The Worst Movie Accents Ever

Screen performing is a multifaceted self-discipline. It’s not sufficient for an actor to look the half. They’ve acquired to sound the half as properly. And after they don’t, issues can go actually unsuitable actually quick.

“Sounding the part” has confirmed very difficult for lots of display actors by means of the many years, together with a number of the best performers (with the perfect dialect coaches) in movie historical past.

Below, I’ve chosen 20 of probably the most notorious, probably the most intrusive accents in movie historical past, and offered clips so you possibly can hear them in all their awkward, clumsy glory. And sure, you’ll positively see a pair Oscar winners on the record…

Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Godzilla

Born in Buckinghamshire, England, Aaron Taylor-Johnson sounded about as snug taking part in a gruff American soldier in Godzilla as I would sound taking part in a wealthy and good-looking actor from Buckinghamshire, England. Instead of going with a nondescript American voice, Taylor-Johnson determined to go the route of a extra inflected Noo Yawk sort of factor, and it wound up about as life like because the sight of a huge lizard taking pictures atomic lasers out of its mouth.

Ben Kingsley, Sneakers

There’s a powerful “How do you do, fellow kids?” vibe to Ben Kinglsey’s voice within the nice ’90s comedian thriller Sneakers. Like, Sir Ben, I do know you received an Oscar. I do know you’re a nice actor. But this accent … it isn’t fooling anyone.

Brad Pitt, Troy

READ MORE: The Most Convincing Movie Accents We’ve Ever Heard

Brad Pitt gave a really memorable flip with a really memorable accent taking part in a bare-knuckle boxer in Guy Ritchie’s Snatch. But his different accents are far more hit and miss. I’m undecided what he was going for as Achilles in Wolfgang Petersen’s Troy. Greek? English nobleman? Vaguely necessary sounding? Whatever it was, it didn’t work. While Pitt appeared each inch a legendary warrior, he seemed like a nervous child in a faculty play.

Cameron Diaz, Gangs of New York

No accent has given American actors extra constant suits than Irish. I’m undecided why, but it surely repeatedly backfires in spectacularly distracting style. Cameron Diaz, a beautiful actress in nearly all her display roles, was less than the problem of the Irish accent in Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York. Her struggles have been much more obtrusive in a movie co-starring Daniel Day-Lewis — possibly the very best accent actor in historical past. Cameron Diaz would, uh, not benefit consideration for that title primarily based on this efficiency.

Charlie Hunnam, Pacific Rim

Charlie Hunnam has boatloads of charisma — in his native English accent. He’s gotten just a little higher at taking part in American guys by means of the years (all these seasons as a biker on Sons of Anarchy positively helped), however he actually struggled taking part in Americans at totally different factors in his profession. In Pacific Rim, he was very fortunate the movie concerned as a lot kaiju motion because it did. Hunnam himself has admitted that he’s gotten so misplaced mixing collectively totally different voices that when the time got here to play the title function in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword he truly needed to rent a dialect coach to assist him relearn his pure accent.

Dick Van Dyke, Mary Poppins

Dick Van Dyke is without doubt one of the most beloved performers in Hollywood historical past. So even whereas everybody agrees that his accent is deranged in Mary Poppins, all of us type of shrug and settle for it? And sort of find it irresistible? What would “Chim Chim Cher-ee” be with out it?!?

Don Cheadle, Ocean’s Eleven

This one is so unhealthy I need to consider it’s horrible on goal; like a sly meta-commentary on unhealthy accents in ensemble thrillers that includes many actors all attempting to face out in a crowd of film stars any manner they’ll (i.e. by speaking with an unforgettably off-base Cockney accent). Unfortunately, Don Cheadle has gone on report saying he was going for good, not unhealthy with this voice. (“You know something? I really worked on that accent. Went to London, spoke to people, got to know it … my agent said it was fine, so I’m stuck with this thing. Even though everyone laughs at me.”)

Ewan McGregor, The Island

Ewan McGregor is one other actor who can do nearly something in his native accent however usually sounds just a little … off when he tries to play American. You might identify a bunch of various McGregor accents as his worst, together with The Men Who Stare at Goats and Nightwatch, however The Island has all the time stood out as notably tough and artificial — which is definitely sort of ironic, given this Michael Bay movie’s material.

