Peaky Blinders wrapped up last year but the Cillian Murphy-led series left a lot of memories with the cast. The most notable among all was the accent that became the highlight of the series. Murphy once elaborated, as per The Independent, that he had to master a Birmingham accent, which was no child’s play.
But, his co-star, Sam Neill (Jurassic Park), who played Chester Campbell, had accent problems of his own, reported The Irish News in 2016, the year in which season 3 was rolled out. He appeared on The Graham Norton Show, as per the report, and he talked about his own take on the Northern Irish accent.
Neill, belonging to New Zealand, revealed that he had to contact one actor who hailed from Northern Ireland – Liam Neeson (Taken) to coach him on the Irish accent.
As it turned out, his plan backfired as it wasn’t just Neeson that he went to, but also the actor’s co-star in Five Minutes of Heaven (2009), James Nesbitt. The actors, as he recalled, had completely different accents; he didn’t know which way to go.
Sam Neill’s Peaky Blinders Accent Lessons Backfired
The Irish News mentioned in their report that Neill’s Belfast accent did not impress the audience of Peaky Blinders, the reason for which he elaborated on Graham Norton’s show.
Neill noted that, despite being born in Northern Ireland, he couldn’t get the hang of it after spending most of his life in New Zealand. Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt’s help made things worse.
“I got a couple of lessons from them, which was great but they were brought up just 10 miles from each other and speak with completely different voices, so I thought I would just relax and do my own thing.”
Neeson and Nesbitt grew up in Ballymena County and the former once appeared on Conan O’Brien’s talk show and showcased his Irish accent.
Take a look –
Sam Neill Found Peaky Blinders’ Accent Challenging
In an interview with BBC in 2012, Sam Neill touched on the subject of his accent and said that the Irish accent is challenging to learn, and once learned, it’s hard to let go. As Peaky Blinders was heavily marketed in North America, the producers asked the actor to tone down the accent.
He said —
“They [Producers] said not to have too strong an accent because we need to be understood, but the Northern Ireland accent is very challenging. I probably had one, but it was well beaten out of me in the playground in New Zealand, there’s not a trace of it now.”
Neill recently reprised his role as Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic World Dominion last year alongside his former co-star, Jeff Goldblum.
Peaky Blinders is streaming on Netflix.
Source: The Irish News, BBC
