Tom Cruise in Far Horizon (1992)
The arrival of A Distant Horizon (1992) to the Netflix film repertoire revived the controversy: the accent that Tom Cruise gave to Joseph Donnelly, the 19th-century Irish peasant who falls in love with the rich Shannon Christie -played by Nicole Kidman- was harshly criticized. "He sounds like a Hollywood film executive imagines the Irish speak," they noted on the Irish Central portal, and went further: they assured that if his Irish accent has any redeeming feature, it is that it could fall into the category of "it's so bad it's funny."
The ridicule about the work of the protagonist of Mission Impossible (2000) arose as soon as the film was released, and they were widespread. Thirteen years after that day, and after receiving a certificate of his Irish roots from the Government of that country, Cruise opened up and laughed when Ryan Tubidy asked him, on The Late Late Show, how was the Irish accent of he. "Very good," he replied. Plus, he was amused when the host alluded to his work on Minority Report with Colin Farrell. “He didn't give you any advice on the Irish accent? It would be something useful these days," Tubidy said, drawing laughter from the Hollywood star.
Lady Gaga at The Gucci House (2021)
To put herself in the body of Patrizia Reggiani, Lady Gaga adopted a Northern Italian accent for nine months. She was so focused on grooming her character to perfection that she changed the way she talked about her even when the cameras weren't on.
However, her effort was not enough: since La Casa Gucci (2021) came to light, critics questioned her performance. Even the coach who worked on the film that tells the story of the murder of the heir to the fashion house aired her opinion on the work of the Oscar winner for best actress for A Star Is Born (2018). “I feel bad for saying this, but her accent isn't exactly an Italian accent. It sounds more Russian," Francesca De Martini confessed to The Daily Beast.
The one who came out to defend the singer was Ridley Scott, director of the film. The Briton said Gaga's accent was "absolutely perfect" and that her portrayal of the woman who hired a hit man to kill her ex-husband Maurizio Gucci "was deeply Italian the whole time." "She had the lilt of an Italian accent," Scott told Vanity Fair. “She had the rhythm of an Italian accent. Her accent is not Russian. The same as Al (Pacino) and Jared (Leto). They all had the rhythm of an Italian accent, ”he assured. For her part, Gaga assured that the subject generated excessive attention.
“To be honest, I feel like it's gotten pretty sensationalized all this from working on my accent for so long and being in character for so long. I think it would have been worse if I hadn't practiced it so much. It would have been harder for me to get in and out of character on set than to stay on it,” she also told the New York Times.
