MovieChat Forums > Backbeat (1994) Discussion > Stuart Sutcliffe's accent

Stuart Sutcliffe's accent


When I see this film I laugh, because Stephen Dorff totally nailed the Liverpool accent for Sutcliffe, but Stuart Sutcliffe was Scottish. Heh heh.

I watched with glee while your kings and queens fought for ten decades for the God they made.

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Well, I don't know what sort of accent he spoke with, but since Pete Best was born in India, that doesn't mean he spoke with an Indian accent!

I was informed that Stu moved to Liverpool right after WWII, that would mean he grew up in Liverpool and most likely that's the accent he had.

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Yea, I think they would've researched that one. He grew up in pool. Looks like the jokes on you.

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In any case his accent was gratingly false. Didn't spoil the movie for me, the owner of an authentic Liverpool accent because his performance was otherwise excellent.

Very few non-scouse English actors can do a convincing scouse accent. It's a huge ask for an American.

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It is a tough accent to do, but I think the subject matter is so interesting and the other characters so well played (especially Paul, John and George) that the shortcomings of Dorff's accent are quickly overlooked.
Has anyone ever played Lennon so well? (twice)

Could I have been..anyone other than me? http://www.antsmarching.org

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Nah. You're just prejudiced because you think your accent is special. I'm certain there are several Liverpudlians whose accent is just like that of Dorff's in the movie, or even more Americanized. People don't all talk the same.

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Dorff must've done a pretty good job as terrible accents in films annoy me and he didn't. For an American to pull of an acceptable Liverpudlian accent he must've practised alot.

He was a damn sight better than Josh Hartnett in Blow Dry. I couldn't tell whether he was from Yorkshire or Jamaica when he said more than 3 words at a time.

You are giving me a stomach-ache in my brain!

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John Lennon himself didn't really have a Scouse accent during the Beatles fame. It was exaggerated for AHDN and some interviews. But he was trained at a young age to speak the Queen's English and usually did so unless he was around certain friends...and to some Americans, the accents all sound virtually the same anyway, so people from the US didn't notice much difference.

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Dorff said in an interview that he worked with a dialect coach for a few months and got the accent down very well, but when they ran some dailies for a US test audience they asked him and the rest of the cast to soften the accent to make the film more widely acceptable to US and foreign audiences.

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Exactly Alfa! "Nailed the accent"?? What are you on? You can't be English to think that. Pronouncing his T's?? No, I dunno where the actor comes from but I would doubt he is British, definitely not northern English.

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Well, on "Yellow Submarine" the accent wasn't rightt either

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the Beatles didn't do the voices for the cartoon characters in Yellow Submarine.

www.theparentingsanctuary.net friendly forums all welcome.

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Mike Myers can do a spot on scouse accent

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Mike Myers originates from that general area.

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Mike Myers is Canadian. His parents came from Liverpool

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You're right, their voices were dubbed by other actors. That was because the producers believed that Americans wouldn't be able to understand their Liverpool accents. I find that very interesting, considering that I've never had trouble understanding anybody who comes from that area.

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Ur a cock ;)

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Dorff does a tricky accent for any non-Scouser to do. It IS a big ask for an American and he should've been much more applauded as he does a very decent job, and I should friggin' know La' coz me family are all Scousers, I'm a Londoner whose whole background is Liverpool.
Dorff for a pretty-boy Hollywood B-lister does good in this film and the chemistry between him and Ian Hart is very good.
Most Americans mangle ANY English/Irish/Scottish accent. There are- shock!horror!- even British actors who have done bad Scouse accents like David Jason in The Bullion Boys.
As for Mike Myers yeah he does a great scouser but like me his mam and dad are scouse.
Tell you who's good as well..Kim Cattrall. She was on the Paul O'Grady Show a while ago and she done it great.

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Kim Cattrall grew up in Toxteth.

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I know she did.

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For three months until her family took her to Canada.

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Kim Cattrall wasn't even one when she left England, she did NOT grow up in toxteth and her scouse accent on Norton was bloody cringe worthy.

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Well, that's bloody it!! I'm putting this on Netflix by bloody 'ell and 'ave me a grand time watching all these blokes put on their fake accents

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He lifts me clear to the sky, you know he taught me to fly.

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Stuart Sutcliffe was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and raised in Liverpool.

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I read your post and I laugh. He WAS born in Scotland, but he was raised, from before he could speak, in Liverpool.

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