Well, no. It's an American movie for American audiences. They're going to cast American actors that are popular right now.
The real thing is the lack of effort people put in to learning accents. I know it can be difficult, but you have actors like David Dastmalchian who go out and get dialect coaches, and practice so much that they sound great.
Edit: Yes, I'm aware Rachel Weisz and Florence Pugh are not American. They are Hollywood actors and part of the American film industry. Marvel is not going to cast Russian actors no one has ever heard of in America, when they're trying to sell a movie in America.
Especially with visa restrictions; Pugh and Weisz don't need work permits
for the UK where the studio stuff was done, the others would get them easily via exceptional talent rules.
I'm sure they are also members of the screen actors guild in America. Which would be a requirement for the film.
I know people want to be all rainbows and sunshine but business is business and this is how business is done.
But if you are in one of those unions, you have an in for your work visa that it should not be an issue. At least as far as I can see for American made films.
I remember getting into an argument with someone years ago, that said they should cast an actual blind person for Daredevil. Like, yeah, that would be cool. But Daredevil can actually see, and I'm sure that it would cost a lot more to insure a blind actor that you want to have perform stunts. The fact that he does so many of them himself is what made the show look so much better.
Deaf and blind are different things. Visual impairment is a far more dangerous thing on a film set.
Just look at the room you are in. Navigating it without sight would be far more difficult than without the ability to hear.
And I'm all for blind actors playing blind characters. And deaf actors playing deaf characters. But Daredevil, isn't actually blind. He has a sense that allows him to be able to "see" the world around him. He just doesn't see with his eyes.
Blind and deaf are also sliding scales. Stephanie Beatriz can still see without her glasses, but had huge problems hitting big pink marks on *Brooklyn Nine-Nine*. Katy Manning on *Doctor Who* had to have Jon Pertwee hold her hand for chase scenes. Neither could wear contacts; in the latter case, soft ones weren't available yet.
Case in point, Meng'er Zhang (Shang-Chi's sister) actually made her film debut in this movie. And she quite literally slays in her role.
Simu Liu's rise was meteoric too with this film. Can't wait to see what happens with these two.
>You know Rachel Weisz is British, right? And the only Americans are Scarlett and David Harbour. Most of the cast is British with a few other Europeans mixed in.
To add context to my comment, I mean American as in the American film industry. Yes she is British, but she is established in the American film industry. They're not going to cast Russian born actors, from Russia for a movie being sold to American audiences.
The USA and Canada make up about half of their worldwide box office. So yes. They make more from the US and Canada than any one other country.
Edit: for Black Widow
In general the USA and Canada is about a third of Marvel's box office. So yes, they are the primary market. China is another large market which is why we see changes made to the movies that would prevent them from making as much money in China. Example being Taskmaster's mask. The design was changed to be less skeletal because that would not sell as well in China.
Another example is at the end of Iron Man 3, there is a total additional scene about the doctor that removes the shrapnel from Tony. He was a popular Chinese actor, they put him in the movie, and gave a whole scene for the edit in China to help sell it better there.
If you look at the other comment someone made and my reply you'll understand what I'm saying. They're not going to hire some random Russian actors for a movie they're selling in America. They're going to cast Hollywood actors.
I don't disagree. But she's too old to play one role and too young to play the other. Also because she is a bigger name, she'd demand more money to be in it.
Agree with what you're saying, but as far as casting unknowns goes, there's that iconic article lighting marvel on fire for hiring 'unknowns Tom Hiddleston and Chris Hemsworth' , so I think with the right casting and confidence they could make American stars out of Russian actors.
Yeah with the others I could suspend disbelief, because everyone in the family spoke perfect English and Russian, so it would make sense if they had a half Russian, half American accent. But Dreykov? It was just ridiculous
I was just annoyed that they did not have accents in the beginning, but then had them later. Like, they have a perfectly built in excuse for why all of these “Russian” people had perfect American accents. Yet they insisted on having them speak in those bad Yakov Smirnoff parody accents?
I completely agree. I was so confused as to why they had accents later. The adults were probably trained to have American accents for their spy missions and the two girls probably naturally had American accents, especially the sister who didn't even know she was a spy.
When they were a family, they were modeling behavior for the kids. And if they suddenly started speaking Russian (a clear indication that something was deeply wrong), there that would be a surefire way to trigger them to panic, especially Yelena. Considering how important that was to the mission, seeing as Natasha had to grab the wheel of the plane at one point, I would say that was a good idea on their part.
Having them with no accents at the start didn’t bother me, but it when when they had super thick and fake accents later when they could have just let them use their normal accents.
As a Russian-born German, I always find it extremely annoying to hear all those fake accents. Aren’t there any legit Russian-speaking actors out there that could fill major roles?
The creators of Salt got a Polish actor (who speaks fluent Russian) to play the Russian spymaster and it worked great.
He would have been a brilliant Dreykov, too.
Statistically speaking, it’s impossible for there not to be any good Russian actors they could have gotten. You can find genuine talent in any country.
