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Well, I haven't seen that TV series, so I had no idea who Joe Caputo was until I Googled his name. Then I found this clip on YouTube so I could actually listen to the character. Warning: explicit content (but it's the first video I found with Caputo speaking, and from what I read of the series, typical for the character) ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jz74XV3duM
I've spoken US English all my life, and known people from all parts of the country. To my ears, Caputo's character sounds like an East Coast accent, probably New York. When I first heard his voice, it reminded me of a guy who did some backhoe work for me on my property. And he was from Brooklyn.
Listening to other YouTube clips, it appears that he doesn't consistantly speak in the same accent. When he's trying to cound tough, e uses it; otherwise he is unaccented.
I'd call it a "bad Hollywood" accent.
The tough-guy accent sounds a lot like "Phillitalian" to me. Philadelphia is at one end of "Joisey" and Brooklyn is at the other. It's not too far to drive between the two, and 17.9% of New Jersey is Italian.
I agree that his accent sometimes seems muddled. As for his roots, he claims the Bronx:
In an interview at The Times, Mr. Sandow, 48, spoke about his film and a character obsessed with gangster movies. Here are excerpts from that conversation.
Q. Tell me about your interest in making a movie set during this early ’90s moment in New York.
A. That was my time. I’m born and raised in the Bronx, and I’m from a similar neighborhood as Thomas. So that world was very vivid to me. I had one foot still in the Bronx and one foot in acting class. And I was on that bridge of, should I stay? And what will I be if I stay? So it just was ripe for me.
...
Actors often have to do accents and get training on them. I imagine after a few, it is hard to keep them fully distinct.
Glenn said: Actors often have to do accents and get training on them. I imagine after a few, it is hard to keep them fully distinct.
The ability to learn an accent has always amazed me. I suppose for a "professional" actor, that kind of training is routine. And with a voice coach to assist, most actors probably pick it up easily. Still, I've noticed actors falling slightly out of accent on occasion. Mel Gibson did that a few times in Passion of the Christ.
Then again, I have a good friend of Latino heritage, not an actor (a woodworker), and he can do a Scottish accent that rivals James Doohan. And he can also do an East Indian accent that makes you think you're on the phone with tech support. This guy is also an accomplished musician, so maybe it's a right-brain skill that people with trained ears are just better at.
Many years ago [44, I think] I performed in a stage production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in a small city in central New York State. I auditioned with my version of Doohan's "Scotty" accent, which got me the role, but we soon had a vocal coach from Scotland who made gagging noises when I spoke. "You got that from Star Trek, didn't you. That's such a bastard accent. Nobody actually talks like that." With her help I got it to the point that one night an old Scottish couple who stayed after the show to speak to me were astonished to discover that I was not Scottish, nor had ever been to Scotland. With tears in her eyes, the woman said, "We haven't been back there in many years. Thank you — you took us home."
tromboniator said
Many years ago [44, I think] I performed in a stage production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in a small city in central New York State.
I've heard of The Prime of Miss Jean Brody for about that long, and I have no idea what it's about, although it obviously is well-written, or it would have passed from public awareness. I've had opportunities to attend a performance, but I've always demurred, and I think it's because I always wonder if hers is a Mersenne prime; I would be crestfallen if it were not an arithmetical prime but rather a cut of beef.
Tromboniator said: Many years ago [44, I think] I performed in a stage production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in a small city in central New York State. I auditioned with my version of Doohan’s “Scotty” accent, which got me the role, but we soon had a vocal coach from Scotland who made gagging noises when I spoke. “You got that from Star Trek, didn’t you. That’s such a bastard accent. Nobody actually talks like that.” With her help I got it to the point that one night an old Scottish couple who stayed after the show to speak to me were astonished to discover that I was not Scottish, nor had ever been to Scotland. With tears in her eyes, the woman said, “We haven’t been back there in many years. Thank you — you took us home.”
Ah, well there you go. Apparently the ability to do accents is a left-brain skill, so I'm not surprised a musician would be good at it (like my Hispanic friend). Still, I suspect most of the people on this forum are more right-brained, as I am, so it's curious to find this overlap.
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