Harrison Ford, Ok-19: The Widowmaker

Harrison Ford has not performed a number of accents in his lengthy and fairly profitable profession. If you’ve seen him fumble a Russian voice in Kathryn Bigelow’s Ok-19: The Widowmaker, you realize why. (“Why do they have to be Russian? What is that about?” Ford himself joked in a well-known look on Late Night With Conan O’Brien.)

Jared Leto, House of Gucci

It’s a’me! Jared Leto in a da House’a Da Gucci! I’m’a Italian! 

John Malkovich, Rounders

John Malkovich’s accent in Rounders makes The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle’s Boris and Natasha appear to be the themes of a nature documentary a couple of moose and squirrel.

Jude Law, Midnight within the Garden of Good and Evil

Jude Law is one other actor who, in an act of clever self-preservation, has largely prevented roles that demand an excessive amount of of him within the accent division. In the early days of his profession, although, he didn’t have the luxurious of being fairly so selective in his roles. And what you bought at that time, was Jude Law doing stuff like taking part in a Southern-fried homicide sufferer in Clint Eastwood’s Midnight within the Garden of Good and Evil. The outcomes communicate for themselves. (Literally.)

Justin Theroux, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle

Another good actor doing one other unhealthy Irish accent; on this case, Justin Theroux as an Irish mobster in Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle. Listen for your self; there’s simply no defending it. (Although if you wish to give Theroux a move on this film just because he’s so absurdly shredded and scorching, be my visitor.)

Katharine Hepburn, The Iron Petticoat

Katharine Hepburn had one of the crucial distinctive voices in film historical past; many years after her dying folks nonetheless imitate her distinctive speech patterns. The downside of such a singular speech sample is that it doesn’t all the time show fairly so adaptable to different accents. When Hepburn tried to play a Russian pilot reverse Bob Hope, the movie was a catastrophe, with Hope and Hepburn clashing over the tone of the movie and the dimensions of Hope’s function. And then when Hepburn spoke, it seemed like … this.

Keanu Reeves, Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Look, this isn’t about knocking Keanu Reeves. Keanu Reeves is a good actor, and he has made many nice motion pictures, from My Own Private Idaho to Speed to The Matrix to a ton of different issues. When critics used to bash him and name him a nasty actor, it was foolish and largely unsuitable. BUT … his English voice in Bram Stoker’s Dracula is unhealthy. “I’ve seen many strange things already!” he says, fairly unconvincingly in a single scene. If you’ve watched Keanu in Coppola’s Dracula you’ve heard many unusual issues too.

Kevin Costner, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Long considered one of many worst accents in Hollywood historical past, Kevin Costner’s nobleman from his grounded retelling of the Robin Hood legend isn’t solely unconvincing, it’s additionally inconsistent. Costner’s accent appears to look and disappear not solely from scene to scene, however typically from line to line. It is brutal.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond

Leonardo DiCaprio is mostly an excellent accent actor, however he will get tripped up on occasion too. His accent work as a Rhodesian mercenary within the thriller Blood Diamond leaps instantly to thoughts for this type of record. I’ve by no means forgotten his supply of the road “You know in America it’s bling bling, but out here it’s bling bang, eh?” which was featured in the entire Blood Diamond’s trailers.

Orlando Bloom, Elizabethtown

Admittedly, Cameron Crowe’s Elizabethtown had a number of issues, not simply star Orlando Bloom’s shaky American accent. (The movie was the inspiration for movie critic Nathan Rabin coining the time period “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” to explain Kirsten Dunst’s character.) Still, the way in which Bloom stumbles his manner by means of each single line of dialogue positively didn’t assist.

Tom Cruise, Far and Away

Tom Cruise does his personal stunts and his personal accents. Unfortunately, as evidenced by Ron Howard’s Far and Away — one other movie with an excellent American star doing a not-great Irish accent — Cruise is just actually good at a kind of issues.

Tom Hanks, Elvis

Austin Butler’s Elvis voice in Elvis? Genuinely spectacular! Tom Hanks’ Colonel Tom Parker voice in the identical film? Genuinely horrifying! He’s purported to be Dutch, I feel? He sounds extra like an over-the-top Bond villain from a Saturday Night Live sketch making enjoyable of unhealthy accent work in motion pictures.