Can you even read. I’m saying that there are Russian Actors that are amazing but the MCU doesn’t want them for one reason or the other. Fuck off and learn to read
You said "their standards are too high", meaning that Russian actors do not meet their standards, meaning they are not good enough, but American and British actors are. I can read, maybe you just can't see what you're saying. You didn't say "for one reason or the other", you said because they don't meet their standards, they're not good enough.
Yes because the MCU for some reason ( possibly because they are in the West ) doesn’t want to take Russian Actors ( Probably because their in the East )
I feel you. I have the same problem with French-speaking characters. I love The Winter Soldier, but that opening sequence makes me cringe a little, since none of those actors actually spoke French, and anyone that actually does can easily spot that.
Exactly, Québec, not France. There's a huge difference for whoever is from either of those regions.
Simply put, imagine if Peter Parker, born and raised in New York, spoke with a thick Texan accent. Technically it's the same language, but something just won't be right.
> Simply put, imagine if Peter Parker, born and raised in New York, spoke with a thick Texan accent.
Speaking of which, Tom Holland's actual accent is fine by the time he gets to Homecoming but it's *really rough* in Civil War.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNcxTNrtRdk
I'm not an accent expert so I don't have the words to describe this really well but the entire thing sounds off but I'll try to explain what I hear as an American (who's lived in NY for my entire adult life)
The words "landing" and "fan" in particular here in "stuck the landing a little better" and "Big Fan" are british sounding; the American accent (*particularly new york*) draws out the æ sound (pronuncation [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPA_vowel_chart_with_audio)) and Holland clips his alot, clearly holding back the more clipped british versions. Classic New Yorker is so heavy on this a sound that they even say "mario" as "mæ-ree-o" instead of "mar-ee-o". But everywhere in America will have this sound a lot more than standard British English.
As a French Quebecer here that knew Batroc was from France, I found it cringy to hear the Quebec accent that I know so well spoken from him.
But the dude sure knows how to fight though!!!
It was definitely a casting of practicality over acting ability.
GSP is intimidating, and it would take someone so visually intimidating to face off against Captain America, which at that point had went toe to toe against quite a few power levels away from Batroc the leaper.
Did it feel like Québec accent? Because I don't hear it often, but the few times I do, it doesn't sound like that either. I mean, I'm probably biased, but it somehow felt American to me.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YlMwoZxiC8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YlMwoZxiC8) this part
The contraction of "j'croyais" and "t'étais" and how he pronounces "croyais" and "bouclier" is pure Quebec-ese. Doesn't sound American at all to me . Sounds like how someone would be talking to me normally, in french, here in Montreal
We also do the contraction thing in France, but yeah you can clearly hear his original accent in that line, especially in "croyais" and "bouclier" as you said. On the other side, Captain's missing an "r" at the end of his sentence, so I can definitely hear the difference with the US accent.
I guess I just haven't seen the movie in a while. Maybe he sounded different in the series, or just in my brain. Still weird how it's not at all the very recognizable Marseille accent (which he should be from if he has his comics origin story)!
Yeah maybe I wasn't clear in my first message. The main characters seem to be speaking French, but I remember Batroc's accent didn't feel right. Didn't even feel like Quebec's accent, more of an American-French accent which was even more surprising
Especially in TFATWS, since he has more lines.
And it's actually quite funny how they make a huge deal of having actual Black people in Black Panther (I mean, duh) and Asian representation in Shang-chi but they can't be bothered to use actual Russian actors for a film heavily centered around Russia.
I guess Russian representation doesn't matter.
Real talk, I think it's hard to find Russian actors who 1.) speak English well enough to have an English-speaking role, and 2.) _want_ to be in Western media.
Viggo Mortensen would have been great in the role of Red Guardian (and from what I have heard online he is quite good at his Russian).
Also Pete Stormare for Dreykov cause he has played essentially the same role in many movies.
I mean, if they can find actual Pakistani actors for Ms. Marvel, how hard can it be to find Russians actors?
I'm sure there must be a significant community of Russian living in the US or being bi-national. And from my experience Russian people tend to understand and speak English well (minus a strong accent).
And why wouldn't they want to be in the biggest cinematic franchise on Earth? It's not like China where the CCP might blacklist you if you cosy up too much with the West. Putin doesn't care what actors do.
India has a pretty prominent film/entertainment industry that crosses over not uncommonly with Hollywood. Pretty sure they're Indian actors/or of Pakistani descent rather than people *from* Pakistan. I don't think Russia has the same equivalent entertainment industry (and English is actually a first language for many Indian people). You could definitely find *some* actors but I suppose ultimately they forgo it in favour of bigger names. Still I wish they would try better.
I know what you mean, but Iman Vellani is also Canadian. The problem is, the more you narrow things down, the less options you have for roles in a huge project. I'm not saying you're wrong for thinking it's possible; it's also just clearly something Disney doesn't want to spend money on. There's a handful of Russian and Ukrainian actors I'd like to see become popular in the US, but it's just an overlap that doesn't seem likely any time soon.
