The trailer for an upcoming film has been subjected to widespread ridicule on social media and beyond for its Irish accents.
The trailer for Wild Mountain Thyme was released on 10 November and stars Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada, The Girl on the Train) and Jamie Dornan (Fifty Shades of Grey, The Fall) in the leading roles.
However, critics were quick to comment on the actors’ Irish accents on social media.
“There’s fashion police, grammar police, we even have airport police,” said Dublin Airport. “Is there such a thing as accent police? If so, somebody better call ‘em. On the upside, Ireland looks nice.”
“Even we think this is a bit much,” the Irish Leprechaun Museum, which celebrates Irish Folklore, tweeted in response to the trailer.
Bestselling Irish author Marian Keyes was also unimpressed.
“Seriously…… this is a CRIME,” she tweeted.
While Blunt is from England, Dornan was born in Holywood, Northern Ireland, and grew up in Belfast. Bizarrely, his accent was still branded the worst on Twitter, with some critics speculating that it outdoes Tom Cruises’ in Far and Away as the worst Irish accent to be featured in a movie.
The film is directed by John Patrick Shanley and is based on his play Outside Mullingar. It ran for 61 performances on Broadway and was nominated for a Tony Award in 2014.
Brendan Shanley, the filmmaker’s cousin, has defended the film.
“How can you make a judgment on someone’s tone in a trailer?” he said to the Sunday Times. “It’s taken out of context. On a film trailer, you will get different accents because that’s the mood of [a particular] line. But if you listen for the entire film it will settle, and be different.”
The movie is set in rural Ireland is a romance combined with a family argument over a farm. Rosemary (Emily Blunt) is trying to win the affections of her neighbour Anthony (Jamie Dornan), while his father Tony (Christopher Walken) plans to sell the family farm to his nephew Adam (Jon Hamm).
It is set to be released on 11 December.
Words by Ellen Leslie
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