirteen directed by Steven Soderbergh in 2007 we're looking at Don Cheadle's cockney accent that's the rules for someone who understands the rules which bank dump because they already broken so he don't get the chance where to start really Don Cheadle wonderful actor but this is a bit of a mess don't the resonance for this accents really down in the gut it's down in your mouth it's tamper now though you're gonna take that tongue and the D is not gonna be a d like this it's gonna be the though and it'll be don't this polymer reacts to ultrasonic pulses when you say ultrasonic ultrasonic that's gonna have a lot more of a W to it than an L and it's gonna be forward in the mouth but it's not metallic so the compasses on the table won't detect it sometimes when people do a glottal catch or a glottal stop it's a bit extra so but it's not like it's sort of a double but it's not instead of but it's not not is a really open sound oh now your cockney accent is really a working-class East End thing it's it's really chewy the resonance is still high but it's also really forward it's like it starts up here and then it lands down in here I can't leave why are you sorry I had somebody else asked Livingstone such a wowser I've done research positive messages get through I've done research positive messages get through so I've done it's gonna be that the thumb and it's gonna be resonating up in here and landing down and our research forward positive it's gonna be a instead of positive back here for the states positive messages get through and then you're not going to put a th because why put th when you can just put I think he's saying perforated there lubricating patterns of something perforated it's just living so little in the mouth and then the glottal stops are leaping out at you and just not really doing what they're meant to do where's that put it cat cat old versus cold I think this is rhyming slang which is a whole world of a language cattle would be short for cattle truck which rhymes with another words you can probably guess his Union pay masters have called a strike deliberately took this is the Iron Lady directed by phillyd allowed in 2011 that stars Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher teachers cannot teach when there is no heating no lighting in their classrooms and I asked the gentlemen who Margaret Thatcher had a lot of flack in the beginning of her political career about the lady duck screech too much so the way that she'll that you know really screech it a bit and she's up in the higher tones and she really gets there was something for Margaret Thatcher about the way that she talked through her teeth but it's absolutely dead on when did I lose track of everyone where did I lose track of everyone the way that the age just sits in her face track of everyone you still have the teeth and you still have the voice but this is after she said vocal training to lower her voice and all that is in there plus age so it's gonna even live and you just really feel the weight of her age yeah when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor did America go cap in hand and ask Tojo for a peaceful negotiation of terms terms did America go cap in hand this is after she's had that vocal training and she really had a lovely warm tone in her voice after that but she's also got that sharp way that Margaret Thatcher did emphasize certain consonants at different times did she turn her back on her own citizens there because the islands were thousands of miles away from the mainland United States no no no the way that she uses her voice to carve out that grounded powerful tone and the consonants that make it sharp and important and listen to and that me is my favorite and that's my Meryl Streep such an inspiration hello mrs. Hillard I presume this is mrs. Doubtfire directed by Chris Columbus in 2003 we're gonna look at Robin Williams as mrs. Doubtfire he's doing kind of a slate Scottish accent maybe a little bit Edinburgh and it's not like a V Glasgow hard Highland accent Pierce Brosnan even says later in the film it's a bit muddled so it's kind of set up to be its own creation which I think Robin does really well you know when you say doke fired it feels like it should be in a wee bit of a Scottish accent so it's quite soothing the tones that he's chosen you for generic don't frame you for dinner you don't fold and Scottish you've got like this really soft flutter of an hour you can do and it's really soothing the way he's got it it's like a we flick don't for you are you wearing thumb spray well it's quite an idea no offense taken I was a little liberal with the optimizer so it's really a hybrid accent it's got some British in it like a little liberal rather than a little liberal and Scottish accent you usually take down that short I sound there which we would say it like little and it would become level alright everyone it's time to expand your minds it's homework time alright everyone it's time to expand your mind that's all great it's homework time that all that small Scottish then it oh and you'd have an A in an English accent how about you mrs. Doubtfire oh you wicked wicked man isn't there enough flesh here for you to feast your eyes on there's another example of the hybrid wicked that's a British E with a Scottish kick so rather than what kid it's wit kids when you're doing a hybrid accent or