"Putting on a good Irish accent is an art. In the same way that pouring Guinness is an art, actually. And as with all artistic feats, people think, Well, anyone could do that! before swiftly finding out that anyone could not, in fact, do that. An accurate Irish accent, for a non-Irish actor, takes dedication, research, talent. And as is the case with all art, failure invites utter brutality from the critics."
"In the canon of Irish TV and film, there are sadly more misses than hits when it comes to nailing the gift from God that is a true Irish accent. Bad accents become famous for being bad, remembered for reducing all Irish speech to a monolith. Brad Pitt as an IRA gunman in The Devil's Own, for instance, was so bad that the year after it came out, the Troubles finally ended. Then there's Gerard Butler's bizarre broguish twang in PS I Love You."
"Sometimes a bad accent is the result of a megastar being shoehorned in to an independent Irish production, in a vain attempt to boost cultural relevancy (see Julia Roberts in Michael Collins, the true tragedy of the movie). Even being Irish yourself doesn't excuse poor Irish accent acting. Jamie Dornan, for instance, is from Belfast, but that didn't save him from slipping into leprechaun-speak in the dire Wild Mountain Thyme."
Accurate Irish accents demand dedication, research and talent, and failures invite harsh criticism. Film and television contain many more accent misses than successes, with bad accents reducing Irish speech to a monolith. Notorious examples include Brad Pitt in The Devil's Own, Gerard Butler in PS I Love You, and Cameron Diaz and Leonardo DiCaprio in Gangs of New York. Some modern performances succeed, such as Maxine Peake nailing a west Belfast accent, while others go viral for comedic failure, like Helen Mirren in Mobland. Casting megastars into Irish productions and inadequate dialect research contribute to poor accent portrayals.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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