Question about casting a certain ethnic group.

H

harmonica44

I am wanting to direct my own film. It's an micro budget action suspense thriller and the story is set in Montreal, Canada, mostly because of some of the culture, that fits the criminals and types of organizations that could exist there.

Now I don't live anywhere near Montreal and can't afford to travel there to film the movie, so I will have to shoot locally and fake the locations, as best I can. I live in Saskatoon, Canada. However, I will have to hire actors here, and most people here, are white which is okay, but the accents are totally different. Now in The Hunt For Red October, almost none of the Russian characters had Russian accents. In Valkyrie, almost none of the Germans had German accents. However those movies had big names and big production values.

Would a newcomer making his first feature, still be able to produce the same effect? Nobody minded that the characters accents were totally fake in a big production but will it come off as amateur for a newcomer, to most critics, producers, and distributors?
 
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I think you will need to use accents to differentiate between groups of people. In Valkyrie it wasn't such a problem (although the whole things was a mess) because all the characters were German, but just speaking English.

If, however, half your characters are Canadian and half are Russian then it will sound odd to have them all speaking with Canadian accents.

When auditioning actors simply ask whether they can do a passable Russian accent. Most of them should be able to do something and, in this case, you should look closely at hiring those who can do the best ones.
 
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No, I was just using Hunt for Red October as an example. Sorry for the confusion. I was just asking about the concept in general. What I mean is, since it is set in Montreal everyone will be of French speaking. So the only ethnic group is the French Canadian Montreal scene. But is it okay if everyone speaks English, without French accents? I might be able to find a few french accent actors here, but hardly any. I could look for actors that could fake it, but that might come off sounding more bad than good of course.
 
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so
the STORY is set in a FRENCH speaking area. (Quebec)

Your filming in a ENGLISH speaking area (Saskatoon)

You have no access to french speaking\accented actors in Saskatoon.

is that a good recap?
 
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If all the characters are to be Quebecois then your in a tough spot. Nobody from Quebec will like your movie. Can you alter the characters to be from somewhere else, but LIVING in Quebec ?? Quebec is a pretty cosmopolitan place and that would be fitting.. maybe you can find OTHER types of accents in your area?
 
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Well the characters in the story don't belong to a specific group. We got some cops in one end, some terrorists on the other, some lawyers, etc. The terrorists themselves are from various backgrounds of people who have teamed up in a consenting cause. So they are not all one ethnic group. And of course it's not like the police are all going to be of one ethnic background. Most cops in Quebec I think are French Canadian and I haven't seen a lot of foreigners as officers when I in Montreal. So there is no reason for the plot to have the characters be from somewhere else. They have to live in Montreal to believe in why they are committing crimes. They have no reason to come from somewhere else to Montreal to do it. Neither do the other characters.
 
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It would be a different movie, but it sounds like you're stuck with what you have. Could you adapt the screenplay to the head cop being from Montreal (now you just need one good actor to pull off the part), but the story is set in your area?

As crazy as it sounds, a thriller like this would be something new. Like Fargo meets 24 - or something like that.

Just throwing an idea in the pile.
 
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Yeah that's true. Will it be any harder to distribute the movie to the U.S., rather than my own country? I would also like to do well in Canada to, especially if it does not do well in the U.S.. The thing is that the terrorists have to be from Montreal and be living there. I can't think of a reason terrorists will wanna attack my local city, instead of a more main city, that has more of a political social reason, pertaining to their motivation, to be attacked. So I feel I have to set it there for political cultural reasons.
 
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harmonica44 said:
Yeah that's true. Will it be any harder to distribute the movie to the U.S., rather than my own country? I would also like to do well in Canada to, especially if it does not do well in the U.S.. The thing is that the terrorists have to be from Montreal and be living there. I can't think of a reason terrorists will wanna attack my local city, instead of a more main city, that has more of a political social reason, pertaining to their motivation, to be attacked. So I feel I have to set it there for political cultural reasons.
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Part of Terrorism 101 is making the everyday person feel vulnerable, so all bets are off deciding what makes crazy people do what they do.

Imagine the reaction in Montreal if your location was targeted? Just more thoughts in the pile.

Remember, Jaws was located where shark attacks are not common.
 
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Can you keep the same concept, but rewrite the plot? Okay, so the target is a big city, but what if the terrorist is from a small town? And through some whatever circumstances, our small-town hero finds themselves in a strangely particular position to foil the operation before it goes big-time?

Obviously, I'm not sure if that kind of thing would work for you. I'm just thinking aloud. I can tell you this, however -- if I'm writing something that I'm going to shoot myself, I write only what I know I can successfully pull off.
 
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harmonica44 said:
I am wanting to direct my own film.
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Then do what you want, with the accents.

