The Bustle Ballot
The Award For Best Accent Goes To...
Honoring this year’s biggest accent-based swings, misguided and otherwise.
There’s something undeniably delightful about watching A-list celebrities alter their natural way of speaking in the name of art. Whether the result is spot-on (like, you didn’t know Christian Bale was secretly Welsh good) or a total miss (think Cameron Diaz’s incredible, not-at-all-Irish inflection in Gangs of New York), the transformation is always something to behold.
Without dialect coaches’ diligent work, many of 2021’s best films would’ve been dead in the water: No one’s heading to theaters to see Kristen Stewart play the People’s Princess with a Cali-style vocal fry, or buying Benedict Cumberbatch as a British cowboy. To celebrate this most subtle, crucial art, Bustle has compiled a list of worthy Best Accent nominees, and crowned a winner.
The Runners-Up
Kristen Stewart, Spencer
In Pablo Larraín’s Spencer, Kristen Stewart doesn’t just deliver a spot-on British accent, she also manages to replicate Princess Diana’s pattern of speech — a lilting, somber tone that conveyed her state of mind, even when she couldn’t speak her truth.
Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye
It’s not just the blue eyeshadow and the prosthetics that helped Jessica Chastain disappear into the role of the movie’s eponymous character. Chastain also had to master Tammy Faye’s heavy Minnesota twang. The fact that she also lands all of Tammy Faye’s cartoonish puppet voices, which likely required abandoning her self-respect entirely, is a feat in itself.
Lady Gaga, House of Gucci
Say what you will about Lady Gaga’s over-the-top, vaguely Russian accent, but it works perfectly for Italian femme-fatale Patrizia Gucci: It’s got drama, glamour, and an espresso-sized dollop of kitsch.
Vanessa Hudgens, The Princess Switch 3
The third installment of Netflix’s The Princess Switch finds Vanessa Hudgens embodying not one, not two, but three different doppelgängers. Of course, they all have different accents, each campier than the last: Stacy’s “casual American,” Queen Margaret’s “posh British royal,” and — last but certainly not least — Fiona’s delectable “cool Shoreditch Brit.” While the rest of the actors on this list mastered one measly accent, Hudgens conquered three in one film without breaking a sweat.
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
As Phil Burbank in The Power of the Dog, Benedict Cumberbatch intimidates, belittles, and emotionally eviscerates just about everyone he encounters. Without his convincing Rocky Mountain accent, though, his barbarous words wouldn’t draw nearly as much blood.
Winner: Jared Leto, House of Gucci
As the famed Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau once said: “Accent is the soul of language; it gives to it both feeling and truth.” Jared Leto’s accent in House of Gucci did not give audiences any truth, but it did give them a lot of feelings. As Paolo Gucci, Leto sounds like a sentient Sbarro pizza, Mario by way of Chef Boyardee Beefaroni. While Lady Gaga and Adam Driver disappear into their respective roles as Patrizia and Mauricio Gucci, Leto’s zany energy lights up the screen like a neon Olive Garden sign, singlehandedly changing the tone of the film from crime drama to farce. To Leto’s credit, if watching Paolo navigate the world in his pastel suits does feel ridiculous at times, it’s rarely boring; his antics add some much-needed levity to the Gucci family’s ongoing, occasionally murderous conflict. And if it doesn’t take viewers to Italy, Leto’s voice does at least ferry them somewhere they’ve never been before: Leto’s accent is so senseless, so deranged, that it reaches beyond language and logic. It’s a one-way, spaghetti-soaked ticket to a smooth brain.
