By English-language films set in other cultures, especially historical epics, often have the actors using the British RP accent – a conceit that many audiences are familiar with and readily accept. Changing that up can be a risk sometimes.
Oliver Stone famously had all his Greek and Macedonian characters in “Alexander” speaking with Irish/Celtic accents. The one actor who tried an accent closer to the region was Angelina Jolie who ended up sounding like Dracula.
With Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” in 2000, the actors all took on British accents including Australian Russell Crowe and American Joaquin Phoenix. With the upcoming sequel, his Irish lead actor Paul Mescal is doing the same.
But one person who isn’t changing their accent is Denzel Washington who keeps his native New York accent for the film playing Macrinus, a former slave who has become a power broker who attempts to eventually take control of Rome.
In an interview with Empire Magazine (via Digital Spy) recently, Washington explained the decision to use his own accent and said he didn’t want to do a ‘poor imitation’ of what would be the character’s natural North African accent:
“Well, the thing was, where are we? Whose accent would it be? What does that sound like anyway? You’re going to end up imitating someone and end up with a bad African accent.”
The film also stars Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Connie Nielsen and Derek Jacobi. “Gladiator II” will be released in cinemas on November 15th in the UK and November 22nd in the United States.
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