MovieChat Forums > Lorenzo's Oil (1993) Discussion > Nick Nolte SO irritating in this!

Nick Nolte SO irritating in this!

posted 16 years ago by gogolit
26 replies | jump to latest

His overdone italianess was simply a cheap caricature. Every scene from him (there was alot of them) he gave the SAME body posture (sticking his neck forward, looking up to you), and he delivered his lines in the exact same way. No matter what he was saying he always spoke in this annoying whisper for the whole film.

If theyd of got a real actor for this role it couldve been a very very likable character who you could admire even more. Yet somehow he makes a person who we should be in awe of for his goodness, and just makes us find him annoying after a while.

[–] orgastic-naddy 16 years ago

Seems like you just don't like Nick Nolte at all and not just his acting in this movie...

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] Molly-31 16 years ago

I had a teacher in college who was a Florentine. He acted and sounded EXACTLY like this. Same accent and everything. The only way to judge is to find a film (interview or something) of the real Mr. Odone and see how close Nolte got it.

[–] Florida2 15 years ago

I had a similar experience when talking with the head of a department at the local children's hospital - his accent is EXACTLY like Nick Nolte's in the film, except, the doctor I know is from another part of Europe...

Even his mannerisms are similar (minus the smoking), however, since he's a physician, his attitude (and I say attitude in a respectful way), is similar to Dr. Nikolias (for example, the doctor I know, like Gus Nikolais, will not argue a point to the point of shouting, like Augusto did several times, but, like Gus Nikolais, will hang up the phone before the argument gets ugly - a good policy), so, a combo in the case of the doctor I know for many years...

Interesting...

[–] Molly-31 15 years ago

I found an article that said Nolte actually followed Mr. Odone around for close to a year observing minutiae of his physical and vocal behavior. (That business of removing his glasses and hanging them off one ear, for instance.) Mr. Odone said Nolte's attempt at the accent sounded like a Little Italy ice-cream vendor. But this might be true even if Nolte got it perfectly -- many people simply can't hear themselves. At this point I'd want to see an interview with Mr. Odone so I could hear for myself. Another article says Mr. Odone wanted Marcello Mastroianni to play him, but they couldn't get him.

[–] Clue55 15 years ago

I don't think his accent was bad but when I first watched the movie I thought he was suppose to be German and then my dad was like "He's Italian right?"

I just thought he sounded more German than Italian to me.

[–] fcalderp 15 years ago

I agree with you 100%. For me, Nolte sounded like one of those German scientist or grandpas in American films from the 40's. He did not sound Italian at all.

But he was better than Alec Guinnes doing his Japanese accent in A Majority of One, or Marlon Brando's Brittish accent in Mutiny On the Bounty.

The best fake Italian accent in the movies is George Hamilton in Light in the Piazza. When Hamilton appeared on What's My Line (some 50 years ago), he answered every question with a different accent.

That's that.

[–] preppy-3 15 years ago

Aside from sounding more German than Italian I couldn't figure out half his dialogue! I wish Lorenzo's mother hadn't insisted that the actor playing her husband had to have the Italian accent like him or fake it. When i first heard Nolte speak I thought it was a joke! I don't fault Nolte--imitating a foreign accent can't be easy. I thought he was as good as it was possible.

[–] RIP_IMDb 8 years ago

No, Russian not German. He doesn't sound German at all.

I'll let you know when I come-up with a new signature, .

[–] bron-tay 11 years ago

I saw the real Augusto Odone being interviewed and he looked and sounded exactly like Nolte. He was asked what he thought of Nolte's performance and he laughed and said "That guy does a better Italian accent than I do!"

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Please put some dashes above your sig line so I won't think it's part of your dumb post.

[–] laikinasemail 14 years ago

ironically, I found only Sarandon irritating here. She gave her worst perfomance. Nick Nolte was aamzing.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] Shiny-NZ 13 years ago

I COMPLETELY disagree with the ripping of Nick Nolte's performance. He reminds me of my father, who is from Catania in Sicily.

I'm going to assume you're just trolling with the comments about Susan Sarandan (and the character she plays). So actually, I don't know why I even bothered replying to this. My bad.

[–] don-lockwood 12 years ago

I came here looking for a thread on this. I agree with the OP. I love me some Susan Sarandon, and as always, she is fantastic - naturalistic, subtle, resonant. But Nick Nolte's accent is so distracting and unintelligible that it took me a while to get into the film.

Add to that a directing style I initially found to be overly melodramatic for the subject matter, hitting you over the head with Nolte's grief. Things got better once the parents became proactive in finding their own effective treatment for Lorenzo. Then Miller let the dialogue take command.

I'll readily admit that I don't like Nolte much, but he was very strong and well-cast in The Prince of Tides. Here, he just seems miscast. He looks like what he is - a Southern white man. It took me a half-hour before I knew for sure that his accent was Italian rather than Russian (ignoring the name Lorenzo)! You can hear his real Southern accent pop out at times. I just wanted Susan Sarandon to be a single mom!

[–] coorsbeer 11 years ago

Nick Nolte is from Nebraska which is the South, I guess, if you live in Canada.

[–] RIP_IMDb 8 years ago

Yes, Russian not German.

I'll let you know when I come-up with a new signature, .

[–] sstavsky 8 years ago

I actually really liked Nolte's performance. The accent was apparently based on the character he was portraying.

[–] RIP_IMDb 8 years ago

I loved this film and Nick Nolte in it. But to me his Italian accent didn't sound German...it sounded Russian.

I'll let you know when I come-up with a new signature, .

[–] jemimallah 7 years ago

HEY SALVATORE, GUESS WHO'S HERE? MR KOOKALAMANZA, WITH SOME REAL UGLY KID