\n\tThe hottest trend in Hollywood isn\u2019t just perfecting the art of accent work anymore; it\u2019s learning a whole new language for the part. In this year\u2019s Emmy\u2019s race, a handful of actors will be able to not only submit a clip reel but also show off their ability to pick up a language they didn\u2019t know before signing onto their respective projects.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe most headline-grabbing example is, of course, the one that isn\u2019t eligible despite fan pleas. Connor Storrie went through extensive Russian dialect training just days before filming began on \u201cHeated Rivalry<\/a>\u201d Season 1 and continued mastering it as he dug into the part of fiery hockey player Ilya Rozanov. Storrie not only had to be able to transition seamlessly between accented English and Russian as Ilya\u2019s emotions got the better of him but also deliver \u2014 convincingly \u2014 a heartbreakingly vulnerable monologue in episode five entirely in perfect Russian.<\/p>\n \n\tThose make-or-break stakes in unlocking the character through a language that isn\u2019t their own are what binds the impressive dialect-dependent parts that are eligible for the Emmys<\/a>. In Peacock\u2019s spy comedy-thriller \u201cPonies<\/a>,\u201d Emilia Clarke\u2019s timid American living in Soviet-era Russia must shed her stateside nature to convince a KGB agent she is merely a schoolteacher who definitely isn\u2019t working for the CIA. Her mastery of the Russian language is what validates that story. Clarke was never fluent in Russian but rather learned her lines in it to ensure her delivery was crisp. From episode one, her character, Bea, can\u2019t show any trepidation in harnessing a second language, meaning Clarke had to, as well.<\/p>\n \n\tThat was not the case for Grace Van Patten, who had to let some of her fear about learning Italian for Hulu\u2019s \u201cThe Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox\u201d show on screen. When the real Amanda Knox was wrongly convicted of and imprisoned for the murder of her roommate while studying abroad in 2007, she wasn\u2019t fluent in Italian. Faced with any traveler\u2019s worst nightmare of a language barrier in a life-or-death situation, it fueled her need to understand the language, which, in turn, meant Patten had to learn it in real time so as not to misrepresent Knox\u2019s evolution as an Italian speaker.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWhen I was trying to figure out how she sounded to an Italian, she\u2019s speaking the language pretty perfectly by the time she\u2019s fluent and giving her appeal in court, but she still is an American,\u201d Van Patten says. \u201cEverything\u2019s not going to sound exactly how an Italian is going to sound, so I gave myself a little room to make some mistakes. She\u2019s speaking a different language with such high emotional stakes. During emotional moments, we can easily revert back to our true, authentic self, so it was important to show that.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBut Van Patten learned quickly that immersion was essential.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI started taking lessons immediately and I was Zooming with my Italian dialect coach, Daniella, every single day,\u201d she says. \u201cJust going through the basic lessons, as well as going through some of the lines we were getting. A tip she gave me that was so useful was just playing Italian movies and music constantly. So I would just have an Italian film on in the house or Italian songs playing in the background all the time. She said that really helps it kind of seep into the brain. From then, until the end of the shoot, I always had some Italian thing going on in the background, which kept me in it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhile Van Patten\u2019s life wasn\u2019t on trial like Knox\u2019s, there was no other option but to fall headlong into her training to best represent her subject\u2019s story \u2014 all with Knox watching from the sidelines as an executive producer. Knox and Van Patten grew close during the production, with the former being open and honest about what she was feeling in the moments behind the international headlines and gossip mill.<\/p>\n \n\tWhen she was finally in the thick of it, Van Patten spoke Italian to Knox, which may have been the most intimidating challenge of all. Thankfully, by that point, she was in Italy and getting the best kind of training \u2014 by osmosis.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI tried talking to her in Italian, but she\u2019s completely fluent now,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was really beautiful to watch her on set with all of the Italians just chatting away. It emboldened me to be better.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhile Van Patten promised herself she would continue her lessons after closing the book on the series, she admits that has faltered. But she still texts and talks to some of the Italian crew she met, giving her the chance to flex that muscle now and then.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI\u2019m definitely rusty, but it\u2019s not going anywhere,\u201d she says with a determined laugh. \u201cI refuse to let that go to waste.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The hottest trend in Hollywood isn\u2019t just perfecting the art of accent work anymore; it\u2019s learning a whole…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[13859,156,110172,111,139,69,42560,437],"class_list":["post-452471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-emmys","tag-entertainment","tag-heated-rivalry","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-ponies","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}