There's no one standard.

Judgement at Nuremberg had fairly light german accents, spoken in English.

Hogan's Hero's tv show had ridiculous stereotypes for several countries. Ditto 'Allo 'Allo.

Fargo used regional accents to great effect.

Robin Hood (with Kevin Costner) was just stupid not-even-try accents.

I just wrapped a short film set in Maine, in which everyone had rehearsed their extremely local accents for weeks beforehand. One of the leads was from Ireland - couldn't tell. (though he had one hell of a lisp :lol:)

Figure out what you want for your film, then make it happen to the best of your ability. Are you going to get 100% of what you need on a micro-budget? Probably not... but it won't be for lack of trying.

Got vision?
 
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How about they originally set out to target Montreal - something goes wrong = settle for plan B - do shit in a smaller city before the Mounties get them...

Problem solved - and will play as far as your story goes... in fact it raises the stakes immediately as they are operating under a 'ticking' bomb type of scenerio - actual or otherwise ;-)

All the best, Jim.
 
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I can’t speak for the movie-going public, but for my personal enjoyment of your movie, I’d say drop the accents.

I’m British and slightly ignorant in regard to Canada. I did know that Montreal was French speaking, but if I were watching your movie, set in Montreal and everybody was speaking English with Canadian accents, I wouldn’t question it.

However, if people were speaking English with dodgy French accents, I’d probably be a little concerned...
 
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Jamster said:
How about they originally set out to target Montreal - something goes wrong = settle for plan B - do shit in a smaller city before the Mounties get them...

Problem solved - and will play as far as your story goes... in fact it raises the stakes immediately as they are operating under a 'ticking' bomb type of scenerio - actual or otherwise ;-)

All the best, Jim.
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Well you don't often here of terrorists striking somewhere just because they couldn't afford to strike where they want. I mean Al Quada never said to themselves, "America is too risky to attack, how about we go after say... The Netherlands instead?". It seems from real life stories they would much rather attack the place they wanna hurt, rather than another place where their point will not come across, just because they are angry. But I guess it could work. It really does make more sense for Montreal for other reasons too. I mean since it's a much bigger city that will make the villains much more difficult to find among the population. And therefore have more of a movie.

I have found a number of actors who believe they could fake the accent. I myself am not sure of telling the difference between a real Quebec accent and a fake one. Some movies go down the fake accent route, but is that a risky one, since it can result in coming off fake? Or would it come off as more real to most people who aren't from Quebec?
 
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harmonica44 said:
Well you don't often here of terrorists striking somewhere just because they couldn't afford to strike where they want. I mean Al Quada never said to themselves, "America is too risky to attack, how about we go after say... The Netherlands instead?". .......
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Hey, don't give the terrorists any ideas!
I don't want terrorism in The Netherlands...

On topic:

Are the terrorists after killing certain people? Derailing public life? Or d they want to hurt the infrastructure of society?
Maybe there's an important internet-hub in Quebec? ;)

Or: use your locations cleverly. Shoot exteriors in Montreal to glue scenes together, but shoot your actors where you are.
Or: find a crewmember in Montreal where you can stay during shooting.
 
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Hunt for Red October might not be your best example here - the Russians in that film start out by speaking Russian, then there is some sort of transition to English instead of just subtitling the whole thing.

It's an important nuance because later it becomes evident that not all of the Russians can speak English. :)

OTOH; that might be the best bet for you. Start them off in their actual language, then just "transition" early on and call it done.

Dunno. I hear those Quebecois (sp?) are pretty insistent about their Frenchness. :lol:
 
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WalterB said:
Hey, don't give the terrorists any ideas!
I don't want terrorism in The Netherlands...

On topic:

Are the terrorists after killing certain people? Derailing public life? Or d they want to hurt the infrastructure of society?
Maybe there's an important internet-hub in Quebec? ;)

Or: use your locations cleverly. Shoot exteriors in Montreal to glue scenes together, but shoot your actors where you are.
Or: find a crewmember in Montreal where you can stay during shooting.
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I don't know if I can afford to shoot in Montreal aside from some establishing shots. Even those shots I might have to get from library footage or something. I hope not but I don't know if I can afford a trip to Montreal with everything else. The terrorists have a very original reason for their acts and it's part of the surprise twist, but it's more along the lines of hurting the infrastructure in that area.
 
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H, just a brainstorm, no sweat.

I was trying to give you a possible solution to the problem raised.

If a bunch of bad guys plans were suddenly changed and they had to rush off elsewhere, knowing they're going to kill themselves anyhow - it would be the next best thing - and make your sp play.

Anyhow, as I say all's good in a brainstorm - all the best whichever way you decide to resolve it, Jim.
 
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