Why not just use a Russian?!?

doug zdanivsky · 09-08-2004, 09:55 PM

I was watching a Sopranos re-run the other day.. Tony's maid is Russian, and is speaking in "Russian" to her husband..

And it was just EXCRUCIATING!! Phyisically painful..

To all those other Russian speakers out there whose ears bled with mine, I appologize on behalf of casting directors everywhere..

This is one of my biggest pet-peeves in movies and TV..

Why the heck can't you just add some realism and get someone who actually speaks the language?

It is especially irksome when it's an extra.. I mean, are we supposed to really care that much about mugger #3's rakish scar, or perfect jaw? I know the same could be said of the few lines he speaks, but I repeat, would it be so hard to cast a Russian actor/actress?

But even when the person is a main character (like Ed O'ross as the villian in Red Heat, or Vincent Cassel as the villian in Birthday Girl.. Nicole Kidman's Russian? Oh boy.. A for effort, though..), it is very grating and takes me right out of the movie..

There are plenty of talented actors out there who also speak fluent Russian, if they are not Russian nationals or fomerly of Russia or one of it's former sattelite countries..

I know, 98% of the intended audience is totally oblivious to this.. But why not add that extra touch, at no real financial or creative expense, I say?

And it's not just Russian.. The same could be said for alot of languages on screen and tv..

Anyhoo, enough of my ranting..

What say all of you?

Nick Sievers · 09-08-2004, 10:17 PM

A thread that was locked recently was discussing this topic.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...92#post2316492

doug zdanivsky · 09-08-2004, 10:22 PM

Not quite the same, as I was refering to language, not race, but..

Phil K · 09-09-2004, 05:08 AM

I can really understand you! It is the same with other languages. Most prominent for me is the miserable use of German in (US) movies. The only ONE time I actually COULD understand what somebody was saying in German language was in the first 10 minutes of "U-571". The director went the extra way and casted native speakers to portrait the German u-boat soldiers. Recently watched "South-Park The Passion of the Jew" and did not understand a word of what Cartman was blathering about in his Fuhrer reincarnation. On the other hand I laughed my butt off when the scientist in "The Hudsucker Proxy" had this heavy German/Austrian accent

Cheers,
Phil

Roger_R · 09-09-2004, 06:13 AM

I guess it's just easier to pick a person off the street and have him say the words with his own accent than to actually make an effort and get someone who can speak the language coherently.
Being Norwegian myself, I notice this problem when it comes to characters from Scandinavia. In most movies they hire an American actor and American actors can't speak Norwegian period

The X-files episode Død Kalm from season 2 is a perfect example of this. Whatever Trondheim is saying is not Norwegian. Another one is the scene with the Norwegian and the dog in The Thing(1982).

However, kudos To David Lynch for getting someone who were able to speak Norwegian for the Twin Peaks pilot.

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ThomasC · 09-09-2004, 06:25 AM

In the Taipei scenes on Alias, when Chinese is being spoken, it IS Chinese, but it's the wrong dialect. Everyone spoke Cantonese, but the main Chinese dialect in Taiwan is Mandarin. If anybody does speak Cantonese in Taiwan, they are part of a very small minority. I think it would've actually been easier for everyone to have spoken Mandarin than Cantonese.

Quote:

Recently watched "South-Park The Passion of the Jew" and did not understand a word of what Cartman was blathering about in his Fuhrer reincarnation.

However, in "Good Times With Weapons," the Japanese sung in the fight sequence was actual Japanese. Trey Parker double-majored in Japanese and music at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

JonZ · 09-09-2004, 09:08 AM

Tonys maid is Polish. Remember the scene when the FBI guy came up to them to waste time and asked if they were Polish.

The woman who took care of her mother, the one missing her leg and her sister (who Tony had the affair with)were Russian.

stephen la · 09-09-2004, 09:14 AM

maybe there arent that many russian actors in the screen actors guild?

Holadem · 09-09-2004, 09:41 AM

The most grating example for me was the french president in the movie The American President. My problem wasn't even that the guy was not french, it was that he probably never spoke a word of french in his life. Why o why?!

--
H

Sami Kallio · 09-09-2004, 09:48 AM

"Johnny English", John Malkovich speaking in "French" accent.

Lew Crippen · 09-09-2004, 10:45 AM

This kind of thing happens all the time. People who can’t speak a language, or people who can speak it but only heavily accented, or who can speak the language, but a different dialect, or even native speakers who can’t get an expected and required accent correct.

How many bad ‘southern’ accents have we all heard from native speakers of English (or American).

How many bad Australian or English accents from American actors?

There are so many instances, that no one knows.

In the end, someone will be able to detect an inaccuracy of some type in language in many, many movies, I’m not trying to defend what is in one context, poor filmmaking. But on the other hand, I expect that there are a lot more people who are put off by fake southern accents than by bad Russian ones.