MovieChat Forums > Mansfield Park (1999) Discussion > i have been deceived

i have been deceived

posted 20 years ago by acorngreenleaf
9 replies | jump to latest

Not anything major, but like was anyone in the cast of this movie actually English?!! First let me say I about passed out when I saw Embeth Davidtz was born in like Indiana or something. She was so good in Bridget Jones and so bitchy. Alessandro Nivola, ok, with a name that exotic how can you be from Boston?!!?! Frances O'Connor is technically English, although she was raised in the land down under....but what do you people think about actors like Renée Zellweger or Gwyneth Paltrow and others who affect an accent, I think it's weird in some existential way. Remember Cary Grant in I was a male war-bride? He played a Frenchman, and used his normal voice!!! Maybe I'm crazy, well I know I'm crazy, but what do normal people think about it....?

[–] Josephine7 20 years ago

*lol* I don't mind at all, as long as they pull off being British which all of the actors that you listed there seem to have done.

In Moulin Rouge, it takes place in France but they used Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor with their regular accents. I didn't have a problem with it.

[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] fiveoaks 18 years ago

It all started when they cast Vivian Leigh, a Brit, as Scarlett O'Hara, the Southern Bell of Gone With the Wind. At that point, all bets are off!

[–] CGDaughter 18 years ago

James Purefoy (Edmund's older brother) was born in England.

[–] spyridonroditakis 17 years ago

The director, patricia rozema, doesn't like jane austen's work; even a child could see that. The question is w h y she m a d e this film.
Money, money, money..

[–] little_miss_jade_1 17 years ago

i see things in the complete oposite to spyridonroditakis, i think Rozema has a great love for austens work. the whole movie is packed with austen wit and charm - instead of making a movie about "mansfield park" she made a homage to the great writer herself. i see the character fanny price as austen herself - she doesn't end up a writer for no reason. many of the lines from the movie are from austens letters and other works - rozema shows off austens brilliance through fanny.

just my two cents

[–] missdiane 17 years ago

The amusing thing about your mini-frustration rant there is that for the longest time I thought Jonny Lee Miller was American as I'd only seen him previously in Hackers.

[–] phantom_phan-1 17 years ago

I was shocked to find out that Jennifer Ehle, who played Lizzy Bennet in the BBC miniseries of Pride and Prejudice, was actually American! She does such a good English accent, it's unbelievable! Same with Renée Zellwegger, though I knew she was American before I saw the film. What amuses me, though, is when an American actor tried to pull of an English accent and fails miserably; for example, Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins and Johnny Depp in From Hell. I mean, I'm English and of course I don't notice that I have an accent (born and bred in South East London), but it's noticeable that those two couldn't quite manage an East End cockney accent very well!

[–] fiveoaks 17 years ago

The king of accents is Hugh Jackman, the Aussie who managed to pull off an authentic Mid-western American Cowboy accent while performing on-stage in London. I would love to see Hugh in an Austen role!