What's it like to teach actors an American accent?
It's "bin", not "been"…
- Laura Rutkowski
Add Industry to your watchlist.
Ad
US-born voice coach Rebecca Gausnell is an American-dialect specialist who trained at London’s Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She has coached actors on Emily in Paris, All the Light We Cannot See and the third series of BBC drama Industry, which begins this week.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
If you want to learn an accent, listen to a recording of a native speaker, steal a short phrase, replay it ten times and start to mimic it. Alternate between that “magic phrase” and lines of text.
TALK “AMERICAN” TO ME
The accent that comes up the most is called general American, but I’ve probably coached on all the US accents — Wyoming, New Orleans, California, Southern... The consonants “R” and “L” are the toughest to get right in American English, because they’re so radically different from how Brits pronounce them. You have to open your mouth a little bit more.
Want to see this content?
This page contains content provided by YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as YouTube may use cookies and other technologies. To view this content, choose 'Accept and continue' to allow YouTube and its required purposes.
Accept and continue
MOUTH WORKOUT
You’ve got 43 muscles in your face. I always start with a vocal warm-up — some muscles need to be turned “on”, while others need to take a break. With an American accent, the tongue sits higher, so we might do exercises to get the tongue up. Americans stress the personal pronoun more. We say, “Well, I really feel…” and Brits might say, “Well, I really feel that…” Americans say “been” as “bin” — it’s my biggest pet peeve when that’s pronounced wrong on TV!
Kit Harington and Harry Lawtey in Industry series three. Simon Ridgway
DON’T MENTION IT
When I do my job well, the dialect is invisible. When I read reviews, I don’t want it to be mentioned — it’s usually only when someone didn’t like it.
Ad
PREP TIME
Sometimes a dialect coach gets hired as a bit of a sticking plaster and it’s a last-minute call. Ten hours of prep time with an actor is ideal, but that rarely happens. I do a lot of Zoom sessions, but if I’m on set, I can give the actor a note, or request another take if the accent isn’t there. It’s also up to me to tell the production if the accent isn’t achievable. Maybe the actor could do a different accent — or even use their own if it isn’t integral to the storyline.
Authors
Laura Rutkowski
Ad
Ad
Subscribe for £1 per week
Too much to watch this autumn? Let Radio Times magazine and app do the choosing, with expert picks across TV, streaming and film.
Loading...
Ad
Loading...