6 times Hollywood did a proper South African accent

Rosamund Pike’s South African accent in Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is, genuinely, excellent. If you haven’t seen it yet, you’ll find it on DStv.

Anyway, it’s so good it sent us down rabbit hole.

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Who else in Hollywood has actually nailed this notoriously tricky accent?

BEST SOUTH AFRICAN ACCENT

Using nothing more scientific than the inner ear, here’s our interpretation of the best South African accent portrayed in Hollywood over the years.

Some are eerily accurate. Some are so over the top they go above and beyond parody …

1. MATT DAMON IN INVICTUS (2009)

Damon worked on the dialect as much as he did on his physique to play a credible Francois Pienaar. Image: File

Oscar-winner Matt Damon spent six months with a dialect coach to play Springbok captain Francois Pienaar.

He reportedly took every opportunity to speak to South African crew to iron out the kinks on set, too.

And by his own account, the hardest part wasn’t the accent itself but resisting the urge to overdo it.

“A lot of people do a South African accent and end up sounding like Frankenstein,” he famously said at the film’s premier.

2. THE BADDIES IN LETHAL WEAPON 2 (1989)

South Africans were a villainous bunch in this Richer Donner/Joel Silver action-comedy blockbuster. Image: File

Unmissable. Arjen Rudd, a South African diplomat laundering Krugerrands at the absolute height of apartheid, delivers one of the best baddie lines in action-movie history – ‘diplomatic immunity.’

The whole film treats its Afrikaner villains as cartoonishly evil, which, given the actual politics of the era was absolutely the correct call.

3. LEONARDO DICAPRIO IN BLOOD DIAMOND (2006)

DiCaprio left nothing on the table in his portrayal of rough diamond Danny Archer. Image: File

Yes, technically Danny Archer is Rhodesian, not South African. Rhodesian, my brew!

But listen to the vowels, listen to the ‘heys’ dropped at the end of half his sentences – absolute hilarity.

DiCaprio reportedly worked for months on the dialect, and whatever box he was technically aiming for, he landed exactly where he needed to be …

4. IDRIS ELBA IN MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM (2013)

Did Elba pull of Madiba’s iconic South African accent? Let us know in the comments below … Image: File

Elba openly struggled at first with Madiba’s iconic accent. He couldn’t grasp the Xhosa-inflected cadence of Mandela’s English until he understood where it came from.

Whatever he eventually figured out worked a treat.

Variety called his a towering performance, and by most reckonings, Elba’s Madiba efforts edged out an even bigger name who’d tackled apartheid decades earlier …

5. DENZEL WASHINGTON IN CRY FREEDOM (1987)

You probably last watched Cry Freedom in history class. But it’s totally worth a rewatch. Image: File

Denzel’s first-ever Oscar nomination came from playing anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko.

His was a quietly committed, deeply serious performance in a film that’s aged remarkably well.

His accurate black South African accent was Biko and reflected the gravitas of an important political piece of work.

Totally worth a revisit nearly 40 years on …

6. SHARLTO COPLEY IN DISTRICT 9 (2009)

The most pantomime South African accent of all time comes from a South African. Go figure. Image: File

This one’s a bit of a cheat. Copley is a Saffa, so this technically isn’t Hollywood doing a South African accent, so much as South Africa doing the accent for Hollywood.

Nevertheless, Copley’s unhinged, increasingly unravelling turn as Wikus van de Merwe is so authentically local it feels unfair to exclude him. The film that put Neill Blomkamp and South African cinema on the map.

But what do you think? Did we miss any other memorable South African accent portrayals? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below …

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