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5_Zvehzda
Just Starting
Joined: 30 Mar 2010
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 Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 1:18 am Post subject: Foreign actors who portray Russians |
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Does anyone have opinions, criticisms or impressions about any western born actors (British, American, Canadian, other European, etc.) who play russian characters in movies?
Specifically asking . . . what do you think about thier russian language skills when they speak the dialogue in the film? Some of the roles involve very few lines at all, or sometimes speak only a couple of words - but others have pages of lines.
This probably can be answered easier by natural speakers or someone well-studied who are good at detecting bad accents, mis-pronounciations, lousy verb usage, and so forth . . . |
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krasatulya
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Joined: 29 May 2005
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 1:30 am Post subject: |
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| Interesting question! A specific example that comes to mind is Matt Damon's character in The Bourne Supremacy. If I recall correctly, didn't he have quite a few lines in Russian, since part of the movie takes place in Moscow? Going along with Zvehzda's question, I wonder how his Russian measured up. |
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vitalsigns
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
Posts: 2784
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 2:59 am Post subject: |
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| Harrison Ford's russian was ok in.... was it the K-19: The Widowmaker? I mean it's kind of shocking (in a good way) hearing him speak it. He actually looks a lot like a russian in it, don't you think? |
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Xela
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Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 3:16 am Post subject: |
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Harrison Ford's mother is from Russian-Jewish descent, who left for America to presumably escape persecution.
Quote from a site:
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Speaking about his Russian/Jewish/Irish ancestors, Harrison Ford said that he is “Irish as a person but I feel Jewish as an actor.” He said nothing about his Russian ancestors. |
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vitalsigns
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 3:22 am Post subject: |
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But a lot of times the "russians" in american movies speak a lot like Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks english in the Terminator.  |
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vitalsigns
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 3:25 am Post subject: |
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| Xela wrote: | Harrison Ford's mother is from Russian-Jewish descent, who left for America to presumably escape persecution.
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No wonder he's so cool looking  |
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bryak
WayToRussified
Joined: 28 Oct 2005
Posts: 321
Location: Edmonton, Canada
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 3:55 am Post subject: |
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| The only guy I can think of is John Malcovich in Rounders. He didn't have many Russian lines in the film, but I thought his Russian accent (while speking in English) was pretty good. And the Russian "character" I thought he had down pat. I know vitalsigns likes to eat Oreos the exact same way! |
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5_Zvehzda
Just Starting
Joined: 30 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 5:39 am Post subject: |
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| vitalsigns wrote: | | But a lot of times the "russians" in american movies speak a lot like Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks english in the Terminator. |
This kind of hilarious analogy is one of the things I anticipated to hear . . . I've always been curious to know about the impressions native speakers have of "russian" characters played by non-russian film actors.
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Speaking about his Russian/Jewish/Irish ancestors, Harrison Ford said that he is “Irish as a person but I feel Jewish as an actor.” He said nothing about his Russian ancestors. |
Hmm, this reminds me of something I thought about before . . . in 'The Fugitive', Ford's character takes refuge in a house of Russian immigrants - then later in the film, disguises himself in a St. Patrick's Day parade surrounded by a crowd of Chicago citizens (he was born there) of Irish descent.
Coincidental parallels going on here? Or were the producers' expressing some creative and hidden insight of Ford's ethnic background? If it isn't so . . . then I don't know what is. It was probably an 'in-joke' (as they call it in the industry) that some Hollywood big-shots love to pull off sometimes.
Last edited by 5_Zvehzda on Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:42 am; edited 1 time in total |
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5_Zvehzda
Just Starting
Joined: 30 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:40 am Post subject: |
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| krasatulya wrote: | | Interesting question! A specific example that comes to mind is Matt Damon's character in The Bourne Supremacy. If I recall correctly, didn't he have quite a few lines in Russian, since part of the movie takes place in Moscow? Going along with Zvehzda's question, I wonder how his Russian measured up. |
Well, how did his Russian measure up, native-speakers? Matt Damon spoke a little Russian in Bourne Supremacy, but his character really didn’t have many lines except a couple of very simple questions and phrases, i.e. – for instance, asking other Russian characters for simple, straightforward directions (Taxi drivers, Babushka, and a young woman ). It was very limited – and also, easy to get away with for any actor who typically has no skills in other languages.
Here’s just two examples of non-russian film actors - who played the roles of 'Russians', and spoke extensively in Russian dialogue from their film scripts:
Nicole Kideman – Birthday Girl
Robin Williams – Moscow on the Hudson
(And Sean Connery, who belted out a few minimal words or two in The Hunt for Red October).
Many natives may not appreciate 'Moscow on the Hudson', because there are loads of stereotypes about the SU shown during the first part of the movie – which were often generated by Hollywood speculations back then. But it would be interesting to hear more about what the natives think of non-native actors’ language abilities in these films. |
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Fire_Goddess
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 7:26 am Post subject: |
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| bryak wrote: | | The only guy I can think of is John Malcovich in Rounders. He didn't have many Russian lines in the film, but I thought his Russian accent (while speking in English) was pretty good. And the Russian "character" I thought he had down pat. I know vitalsigns likes to eat Oreos the exact same way! |
I love John Malkovich. Supposedly his family is of Croatian decent. |
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Xela
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Joined: 06 Jul 2005
Posts: 781
Location: Shanghai
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 1:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | No wonder he's so cool looking |
Actually, Vitalsigns, Russian-Jews all originally came from the Caucasus, so some of Harrison Ford's distant relatives may now be Chechens.
Still think he's so cool looking? |
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vitalsigns
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 25 Dec 2004
Posts: 2784
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 4:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Xela wrote: |
Still think he's so cool looking? |
Yes. I actually think Chechens look really nice outwardly, both men and women.
The people that I think are very nice looking and I mean VERY are Osetins (Alans). |
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mediashark
Moderator
Joined: 04 Nov 2004
Posts: 1599
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 4:23 pm Post subject: |
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Well not only chechens live in the caucaus!
I thought harrison ford did fine in K-19. I kinda like Sean Connery in Hunt for the Red October, but he wasn't as 'Russian' as HarrisonFord was in k-19, I thought. Connery couldn't handle Russian, even for a few words.
One English-language film (seems it was directed by russians) on Russia I really liked was The Inner Circle http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103838/ starring Hom Hulce and Lolita Davidovich was of Serbian heritage. Sad that the film is really underrated... I found it quite an interesting and realistic film! |
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MrSpice
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 14 Jul 2003
Posts: 3431
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:04 pm Post subject: |
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Actually, Matt Damon spoke pretty well in the "Bourne Identity"
It was fun to see a regular on-descriptive Moscow neighborhood in a major American movie. In "Red Heat", Schwarzenegger spoke Russian and it was pretty funny. His accent was very strong. |
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mediashark
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Joined: 04 Nov 2004
Posts: 1599
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:09 pm Post subject: |
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| I found Schwarzenegger's English pretty funny too |
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