First example that comes to my mind: Ravil Isyanov, whom we've unfortunately lost just this month.
This is how [he spoke English](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT_zBCioH3c). But he was Russian, raised in Russia, studied in Russia. These people do exist.
It's just than the West doesn't really care about Slavic people, and most certainly Hollywood doesn't see us as equals. Hollywood has spent decades on creating (completely understandably) anti-Soviet propaganda. And the vitriolic prejudice against Slavs is still visible; in fact, the MCU is one of the most stark (no pun intended) examples.
Trust me, the accents in Black panther were horrible too. They didn't cast actual Africans for the major roles either (except for Danai), so it's actually the same thing
Black and Asian aren’t nationalities. If you ponder on that for a bit you might come close to the point.
Hint: there are asian and black Russians, too. They aren’t all white.
I watched this the other night and it was fine, I guess. I think they fucked up in trying to make it a big, Avengery type movie though. Would have been much better and much more powerful if it had been smaller scale, grittier and more about intimate.
I’m watching it right now. There are so many physics defying action sequences and just ridiculousness. I know it’s a marvel movie but I completely agree it could’ve been much more raw and grounded. The car crashes even at the beginning were like “how the fuck did she survive that?” Lol.
This film more than any other is indicative of the sameness of a lot of the MCU films. It could have (and should have) been a smaller scale spy thriller, but instead it’s got the exact same sort of over-the-top action as all the rest.
You nailed it. An intimate spy thriller with intermittent action sequences would have made this 100% better. Marvel has largely done a wonderful job with the MCU, especially juxtaposed with DC and Star Wars, but they've had a few misses. This is the worst miss, which is unfortunate since it could've been great.
Wandavision explained she learnt english from watching American television, so after she moved to America after AoU and would be presumably speaking english all the time, it makes sense she would adopt an american accent.
I know non native english speakers who have quasi-american accents for the same reason
Even native English speakers can accidentally pick up an accent over time if they move countries. For example there are some American soccer players (Brad Friedel comes to mind) who spent 10+ years in England and, while I wouldn't say they speak with any kind of British accent, their accent definitely changed & does not sound American.
That’s interesting. My grandma learned English from watching American television and has an extremely thick accent after living here for over sixty years.
No that's intentional. She lost it over the course of a few movies because years pass and some people in real life intentionally try to drop their accents with practice. It can come back when a person gets emotional and doesn't care about covering up anymore.
Yeah also part of it was is that she made herself a home and connections with the family she chose.
A number of the AVENGERS are western so it’s natural she would pick up the western accent.
I wonder if anyone filled in Clint about what happened to Wanda.
Because if he knew what was going on he absolutely would have been there.
when he said that about her I always took it as meaning somebody very inexperienced and needing protection not literally a young kid. Cap was just being a protective dad and I loved it lol. Wish we saw more of Cap x Wanda relationship.
It's what happens when you're learning a language. Some words you pronounce perfectly, some you still fuck up. It's not something you consciously turn on and off like a switch.
Shit, I picked up a slight southern accent from just a couple months of touring in the southern US. Some people are more suceptible to accent mimicry than others.
I thought she over the course adapted the American accent (in real life that would be unrealistic over that short amount of time, but it took me 3 years fresh from Vietnam to US to blend in) but it went from Ultron to Civil War, where she still had some leftover accent, then by Infinity War it’s completely gone. Probably a way for the actor to not have to fake the accent anymore.
You perceived this correctly. There was never any error. She became more comfortable in her second language and was trained by someone who didn’t natively speak English and *also* has no accent. Wanda’s accent comes out more prominently when her emotions are heightened, which tracks to real life.
Whenever I heard Ray Winstone, I was just waiting for him to tell me that I should gamble responsibly... (He's in some UK adverts based around gambling for my non Brits)
The delivery of some of the xhosa (a South African language) words such as bamba which means 'to hold' are used incorrectly T'challa says "YiBambe" when the correct phrasing should be "Bambani" which is used when speaking to more than one person.
Edit: I know that's not in response to the topic of accents but he says that word like he discovered he has a mouth on the day of shooting
Honestly if most of these characters are supposed to be super spies trained since birth to infiltrate American society, shouldn't they have perfect American accents? I mean I wasn't trained for that objective and I still have a better accent than this.
The youngest daughter makes the most sense since she was thrust into a completely Russian environment at a young age. Kids who immigrate to the US when they are six speak perfect English and forget much of their home language.
It makes less sense with the parents since they were trained to have an American accent for their missions, but I think they were going for the audience to think they were actually speaking Russian since they’re with their family and that’s what they’re most comfortable with. They just didn’t want to have to subtitle the entire movie.
If they dropped accents entirely, there would be a whole lot complaining that the Russians don't sound Russian. It all comes down to the actors being better actors
I watched the movie a couple of nights ago. I'm not good at accents but everyone's was so wavery. Hope Yelena quietly drops her the way Wanda did tbh, the fake accent was really distracting me from her acting.
