Thread: When stars fake their accents...

I went to see the making of a nollywood movie one time and I doffed my hat. I had never in my life seen a bunch of disorganized misfits coming together. They had this one scene where a supposed banker was going to a client's house, It turns out there were no shoes available for the guy playing the banker to wear, fortunately for them that was when my friend- who was part of the production crew and I walked in, and they immediately begged him to take off his shoes for the guy to wear in the scene. The wardrobe for the movie was comfortably housed in a "ghana must go" bag, and you just had to say the word and the costumier would pull one outta the pile and straight on you, no prepping or anything of that sort. I then proceeded to read the script cos I think at that time the producer was on a movie marathon, maybe someone dared him to finish 3 movies in 3 weeks and he was going for the kill. At that point they had just concluded a movie the previous week and were currently on the second movie and the next week would start the third one. The script was a joke. At first, I thot the writer was just kidding, cos the errors were horrendous. As I went further, Oh girl come realise sey Mr writer dey serious oh! na so I throway salute for the actors and actresses wey go interpret the script. Although I don't say it nearly enuff, but I must agree that some of these actors/actresses should be given props for doing wot they do under some of these hideous conditions and about the accent thingy, like someone mentioned earlier, the script sometimes requires it(even when it is called for or not) and all these people are, are employees afterall so they have to do their job and I think that some of the actors/actresses do an alright job at it excluding Jim "agboro" Iyke. I daresay this though for the worthy ones, a good number of the entertainment flock need to be schooled on their tenses before jumping on the accent bandwagon, before pesin tv go blow from grammatical ballistic missiles.

At bolded,below

Originally Posted by Candylecious

I went to see the making of a nollywood movie one time and I doffed my hat. I had never in my life seen a bunch of disorganized misfits coming together.They had this one scene where a supposed banker was going to a client's house, It turns out there were no shoes available for the guy playing the banker to wear, fortunately for them that was when my friend- who was part of the production crew and I walked in, and they immediately begged him to take off his shoes for the guy to wear in the scene. The wardrobe for the movie was comfortably housed in a "ghana must go" bag, and you just had to say the word and the costumier would pull one outta the pile and straight on you, no prepping or anything of that sort. I then proceeded to read the script cos I think at that time the producer was on a movie marathon, maybe someone dared him to finish 3 movies in 3 weeks and he was going for the kill. At that point they had just concluded a movie the previous week and were currently on the second movie and the next week would start the third one. The script was a joke. At first, I thot the writer was just kidding, cos the errors were horrendous. As I went further, Oh girl come realise sey Mr writer dey serious oh! na so I throway salute for the actors and actresses wey go interpret the script. Although I don't say it nearly enuff, but I must agree that some of these actors/actresses should be given props for doing wot they do under some of these hideous conditions and about the accent thingy, like someone mentioned earlier, the script sometimes requires it(even when it is called for or not) and all these people are, are employees afterall so they have to do their job and I think that some of the actors/actresses do an alright job at it excluding Jim "agboro" Iyke. I daresay this though for the worthy ones, a good number of the entertainment flock need to be schooled on their tenses before jumping on the accent bandwagon, before pesin tv go blow from grammatical ballistic missiles.

Originally Posted by vince

Yep,this matter has been trshed a few times before on this board.My response to the issue will still be the same.Actors are REQUIRED by the scripted xters that they interprete to fake these foreign accents!They do not do it out of their own intent!
If a scriptwriter puts a xter, who is a nigerian that speaks fone in his script,and an actor is asked to interprete,what choice does he have but to do exactly that?I mean this matter should be very clear to all of us by now.
ACTORS DON'T SPEAK IN FOREIGN ACCENTS,IN NOLLYWOOD HOMVIES, OF THEIR OWN INTENT!THEY ARE ONLY,SIMPLY INTERPRETING THE XTER AS DESCRIBED IN THE SCRIPT!!That is why they are actors.
If you want to blame anybody,blame the scriptwriter or the director for including such a xter in the storyline.

I beg to disagree with you, Vince. Jim Iyke has a fixed accent and I can swear that it is not in all the Homvies that the xter requires that he does so. In "One Dollar" one could understand that he was required as in the "been to" son to use an accent, also in "The Last Day" but what about all the other roleshe plays where he is simply a Naija guy?

What about Stephanie Okereke and that mother of all fakes that she puts up all the time? Oh, in "Private Sin" she was supposed to have just come in from the US right? But abeg Vince, go check some earlier jobs that she did before that and you will discover that she was already at it. Honestly it's so annoying, embarrassingly so, especially when mixed up with wrong grammatical tenses.

And talking about wrong tenses, I don't know whether what made Pom Pom mistake where she was in the matrix was as bad as this, "there is nothing to be forgived ..." spoken by some Johnson guy in Glitters. And this guy na another one wey dey like to form, meanwhile im tenses worse pass anything.

I do agree with you though that the blame should not only go to the actor/actress but also to the scriptwritter and definitely to the Director. I mean if one is directing and hears that kind of bullet, he should please do a retake except of course oga Director himself knows no better.

