Nicholas Cage: Where's the NY Accent?!

Rating: 4/10 (12 August 2006)

Typically, when actors are portraying a real person, they study mannerisms, get the vocal style down, find the individual "shine" in the person (as Philip Seymour Hoffmann did masterfully in "Capote")...did Nicholas Cage not work with a dialect coach? Did he meet the real John McLoughlin? He couldn't sustain a NY accent to save his life...it was extremely noticeable. When he did try to speak with an accent, it sounded like a bad New England accent....True, this is a Hollywood film, but since the premise of the movie is the real story of two men's lives, couldn't we get a bit closer to being real? Maybe they should have gotten James Gandolfini! In a film where the majority of personality is emitted via conversation (and flashbacks), perhaps authenticity on one level (vocal) is better than authenticity in another (appearance)...we don't know that John McLoughlin is tall and thin with a mustache--but we DO know he was a 21 year Port Authority vet with a NY accent....