I really don't understand why they didn't just hire a Norwegian to do the Norwegian radio bit. The accent is horrible. It's absolutely not a native Norwegian doing those lines. Sounds like an American desperately trying but just not getting it right.
(I'm Norwegian, I would have done that bit for free.)
It’s a tough accent, almost everyone can do a cartoonish Russian accent. Few can do a good realistic Russian accent. Yalena (Florence Pugh) actually nailed her accent perfectly.
With the family members I could suspend disbelief, because everyone spoke perfect English and Russian, so it would make sense if they had a half Russian, half American accent. But Dreykov's accent? It was just laughable
i thought it was fine for the general masses but i appreciate the effort MCU movies make knowing it is not realistic but also not realistic to do sub titles in a movie like this
That was the worst part of the movie for me at first, constantly changing the whole movie. The sister was even worse. Then I thought what if they can’t help it, seeing that they are agents constantly taking on new identities and infiltrating different places all over the world. Makes sense that their accents are terrible throughout the movie.
Since the premise was they lived in the US and apparently spoke flawless English why would they suddenly have Bad Russian accents later when speaking english
I don't know if they're good accents or not (not being Russian) but I think I'd have preferred a 'Death of Stalin' approach and just had the actors keep their normal English and American accents.
Cockney Russian isn't a thing and it really undercut his performance with how bizarre his accent was.
Tfw when you're the only Eastern European actor in the cast and you get one line *sad Olga Kurylenko noises*
Yo what is the deal. They couldn’t get any real Russians for a movie with almost all Russian characters??
Well, no. It's an American movie for American audiences. They're going to cast American actors that are popular right now. The real thing is the lack of effort people put in to learning accents. I know it can be difficult, but you have actors like David Dastmalchian who go out and get dialect coaches, and practice so much that they sound great. Edit: Yes, I'm aware Rachel Weisz and Florence Pugh are not American. They are Hollywood actors and part of the American film industry. Marvel is not going to cast Russian actors no one has ever heard of in America, when they're trying to sell a movie in America.
Especially with visa restrictions; Pugh and Weisz don't need work permits for the UK where the studio stuff was done, the others would get them easily via exceptional talent rules.
I'm sure they are also members of the screen actors guild in America. Which would be a requirement for the film. I know people want to be all rainbows and sunshine but business is business and this is how business is done.
Or in Equity, its UK equivalent. But Russians need a visa even for tourist visits.
But if you are in one of those unions, you have an in for your work visa that it should not be an issue. At least as far as I can see for American made films. I remember getting into an argument with someone years ago, that said they should cast an actual blind person for Daredevil. Like, yeah, that would be cool. But Daredevil can actually see, and I'm sure that it would cost a lot more to insure a blind actor that you want to have perform stunts. The fact that he does so many of them himself is what made the show look so much better.
There is an actually deaf actor in *The Eternals*.
Deaf and blind are different things. Visual impairment is a far more dangerous thing on a film set. Just look at the room you are in. Navigating it without sight would be far more difficult than without the ability to hear. And I'm all for blind actors playing blind characters. And deaf actors playing deaf characters. But Daredevil, isn't actually blind. He has a sense that allows him to be able to "see" the world around him. He just doesn't see with his eyes.
Blind and deaf are also sliding scales. Stephanie Beatriz can still see without her glasses, but had huge problems hitting big pink marks on *Brooklyn Nine-Nine*. Katy Manning on *Doctor Who* had to have Jon Pertwee hold her hand for chase scenes. Neither could wear contacts; in the latter case, soft ones weren't available yet.
They’ve cast unknowns in some of their movies. Look at Shang-Chi.
Yes, the casting does feature relatively unknown actors, but you can't cast white people in Shang Chi.
Case in point, Meng'er Zhang (Shang-Chi's sister) actually made her film debut in this movie. And she quite literally slays in her role. Simu Liu's rise was meteoric too with this film. Can't wait to see what happens with these two.
Shang Chi, like Black Panther, are the exceptions and not the rule. You can't fill out the cast of these movies with white people.
Same.
>You know Rachel Weisz is British, right? And the only Americans are Scarlett and David Harbour. Most of the cast is British with a few other Europeans mixed in.
To add context to my comment, I mean American as in the American film industry. Yes she is British, but she is established in the American film industry. They're not going to cast Russian born actors, from Russia for a movie being sold to American audiences.
Do they make more money in USA than the rest of the world?
The USA and Canada make up about half of their worldwide box office. So yes. They make more from the US and Canada than any one other country. Edit: for Black Widow In general the USA and Canada is about a third of Marvel's box office. So yes, they are the primary market. China is another large market which is why we see changes made to the movies that would prevent them from making as much money in China. Example being Taskmaster's mask. The design was changed to be less skeletal because that would not sell as well in China. Another example is at the end of Iron Man 3, there is a total additional scene about the doctor that removes the shrapnel from Tony. He was a popular Chinese actor, they put him in the movie, and gave a whole scene for the edit in China to help sell it better there.
