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Top 10 worst Irish accents in Hollywood movies

Julia Roberts and Sean Connery may have won Oscars, but they can't pull off an Irish accent!

Conn Corrigan

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 1:06 AM

Updated Thursday, July 23, 2009, 5:42 PM

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Read more: Julia Roberts, Celebrity News, Entertainment, Movie Stars, Brad Pitt, Sean Connery, Tom Cruise, Movies, Kevin Spacey, Hollywood

The Irish accent, judging from some of Hollywood's attempts at it over the years, must surely be one of the most difficult for actors to master. We've plowed through the archives and nominated our top 10 worst offenders. What do you think? Read down through our list or use the playlist on the right to listen to the top 10 Worst Hollywood Irish accents!

1. SEAN CONNERY IN DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE"

The gold standard to judge against all other bad Irish accents must surely remain Sean Connery's portrayal of Michael McBride, in the Walt Disney classic "Darby O' Gill and the Little People."

2.SEAN CONNERY IN "THE UNTOUCHABLES"

That was in 1959; by 1987, when he starred as the tough Irish cop Jim Malone in "The Untouchables," things had scarcely improved (though ironically, he nabbed the Best Supporting Actor Oscar).

it's not just the Irish accent that the Bond star has grappled with it - no doubt he also made the cut for some Top 10 List of Bad Russian Accents for his portrayal of Captain Marko Ramius, in "The Hunt for Red October."

3. KEVIN SPACEY IN "ORDINARY DECENT CRIMINAL"

Every so often, U.S. actors - even really good, respected actors like Kevin Spacey - come out with stuff like "Ordinary Decent Criminal," a fairly unremarkable movie save for the fact that the main stars all try to outdo one another on the bad Irish accent front.

It's a kind of bizarre concoction of various Irish regional accents - a little bit of Dublin, a touch of Northern Ireland - that slips into American every fifth sentence or so.

It's astonishing that Colin Farrell, a native Dubliner, didn't think of saying to Spacey, "What the f**k, Kevin?! No one in Ireland, and I mean no one, talks like that! Now go get a voice coach and give the Oirish accent a rest!"

This mustn't have happened - and indeed, the director, Thaddeus O'Sullivan, himself an Irishman, somehow failed to spot that Spacey's co-star, Linda Fiorentino, had an equally ridiculous accent. Shame on both O'Sullivan and Farrell for not spotting these...

It remains a mystery why this film actually got made, when John Boorman's "The General" - a movie about the same thing - came out before it, and is vastly superior.

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The Irish movies industry has grown somewhat in recent years thanks partly to the promotion of the sector by The Irish Film Board and the introduction of heavy tax breaks. Some of the most successful Irish movies include The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006), Intermission (2001), Man About Dog (2004), Michael Collins (1996), Angela's Ashes (1999), The Commitments (1991) and Once (2007). In 2005 a Jameson Whiskey-sponsored poll selected the top 10 Irish movies: 1. The Commitments (1991), 2. My Left Foot (1989), 3. In the Name of the Father (1993), 4. The Quiet Man (1952), The Snapper (1993), 6. Michael Collins (1996), 7. The Field (1990), 8. Intermission (2003), 9. Veronica Guerin (2003), 10. Inside I'm Dancing (2004). In the past many Irish movies were censored or banned, owing largely to the influence of the Catholic church, although virtually no cuts or bans have been issued in recent years. Ireland has also proved a popular location for shooting films, largely due to the tax breaks, with The Quiet Man (1952), Braveheart (1995), Reign of Fire (2002) and King Arthur (2004) all being shot in Ireland. The first film ever shot in Ireland was The Lad from Old Ireland (1910), which was advertised as "The first ever film recorded on two continents". The Irish movie was a short silent story about a young Irishman who went to the USA to find riches, before returning home to save his family home from creditors. The first cinema in Ireland (the Volta) was opened in 1909. Ireland has a high rate of cinema admissions — the highest in Europe. The biggest multiplex Irish movies chain in the country is Ward Anderson (owners of the Cineplex, Omniplex, and Savoy brands), with other cinemas being owned by United Cinemas International, Cineworld (formerly UGC Cinemas), and Vue (formerly Ster Century). One of the largest Irish owned independent cinema chains is Storm Cinemas, with cinemas currently in Belfast, Limerick, Waterford, Navan, Naas, Portlaoise and Cavan. In Autumn 2005, a new multiplex cinema chain, Movies(at) entered the market, opening its first cinema in Dundrum, with Galway and Swords sites to come. There is also a large video rental market for Irish movies, dominated by Xtravision, a subsidiary of Blockbuster.

Top 10 worst Irish accents in Hollywood movies

Julia Roberts and Sean Connery may have won Oscars, but they can't pull off an Irish accent!

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