Why not just use a Russian?!? (1 Viewer)

[doug zdanivsky]

"Most Poles were or are probably able to speak Russian since it used to be their first foreign language."

Yes, I'm refering to the Russification that went on in all the former USSR sattelites, especially in the major centers..

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

Most of these roles are probably filled with actors that have "can speak in a *Russian accent" on their resume. (*insert any other accent) If they convince the casting director, that's all that's needed. I have a couple accents down on my resume and I've been asked to do the lines in an accent just for the hell of it. Guess they get a kick out of that.

But I would like to bring up a great line from Eddie Izzard. 10% is what you say, 90% is how you say it. Something like that. With foreign languages it doesn't matter half the time what they are actually saying. Just as long as they look the part and sound like they are probably speaking in that language.

For bit parts though, it probably isn't a second thought to most casting directors. They have a look in mind and rarely a voice.

I do appreciate it if they actually speak the correct words though, even if their accent or pronounciation is off. Heck I was starting to understand Elvish after all of the LOTR movies.

 

[doug zdanivsky]

I dunno about that.. Any East Europeans, or immigrants from those countries in N. America, would spot a fake Russian accent a mile away..


Your assumption is most likely the same as the lazy casting directors..

It's a shame..

I mean, what would it cost them?

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

I don't doubt that at all. But they are usually not the target audience.

 

[Lynda-Marie]

I don't speak any other foreign languages with any kind of authority... what few words of any other language I have picked up would probably get my face slapped, at the very least.

But I get more strange looks when watching movies where the characters are supposed to be speaking with Slavic accents, and I am hollering, "Pay better attention to your dialogue coach, ya bum!"

My father was from Czechoslovakia, and I was forever getting teased while growing up that he sounded like Count Dracula. "Ha-ha, you dad talks funny!" I finally got fed up and said, "He doesn't talk funny, you listen funny."

Of all the Dracula films, the only ones I have liked are when the actors attempt to sound like they come from that area of the world. My friends all headed to different parts of the theater when we saw Van Helsing, because the guy they got for "Dracula" was just awful. The character they had for him, such as it was, was okay, but his attempt at a Slavic accent had me shooting popcorn out my nose, I was laughing so hard!

Another problem, and I don't know if this gets under your skin, Doug, is that in many of these films, they don't seem to have anything resembling proper Slavic cultural behavior, either. I saw the 1979 version of Dracula and he seemed so effeminate. There was a scene where he was standing against the fireplace with his hand on his hip, looking so "femmy" I just about died!

 

[Yee-Ming]

Don't remember the details myself, but now that you mention it, I vaguely remember this. All the more apparent to me since I speak Mandarin, but not Cantonese.

The "problem" is that many overseas Chinese communities comprise mainly of immigrants from Canton, and hence they speak Cantonese, not Mandarin. So your pool of "Chinese-speaking" actors tends to have Cantonese-speakers, not Mandarin. Sometimes they make it a point to speak Mandarin instead, if the script calls for it, but it's painfully obvious that Mandarin isn't their primary Chinese dialect.

As an aside, I have to say that the Mandarin in Firefly is mostly unintelligable to me

 

[doug zdanivsky]

Can't say I've watched any of those old vampire flicks, Lynda-Marie.. But your point is well taken..

 

[Francois Caron]

But aren't there more people in the world who speak Klingon than speak Esperanto?

 

[Mike Broadman]

Funny that whenever people talk about this they forget Arnold Schwarzenneger in Red Heat playing a Russian. I guess we've all just blocked that bit of cinematic cheese from our collective minds.

I understand and speak a little Russian, having grown up in a Russian neighborhood, so I know what you're saying. However, I think it's actually gotten much better. I first noticed this in, of all things, The X-Files. There was a sub-plot of Mulder being in some Russian prisoner/camp/alien experiment thingy, and the Russians there really sounded authentic.


When I saw Air Force One with my mom in the theaters, my mom whispers, jokingly, "What language is he [Gary Oldman] speaking?" and an African-American gentleman helpfully answered, "That's Russian, lady"

 

[PerryD]

How was John Candy's Swedish in Splash?

 

[doug zdanivsky]

Yes.. I remember that, too.. Those were real Russians.

 

[Erik Johansson]

It was accurate but you could tell he wasn't a Swede, but so couldn't the guards either... The same thing goes for the swedes in the beginning of Titanic, who loses the tickets to Leo, it's accurate but as a Swede it sounds a bit funny.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

My favorite of this type is Sean Connery as a Lithuanian in Hunt for Red October.

Americans are subjected to this as well. Most British actors seem to handle the accent okay, but few Kiwis do. So cheap TV shows are full of cringe moments.

 

[Cees Alons]

Ha, ha.

The "Dutch" in US movies is very seldom real Dutch either, but I also once heard a "German" actually speaking a few Dutch words in a movie (can't remember which one). Apparently a Dutchman (or descendent of - ) casted as an extra, and he succeeded to fool everyone on the set.


Cees

 

[Ted Todorov]

Let's not forget Robin Williams in Moscow on the Hudson. "A" for effort though. I actually quite liked the way The Hunt for Red October handled it -- true Connery's Russian was nothing to write home about, but as they switched to English, a certain suspension of disbelief was required anyway, but it worked very well without any fake Russian accents, with the "Russians" speaking British English and the Americans American.

Why in the world not??? There must be several million of us (Eastern Europeans & Russians) living in the US right now -- HBO doesn't want me to watch the Sopranos???

If you are going to cast an actor required to speak language X for the part, they should be capable of speaking language X or should be looped by someone who does. I don't insist on perfection but it should at least be close enough for government work. Otherwise it really pulls you right out of the movie.

And BTW, for me that applies to most Western European languages, not just Slavic ones. I can tell when someone is faking a mile away. And the potential audience that speaks at least some "foreign" languages is quite large -- no reason to hold us all in contempt.

Ted

 

[doug zdanivsky]

My thoughts exactly..

 

[Stephen_L]

Guys we've been down this discussion with other threads. Hollywood cannot practically cater to every ethnic group or area of expertise. I'm a southerner, and many attempts at southern accents in film by nonsoutherner's are weak. I'm a doctor but the protrayal of most doctors in movies is weak. Must Hollywood then find a true South Carolinian MD to fill a role just to satisfy me fully? Movies require the suspension of disbelief. Sometimes they ask more than can satisfy everyone, but some indulgence on the viewers part is required.

 

[doug zdanivsky]

I disagree..

Especially since to "cater" to these "minorities" would incur no extra cost or effort.. Just some common sense and foresight..

 

[Stephen_L]

I disagree Doug. Must every Southern character, Pole, Russian, Hispanic, Greek, Slav, Indian, Japanese, doctor, engineer, cop, lawer be ethnically, professionally and liquistically accurate to satisfy each group? You're saying that wouldn't cost more? I'd rather have good actors first, and ethnic qualifications and accurate accents second.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Professional inaccuracy mostly has to do with bad writing, and has very little if anything to do with casting.

Nobody is arguing for ethnic accuracy, whatever that is. Indeed I totally agree that acting ability should come first, and it is perfectly OK to change a character's ethnicity, accent, even sex to suit the actor.

What we are -- vehemently -- arguing against, is actors doing an abysmal job of faking languages they don't speak. If the character has to speak Russian or French or Japanese or... you should cast someone who can reasonably speak a few lines of the said language. If they can't, then change the script. But whatever you do, please don't have someone doing a laughable fake.

This has nothing to do with PC casting -- it has everything to do with ones ability to suspend disbelief only going so far.

Ted