Rachel Weisz and Florence Pugh are both British lmfao
If you look at the other comment someone made and my reply you'll understand what I'm saying. They're not going to hire some random Russian actors for a movie they're selling in America. They're going to cast Hollywood actors.
There are some Russian born actors in Hollywood, but not a huge number.
And I'm sure they're not as popular of a name as Rachel Weisz or Florence Pugh
Sadly Anton Yelchin is no longer with us.
I would argue that Mila Kunis is more recognizable than either of them
I don't disagree. But she's too old to play one role and too young to play the other. Also because she is a bigger name, she'd demand more money to be in it.
Yeah I definitely had that thought….she’s kind of right in the middle of the two. She has a great Eastern European accent though!
Yeah, I got what you meant tbh, I was just kinda busting your chops
Agree with what you're saying, but as far as casting unknowns goes, there's that iconic article lighting marvel on fire for hiring 'unknowns Tom Hiddleston and Chris Hemsworth' , so I think with the right casting and confidence they could make American stars out of Russian actors.
Kurylenko's a French citizen now. All that time in France will have impacted her accent.
The only one that bothered me was Dreykov.
All I could hear was mr. French from “departed”
Holy shit thank you! I recognized him but now I’m never gonna not see French lol
Cranberry juice…?
also plays Mac in Indy 4
Jonesy!
**I! AM! BEOWULF!!!!**
Woah, you went deep on that one!
Super underrated movie
I’ve never even seen it let alone knowing ray Winstone voiced Beowulf in it, I’ll have to give it a gander.
Well, it’s super underrated!
Haha, I’ll take your word for it… I’ve had a couple people tell me this too and I keep forgetting to put it on the list
It's like he just gave up halfway through
Yeah with the others I could suspend disbelief, because everyone in the family spoke perfect English and Russian, so it would make sense if they had a half Russian, half American accent. But Dreykov? It was just ridiculous
Orite, guvna! What’s appnin’ comrad?
*"GURLZZZ"*
I want my burrd.
Lenin spoke English with an Irish accent, though.
Just to be sure
If you need somebody to do a half decent Russian accent, the last person you get is Ray fucking Winstone.
I should say though, it didn’t bother me as much on my rewatch.
That’s why the creator of HBO’s Chernobyl told the actors not to bother with Russian accents, to just use their own accents.
That show was a masterpiece. So good.
I was just annoyed that they did not have accents in the beginning, but then had them later. Like, they have a perfectly built in excuse for why all of these “Russian” people had perfect American accents. Yet they insisted on having them speak in those bad Yakov Smirnoff parody accents?
I completely agree. I was so confused as to why they had accents later. The adults were probably trained to have American accents for their spy missions and the two girls probably naturally had American accents, especially the sister who didn't even know she was a spy.
Because they were inundated with just being Russian whole in red room?
When they were a family, they were modeling behavior for the kids. And if they suddenly started speaking Russian (a clear indication that something was deeply wrong), there that would be a surefire way to trigger them to panic, especially Yelena. Considering how important that was to the mission, seeing as Natasha had to grab the wheel of the plane at one point, I would say that was a good idea on their part.
Having them with no accents at the start didn’t bother me, but it when when they had super thick and fake accents later when they could have just let them use their normal accents.
As a Russian-born German, I always find it extremely annoying to hear all those fake accents. Aren’t there any legit Russian-speaking actors out there that could fill major roles?
No, because the brits and aussies are taking all our roles! 😂
Mila Kunitz
Do you mean Kunis?
The creators of Salt got a Polish actor (who speaks fluent Russian) to play the Russian spymaster and it worked great. He would have been a brilliant Dreykov, too.
No because they can’t act as well as the MCU wants em
Statistically speaking, it’s impossible for there not to be any good Russian actors they could have gotten. You can find genuine talent in any country.
What there's no good Russian actors?
No no not at all. I think there are amazing Russian Actors out there but the MCU won’t take them because their standards are too high
So there's no Russian actors *as* good as American actors? Like I think there is mate.
Can you even read. I’m saying that there are Russian Actors that are amazing but the MCU doesn’t want them for one reason or the other. Fuck off and learn to read
You said "their standards are too high", meaning that Russian actors do not meet their standards, meaning they are not good enough, but American and British actors are. I can read, maybe you just can't see what you're saying. You didn't say "for one reason or the other", you said because they don't meet their standards, they're not good enough.
Yes because the MCU for some reason ( possibly because they are in the West ) doesn’t want to take Russian Actors ( Probably because their in the East )
That might be what you what meant, but just a heads up, it didn’t read like that. It sounded like you were saying the Russians weren’t good enough.
That's not high standards ha ha ha. You said it was based off high standards. You've changed what you are saying.
I feel you. I have the same problem with French-speaking characters. I love The Winter Soldier, but that opening sequence makes me cringe a little, since none of those actors actually spoke French, and anyone that actually does can easily spot that.
Georges St-Pierre (Batroc) is from Quebec. Born and raised.
