MovieChat Forums > Jekyll (2007) Discussion > Paterson Joseph's accent.

Paterson Joseph's accent.

posted 12 years ago by Mudflap
8 replies | jump to latest

He's defitnely a good actor, but his attempt at an American accent in Jekyll was pretty awful. I'm not sure who he was patterning himself after, but I've never heard an American speak in such away. Some of it sounded like he was trying to be from the deep South in the 1940's and some of it sounded like he was from the modern era centeral Eastern seaboard. Whatever it was, it wasn't good.

If he was an American trying to play a Brit; it would be like an actor delivering 1/2 his lines in a Yorkshire accent, and the other 1/2 of his lines in a South London accent and just figuring he was using a "British accent" the whole time. Either way it sounds fake and just doesn't make sense.

[–] There_Is_No_Sayid 12 years ago

It's pretty atrocious. As you said, he seems to bounce around from trying to do a standard American accent to trying to do some kind of Southern accent.

"Unless Alpert's covered in bacon grease, I don't think Hugo can track anything."

[–] patty1 12 years ago

The accent was only part of the problem (albeit a large part). The whole character was buffoonish when he should have been frightening. I've seen Joseph in other shows, so I know he's a good actor. I don't know whether it was Mackinnon or Moffat or both who let him portray Benjamin so unrealistically. I haven't seen him play an American before, so I don't know whether he's done that better on other occasions.

[–] rh1ann 12 years ago

Trust me - this was far from the worst I've heard. Just listen to the CIA chick in MI-5 ... I think my ears started bleeding after 15 min. Part Texas, part Boston, part Georgia - and when she forgot she was playing a yank - out came the Irish.

[–] Jonnybjoel 12 years ago

American here from the South-
I love Jekyll, and Benjamin is my favorite non lead character. His accent never took me out of the series in any way. Was it the traditional expectation of a southern accent? No. Was it perfectly realistic for a worldly man that happened to be born in the South? Absolutely. He had a unique tone, as any well-traveled man should, but the important accents were all there, to the point that I never even noticed an issue.

Also- "He just sent a note with a dead lion, how much more *beep* serious can you get?" may be the greatest line ever uttered on film.

[–] Andy M. 11 years ago

I'm an American and, I'm sorry, but his accent TOTALLY took me out of the show. It was one of the worst "Brit doing an American accent"s I've ever heard.

Mind you, he was up against some stiff competition, though. The woman playing the "big bad" (Ms. Utterson?) was using an American accent that was about as bad and maybe even worse.

Both were completely awful. Collectively the two worst things in a show that was otherwise almost perfect.

[–] DCompton86 10 years ago

I agree - his accent really was all over the place. I was glad when he died since everytime he was on screen it distracted me. I think the writers and director really should have paid more attention to this. Otherwise the show was really good.

"It's better to be hated for who you are than be loved for who you aren't."

[–] ahrawrah 10 years ago

Was his accent that bad? When I was watching the show, I got the impression his character was a Brit pretending to be an American and wanted to sound like Samuel L. Jackson. It was so exaggerated and over-the-top, which fit into his character trying to sound cool and authoritative without caring much about whether or not people took him seriously. His character here was like a deranged version of his character from Peep Show.

[–] morn1960 9 years ago

It's still better than 99.9999% of the fake southern usa accents hollywood uses, which is stupid considering how many southern born actors and actresses there are