VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Don G. · King's Row Joined: 11 Nov 2004 Posts: 1071 Location: MA

Okay, so I may be a little late to the party, but I finally watched Gone Baby Gone last night. Very good (albeit depressing) movie. Anyway, it's one of the very few times I can remember hearing a very good Boston accent. It seems fitting that the Afflecks would know what to try for, but jeebus, Amy Ryan really nailed it. Actually, Titus Welliver and Amy Madigan did a nice job, too. Also, I remember that The Departed did a decent job as well. Granted, it had the benefit of two Bostonians in major roles.

Anyway, to my ears, it's a particularly unpleasant accent to listen to (I grew up hearing it every day...and still do, so I speak from experience), but if anyone here ever needs to duplicate a Boston accent, pay attention to Amy Ryan in Gone Baby Gone. (And aside from nailing the accent, she did a hell of an acting job.)

Deirdre · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 2:35 pm Post subject:

No kidding! I think the Boston and Downeast Maine accents are the hardest to honestly replicate.
I have a great deal of appreciation for Leonardo DiCapprio's labor for The Departed. Good to know there are others who can bring it off.
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glittlefield · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 2:49 pm Post subject:

For a Maine accent (and elderly man placement), I generally model myself after an 8th cousin of mine from Ogunquit that was featured in this piece on Savvy Traveler.
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mcm · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 2:50 pm Post subject:

That's great to know!

Sources (a South African engineer I met last year Smile

) say that DiCaprio did a great job on his South African accent as well - in Blood Diamond.

Lance Blair · M&M Joined: 03 Jun 2007 Posts: 2281 Location: Atlanta

I'm from Lol, Massachusetts (Lowell, in the real world). The Boston accent up there has more Italian, Greek, and French Canadian influences there and a little less of the Irish influence.

http://www.lanceblair.net/files/tillimakedin%20frad.mp3

but the same rules apply:

1.) Pretend you're hung over or hate everyone
2.) Sound depressed and defensive, even when you're telling a joke
3.) Don't open your jaw
3a.) For Pete's sake...don't open your freakin' jaw.
4.) If you have to open your mouth, raise your upper lip and expand your nostrils (Amy Ryan figured this one out especially)
5.) Remember, it's not an accent, it's a speech impediment. The more you slur your words the better.

Oddly, Georgian accents rely on these very same qualities and techniques. Hmmm.
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Deirdre · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:42 pm Post subject:

Oh my frikkin' goahd Lance you bastid.
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Moe Egan · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:50 pm Post subject:

I swe-ah ta Gowad Lanny dat was freakin pissah! You could even pass fer dem guys in Chemfud. Go Swox!
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mcm · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 4:58 pm Post subject:

You guys ah retsahded wayuhdoes. Kiss

glittlefield · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 5:07 pm Post subject:

My FIL was raised in Chelsea, MA and one day a few years ago, we were driving through the countryside on our way to some photogenic destination (he's a photographer). Suddenly, he points out the passenger's side window and calls to my then-small son, "Look, Jeffrey! Look at the hussies!"

Well, I nearly snapped my neck trying to get a look... All I saw were stupid horses, though. Frown

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ccpetersen · Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 5:16 pm Post subject:

I live up heah in Groton, (or, as it's known in Westfud and Chemsfud, "Oh, Groton")... took me a while to understand what people were saying to me.

A friend of mine who lives in Florida had to order a part for some machine they were using and the only vendor was in Ma. She was very startled one day to get a phone call telling her "Yah pot is in."
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Chrissy · Guest

I haven't a clue what your all talking about. We only speak the Queens English here in the "People's Republic of Cambridge". Mind you I didn't say which queen.

Cheers,

Chrissy

Lance Blair · M&M Joined: 03 Jun 2007 Posts: 2281 Location: Atlanta

LOL Chrissy Wink

When it comes to Cambridge, this might be source of The Queens' English you're referring to:

http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=24193&rendTypeId=4

A surprising number of folks speak The Queens' English in Atlanta too.
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voicejones · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:19 am Post subject: Rev Wright

Have you heard Rev Wright (Sen Obama's former minister) imitating JFK on the news this morning? Perhaps he could log into the VO-BB and find out how to spell "is"? And get some dialect help too.
JJ

Chuck Davis · Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 10:53 am Post subject:

Yadood. Da Bahstan accent is wickit retahdid. Fitzy an Sully don talk like dat no way dood.
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Diane Maggipinto · Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 1:16 pm Post subject:

i'm skimming through precious threads i missed and glad to have seen THIS ONE!

holy freekin' crap, lance -- that was gawsh dawn hilarious!

i get the biggest kick out of new england accents, especially rhode island. but it's a mystery to me why i don't have one as a born and bred yankee., save the occasional slip when i say quawtuh for that 25-cent piece.

and still i say italian bread and american bread (that which is not miletti's). i know its not accent-related. but it's still wickit weetoddid.
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