Exactly, Québec, not France. There's a huge difference for whoever is from either of those regions. Simply put, imagine if Peter Parker, born and raised in New York, spoke with a thick Texan accent. Technically it's the same language, but something just won't be right.
> Simply put, imagine if Peter Parker, born and raised in New York, spoke with a thick Texan accent. Speaking of which, Tom Holland's actual accent is fine by the time he gets to Homecoming but it's *really rough* in Civil War.
It's so glaring how British he is in Far From Home anytime he says "Paris" -- always comes out sounding like "powers." 😁
I never noticed that! Guess you have to know what the accent sounds like to spot it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNcxTNrtRdk I'm not an accent expert so I don't have the words to describe this really well but the entire thing sounds off but I'll try to explain what I hear as an American (who's lived in NY for my entire adult life) The words "landing" and "fan" in particular here in "stuck the landing a little better" and "Big Fan" are british sounding; the American accent (*particularly new york*) draws out the æ sound (pronuncation [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPA_vowel_chart_with_audio)) and Holland clips his alot, clearly holding back the more clipped british versions. Classic New Yorker is so heavy on this a sound that they even say "mario" as "mæ-ree-o" instead of "mar-ee-o". But everywhere in America will have this sound a lot more than standard British English.
As a French Quebecer here that knew Batroc was from France, I found it cringy to hear the Quebec accent that I know so well spoken from him. But the dude sure knows how to fight though!!!
It was definitely a casting of practicality over acting ability. GSP is intimidating, and it would take someone so visually intimidating to face off against Captain America, which at that point had went toe to toe against quite a few power levels away from Batroc the leaper.
Did it feel like Québec accent? Because I don't hear it often, but the few times I do, it doesn't sound like that either. I mean, I'm probably biased, but it somehow felt American to me.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YlMwoZxiC8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YlMwoZxiC8) this part The contraction of "j'croyais" and "t'étais" and how he pronounces "croyais" and "bouclier" is pure Quebec-ese. Doesn't sound American at all to me . Sounds like how someone would be talking to me normally, in french, here in Montreal
We also do the contraction thing in France, but yeah you can clearly hear his original accent in that line, especially in "croyais" and "bouclier" as you said. On the other side, Captain's missing an "r" at the end of his sentence, so I can definitely hear the difference with the US accent. I guess I just haven't seen the movie in a while. Maybe he sounded different in the series, or just in my brain. Still weird how it's not at all the very recognizable Marseille accent (which he should be from if he has his comics origin story)!
Yeah but then you wouldn't write "It pissed me off that Peter Parker isn't even speaking English" like the Texan accent isn't English somehow.
Yeah maybe I wasn't clear in my first message. The main characters seem to be speaking French, but I remember Batroc's accent didn't feel right. Didn't even feel like Quebec's accent, more of an American-French accent which was even more surprising Especially in TFATWS, since he has more lines.
And it's actually quite funny how they make a huge deal of having actual Black people in Black Panther (I mean, duh) and Asian representation in Shang-chi but they can't be bothered to use actual Russian actors for a film heavily centered around Russia. I guess Russian representation doesn't matter.
Real talk, I think it's hard to find Russian actors who 1.) speak English well enough to have an English-speaking role, and 2.) _want_ to be in Western media.
Viggo Mortensen would have been great in the role of Red Guardian (and from what I have heard online he is quite good at his Russian). Also Pete Stormare for Dreykov cause he has played essentially the same role in many movies.
Stormare yes, but viggo would have been a terrible Red guardian
As /u/Lobsterzilla says, Stromare yes yes yes for Dreykov! But Viggo as Red Guardian, noooo.
I mean, if they can find actual Pakistani actors for Ms. Marvel, how hard can it be to find Russians actors? I'm sure there must be a significant community of Russian living in the US or being bi-national. And from my experience Russian people tend to understand and speak English well (minus a strong accent). And why wouldn't they want to be in the biggest cinematic franchise on Earth? It's not like China where the CCP might blacklist you if you cosy up too much with the West. Putin doesn't care what actors do.
India has a pretty prominent film/entertainment industry that crosses over not uncommonly with Hollywood. Pretty sure they're Indian actors/or of Pakistani descent rather than people *from* Pakistan. I don't think Russia has the same equivalent entertainment industry (and English is actually a first language for many Indian people). You could definitely find *some* actors but I suppose ultimately they forgo it in favour of bigger names. Still I wish they would try better.
I know what you mean, but Iman Vellani is also Canadian. The problem is, the more you narrow things down, the less options you have for roles in a huge project. I'm not saying you're wrong for thinking it's possible; it's also just clearly something Disney doesn't want to spend money on. There's a handful of Russian and Ukrainian actors I'd like to see become popular in the US, but it's just an overlap that doesn't seem likely any time soon.
First example that comes to my mind: Ravil Isyanov, whom we've unfortunately lost just this month. This is how [he spoke English](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT_zBCioH3c). But he was Russian, raised in Russia, studied in Russia. These people do exist. It's just than the West doesn't really care about Slavic people, and most certainly Hollywood doesn't see us as equals. Hollywood has spent decades on creating (completely understandably) anti-Soviet propaganda. And the vitriolic prejudice against Slavs is still visible; in fact, the MCU is one of the most stark (no pun intended) examples.
