Dialect coach

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A dialect coach (originally "dialogue coaches") assists an actor in assuming a certain regional accent in order to perform convincingly in radio, theatrical or film productions. Dialect coaches are skilled in diction and linguistics, and do not necessarily have to have the accent that they are teaching.

To prepare for his role as a ruthless Russian-born arms dealer in Lord of War, Nicolas Cage worked with Russian Dialect Coach Sophia Lansky. Renée Zellweger has used such a coach in numerous films, most famously for her eponymous role in Bridget Jones's Diary.^[1]; Likewise, Brad Pitt enlisted the help of a dialect coach (Belfast dialect coach Brendan Gunn) in his role as the Irishman Mickey in the movie Snatch.^[2]

1 Famous dialect coaches
2 Notes

[edit] Famous dialect coaches

[edit] Andrew Jack

British-born, his resume includes films such as Chaplin (Cockney, to Received English, with American-influence and then Swiss-influence), GoldenEye (British and Russian accents), and the epic The Lord of the Rings, his most impressive endeavor, which combined various British accents and altered them to reflect fictional accents of Middle-earth, as well as the fictional languages of Elvish and Black Speech.^[3]

[edit] Sophia Lansky

Miss Lansky has worked as a Dialect Coach, a Russian Dialect coach and cultural consultant on many films, and contributed authentic flair and flavor to such films as Lord Of War, Serenity, Ronin, Air Force One and many more, as well as numerous TV series and specials. She just finished working on a feature film "The Funeral Party", in which she coached one actor who spoke no English to speak and act in English phonetically, while at the same time coaching an American actress to speak Russian phonetically. This was only accomplished once to such extent in recent film history, when Antonio Banderas was taught all his lines phonetically for The Mambo Kings. (Miss Lansky's IMDB profile)

[edit] Brendan Gunn

Brendan Gunn is a Belfast born dialect coach who has worked extensively on Irish Films as well as many films worldwide. Brendan has worked with actors such as Brad Pitt (The Devils Own,Snatch), Daniel Day Lewis (In The Name of the Father), Robert De Niro (The Bridge of San Luis Rey) and Cate Blanchett (Veronica Guerin). Brendan is also an accomplished Irish traditional musician, martial artist and writer.