Anyway, the point is, it is much better for those who are guilty to just be natural and stop spoiling the effect of an otherwise good acting job with something that I feel arises more out of an inferiority complex.

Originally Posted by Okestra007

Most of us fake accent all the time

No mind dem jare. Dem go meet oyinbo man for office now and begin talk like say apple dey dem mout. Na dat Joi own wowo pass!

Originally Posted by Sola

No mind dem jare. Dem go meet oyinbo man for office now and begin talk like say apple dey dem mout. Na dat Joi own wowo pass!

abeg..no kill me with lafta o...

Joi updates her list of "Fake Accent" offenders in Nollywood.

Originally Posted by Sola

No mind dem jare. Dem go meet oyinbo man for office now and begin talk like say apple dey dem mout. Na dat Joi own wowo pass!

Mm-hmm, trust you to be at the defense.

Genny, honey, I love you but...

Genny got this Hausa/Calabar combo accent that just won't quit. However, she tries faking her accent as much as she could.

I guess they all have to do what the script calls for. If the script say talk like oyinbo man, wettin you go do now, except to try your best.

You again? Genny has this Hausa/Calabar accent abi? Interesting!
Why do I have this feeling that I know who you are?

Originally Posted by Dsampler

Genny, honey, I love you but...

Genny got this Hausa/Calabar combo accent that just won't quit. However, she tries faking her accent as much as she could.

I guess they all have to do what the script calls for. If the script say talk like oyinbo man, wettin you go do now, except to try your best.

Originally Posted by vince

Yep,this matter has been trshed a few times before on this board.My response to the issue will still be the same.Actors are REQUIRED by the scripted xters that they interprete to fake these foreign accents!They do not do it out of their own intent!
If a scriptwriter puts a xter, who is a nigerian that speaks fone in his script,and an actor is asked to interprete,what choice does he have but to do exactly that?I mean this matter should be very clear to all of us by now.
ACTORS DON'T SPEAK IN FOREIGN ACCENTS,IN NOLLYWOOD HOMVIES, OF THEIR OWN INTENT!THEY ARE ONLY,SIMPLY INTERPRETING THE XTER AS DESCRIBED IN THE SCRIPT!!That is why they are actors.
If you want to blame anybody,blame the scriptwriter or the director for including such a xter in the storyline.

I don dey try explain dis now e don tey. Na so efribody go dey attak Jim Iyke, Stephanie Okereke, sey dem don dey fake dia accent too much dem no say na script dem dey follow!!

Originally Posted by Mimi Nat

I beg to disagree with you, Vince. Jim Iyke has a fixed accent and I can swear that it is not in all the Homvies that the xter requires that he does so. In "One Dollar" one could understand that he was required as in the "been to" son to use an accent, also in "The Last Day" but what about all the other roleshe plays where he is simply a Naija guy?

What about Stephanie Okereke and that mother of all fakes that she puts up all the time? Oh, in "Private Sin" she was supposed to have just come in from the US right? But abeg Vince, go check some earlier jobs that she did before that and you will discover that she was already at it. Honestly it's so annoying, embarrassingly so, especially when mixed up with wrong grammatical tenses.

And talking about wrong tenses, I don't know whether what made Pom Pom mistake where she was in the matrix was as bad as this, "there is nothing to be forgived ..." spoken by some Johnson guy in Glitters. And this guy na another one wey dey like to form, meanwhile im tenses worse pass anything.

I do agree with you though that the blame should not only go to the actor/actress but also to the scriptwritter and definitely to the Director. I mean if one is directing and hears that kind of bullet, he should please do a retake except of course oga Director himself knows no better.

Anyway, the point is, it is much better for those who are guilty to just be natural and stop spoiling the effect of an otherwise good acting job with something that I feel arises more out of an inferiority complex.

Cool down. I've heard Jim talked and he didn't sound different from the movies. May be that's how they speak. I have a lots of hommies back in naija who speak like they are in Yankee-sounds.... not quite good-but that's how they speak...you know.. buta style!

Originally Posted by pompom

I hope you guys know that there is a VI/IKOYI/Island accent. It is a jumbled mix of the naija, American and british accents. Those who speak it are supposedly the children of the so called bugi or aristos class who have schooled abroad for years and only go back to Naija during holidays. They used to be dominated by those who schooled in England but now quite a bit school in the US. For these kids, their accents have changed (intentionally or unintentinally like many people on this board).
So now when writers want to portray the rich in Naija, they tend to give them that accent. Even the ones that have never travelled watch more MTV than we do. The copy everything American or british - how are you going to portray these people when you play them on screen.

As you guys complain especially those living in the Diaspora, you must listen to your own voices too. I can bet it does not sound the same as it did when you first came.

You are so correct pom!

i love this guy but he has to keep it natural Hank Anuku speak natural pls
it 'll make your characters more beleivable

Originally Posted by keji56

i love this guy but he has to keep it natural Hank Anuku speak natural pls
it 'll make your characters more beleivable

I actually think of them all, Hanks has the most natural accent. It doesnt seem to me like he's fighting with it.