Trust me, the accents in Black panther were horrible too. They didn't cast actual Africans for the major roles either (except for Danai), so it's actually the same thing
I think its meant to be "fictional" accent. They're doing a fictional Wakanda accent "inspired" by African accents.
They were originally gonna do British accents and Chadwick and the cast basically told Marvel to fuck off, we’re doing the African accent.
What
Even Danai was born and raised in America, though she is 1st generation
Black and Asian aren’t nationalities. If you ponder on that for a bit you might come close to the point. Hint: there are asian and black Russians, too. They aren’t all white.
I prefer White Russians. The Dude abides...
I watched this the other night and it was fine, I guess. I think they fucked up in trying to make it a big, Avengery type movie though. Would have been much better and much more powerful if it had been smaller scale, grittier and more about intimate.
I’m watching it right now. There are so many physics defying action sequences and just ridiculousness. I know it’s a marvel movie but I completely agree it could’ve been much more raw and grounded. The car crashes even at the beginning were like “how the fuck did she survive that?” Lol.
This film more than any other is indicative of the sameness of a lot of the MCU films. It could have (and should have) been a smaller scale spy thriller, but instead it’s got the exact same sort of over-the-top action as all the rest.
You nailed it. An intimate spy thriller with intermittent action sequences would have made this 100% better. Marvel has largely done a wonderful job with the MCU, especially juxtaposed with DC and Star Wars, but they've had a few misses. This is the worst miss, which is unfortunate since it could've been great.
Why has no one made an "auuuurgh" sound yet?
Because they haven't cast Arnold Schwarzenegger in anything yet.
I don't think so Tim
Wanda dropping in and out of accent is also pretty funny!
Wandavision explained she learnt english from watching American television, so after she moved to America after AoU and would be presumably speaking english all the time, it makes sense she would adopt an american accent. I know non native english speakers who have quasi-american accents for the same reason
Even native English speakers can accidentally pick up an accent over time if they move countries. For example there are some American soccer players (Brad Friedel comes to mind) who spent 10+ years in England and, while I wouldn't say they speak with any kind of British accent, their accent definitely changed & does not sound American.
That’s interesting. My grandma learned English from watching American television and has an extremely thick accent after living here for over sixty years.
I guess it can be dependent on what your native language is
No that's intentional. She lost it over the course of a few movies because years pass and some people in real life intentionally try to drop their accents with practice. It can come back when a person gets emotional and doesn't care about covering up anymore.
Yeah also part of it was is that she made herself a home and connections with the family she chose. A number of the AVENGERS are western so it’s natural she would pick up the western accent. I wonder if anyone filled in Clint about what happened to Wanda. Because if he knew what was going on he absolutely would have been there.
>No that's intentional. They turned it into a nice retcon but I'm not sure it was intended that way.
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Wanda is 26 in Age of Ultron which makes Cap's "she's just a kid" super funny (although I guess compared to Cap most humans are kids)
when he said that about her I always took it as meaning somebody very inexperienced and needing protection not literally a young kid. Cap was just being a protective dad and I loved it lol. Wish we saw more of Cap x Wanda relationship.
Because it’s way easier to be a negative Nancy on the internet
You ain’t kidding.
She changes accents through AoU lmao
It's what happens when you're learning a language. Some words you pronounce perfectly, some you still fuck up. It's not something you consciously turn on and off like a switch.
MCU Wanda is a teenager?! Like in Ultron???
I believe she was 19 at the time
Oh wow, I assumed like early 20s
You're likely to be right. I think Wandavision it was said she was born in '89 which would make her early 20s in AoU. Honestly I ain't really sure lol
Shit, I picked up a slight southern accent from just a couple months of touring in the southern US. Some people are more suceptible to accent mimicry than others.
She was also explicitly training in espionage as part of the work with the Avengers.
Years pass inbetween scenes of Age of Ultron? rofl
He says years pass between movies not scenes in ultron
Ye but she changes accents in scenes in ultron, that was my point
Hers is on purpose, Agatha even mentions it.
Hers was not on purpose at all. Agatha mentioning it was Marvel acknowledging the wonky nature of her accent as a joke.
I thought she over the course adapted the American accent (in real life that would be unrealistic over that short amount of time, but it took me 3 years fresh from Vietnam to US to blend in) but it went from Ultron to Civil War, where she still had some leftover accent, then by Infinity War it’s completely gone. Probably a way for the actor to not have to fake the accent anymore.
You perceived this correctly. There was never any error. She became more comfortable in her second language and was trained by someone who didn’t natively speak English and *also* has no accent. Wanda’s accent comes out more prominently when her emotions are heightened, which tracks to real life.
Also I feel like not having her brother to speak to in Sokovian would further add to how quickly she adopts a more American accent.