something that's a lighter you really get to choose what bits feel right for the character to hold on to I'm calling in regards to the aired a read in the paper that extra glottal catch there paper that's very classic Scottish there are lots of global catches lots of glottal stops in Scottish accent and one of the things that can happen for Americans trying to do British or Scottish is they're trying to put in a few extra that catch that you want to put in when you're meaning to save paper in English and you say paper save it and put it in when you're doing Scottish hello hellooo not quite sure what that is actually um hello would be more scotch you know why would that be from its from from Robin land and then it'll settle into its character as the scene progresses [Music] this is bridget jones's baby directed by sharon maguire in 2016 we're looking at Renee Zellweger's English accent she's originally from Texas my birthday actually began the way of all my birthday's one thing she's doing really well here is actually so this is a little bit different to a global stop I call it little catch actually actually it's a subtle thing that a lot of Americans miss when they're doing a British accent if you just said actually and you got all the placement right but you didn't do that catch it's just not quite there this is one of those things that if you're British doing an American accent can be a challenge to take out and just say actually and that actually the truth was that by now I thought I would have had a little baby to love with the chisel Jordan love of my life chisel George that's good o is a vowel that can be challenging for Americans to do in English because we don't have it we don't say or we say ah but here you get to say oh it's much more forward in the mouth and this is more of a standard British accent you could say Saudi middle class isn't there some sort of statute of limitations about the number of sodden candles on a cake once you get to a certain age it is possible to use the god will catch too much sort of you don't need it there just sort of certain it can just be certain so when you get to a certain age some sort of statute statute it would be there that is something that a lot of people do is just put in a few too many British it's not British it's just British I need you to see what reuters are saying about the attacks on Ramallah one thing that can be challenging is the difference between the American schwa a standard American R and then the British the difference between Ramallah and Ramallah is that slight difference or like American versus American the last baron husk in London and of the two loves of my life one is married and the other still one thing she does really well here there are so many different ways to pronounce continents and England loves them and we've got dead and that D that softer D she really nails it's one of those subtleties that a lot of people miss I get American in a standard we'd say dead not even finish it dead or if we're really being emphatic dead but here it's dead it's just that bit softer which is not essential there might be times when you'd say dead but here it feels perfect don't you see it see what the resemblance between us this is the Parent Trap directed by Nancy Meyers in 1998 it's about identical twins who were separated at Birth one of them raised in England one raised in America they're both played by Lindsay Lohan that's quite good she says rather instead of rather but picturesque don't you think she's got the melody right don't you think that's something that's really different the way that questions are phrased in England versus in America we'd say don't you think check for fruits check for vegetables go on go on so the way she says that oh this really will tell you what class you're in here the difference between oh oh oh just somewhere in the middle she's like not super duper ancient arrow sort of thing but Oh American resonates right in the middle of your mouth that's down a little bit lower now I'm talking about the resonance that's different to the pitch pitch is how actually high or low you're talking and regardless of pitch if you're placing the resonance up higher up in here it tends to sound more cerebral or intelligent well I doubt it but thanks thanks for bringing here Martin well I doubt it but thanks and thanks for bringing me here Martin all those sounds are really riding up in here as opposed to but just as doubt and she's doing that nice soft tea instead of doubt I doubt it it flows so smoothly if I did it without the resonance well I doubt it but it just doesn't quite have that edge and that's something that can be challenging for people I'll teach you to beat me and you just made a beaut look I can do you already yes you want to know the difference between us I have class and you don't when she says class if you say class without the resonance it sounds like klo SS class ah verses are almost put an R in it plus he belongs my friend the one I was I'm telling you about I can't imagine how he got a nice suitcase one of the things that can be really tricky is to get can and can't down correctly you have to be a bit careful with the comp particularly because if it's too short it can sound like a different word so here she says can't the resonances down can't instead of can't any of your pictures ruined when she says any of your