MovieChat Forums > Killer Elite (2011) Discussion > The Welshman - Dominic Purcell (Davies)

The Welshman - Dominic Purcell (Davies)

posted 13 years ago by stickymickysdicky
34 replies | jump to latest

Dear Jebus,

Dominic Purcell's "Welsh" accent in this was really bad. Fair enough if he even could pull off a half decent 'English' accent in this, but it just sounded like he was wavering in an out of an Australian accent constantly, which was a bit distracting.

I understand that his Mother is Irish, and he was born in England, but left at a very early age and grew up in Australia, before ending up in America where he makes a decent living as an actor now.

No complaints about his acting, but that accent was truly woeful.

Most likely, Americans etc won't pick up on this, but just interesting to hear what anyone from Wales / England etc though about Dominic Purcell's accent in this.

Anyhow, no big deal, as it's hardly going to be nominated for too many awards.

I know sometimes Holywood feel they need to bring in 'names' to draw a crowd to watch their movies, but surely they could have found a decent Welsh actor to play the Welsh man.

It's a shame to see Robert De Niro, an actor I would have great respect for in his earlier films taking roles in middle-of-the-road movies such as the classy titled "Killer Elite", *coughs*, but I suppose we're in the middle of a recession and what needs must etc.

[–] TheAxemanCometh 13 years ago

He wasn't trying to do a welsh accent. In the movie, when the guy at the bar was describing him to the clive Owen character, the guy said that he didn't sound Welsh. So it was established that his accent wasn't welsh, probably lying about his origins.

I thought his character was a lot of fun & I digged the accent. I'm not sure what accent he was doing anyhow, but everyone sounded different to me. I figured it was some sort of british. But I'm not from that part of the world, so I don't know what region.

~
You cannot play God then wash your hands of the things that you’ve created- Adama

[–] stickymickysdicky 13 years ago

Exactly what accent was he trying to do then? ...as he didn't sound Welsh, nor English, nor Scottish - what you referred to as "some sort of british".

Thankfully I'm not the only one who thought this:

"Prison Break's Dominic Purcell pops up as one of Statham's crew and he is very entertaining, if just for his ridiculous "welsh" accent. I still liked him despite the obvious cliches."

Source: http://www.entertainment-focus.com/film/articles/killer-elite

"It was shot in Australia, which has to double, unconvincingly, for London and Oman, and the Aussie actors slog through the numbskulled dialogue using some of the most embarrassing Scottish, Welsh and English accents I've ever heard."

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/warrior-gavin-oconnor-140-mins-12abrkiller-elite-gary-mckendry-116-mins-15-2360367.html

I know this is probably a petty point, and I'm not having a dig at Dominic Purcell. But getting back to my original point, his accent wasn't convincing to reflect where he is supposed to be from. If anything, he sounded more Australian than anything else, or at least his Australian accent kept popping out. People not being able to do convincing accents unfortunately is a common-place in Holywood movies.

[–] stickymickysdicky 13 years ago

I have to agree with this IMBD thread also:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1448755/board/thread/188844729

[–] TheAxemanCometh 13 years ago

Maybe his character was australian. We know he wasn't welsh as it was stated that he didn't have a welsh accent. The character obviously lied about being welsh. So whoever thinks his character is actually welsh is wrong.

Jason's character is supposed to be from australia, so maybe Davies is too. I'm not from australia, so I don't know the sound of their dialects either.

I liked it whatever it was. It was fun & cool. I guess you didn't.

~
You cannot play God then wash your hands of the things that you’ve created- Adama

[–] castaway666 13 years ago

Parts of the movie was filmed in Wales - Both Brecon and in Cardiff.

I'm sure the phrase "Phoney Welshman" was used which would make sense as i thought Purcells character was from Birmingham/Midlands.

I am Welsh by the way and nope doesn't sound like any regional Welsh dialect that I know.

enjoyed the movie though.

I'll give this little cookie an hour before we're doing the no-pants dance. Time to musk up.

[–] jglapin 11 years ago

Castaway,
Perhaps you could lead us in "Men of Harlich", just for old times sake.

One of my favorites.

[–] castaway666 11 years ago

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NuTaQsMNaE

it's actually Men of Harlech

I'll give this little cookie an hour before we're doing the no-pants dance. Time to musk up.

[–] kyzasoze2003 12 years ago

Maybe his character was australian. We know he wasn't welsh as it was stated that he didn't have a welsh accent. The character obviously lied about being welsh. So whoever thinks his character is actually welsh is wrong.

According to the book, The Feather Men, his character Davies is British and like the film served in the Parachute Regiment and tried out for SAS selection and failed. I take it if this really was a true story, the SAS would've probably found out who he really was.

Jason's character is supposed to be from australia

According to the book Jason's character was American of Dutch heritage (named DeVilliers). Even his girlfriend Anne is not Australian but South African. There are no Aussies in the book.

[–] rexpress99 13 years ago

He was trying to do a Welsh accent because the old ex SAS guy were saying something about finding the "phony Welshman".

[–] markosto 12 years ago

I had impression thaz his character was totally undeveloped, and it was left to Purcell to do what he cant to fill out the blanks.

[–] kmd11 12 years ago

Get over it, it's just a movie. I'm from NYC and you don't hear me crying about all the bad accents that actors pull out when portraying someone from here.

