Dominic Keating in CSI: New York

[Glory1863]

OK, so down below in the Sherlock Holmes thread, Mr. Smith mentioned having seen several of Mr. Keating's, shall we say, less then stellar performances. Mr. Keating was on CSI: New York last year in an episode called "Uncertainty Rules." He played a character called Rufus Knox. Yes, he was the "bad guy" as in smarmy, bad-ass multiple murderer. Now, I wouldn't call it a bad performance. In fact, I watched the first-run episode and the rerun to see him. I immediately thought that there has to be a fic that somehow pits Knox against Reed. But the thing is, what the heck was the accent he was going for for this character? Not Malcolm and not even Ian Westbury, that's for sure. It was kind of Aussie and kind of Southern and kind of I don't know. Anybody else see/hear this and have an opinion?

[Aquarius]

I saw the episode when it first run and honestly, I have no idea WTF that was supposed to be! Didn't they say the character was from Louisiana or Mississippi or something like that?

[Honeybee]

I haven't seen it - but maybe it was some sort of New Orleans accent - that's a toughie for actors. It's very odd, and A-list actors have butchered it. It's complicated by the fact that Cajun NOLA and Creole NOLA are different.

[Aquarius]

this actually sounds like a question for LadyRainbow!!

[Glory1863]

You know, Aquarius, they may well have, but I don't remember. Having transcribed for hospitals in both states for a couple years in a previous life, though, if those were the accents he was going for - Deep South Mississippi or Cajun Louisiana - he was way lost in the bayou and up to his ass in gators.

Still like to see a Reed vs Knox fic, though.

Oh yeah, I forgot about Creole, but I transcribed more Mississippi than Louisiana. Wonder if CBS has allowed that episode up anywhere on the net so Lady Rainbow could get a listen. It was just really odd.

[Mr Smith]

This is something my wife and I discuss all the time. As talented as I believe Dominic Keating to be, accents are unfortunately one thing he simply cannot do, no matter how hard he tries. They're bad but just barely passable at the best of times, to someone not familiar with the accents, like his French accent in Prison Break and his Irish accent in Heroes, but still not so stellar. The CSI: New York was by far the worst, I'm not even sure he knew what he was going for.

[Aquarius]

Oh, I totally agree that it was lost! Remember in "Broken Bow" when he was imitating Trip? The "Keep yer shirt on, loooo-tenant"? Even then he still sounded a little British to my ear!

But though I cant say with 100% certainty, I think I remember them saying wherever Rufus was from, it was swampy and Southern.

[Kathy Rose]

I remember watching the CSI episode, waiting for his character to appear. I was appalled by two things: First, how brief an appearance his character had, and then by the "less than stellar" performance, as someone else here put it. In retrospect, I can't help but wonder if part of the problem was because the character he was playing wasn't well defined or very well written. He didn't have a lot to work with.

[ladyrainbow]

Anyone have a link so I can see it?

Despite what people think, accents aren't exactly easy to do, and a lot of actors "overdo" the accent, esp. if it's Southern, Cajun or British. I wince whenever I hear someone trying to pass themselves off as any of 'em and it's so obvious they're NOT! ("I GAR-RUNT-TEE!"). Or worse, start off with one and drop it midway through the movie (Kevin Costner, anyone? )

Though I've heard British actors do a passable American accent, and Americans do a passable British one. Either way, it's harder than it looks.

When Malcolm did the "Keep your shirt on, Loo-tenant" it's obvious he's being sarcastic and not really wanting to duplicate at true Southern accent. I heard DK once with a Midwestern "neutral" accent and it was OK.

Personally, I love the Cajun accent. The previous quarterback of the Carolina Panthers football team came from breaux Bridge, LA and his accent was just charming. Not overly thick, but enough to know where he was from.

[Mr Smith]

In retrospect, I can't help but wonder if part of the problem was because the character he was playing wasn't well defined or very well written. He didn't have a lot to work with.

I believe this was probably somewhat the case, I was certainly disappointed by how little attention and development the character received, even one-shot bad guys need a little background, and in other aspects of CSI they make it a point to do just that.

I'm going to agree with Lady Rainbow on the difficulty of accents, especially those particular three. In fact, anyone not British should never be allowed to play British part, can never do it right... Well, very, very rarely.