Everest : Keira's accent …

Not from New Zealand, but I thought she did a great job of imitating a Kiwi accent. Any Kiwis out there able to validate?

I'm a kiwi and was impressed with her efforts, although she still tended to slip into more of an Aussie accent as did all the other actors.

I thought it was awful, I am not a kiwi

So in other words, your opinion is an uninformed one.

I thought it was awful, most of the Australian accents were. I am not a kiwi.

Maybe people just don't like the kiwi accent haha

I had no clue that was her!!! They somehow plumped up the 3 lead actresses, so it was difficult to recognize them. Good job!

Her Kiwi accent was a particular type of Kiwi accent that is most common in young NZ women - I'm not sure it quite fitted someone of Jan's generation. As others mentioned, she also slipped into an Aussie accent, there was one line in particular than came across very Aussie, when she said that her unborn daughter was going to be "a climber"

I'd be curious to get some more thoughts from actual New Zealanders, because it's hard to fool native speakers (I spot bad American accents in a snap). To me she and Jason Clarke nailed it, but the bulk of my exposure to the lovely NZ accent comes from watching the behind the scenes stuff on my Lord of the Rings DVDs.

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A journey into the realm of the obscure: http://saturdayshowcase.blogspot.com/

I'm a kiwi but I haven't seen the movie, only clips. Based on what I heard, Watson was great, Knightley not so much, and Clarke didn't even try.

But a kiwi accent is very difficult to imitate properly so I appreciate the effort from them all!

When lightning strikes the sea, why don't all the fish die?

Awesome, thanks for the NZ perspective, heat_like_burning!


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A journey into the realm of the obscure: http://saturdayshowcase.blogspot.com/

I'm a Kiwi. Knightley did really well. Her accent was as annoying as a natural kiwi accent is in real life.

I'm about 10 minutes in and came to comment on her Australian accent - I had no idea she was attempting a New Zealand accent. Being an Australian, her accent definitely sounded more Australian, but it sounded great! It's a hard accent to pull offmore so for American actors, being British she wouldn't have struggled as much.

Oh, nice socks, man. Nice socks. Nice socks.

I must say though, Emily Watson was spot on with her accent. My mum is a kiwi, so I am able to validate :)

Oh, nice socks, man. Nice socks. Nice socks.

hi teakau.interesting take on these two.
i at first didn't recognise keira, coz i thought she was an aussie actress because of the accent. i remember thinking, this chick looks a lot like keira knightly, but couldn't be, because i have never heard a non-aussie actor nail the accent. But she did! Ironically as it turns out, it was meant to be a kiwi accent.
Emily watson, on the other hand, i thought did a great job, but seemed a bit over the top, sort of like a caricature of the kiwi accent.
btw, I'm from aus

I'm a Kiwi and am always on the lookout for accent slip-ups. My views; anyone who I could have believed was a Kiwi I've given 10/10.

Keira Knightley - Pretty good, a few slip-ups where she sounded more Aussie. BTW Jan Arnold doesn't have a particularly heavy Kiwi accent (she's my GP). 8/10
Jason Clarke - Didn't try at all and just stuck with his normal Aussie accent. 0/10
Elizabeth Debicki - Perfect. Didn't know who she was and just assumed she was a Kiwi. 10/10
Emily Watson - Very authentic, although it was a pretty thick, almost exaggerated rural Kiwi accent. Possibly deliberate. 10/10
Sam Worthington - Didn't know this guy either, but sounded Kiwi. 10/10

I agree with all of this, though I am not kiwi. (And to the poster who would claim my opinion was invalid then, I know many kiwis and have dated a few in my day so am VERY familiar with the accent)

I especially thought Jason's accent was non-existent and awful, but also thought that Elizabeth and Emily were actual kiwis over anyone else in the film. Sam was probably a 9/10, granted, he didn't have many lines and was difficult to hear a lot of times over the wind.

Thanks for posting. I was interested in a Kiwi's opinion. Aussie guy here with a slightly different take on the accents.

For me, one of the hardest parts of watching some Hollywood movies is trying to suspend disbelief when they use actors from America and the U.K. to portray the Aussie or Kiwi accent. Why not just use actors from the relevant countries, particularly for minor roles.

I won't comment too much on the accuracy of the performances as I don't feel qualified. As with other countries, drive 100km in any direction and you can come across very different accents. Going back a few decades also does the same. An example in a movie could be Meryl Streep in Evil Angels. Just awful sounding to my ear. A shrill abomination of Kiwi and Aussie, but from memory of the actual real life person, not too far off.

So;
Keira Knightly and Emily Watson - As you said, probably an exaggerated rural accent. Takes me out of the movie a bit. Just like 8 out of 10 Aussies don't say a "shrimp on the baaaaarrrrrrrbie"
Elizabeth Debicki - Sounded close to the accent I'm used to. Similar to the average Australian but with some words pronounced differently. I like this accent and the Maori accent.
Jason Clarke and Sam Worthington - Didn't actually notice. So at least it didn't take me out of the movie.

Kiwi here to agree, yes she did a great job with the accent - I assumed she was a kiwi actor until the end credits. Thanks for caring, movie star.
Yeah, a wee lapse to the Aussie, but actually I hear that all the time in daily life - it's not part of a performance so doesn't get scutinised. There is overlap between the accents.

Kiwi here. She did a fairly good job, but Emily Watson did a much better one.