It’s an accent, Jim, but not as we know it!
‘Scotty’ taken down a Pegg for his acting
IN the history of cinema and television, the Scottish accent has been mangled beyond recognition countless times.
But a candidate for the worst attempt has emerged in the latest instalment of the Star Trek blockbusters: Simon Pegg, who plays Scotty.
Pegg has appeared as USS Enterprise chief engineer Scotty – full name James Montgomery Scott – in the previous two movies in the franchise and is reprising the role in the third film, Star Trek Beyond, which he has also co-written.
This has given the English actor and comedian a chance to bolster Scotty’s role in proceedings – but unfortunately it also means fans have to put up with his risible efforts to sound Scottish.
Fans who have viewed the movie, released yesterday, or online clips, have poured scorn on the appalling pseudo-Caledonian twang in the £141million film, directed by Justin Lin.
Chardee MacDennis said on Twitter: ‘I love Simon Pegg and genuinely think he can’t do much wrong… except for when he tries to do a Scottish accent. Sad at how bad it is.’
Scott Thomson said simply: ‘Wow! Could Simon Pegg’s accent be any worse? Worst casting ever.’
Lee McGonagle said many critics had focused on the controversy of the portrayal of Sulu, the starship’s helmsman, as a gay man with a husband and son – missing the true scandal of Pegg’s poor Scots accent.
He said: ‘All this chat about Sulu being gay when the real issue is Simon Pegg’s attempt at a Scottish accent.’
Sean Campbell said the ‘only bad thing’ about the new movie was Pegg and the ‘worst Scottish accent ever!’
A Twitter user called @paisleybuchan said: ‘Don’t get me wrong I love Simon Pegg but his Scottish accent makes me, well, sad…’
Another tweeter asked ‘where did Simon Pegg get his Scottish accent from?... Brigadoon and Greyfriars Bobby?’
Critics have also drawn attention to the problem – the Mail’s own reviewer Brian Viner said Pegg had ‘shamelessly beefed up his own role as Scotty, or rather Aberdeen Angus-ed it up, with so many “hoots mon” colloquialisms that you can’t help noticing the flaws in his accent’.
Chris Newbould, a reviewer for The National, a newspaper based in the United Arab Emirates, said: ‘Pegg’s terrible fauxScottish accent as chief engineer Scotty – this time around saying “lassie” every 47 seconds – does begin to grate.’
Geoffrey McNab in The Independent said Pegg’s ‘Scottish accent… makes him sound like
‘Terrible accent begins to grate’
Harry Lauder’, the Scottish music hall star famous for his song I Love A Lassie.
Pegg, the son of a civil servant and a musician, started acting at 15, had a hit comedy TV series with Spaced by the age of 29, and at 35 married his Scottish girlfriend Maureen, from East Kilbride, Lanarkshire.
Ironically, in a 2009 interview, following the release of the first rebooted Star Trek movie in which he appeared, the 46-yearold actor said: ‘Obviously, it’s important to me that the Scottish audience accept me as Scottish. Also, half my family are Scottish and I want to be able to go there now and again without being booed.’
He added that he had received tips on the accent from Tommy Gormley, the 2009 film’s Glaswegian first assistant director.
Pegg, of Brockworth, Gloucestershire, said: ‘I like the fact that the chief engineer of the Enterprise is Scottish.
‘Because so many great engineers and great innovators came out of Scotland it seems very fitting, culturally, that he should be from there.’
Scotty was played in the 1960s TV series by James Doohan, and he, too, was criticised for his accent, with catchphrases that memorably included ‘She cannae tak’ it nae more, Captain!’.
But the Canadian has been far from the only actor whose attempts to sound Scottish have veered off course.
In his role as freedom fighter William Wallace in Braveheart, Mel Gibson’s brogue has been voted among the worst screen accents of all time.
French actor Christopher Lambert suffered a similar backlash over his accent when he played immortal hero Connor MacLeod in 1986 fantasy epic Highlander.
The film also featured Sir Sean Connery playing an Egyptian-Spaniard with an equally wayward charm, proving at least that Scots can be accent sinners, as well as being sinned against.