Have you ever been happily watching a film or television show only to find yourself suddenly focusing on something strange about one of the actors’ accents? Unfortunately, almost all of us have. Just for a moment, I invite you to revisit that little slice of time. What was it like? How did you feel as an audience member? Did you feel a little irritated? Did you mentally disengage from the character on the screen? Were you drawn out of the storyline? Did you get so distracted by the accent that you ended up missing what the characters said next? How did the experience make you feel about the performance and about the actor in particular?
What about when an accent is skillfully woven into an actor’s performance? What happens then? For most of us, the result is that we, as audience members, remain connected to the story, and within this connection we have potential to be moved by the actor’s performance and by the film as a whole. With the exception of a handful of actors who have been publicly lauded for their ability to successfully incorporate accents into their performances time and again—such as Meryl Streep and Christian Bale—we hardly notice an actor’s accent work when it’s performed
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