re: Movies ruined by a terrible fake accent

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Dennis Quaid in The Big Easy. Ridiculous.

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For a board that based and strongly anchored in Louisiana and Louisiana culture - there can be no other answer. He makes Costner (JFK) sound like an actual native, by comparison.

I'll excuse him to a certain extent - and I'll give a little background - I have never met him/been in the same room, but we have a common acquiantance - so I got a lot of stories second and third hand.

It is no secret that Quaid and Goodman are pals and started making movies in Louisiana in the 1980s - Big Easy, Great Balls of Fire (no Goodman in GBoF), Everybody's All American - (I think our old buddy Spudd McConnell, whom I have met was in all of these as well) - while they definitely shared a deep abiding passion for cocaine, they also fell in love with Louisiana during this time.

I've told the story on here before - and I can't give names, but if you know the people involved you might figure out the rest of the story - one of Quaid's pals (I believe a Louisiana native - or at least a transplant) was interested in a dear friend of mine.

This cat invited my friend to the premiere of GBoF in Memphis - like THE premiere. My friend, "Tammy", demurred (she knew there would be an implied obligation if she went to Memphis for this premiere). So, Dennis Quaid calls her - on behalf of this cat. "Hey, Tammy, this is Dennis Quaid. Ole boy and I would really like you to come to the premiere." - and proceeded to tick off all the celebrities, actors, rock and rollers, etc., that were going to be there. She would have had A-list access as a personal guest of Dennis Quaid, the star of the film.

Still trying to play it cool, she said something to the effect of being a big fan of Stevie Ray Vaughn before demurring again (not because she didn't want to go, but because she didn't want to either sleep with ole boy or mislead him into thinking she would).

So, a couple of days later - Dennis Quaid calls back and says, "Tammy - guess who just agreed to come to the premiere and party? Stevie Ray Vaughn." She again, with great reluctance, declined the invitation, despite 100% effort by ole boy AND Dennis Quaid.

And in a year, SRV was dead and gone.

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Tara in True Blood was so bad in the opening show everyone almost stopped watching immediately. Truly insulting attempt at a Louisiana accent.

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Never watched it, but as I understand it - the movie is both filmed and set around the Shreveport area. Why affect any accents at all, other than generic southern ones? Did they do no regional research or scouting? Or do the powers that be not understand Louisiana has 3 to 4 large cultural divisions, each with varying accents?

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Dennis Quaid

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Great Balls of fire

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This. It's embarrassing and unwatchable.
And actors should not lip sync in movies.
Get someone who can be close enough to the original.

Sean Connery playing a Spanish swordsman in Highlander