Hollywood actors are frequently required to change their accents on screen, and sometimes they do such a terrible job that we are compelled to remember it years afterwards.
American actors frequently get a bad rap for appearing in British films with some of the most bizarre accents ever heard on God’s green earth.
With so many accents across the UK, it can be a real challenge to pick up some of the more niche dialects, but it’s not just the American actors that struggle.
Unfortunately, so many of the best Hollywood actors have had some performances where they have spoken with an accent that can only be described as diabolical – and in some cases, almost offensive.
From Dick Van Dyke’s cockney accent in 1964’s Mary Poppins to Anne Hathaway’s Yorkshire accent in the 2011 film One Day, there are so many talented stars who have flubbed accents in great films.
Here are some of the best worst accents that have ever graced the silver screen…
Dick Van Dyke – Mary Poppins
Famously – or maybe infamously – Dick Van Dyke’s cockney accent in the 1964’s Mary Poppins was something that upset the people of Britain.
The actor has previously revealed that at the time of filming, he was unaware how terrible his accent really was.
‘People in the UK love to rib me about my accent, I will never live it down,’ he once said. ‘They ask what part of England I was meant to be from, and I say it was a little shire in the north where most of the people were from Ohio.’
‘I was working with an entire English cast and nobody said a word, not Julie [Andrews], not anybody said I needed to work on it so I thought I was alright.’
In 2017, the actor was chosen by Bafta to receive the Britannia Award for excellence in television. He took the opportunity to apologise to the people of the UK for his awful English accent.
‘I appreciate this opportunity to apologise to the members of Bafta for inflicting on them the most atrocious cockney accent in the history of cinema.’
Keanu Reeves -Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Despite giving a fabulous performance as Jonathan Harker in the 1992 film, Keanu Reeves’ diabolical English accent remains the thing that fans remember most about this gothic horror film.
The director, Francis Ford Coppola, reflected that he thinks the accent went so awry because the actor was trying so hard.
‘We knew that it was tough for him to affect an English accent,’ Coppola told Entertainment Weekly. ‘He tried so hard. That was the problem, actually – he wanted to do it perfectly, and in trying to do it perfectly, it came off as stilted.
‘I tried to get him to just relax with it and not do it so fastidiously. So maybe I wasn’t as critical of him, but that’s because I like him personally so much. To this day, he’s a prince in my eyes.’
Anne Hathaway – One Day
While playing Emma Morley in the 2011 film One Day opposite Jim Sturgess, the American actress gave a good go at a Yorkshire accent.
The film was still applauded, but her accent was not, with the accent claiming she watched a certain soap to help her tap into the dialect.
‘It was really hard,’ she admitted to the BBC. ‘I worked with a dialect coach and in the evenings I watched Emmerdale a lot.’
‘It was certainly helpful with the accent, that’s for sure.’
Anne later gave a much better RP English accent while in The Hustle with Rebel Wilson.
‘I found out I had to do it a week before we started shooting. I thought if I didn’t do it, it wouldn’t make a difference, but the director insisted,’ she told The Graham Norton Show while promoting the 2018 comedy film.
She then alluded to One Day: ‘I’ve done it before and it hasn’t always gone well, and it is so stressful to see someone struggle through an accent, so I got a dialect coach and made the best of it.’
Mischa Barton – St Trinian’s
The OC star Mischa Barton received a lot of flak for her posh English accent as she appeared as JJ French in St Trinian’s.
The actress has a strong American accent that found it’s way into her dialect as she played the’former Head Girl of St Trinian’s turned PR guru’.
Making matters worse for the actress, there was no reason for her to not have a perfect English accent, considering she was born (and raised until the age of six) in Hammersmith, London.
She also has an English father and Irish mother, suggesting she spent a fair bit of her upbringing around Brits.
Gerard Butler – P.S. I Love You
The Irish accent from the Scottish actor in P.S I Love You is one that baffled various Irish people who watched the 2007 romantic comedy.
The actor, who has been praised for many of his projects over the years, was mercilessly slammed by critics because of his dodgy accent, leading him to swear off ever speaking with the accent again.
Speaking to The Sun in 2016, Gerard joked: ‘After all those wonderful reviews and glorious feedback.’
He then indicated that he will never try an Irish accent again, saying: ‘I’ve ticked that box.’
In an interview with Irish host Paul Byrne of Movies Ireland, he apologised to all of Ireland for his accent.
‘I was hoping maybe they’d be quite forgiving of me, being a little Scottish boy whose whole family is Irish – ’cause they really are – my family is from all over Ireland.
‘I thought I’d just go in there and try my best, I notice that people when they bring it up – I get the feeling it wasn’t that great,’ he then added: ‘I’d like to apologise to the nation of Ireland for completely abusing your accent, I realise it’s a lot more beautiful accent than what I did.’
Leonardo DiCaprio – Blood Diamond
The American actor was apparently aiming for a Rhodesian (Zimbabwean) accent with a touch of South African when he appeared in Blood Diamond – but sadly missed the mark for a lot of fans.
In 2023, on an episode of The Daily Show, Trevor Noah slammed Leo’s African accent, saying that he sounded like a ‘drunk Australian’.
The actor himself, didn’t seem to think he did such a bad job.
‘I’m pretty good at imitating people. I interviewed a number of different people in South Africa and honed in on the one guy I wanted to sound like. Then it was a process where [dialect coach] Tim Monich and I recorded him and tortured him (laughs) by making him say sentences in varying ways and different energies and different tempos.
‘Those recordings became a kind of mantra I’d listen to over and over again,’ the actor told Time in 2006.
Brad Pitt – Meet Joe Black
Brad Pitt telling an old Jamaican woman ‘Everything gonna be irie’ in a Patois accent in Meet Joe Black was divisive to say the least, with some saying he nailed the tourist-y expectation, and others saying he missed the real thing by a long shot.
This accent had to be included as it’s just so unexpected in the film, and a highlight for anyone who sees the film, which earned Pitt a Razzie nomination for worst actor.
The actor later said of the film to Entertainment Weekly: ‘That was the pinnacle of my loss of direction and compass.’
Don Cheadle – Ocean’s 11
The American actor Don Cheadle played munitions expert Basher Tarr in the Ocean’s 11 franchise that was incredibly questionable.
Speaking about the accent to The Guardian, the star said that the director Steven Soderbergh told him he didn’t have to do the accent, but he insisted.
‘Steven said: “You don’t have to do it.” I said, “Well, that’s how you wrote him. I’ll try it.”‘
He joked that he could now claim that his character was simply undercover and doing a fake accent.
‘Now I can say “he was an American doing a British accent – you guys missed that?”‘
Russell Crowe – Robin Hood
Russell Crowe played Robin Hood in 2010 and was critiqued for his attempt at a Nottingham accent.
The Australian actor addressed his accent in 2018 when he replied to a tweet that read: ‘Of all the great showbiz mysteries that remain unsolved …. possibly the greatest ….what the f**k is Russell Crowe’s accent in Robin Hood ?’
The actor replied: ‘A child born in Barnsley, on his father’s death, taken to France at age 6, travels across Europe to the Middle East on foot, fights in the Third Crusade for Richard I.
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‘Alongside men from all parts of Britain, Ireland and France & finally returns to England a man in his 40s.’
He also joked that Michael Parkinson inspired the accent: ‘Michael was the principal influence. At the time, he was the only person I knew from Barnsley and he certainly had travelled.
‘He kindly let me spend some hours in his company and record his voice.’
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