Vimes in movie

[raisindot]

[quote="Dotsie"I never hear anyone complaining about Andrew Lincoln or Hugh Laurie, is the American accent easier to do? [/quote]

There really isn't one "American" accent either. Accents can vary widely within a 200 mile range (just ask anyone who's ever traveling from Brooklyn to Boston). Even the southern accent has many variations, even though they're not as easy to pick up.

What most English people might call the "American accent" is the very neutral midwest accent, which doesn't have huge vowel inflections. Think of Johnny Carson or George Clooney and you pretty much have it.

Hugh Laurie's American accent (and most British actors playing Americans) aspire to this midwest accent. Domenic West's Baltimore accent on The Wire was amazing, as was Idris Elba's African American accent on the same show.

Some actors can't do it all. Bob Hoskins in Who Framed Roger Rabbit couldn't do it. I doubt that Michael Caine could do an American accent even if a gun was held to his head.

The only American actor besides Paltrow (who I believe spent a great deal of her life in Britain) who I've seen doing a great British accent is Peter Dinklage on Game of Thrones. I had absolutely no idea he wasn't British until I saw his Emmy acceptance speech.

 

[DreadfulKata]

While I adore Peter Dinklage's performance, his accent on Game Of Thrones is NOT convincingly English! I don't mind it because his accent is at least consistent (he's not American one minute and English the next, all his lines are spoken in the same accent).

We're not talking Dick Van Dyke or that-bit-in-Firefly-whenSummer-Glau-does-a-'cockney'-accent-levels-of-bad, but it's certainly not the RP he was going for.


RE. Vimes: personally, I've always imagined him with a slightly Northern accent - slightly Mancunian or Leeds-ian (perhaps just because of his bluff working class-ness). Not very pronounced, just a slight Northerness around the vowels

 

[Dotsie]

Northerners = working class? :think: I take it your not from the north yourself? Not really offended, but I wouldn't mind knowing how southerners earn a living.

 

[DreadfulKata]

No, my family is (they're Northumbrians) but I was born and bred in Brighton and it doesn't get much more southern than that!). Naturally I don't think Northerners have any less range of class than Southeners, or that a non-RP accent indicates any particular class.

What I meant (and should have said better) is that I associate Vimes' tough, working class persona with a particular kind of tough, working class, northern persona: that 'in my day we washed the steps with our tongues and were grateful for the meal' stereotype.'. Whether northern or southern sounding I definitely imagine Vimes sounding working class.

Certainly didn't mean to imply that Northern/working class were interchangable ideas!

 

[Sister Jennifer]

The Londoner Andrew Lincoln who plays the sheriff in the Walking Dead.

And the Governor in S3 is an Englishman.

I heard Eric Bana say that his Australian accent got slated in his own country, by a reviewer who thought he was American

That's pretty funny.
I wonder when he started sounding American? Some early Eric Bana

Beside the more well known ie, London cockney, or west country Hobbits, I wouldn't know what part of England someone was from by their dialect or accent. I will say one thing, I don't care where the actor is from but DW characters have got to sound UKian.

 

[Dotsie]

In the LOTR trilogy, the hobbits all had very different accents. One of them was scottish! How he got that accent living alongside Samwise I will never know. But it didn't really bother me cos I don't know what hobbits are supposed to sound like anyway.

 

[Who's Wee Dug]

Because Samwise was the incommer.

 

[high eight]

In the LOTR trilogy, the hobbits all had very different accents. One of them was scottish! How he got that accent living alongside Samwise I will never know. But it didn't really bother me cos I don't know what hobbits are supposed to sound like anyway.

Probably west country shading into brummie, as Tolkien's inspiration for The Shire was somewhere around Gloucestershire and/or Warwickshire.

 

[simmonds91]

I see vimes as.... a scruffy dog? He's not only cynical but his personality is rough, with a worn out body. I see pictures of actors that may suit the role of vimes, i think they could work (even gave a suggestion here myself) but all in all until i see them in action, in make up and costume etc. i think they all look too... smooth if you get my meaning. vimes lives in an old grimy city so he too is grimy. i think thats why its so hard to decide, because the actors we see today dont look as though they've worked non stop for 48 hours without a wash or shave. thats how i see it at least (and how i portray vimes).

 

[Tonyblack]

Simmonds, Kemar (Marc Simonetti) is the artist that does the covers for the French versions of the books. There is a whole thread about his covers HERE. This includes links to his website and videos of him creating the artwork. He also did the cover (UK) for Turtle Recall, the new version of the Discworld Companion as well as the latest calendar. You can get an idea of the calendar HERE.

 

[Tonyblack]

Forgot to add - Marc also did the 2013 Calendar.