comment #1

raygo says ...

Maybe he's reusing his accent from The Good Shepherd, since no one got to hear it that time. I like Crudup a lot, but sometimes he tries too hard to add nuance where it isn't necessary..

comment #2

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

He doesn't sound British at all.

comment #3

Breedlove says ...

I was gonna say, maybe he got confused and thought he was playing Kim Philby again

comment #4

Ulysses says ...

I think he sounds like Clancy Wiggum from The Simpsons. Oddly, perhaps, the voice of Wiggum is based on Broderick Crawford, who played Hoover in Larry Cohen's The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover.

comment #5

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Yes, WonkyDonkeyDumbass, he sounds British. Or rather British as some American actors tend to speak it. Anyone who pronounces "war on crime" as "wahhr on cryyme", like they're ordering a gin and tonic at a country-club bar in a Merchant Ivory film set in 1933, sounds British. End of debate.

comment #6

Ulysses says ...

We were having a debate ? Had I known, I would have dressed better.

comment #7

Sabina E says ...

I wish I could say something here, but to me (as a Deaf person), all accents sound the same. Sigh.

but I'll say something here. perhaps Crudup put on a posh British (or country club) accent, is because, let's face it-- many Americans would imagine a historic icon like Hoover, FDR or Mark Twain, speaking in a proper, polished accent. No?

comment #8

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

Wells: As a British person who grew up around people who "sound British" on account of the fact that they ARE British, I can confirm Crudup does not sound British at all. What British person would say "wahhr on cryyme"? The upper class accent you're thinking of is defined by its short, clipped delivery of vowels. In short, you don't know what you're talking about, so perhaps reconsider before branding me a "dumbass".

You're being a real asshole lately. Refused a fork again at a restaurant?

comment #9

Jeffrey Wells says ...

Trying reading these words again: A British accent "as some American actors tend to speak it."

comment #10

larry braverman says ...

I don't think it sounds British either. Over the top maybe, but not British. More like Hubert Updike III.

comment #11

bluetide says ...

The real Hoover has more of a Barney Frank-style lisp (Seriously) but Crudup's voice sounds like a mashup of community theater attempts at a British accent and and bad impersonation of the 1930s gangster movie accent.

comment #12

Josh Massey says ...

"...bad impersonation of the 1930s gangster movie accent."

That's what I was hearing.

"Lahk at hair, seeeee..."

comment #13

Ghost072 says ...

Yeah, I have to respectfully disagree on this, Jeff. Crudup's accent here sounds like the American newsreel voiceovers from the 30's and 40's and not really British at all.

comment #14

Krazy Eyes says ...

Sorry, I don't hear any Britishness or American-actor preferred Britishness in that Crudup clip at all.

If anything it reminds me of a male version of Cate Blanchett's version of Kate Hepburn.

comment #15

scooterzz says ...

i believe the term, when applied to that odd/affected accent actors of the 30's and 40's used, is 'mid-atlantic'....

comment #16

ErrantElan says ...

I HATE the mid-Atlantic accent, particularly as employed in movies that commonly play on TCM. I seriously cannot watch a film in which one or more actors uses that god awful faux-British/Connecticut-American hybrid. It sounds so false, so phony, that it takes you out of the story with every syllable.

That being said, I agree with Wells here - I hear a distinct, subtle, upper-crust David Niven/Colonel Blimp-ish "waar on criiime" British bite to the words.

comment #17

Jeffrey Wells says ...

I'll try this one more time. Listen to Marlon Brando's idea of a British fop accent in Mutiny on the Bounty (link above) and then listen to Crudup fop accent in Enemies (link above) and tell me they don't sound nearly identical. Again, I'm not saying they sound British -- but they're both doing the same kind of faux-British accent that some actors use from time to time.

comment #18

Baron Munchausen-by-Proxy says ...

The "Mid-Atlantic" is just a clipped, faster "Boston Brahmin" accent. Its not so much "British", but illustrative of "putting on airs".

And it may be irritating to some of you, because you believe its just 'cliched period/gangster sounding'. Yes, you heard it in the films of the period, but you also heard it in the period newsreels. Y'know why? Because it is ACCURATE TO THE PERIOD. Sheesh.

And, fergawdsake:
"I think he sounds like Clancy Wiggum from The Simpsons. Oddly, perhaps, the voice of Wiggum is based on Broderick Crawford, who played Hoover in Larry Cohen's The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover."

No, Ulysses - Wiggum's voice is based on Edward G. Robinson, not Crawford. Nice stretch.

comment #19

ErrantElan says ...

Munchausen, fair enough, but I call bullshit on some of that. Granted, if Katherine Hepburn uses that Brahmin accent, I'll buy it - that's a different thing entirely, she IS a rich Connecticut-type girl, in reality, and also usually PLAYED THEM. I am actually aware that it was a more-or-less real accent - hell, listen to William F. Buckley.

What irritates me is when some actress will be playing a middle-class girl from Chicago, or Missouri, or Minnesota, or California and uses that accent, and it happens in more movies than you'd think.

