While his acting was fine, I found it unusual for Hollywood to cast such a person in a lead role.
When such a person is cast you really have to struggle to cut through the accent, it distracts you from what is being said. A poor choice in my view.
It is an affect of diversification in Hollywood, not that that is a bad thing, but sometimes it overrides common sense.
I hope that this doesn't sound rude, because it really isn't my intent, but the more one accustoms themselves to different accents the easier it becomes to understand them. While I understand your complaint, I liked the fact that they used actors from different backgrounds instead of just using over exaggerated cheesy accents for the most part.
shareYeah, it seems like I've spent my entire life around people with thick accents, even now half my co-workers are speaking English as a second language. So having a leading man with an accent seemed totally normal to me, it hadn't registered as unusual until I read this thread.
But then, Disney is deliberately diversifying the Star Wars casting, because they want every human being on Earth to come to these movies. They want every kid in the Spanish-speaking world demanding light saber toys, hell, they want to sell little bendy stormtroopers to Mongolian nomads!
Common sense. Hmm.
The filmmakers didn’t want Diego to hide his real accent. Although it would probably be hard for him to sound “acceptable” to some English speakers even if attempted to, the point is Star Wars characters come from all over the galaxy and will look and sound different. I know certain viewers that have superficial issues with Rogue One will be against that, but seriously.
I get it if one has a problem understanding him, but his casting shouldn’t be unusual. Diego was well-casted.
I disagree..for a side character accent is fine, but for someone with so many lines it is not. The original Star Wars had everyone in a major role speaking perfect Californian English (Except Sir Obi Won who just spoke perfect English), the side characters had the accents.
An accent is something actors (used to be?) aware of and tried to get correct (unless it was in the character). Arnold Swartz and Mel Gibson's accent were so bad they were was dubbed in their early movies. But they worked on it.
A actor with so many lines MUST be understood. Maybe they will come out with a dubbed version.
I found the accent fine, and it in no way hindered the intelligibility of Luna's lines. Different ears for different queers, I suppose.
shareIt is not that it is intelligible, but the brain has to register that there is a accent...thus spending more energy on comprehension, kind of like a ship on ruff waters...where as the Luke, Han and Leia speak... it is smooth sailing.
I think accents are more accepted now than the past. It might be un-p.c. to tell an actor to work on getting rid of it. In the new Star Trek the lead female actor ( an Asian captain) has a accent so thick that it is really hard to understand her.
If I had a role as a Spanish actor, I would want to speak the language so well that there would be no hint that I learned it in my adult years.
I had no problem understanding him. Never heard of this as an issue before.
shareDidn't mind the accent as much as I minded the fact the Star Wars universe still has certain accents. like what year is it supposed to be ? 5504 ?
Yet chief speaks with a mexican accent, lead actress is sportin' some kinda brit , etc.
shouldn't their accents be completely different than what exists today ?!
People thousands of years from now would be completely unintelligible to us and they would have endless new concepts which we wouldn't even know about now.
I always had the impression, though, that Star Wars did not take place in our world, with the Earth and the Milky Way and all that. It's more like a fantasy story in a fantasy world. Therefore the use of English is just a representation of their common language and there's nothing odd about having different accents in that world.
i wonder what a Jedha accent would sound like. would it be similar to italian you think?
shareI always had the impression, though, that Star Wars did not take place in our world, with the Earth and the Milky Way and all that.
"like what year is it supposed to be ? 5504 ?"
5504 BC maybe. Star Wars is set in the past, not the future:
"A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...."
You just sound like a sheltered dude who isn't used to hearing anything but 'Murican or Brit English. Luna does not need to be dubbed for people who aren't as sheltered as you are.
shareHe was fine.
shareI think sometimes people who make silly comments like this need to take a long hard look at themselves as ask themselves 'you know what...maybe the problem is me'.
Because I have never seen a comment anywhere about the characters accent being an issue.
"I think sometimes people who make silly comments like this need to take a long hard look at themselves as ask themselves 'you know what...maybe the problem is me'."
Thank you. Seems like the guy just doesn't deal with anyone with an accent on a regular basis (friends, coworkers, passerby etc.) So he feels his WASPY existence threatened with a Mexican accent that is not hard to understand.
Jesus pal no need for trolling personal attacks! Ryker huh...seems that even the Klingons in the Next-Generation spoke better English than Luna, in fact Worf sounds almost Shakespearean in comparison. In that show there are hardly ANY accents (besides pure alien)
Listen, I am a huge fan of Star Trek and IDIC and diversity, but if you are given a plum multi-million dollar roll as a actor and you are speaking ENGLISH.....Put some work in with a English coach and get rid of you accent! Mel Gibson, Arnold S., Sean Connery could give Luna references.
It used to be a matter of pride, but I think Disney had $$$ in mind..a poster opined earlier that it was a siren song to Hispanic/Spanish worldwide viewers and to increase Star Wars base. (But he died in the end soo...)
"Listen, I am a huge fan of Star Trek and IDIC and diversity, but..."
Reminds me of I'm not racist but...
As you approach middle age your hearing is not as good as it used to be. Background noises cloud what is being said, accents make the problem worse.
Disney obviously knew of the actors accent and were fine with it. It is a odd choice, how many movies does the lead actor have a accent? Maybe 5%? If that.
It seems that Disney wanted to go with an 'international flavor' to the rebels. Movie making is a international business and wanted to include all races in it, good for ticket sales. However, if look closely all actors in the Empire are...white males. After they tested the Death Stars weapon, they cut to a scene inside the Death Star, no fewer than a dozen middle aged white men were congratulating each other, nobody from another race.
It seems Disney only feels safe making white men the villain. I guess they don't want to be called racist online.
Diego Luna was great as Cassian his accent is fine happy he is leading his own series
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