Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2011 February 28

= February 28 =

US TV ad featuring acrobatic toddlers
The ad is for Gerber Graduates (baby food). There's obviously some computer manipulation going on in this ad, but what, specifically ? I'm guessing that they filmed adults, or at least older kids, wearing toddler outfits and doing acrobatics, then mapped toddler faces onto them. One clue is that their bodies don't look fat enough to belong to toddlers. (They look like older kid's bodies.) StuRat (talk) 00:14, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Thinking of a TV show or movie
Hello, I'm thinking of a live-action TV show or a movie, the name of which eludes me. One scene involved a stadium full of people who had fainted or fallen asleep, and there was one guy who was awake. I think he was awake because of manipulation by an evil organization. Once the effect wore off on the people in the stadium, officials watched security camera video and strained to figure out who the lone awake man was. Any help figuring out what this was would be appreciated! -- MegaGuy (talk) 08:24, 28 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Sounds like FlashForward to me. That was the last episode I saw before the break and I stopped watching it! So, I dunno what happened next...  Worm    TT   10:08, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

nothing...unfortunately, well something but nothing that made any great deal of sense/got explained...and now it's cancelled ny156uk (talk) 22:12, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Help me identify this TV programme
I saw an episode from one of the American television series dealing with the supernatural, but I cannot recall whether it was the Twilight Zone, One Step Beyond or the Outer Limits. The episode featured a young woman who was engaged to be married. Everytime she went out on horseback, she was pursued by the ghost of an angry woman on a phantom horse. She later discovers the angry woman is her future self come back warning her not to ruin her life. I cannot recall which programme I saw it on. Can anyone help me? Thank you.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 10:00, 28 February 2011 (UTC)
 * That'll be the Twilight zone episode, Spur of the Moment...   Worm    TT   10:06, 28 February 2011 (UTC)
 * That's it! Thank you very much!--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 10:19, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Stellan Skarsgard's perfect English accent?
I was just very curious about how does a Swedish person, an adult who was born in Sweden and lives most of his life in Sweden, achieve such an almost perfect English (American) accent like Stellan Skarsgard? --KpoT (talk) 16:40, 28 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Some people are better at imitating the "sound" of a language than others. Watching lots of movies perhaps, and lots of practice with his English. However, to my ear he has a very definite Swedish accent, at least in Mamma Mia. I haven't seen his more recent work. No doubt he's been practising.--Shantavira|feed me 17:15, 28 February 2011 (UTC)


 * In addition, many actors (foreign and native speakers) work with dialect coaches, in preparation and even on the set. (We also have an article on accent reduction). For a recent example, Stellan Skarsgård (and Halle Berry) worked with Tony Alcantar as their dialect coach for Frankie and Alice . ---Sluzzelin talk  18:27, 28 February 2011 (UTC)


 * But what about most foreign actors who still have a heavy noticeable foreign accent? Why can Stelan learn to sound so close to native American speaker and they cannot (ex: Schwarzenegger)? --KpoT (talk) 04:46, 1 March 2011 (UTC)
 * What about them? Your question is unclear.  Dismas |(talk) 04:49, 1 March 2011 (UTC) I see you've clarified what you were asking.  And as far as an answer goes, some people are better with imitating accents than others.  Also, Schwarzenegger may not care to try.  Dismas |(talk) 04:52, 1 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I assume Arnold Schwarzenegger didn't work too hard to change his accent for the same reason he ignored the advice to change his name - to stay memorable in the minds of the film-going public. Astronaut (talk) 12:27, 1 March 2011 (UTC)
 * He has become an object of imitation himself. An occasional character in the Simpsons has a voice that's obviously a ripoff of Schwarzy.  And in my household, whenever I want my partner to do something he doesn't particularly want to do (or vice-versa), I encourage him with a "Come on, you can do it" in faux-Schwarzenegger voice.  Works a charm most times.  --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  19:56, 1 March 2011 (UTC)


 * If they aren't able to remove their accent in a credible way, a more ambitious production will probably not cast them for an American, Canadian, British ... part. Luckily for those actors, there are plenty of parts where a foreign accent is desired and required. Sometimes they are cast as people from different countries than their own (and with supposedly different accents too). What people say about Sean Connery always sounding Scottish unfortunately also applies to Armin Mueller-Stahl, an actor I otherwise admire greatly: Whether he's playing a Russian military officer in The Peacemaker, a Hungarian expat in Music Box or the Prime Minister of Israel in The West Wing, he always sounds German. ---Sluzzelin talk  04:58, 1 March 2011 (UTC)


 * As Shantavira said, his English doesn't sound perfect to me; I don't know what he was supposed to be in Mamma Mia, but in Good Will Hunting, was he supposed to be American? I always thought he ended up sounding kind of French. Adam Bishop (talk) 22:06, 1 March 2011 (UTC)
 * He sounds very American in Dogville... --KpoT (talk) 17:11, 2 March 2011 (UTC)


 * According to the article on Mamma Mia! his character Bill Andersson was supposed to be Swedish. The character in Good Will Hunting is named Gerald Lambeau, so he possibly was supposed to be a native francophone. (Which doesn't mean his accent has to sound quite like Luc Teyssier's in French Kiss :-) He orders a Perrier, and Robin Williams's character comments "That's French for club soda." I've seen interviews with Skarsgård where he speaks English with a Swedish accent. Maybe this is the most natural way for him to speak, and sounding as American as possible would feel fake to him. It can also be strenuous to sound like a native speaker at that high level for, say, half an hour. A lapse in concentration can make you slip, particularly when it comes to speech melody. That's one of the reasons dialect coaches are often present on the set. ---Sluzzelin  talk  17:43, 2 March 2011 (UTC)