Tuesday, January 22, 2008

I just watched Atonement. Oy vey, I am still weepy about it. Go see it, it is really well-done, but be warned it is very very sad. Pushed all my buttons -- class and injustice, war and the tragedy of wasting human life, true love that cannot be consummated...

And of course, a devastatingly handsome (and apparently super down to earth in real life) lead -- James McAvoy. Hot damn:














BTW, this guy's fully Glaswegian and you would never know it from his accents in his film roles. Almost always upper crust British, and more recently, American. Funny too that he's said that in real life English people couldn't understand him sometimes and Americans just couldnae get it at all, so since he's got such a hand at accents, he's toned his brogue down. Tragedy, because that delicious Scottish accent is something else!

Check it while he and fellow Glaswegian Craig Ferguson almost require subtitles for us Yanks.



Too bad the rumors about McAvoy playing Kurt Cobain are apparently false. Though I think I can live without him playing Scotty.

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7 Comments:

Blogger Mark Kardwell said...

Scotty is such a racial stereotype that he should always be played by a non-Scotsman, such as an Irish-Canadian, or an Englishman.

And McAvoy was great in the first season of the UK TV show SHAMELESS, see if you can find it anywhere, especially if you're a fan of regional British accents.

January 23, 2008 at 5:34:00 AM PST  
Blogger Mark Kardwell said...

He does a perfectly-pitched middle class-Northern accent in SHAMELESS, where the rest of the cast originally presume he's a rich kid slumming it, before the truth is gradually divulged.

It's great: written by Paul "STATE OF PLAY" Abbott.

January 23, 2008 at 12:11:00 PM PST  
Blogger Ammie said...

I like how you deftly and completely avoid any references to my brogue-lust. Good man.

As always, thanks for the recommendation.

I often wonder when friends and I just play around with English, Scottish, or Irish accents, if we ever sound like any particular region, or just poorly done American fakes. Probably the latter, but I wonder what regional accent it is we are attempting to imitate.

I love to hear it when foreign friends imitate the American accent, but we don't have a helluva lot of distinct variation, save the South. Loud and flat seems to work just fine.

January 24, 2008 at 12:19:00 PM PST  
Blogger Mark Kardwell said...

I remember when I was studying a couple of Arthur Miller plays at school, when I was 17, 18. We'd have to read through them in class, and one of my friends used to read 'em in the only American accent he could do, which was a mock-southern, "I do decl-ah", kind of effort.

So we started calling him "Blanche".

Kids can be so cruel.

January 24, 2008 at 12:52:00 PM PST  
Blogger Ammie said...

Not "Scarlett?" So highbrow.

My husband's boss (from Glasgow) just told me that "Cleeeeg" Ferguson isn't actually from Glasgow -- that he's a faker and wants people to think he's from a more rough and tumble area when he's really middle-class. But to his credit, she said she met him a book-signing where some Scottish friends of his came in shouting and called him a cunt, so she thinks he may be slightly legit.

January 24, 2008 at 6:29:00 PM PST  
Blogger Ammie said...

BTW, Mark: how's your American accent?

January 24, 2008 at 11:31:00 PM PST  
Blogger Ammie said...

Ah, Ryan Gosling is playing Kurt. As much as I think James would make a kick ass Kurt, Ryan is a better choice.

February 3, 2008 at 11:02:00 PM PST  

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