[–] thencjs 11 years ago

It was quite clear that the character was meant to be doing a bad Welsh accent which was why he was rumbled. The SAS never talk shop when socialising which another reason he raised their suspicions. In all the other scenes he seemed to be doing a not great but passable Australian accent.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (4524359) 11 years ago

"Exactly what accent was he trying to do then? ...as he didn't sound Welsh, nor English, nor Scottish - what you referred to as "some sort of british". "

He was playing a character that tried to fake a Welsh accent. The character wasn't actually Welsh.

So to answer your question, the character was trying to sound Welsh and the actor (Dominic) was trying to sound like a non-Welsh trying to speak Welsh.

[–] John_Dee_007 12 years ago

I'm Aussie and I thought his accent in this was fúcking awful. And you're right, he "sounded like he was wavering in an out of an Australian accent constantly". It certainly didn't sound anything like Welsh. I'm pretty sure he was just attempting a roughneck English accent. It's funny, I work for a theater company and I hang out at work with a lot of struggling actors who are truly brilliant at accents, yet so many bigger actors have not honed their craft enough to pull off convincing accents, and rather easy ones at that. I truly and honestly can do a much more convincing English accent than what Purcell managed. It comes pretty easy for many Australians, and a lot of English can do very convincing Aussie accents too. It's a shame because his terrible accent kept distracting me from otherwise enjoying his dialogue scenes in this film.

0118 999 881 999 119 725... 3

[–] mettallmk 12 years ago

I don't give a *beep* about his accent, his character was awesome.

De Niro and him made the movie and stole all the scenes they had.

[–] jennie331 12 years ago

Have to agree with this one! I enjoyed both De Niro & Purcell's characters in this movie more than Owen's and Statham. Didn't realized Purcell was Aussie 'till I looked him up in IMDB, didn't even recognized it was him 'till the end credits and have to re-watch the movie. He pulled off an unexpected/great performance I must say, far from his Prison Break's intense American prisoner/escapee.

[–] El_Stone 11 years ago

Yeah, I agree with you. Purcell stole every scene he was in. Most interesting character in the movie by far.

I want to see a movie where that character (not Statham's conflicted assassin) is the main character. Too bad he got trucked.

[–] intexor 12 years ago

I guess I'm glad I'm not really sure what Welsh is supposed to sound like exactly. And like the OP says, Purcell's acting is actually pretty decent in this movie. It's sad that it has to be pointed out, but he's not a very gifted actor but did very well in this one. But I understand it must be frustrating for Welsh people in particular if they didn't get the accent right.

[–] rum2550 12 years ago

"I understand that his Mother is Irish, and he was born in England, but left at a very early age and grew up in Australia, before ending up in America where he makes a decent living as an actor now."

So you have admitted that Dominic derives from some diverse background.As a result he may be having some accent problem himself. So evidently there are people like that.Why can't we simply assume that his character also has a similar background because there's nothing mentioned about his origins in this movie.
In movies like this you have to assume a lot of things.

[–] ubcool 12 years ago

purcell does have a strange accent in most things he does like blade 3 , i have no idea what accent he was doing in this though sounded part scottish/australian/london.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Cocainefarm 12 years ago

He comes from a diverse Anglo-Saxon background, so maybe that's just the way he talks.

[–] mojo_stevo 12 years ago

He was hands down my favorite character in this movie, dodgy English accent or not.

[–] popojala 8 years ago

Me too. I'm Finnish though, so don't pick up on unrealistic accents.

But I loved the character and would want to see a lot of flickcs with chraracters like that in the lead instead of the tortured soul. Lachy Hulme's Harris was also great. Prison brake was just silly network tv. I would love to see him star an action film. We need fun loving Purcell instead of hardass Statham

[–] debabrata4747 12 years ago

you leave him alone

[–] stickymickysdicky 12 years ago

by - debabrata4747 on Thu May 10 2012 08:51:40
you leave him alone

Ooooooohhhooooww, sorry, I didn't mean to make you all touchy and antsy about your BOYYYFRIENDDD!

[–] debabrata4747 12 years ago

Grrrrrrrrrr!!

[–] drew_atreides 12 years ago

Was just watching this movie last night for the first time.

I have to say i was actually stunned by how much i enjoyed Purcell's performance.

I'd only ever really seen him as heavies and then in PRISON BREAK, this was
an entirely different side to him that i'd never seen before, and to be honest
i quite enjoyed the performance.

Also, as mentioned, I think the accent he had was SUPPOSED to be terrible.

"Tide's up. Time to stay alive...."

[–] trilbynhiss 12 years ago

I can't believe there are three pages discussing this. He claimed to be Welsh at one kill zone, he obviously wasn't and he sounded Australian.

[–] kesersoze-1 12 years ago

Australian actor doing Australian accent. Who would have thought?

[–] conangirl 12 years ago

you know what? until every one kept mentioning his name? i had no idea who he was. This guy can pull off some amazing looks and to be honest, i've only seen him in one american movie. I had no idea he was australian. He was a co-star in Blade III trinity, and i never would have connected him as this "Welshman"..

some days, it's not worth chewing through the restraints..

[–] Prismark10 11 years ago

I liked his performance but no idea that was supposed to be a Welsh accent, it sounded an English accent being mixed with an Aussie one.

Its that man again!!

[–] the ninja moomin 8 years ago

Never mind the accent, can't believe no one has mentioned the amazing sideburns and moustache yet! Absolute classic!