And fair enough Jeff, you did say the bit about "British sounding American actors" in the comments, but in your original post, you say he sounds like "an English swell....an Oxford debating star". Can't state more clearly than that that you think he sounds British. When I hear those phrases, I think of the uber-Britishness of Christopher Hitchens' dulcet tones.

comment #20

Baron Munchausen-by-Proxy says ...

That's lovely, Elan, the way you feel about "when some actress will be playing a middle-class girl from Chicago, or Missouri, or Minnesota, or California and uses that accent, and it happens in more movies than you'd think."

But I was trying to relate the observation to, y'know, the actual film under discussion, in which the period is being realistically portrayed. I'm well aware that it's jarring coming from the mouths of other actors in other pictures of the period - no need to presume 'what I'd think'.

That was indeed the accent - from many accounts - that Hoover evinced in his younger days, having been raised in upper-crust Washington D.C. to parents in the hifalutin' diplomatic and political classes. Again, I don't hear the 'British' in it at all.

comment #21

BurmaShave says ...

It's a weird Mid Atlantic accent, but he sounds no more British than Katherine Hepburn.

comment #22

BurmaShave says ...

I'll agree it's not a very good Hoover, who was born right here in D.C., and if anything had a subtle touch of the South.

comment #23

frankbooth says ...

Baron Mgmax-by-Proxy, could that be you?

The accent is a bit too flat and twangy to sound British to my ears.

I'm more concerned about Crudup's looks. I don't expect actors to be doubles for the historical characters they play, but Hoover was one ugly guy. Very strange choice.

comment #24

Floyd Thursby says ...

FDR

comment #25

Floyd Thursby says ...

Then there are Cary Grant, David Niven, Ronald Colman, etc. who spoke the same regardless of whether their characters were Americans or Brits. Did no one in the 30s and 40s think this was peculiar?

comment #26

ErrantElan says ...

Munchausen, it's lovely that you were talking in relation to the film under discussion. I wasn't. I'd expanded the conversation to express my opinion on 30's Hollywood accents, as scooterzzz had mentioned before me.

Your need to stick-Achtung!-on topic is commendable, I suppose. How shall we reward you?

comment #27

Monument says ...

I understand what you're saying Jeff but I don't think Crudup is totally off base with his accent. But Hoover having no trace of a foppish accent? I don't know, I listened to the Hoover clips and he definitely drops more than a few R's.

As for Brando, I think he sounds more Mid Atlantic than British.

Can't wait to see the movie though, it looks fantastic.

comment #28

Baron Munchausen-by-Proxy says ...

"Your need to stick-Achtung!-on topic is commendable, I suppose. How shall we reward you?"

Oh, you clever kids today! Snappily using my own use of "it's lovely" to respond!

I'll accept as a 'reward' some elucidation of your: "Munchausen, fair enough, but I call bullshit on some of that." Again, as I had just discussed *the film*, I can't find any "calling of b.s." anywhere within your response.

This is actually a chronic problem you have, so I don't take it personally.

[No, FrankBooth, I am certainly not Mgmax. Mgmax can currently be found on the AICN boards, usually as a jump-on first-commenter, fruitlessly attempting to make comments turn 'political', and usually left unresponded-to. He really fits in better with the clientele over there.]

Burma - Hoover didn't grow up in the same D.C. that we did, or (presumptively) in the same social circles. His mother was from a Swiss diplomatic family, his father a politically-connected German/British family. He was private-school educated, (I forget which college), and went to D.C.'s G.W. U. Law School, which was [back then] private, upper-crust, and lily-white. He wouldn't have the slightly-Southern accent, but the upper-crust one we're indicating - especially while in school and at the start of his career. FDR and prior Presidents had brought many, many New England reared-and-educated people into the ranks of government, especially in the diplomatic and legal fields.

comment #29

Imogen says ...

He sounds like an upper-crust east coast American of the 1930s, as do Hillary Swank and Richard Gere in AMELIA. Of course, most east coast American dialects have now degenerated into an monotonous nasal whine. Like, uh, erm, how do I put this delicately? Oh, there's no way around it: like Jeff's.

comment #30

Ulysses says ...

Baron Munchausen-by-Proxy - my mistake, eh.

I enjoy your nom de plume.

comment #31

T. S. Idiot says ...

Have seen Crudup in nine movies and two plays, and he's never done anything remotely interesting or memorable. Don't understand his appeal.

comment #32

bluetide says ...

Billy Crudup plays more thin and/or bad roles in good projects than any actor I can think of.

comment #33

BurmaShave says ...

Since his one-two punch of Russell Hammon in ALMOST FAMOUS and especially Fuck-Head in JESUS' SON, Crudup has never really reached that level again. I really enjoyed him in WATCHMEN though, his voice was perfect. He's fine in PUBLIC ENEMIES, his "I didn't hear you" scene is extremely good, and he does not sound British at all.

Will always regard him as a complete scumbag for what he did to Mary Louise Parker, and those personal things don't normally bother me at all.

comment #34

Guillaume says ...

Crudup was also AWESOME in the very underrated Keith Gordon film,WAKING THE DEAD.

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comment #36

dd says ...

but I'll say something here. perhaps Crudup put on a posh British (or country club) accent, is because, let's face it-- many Americans would imagine a historic icon like Hoover, FDR or Mark Twain, speaking in a proper, polished accent. No?

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