pictures ruined it is a British melody but that probably wouldn't be the one you would use you probably use any of your pictures ruined its getting to know a lot of different melodic patterns that helps we've got a major problem you're going to have to bring mother act here immediately for class it would be more likely for her to say immediately instead of immediately she does get the D immediately if you were going to say it that way but again I would say immediately he's always holding her hand and kissing her neck and waiting on a hand and foot waving what we call a flat T waiting that we do in America all the time in this class of England you would say waiting some of the traps that Americans fall into when they're doing British accents are they keep the same sort of a pattern and then they get it a bit off like this I think sometimes when people are trying to get the resonance they just raise the pitch up and that can have the effect of accidentally raising your resonance because you're tighter to create that higher pitch but you're really taking - you can speak with a lovely low voice and still have that resonance The Artful postures love but loves it overthrows life this is Shakespeare in Love directed by John Madden in 1998 and we're looking at winneth Paltrow is English accent unbeatable I'm governor burrell like a riot in the heart and nothing to be done come ruin or rapture Gwyneth is doing a marvelous job of keeping the residents there things like rapture has that global catch I call it catch I distinguish between them because a glottal stop it's so much harder but rapture it just gives it like this little nudge rapture love and you hear the difference of keeping the resonance high love versus love not the artful postures of love when she says not the artful postures of love that extra bit of breath it's one of those subtle things that people can often miss like I just said subtle that extra little puff of air is not subtle it's subtle and it's part of what she's chosen for this character it wouldn't be for every English accent but it's really appropriate for what she's doing here play houses are not for well born lady oh I'm not so well born moneyed is the same as well born so you can see how when she says I'm not so well born her lips are forward and they need to be because this accent as much as its resonating up here the sounds are really forward in the mouth in American we pull the lips back for things like born so not so well born to be really forward you can't do that unless you're doing the posture in which you skull what the director has chosen here is something that we can understand and identify with but just doesn't sound contemporary it's got a really sort of a timeless classical feel which is really appropriate for the piece hi everyone welcome to my wedding this is imagine being you directed by ole Parker in 2005 we're looking at Piper Perabo z-- English accent I did a crowds did my flowers are nice the way she says Rachel taking that L out and giving it a W or doing a bit of both Rachel that's really good she says the flowers are nice flowers that's really great and then nice she drops the resonance down a little bit but it's pretty good nice versus nice my ring I was giving some of this patch crap and your wedding ring it can be challenging for people to get that off being very forward and she's really nailing it here it fell off this as it fell off because in American we used to doing your are more open but she's really getting that off being forward with a lower lip you know jokes really are the best aren't they oh that's lovely the way she says best the best with that little bit of extra oomph to it that's some of the subtle things that people often miss it's not not English to say best but the way she's just the best you know just gives a little bit of a goose to it all right I mean this is Luke's she's a florist she says florists you can say florists you can also say florists that'd be a bit more upper-class so this works it's similar to a florist in the East Coast florists florists I invited some external Friday that florists loose its now we've got florist which feels a little more on same word I would just do this one for the other one as well oh great I'll cook please please don't having it live up in here this is more of a sort of upper middle class residence up here don't the lower the class then will you bring it down but the higher than we is smile through it please don't there you go it's totally on there you go it's totally on so the way she does that go and sort of go in American or go in whatever company really tells her class there you go it's totally on can do all that smiling for your teeth 400 that's a really particular English melody and it's not super common so she's doing a really good job here of getting to know lots of different English maladies so she doesn't get stuck in one pattern it's really connected with all of what she's going through emotionally here I hope you've enjoyed this and learned something you may be tried on a few British accents of your own and maybe next time you look at all the detail that goes into creating the voice of the character including the accent

Channel: Vanity Fair

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Id: eGPUbyOk4_s

Length: 21min 17sec (1277 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 15 2020