Why are so many Southern characters played by Brits or Aussies?

I was watching a "making of" clip on True Blood, and while I was somewhat suprised that the guy who plays Vampire Bill had a British accent, my jaw hit the floor when I heard the guy who plays Jason Stackhouse speak with an Austrailian accent.

Same thing with the movie Blackhawk Down. There were a lot of characters in that movie with Southern American accents, and IIRC every single one of them was played by either someone from the UK or Austrailia.

It seems to go all the way back to Gone With The Wind.

On a may-or-may-not be related note, when I was in Egypt, everyone there thought I was British.

It's not that they're the best, it's that they're the cheapest.

It wouldn't suprise me.

But why so many Southern roles? Is it something about the relative dialects that makes it easier for people from the UK to pull off a Southern accent?

BTW, I'm not complaining or anything. I just noticed a trend.

For what it's worth, I was once in a play that featured both British and Southern accents. While I'm sure we mangled both of them, the biggest challenge was not just dropping into the other guy's accent. I'm guessing that there are some subtle similarities.

I think Australia, London and New York produce the best actors. They actually train their muse and perform in theatrical productions. Most of these Hollywood actors are only there for their looks and couldn't act their way out of a paper bag.

I thought the prevailing theory was that America's social unconscious saw British as "villain", and thus the high-number of successful villains played by British actors?

(Admittedly, the theory comes from Eddie Izzard, but what have you.)

Because British villians always think they are more cultured, civilized and smarter than the American good guys. Everybody loves to see the hoity-toity get their come-uppance!

It's odd, because to my ears there are plenty of American accents that sound closer to English than Southern, but I've heard from plenty of people who don't have English as a first language that to them, there's virtually no difference.

I was born a Londoner, and still live within an hour of London: my speech is very rapid and I find, for instance, Brooklyn a lot easier to understand than Virginia. But there are plenty of parts of England where the speech rhythms are much slower. And there's also a highly-credible theory that if you want to know what an Elizabethan sounded like, listen to Yosemite Sam: some of Shakespeare's rhymes, in particular, could be explained by that.


Being less esoteric for a moment: there ain't that much call for Aussies since the whole Crocodile Dundee thing died down: versatility is the key to employability. And our drama schools make a virtue out of teaching as many accents as possible.
Add to that the fact that, so far, it's easier to find actors in both countries who haven't been botoxed and sliced into immovability (Nicole Kidman notwithstanding), and their popularity with directors is perhaps less difficult to understand.

Yes but only when they're playing British characters.

I'm not sure if Band of Brothers had a very British cast or not. It would surprise me though, since most of the main guys I can think of are definitely American. However, Black Hawk Down is littered with all manner of Brits, Irishmen, and Aussies. Most of them are doing Southern accents . . . only a few of them do it well. Eric Bana is by far the worst at it. I think in that case, the casting was influenced by the director. None other than Ridley Scott.

There were a fair few Brits in Band of Brothers for example;

Damian Lewis - Maj. Winters
Robin Laing - Pvt Heffron
Shane Taylor - Cpl Roe
Dexter Fletcher - SSgt Martin
Nicholas Aaron - Pvt Wynn
Ross McCall - Cpl. Joseph Liebgott
Philip Barantini... Sgt. Wayne 'Skinny' Sisk
Rick Warden... 1st Lt. Harry Welsh

There are a lot more but I got bored listing them all.

IIRC Alexis Denisof, the actor who plays Wesley Wyndam-Pryce on Buffy/Angel, has a Southern accent.

On the show, he was supposed to be a Brit. Not sure where he's from IRL.

Yeah, but he was way down the list of people I was using, as was Simon Pegg.

I might be remembering this incorrectly but I think he's an American who spent time in the UK as a kid.

That's what I'm trying to say, he is one example of an actor with a Southern accent playing a Brit.

I've heard something like that as well. Yet I remember him having a Southern accent in some Angel outtake/DVD extra/interview type thing.

Yep, me too. I've also seen him in something else (can't remember what) with that accent.

I met the woman who was the voice of Rogue in the old x-men cartoon.
She's from Nova Scotia...

IIRC, he studied acting at LAMDA (London Academy of Music and the Dramatic Arts), which is probably how he wound up playing a toffee-nosed twat in Sharpe...

There was a nature series of documentaries that Anthony Stewart Head presented - his RL OH is a vet, or something, and she was involved - where celebrity couples toured somewhere talking about the wildlife.
AD and Allyson Hannigan were in one ep, that might be what you're remembering.

As a follow on from this, how good are the American accents that Brits do on tv shows? Many of them sound pretty good to me, but I'm don't know if that's because they are or because I'm not an American. How would you rate these ones?

Hugh Laurie - House
Damian Lewis - Band of Brothers
Ian McShane - Deadwood
Louise Lombard - CSI
Marianne Jean-Baptiste - Without a Trace (I think this is a bad accent)
Jamie Bamber - BSG
Matthew Rhys - Brothers and Sisters
Dominic West - The Wire
Idris Elba - The Wire
Eddie Izzard - The Riches

I'm too droonk to remember. Have I already pointed out that Huge Ackman, in this new "Australia" movie, looks disturbingly like The Man With No Name?

^^Yes you did, in another thread though.

Sunshine, Hugh Laurie and Bamber both sound pretty American. To me anyway.

Were this the Red Room, I would have you in the Biblical sense.

Hugh Laurie, definitely. There are rare moments with Jamie Bamber where the accent doesn't necessarily sneak in, but the speech cadence and emphasis is off.