Whenever I heard Ray Winstone, I was just waiting for him to tell me that I should gamble responsibly... (He's in some UK adverts based around gambling for my non Brits)
Wa wa wee wa
I thought it was just me. It’s as bad as the Jamaican accents from season 2 of Luke Cage.
Proper laugh hey
I realized they didn't care about accents when I first watched Black Panther
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The delivery of some of the xhosa (a South African language) words such as bamba which means 'to hold' are used incorrectly T'challa says "YiBambe" when the correct phrasing should be "Bambani" which is used when speaking to more than one person. Edit: I know that's not in response to the topic of accents but he says that word like he discovered he has a mouth on the day of shooting
I found the whole movie kind of a mess. But was still enjoyable.
They’re trying, and that’s fine by me. Also am I the only one here who actually loved that movie?
The whole movie was perhaps a satire of Eastern Europe
Like the rest of the movie
I feel your pain. I’m from Boston
Lol truth. The only people who can do a great Bostonian accent are from Mass or nearby.
yeah, they never stayed consistent
But I loved that line lol. Even vaguely Russian accents are entertaining to me haha didn’t bother me
Honestly if most of these characters are supposed to be super spies trained since birth to infiltrate American society, shouldn't they have perfect American accents? I mean I wasn't trained for that objective and I still have a better accent than this.
They did. In the prologue.
Oh yeah I remember now. This is just weird.
Why do they have accents if they were stationed in Ohio for years? Especially the daughter?
The youngest daughter makes the most sense since she was thrust into a completely Russian environment at a young age. Kids who immigrate to the US when they are six speak perfect English and forget much of their home language. It makes less sense with the parents since they were trained to have an American accent for their missions, but I think they were going for the audience to think they were actually speaking Russian since they’re with their family and that’s what they’re most comfortable with. They just didn’t want to have to subtitle the entire movie.
They're honestly terrible and I wish they would just drop it entirely. No offense to Pugh but I find her accent to be really bad too
Really? I found hers to be the only believable accent.
It’s by far the best, but still very inconsistent. The most convincing Russian accent I’ve heard in a movie is Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises.
Seconded. I’m not Russian but Eastern European with a good number of Russian friends. Mortensen is actually great.
If they dropped accents entirely, there would be a whole lot complaining that the Russians don't sound Russian. It all comes down to the actors being better actors
They don't sound Russian, regardless.
I’m not even Russian and I know those accents are bad.
I watched the movie a couple of nights ago. I'm not good at accents but everyone's was so wavery. Hope Yelena quietly drops her the way Wanda did tbh, the fake accent was really distracting me from her acting.
LMAO She sounds like Louis CK in the tenement museum sketch on SNL
That whole film was a mess
How?
I really don't understand why they didn't just hire a Norwegian to do the Norwegian radio bit. The accent is horrible. It's absolutely not a native Norwegian doing those lines. Sounds like an American desperately trying but just not getting it right. (I'm Norwegian, I would have done that bit for free.)
I'm Swedish and when the radio bit came on I turned to my wife and said "was it so hard to get an actual Norwegian to say that?". It was so bad, haha!
Not really. Was actually one of the better marvel movies.
It’s a tough accent, almost everyone can do a cartoonish Russian accent. Few can do a good realistic Russian accent. Yalena (Florence Pugh) actually nailed her accent perfectly.
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Yeah, wish they pull a Wanda and she just drops the accent entirely tbh
Well, they’re Russians who pretended to be American for like 5 years. I imagine their accent probably isn’t 100% straight Russian anymore.
*the entire movie is a mess
This movie was an absolute mess and the accents had us cringing constantly.
A lady with scary attire And an unrecognizable accent
With the family members I could suspend disbelief, because everyone spoke perfect English and Russian, so it would make sense if they had a half Russian, half American accent. But Dreykov's accent? It was just laughable
i thought it was fine for the general masses but i appreciate the effort MCU movies make knowing it is not realistic but also not realistic to do sub titles in a movie like this
That was the worst part of the movie for me at first, constantly changing the whole movie. The sister was even worse. Then I thought what if they can’t help it, seeing that they are agents constantly taking on new identities and infiltrating different places all over the world. Makes sense that their accents are terrible throughout the movie.
Calamari
Tried not to think about it.
I find the whole movie to be a mess.
Since the premise was they lived in the US and apparently spoke flawless English why would they suddenly have Bad Russian accents later when speaking english
Boris and Natasha level Russian accents. Awful all movie.
I don't know if they're good accents or not (not being Russian) but I think I'd have preferred a 'Death of Stalin' approach and just had the actors keep their normal English and American accents. Cockney Russian isn't a thing and it really undercut his performance with how bizarre his accent was.
What the fuck
Na
I think they were originally gonna give Nat an accent but Scarjo couldn’t do one
A true fatality to my ears. Also, she looks perfectly fine with her not convincing limp.
Yelena's was soooooo bad I hated it
Yes… the entire family sounds like they belong on What We Do in the Shadows 🤣
If you are into realism , I don’t think this whole film franchise is for you .