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Done properly, the work of a dialect coach is everywhere and nowhere at once.
Done wrong, a so-called dialect disaster will preoccupy viewers to distraction.
This awards season, accents have become the topic du jour on the press circuit.
while Jeremy Irons elocutes in quasi-English Chiantishire diction.
The people doing the coaching say the actors dont make it easy.
1.Let go of your ego.
They have to make themselves very vulnerable to you.
Many actors coming to that process are filled with fear.
Now, I have empathy for that.
I understand the terrible power of shame and what that does to the artistic process.
Youre not good enough.
The resistance takes many forms.
One is Why have I been put with this nanny, this babysitter?
I will discover this characters 1953 Sicilian accent because Im anartiste.
They can be short with you.
They can be mean.
They can be unavailable, which is a form of avoidance.
But all of it is fear.
Rehearsals had begun, but he was still performing in his British accent.
He was a scared boy.
He admitted to me, Im angry about it.
He said to me in a very polite, well-educated British-schoolboy manner, I rather hate it.
I dont think its necessary.
My challenge as a dialect coach is to let them know, Hey, friend, lets talk.
On set, sometimes I walk up to them between scenes.
Under those circumstances, I can be extremely straightforward.
In a low voice, I make the specific sound adjustments.
I use gentle language.
I call it slipping in like smoke between takes.
If youre Patrick Stewart,you let me come in and make an adjustment.
If youre Patrick Stewart, you pat me on the shoulder and say, Oh, thats much better.
He only has his art involved, and hes fearless.
2.Avoid dialect acting.
It adds another layer and more honesty.
When its done badly, its tacked on.
I call it dialect acting.
Theres the acting process, and theres the dialect process, and you want to marry them.
Working withWill SmithonKing Richard.
3.Find your signature sounds.
Its very important that the dialect is specific and at the same time fits the characters needs.
I typed out Halstons lines from the interview so Ewan could speak what he heard.
Thats a good warm-up.
Then I create a drill sheet, signature sounds for each of the characters.
With Halston, his last back-vowel sound is anahthat opens up, like in hot coffeepot.
He was doing this very midwesternah.So I found every word that had that sound in it from the script.
That was our drill.
4.Dont worry about offending anyone when youre practicing.
But this is a safe space where you get to play.
I often say, Lets do the big, loud, bad version to start.
No one is listening.
Does it make your spine taller?
Which sounds are essential to this accent?
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