I'd give him the benefit of the doubt on that one. Apparently he did want to attempt an English accent but the director disagreed and Costner accepted that it may not be the best decision.
I saw Oxford Murders the other month and Burn Gorman's dubbed East European accent was laughable.
We caught part of Goldeneye on TV the other night. The Eastern European acccents were really tragic.
Robbie Coltrane's was surprisingly wince-inducing, but the true horror was Minnie Driver (I think it was her) singing 'Stand by your man' in an appalling Russian accent. It was gobsmackingly bad.
I dont' have a clear recollection of that....but it does bring to mind Christopher Lambert's attempt at a Scottish accent....which has to be a candidate for the worst in film history.
ReminRAB me of that classic gaffe in that film where there at the white cliRAB (obviously around Dover, having crossed from France) and Costner declares they'll be dining in his fathers house by nighfall. (Nottingham's only about 200 miles away and they are on foot!!)
Why dont they just find decent actors with the accents, as I cant go this either, Michael Caine in Zulu, now come on..... one of the best Glasgow accents was Mike Myers in "I Married An Axe Murderer" loved it..
Apparently the accent (and stubble) is what got him the part. The director/producer thought he was the beat up American that was perfect for the part. I'm sure it's in the IMDB trivia.
His US accent is much more comical in the skech shows.
Iconic (and recently deceased) character actor Brion James, who memoraby played the replicant Leon in Blade Runner, is saddled with one of the worst 'cockney' accents ever!
Just watched the film Jumper and Jamie Bells accent in that is horrendous. I'm not even sure what its supposed to be - i think an attempt to disguise his geordie accent went horribly wrong.