My only thought when I returned home from Ireland was “I need to rewatch Far and Away.” Which sounds like a poor take-away from a travel abroad: watch an old American movie about a foreign country. My reasoning though is not what you are probably thinking. Sure, I wanted to see some of the land I just visited. But mainly, I was interested in the accents.

Let me refresh your memory if need be. Far and Away is a 1992 film directed by Ron Howard. It starred the then freshly minted power Hollywood couple Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. It is about two Irish immigrants leaving the Emerald Isle in 1892 to own their own land in America. It takes them until 1893 to reach their destination – in their time. In our time, it takes about 2 hours until they plant their flag firmly in Oklahoma soil and stake their claim. Don’t cry SPOILER ALERT on me. The movie is 33 years old. If I ruined the end for you, well, that’s on you.

I should point out, despite the tone of this post, I still like the movie.

Now that we’re caught up, let me also remind you that one of the biggest critiques of the film was the accents. Mainly Cruise’s attempt but even Kidman’s received flak. While doing some research for this post, I read one interview that called it their “oirish” accents.

Now, I am not claiming to be an expert in any shape or form. But even I noticed it with Kidman’s first line of dialogue. She pronounced the “th” sound. In my short time on the island, I never heard a native say the “th” sound. Thirty was “tirty” three was “tree.” Granted, I only had a chance to hear from very few Irish speakers. But I did pick up on that much. When I watched the movie at home and heard that sound even I became a bit of a linguistic snob.

Which makes the whole reason I watched it even funnier.

For some reason, I have stored in my database brain, a promo interview of Cruise from way back in 1992. Why I remember this and not useful stuff is a mystery to me but I do. I can’t remember which of the entertainment new shows it was on and I couldn’t find it anywhere online. So, maybe it isn’t all that accurate. I kind of hope it isn’t. This is the gist of what I remember:

Interviewer: (gushing) what a great film!

TC: thank you

Interviewer: and those accents! (gush, gush, gush) Was it tough to master the Irish accent?

TC: we had a coach and worked on it.

— Up to this point, I don’t really remember the exact exchange. But it was something like this. Of course, lots of gushing. It all led up to this next question, which is the part I remember fairly well —-

Interviewer: it must have been easier for Nicole since she already has an accent, right?

TC: (stares at the interviewer in disbelief) no, she had to learn the Irish accent as well.

And scene!

To recap, the interviewer thought it would be easier for Nicole Kidman to pick up the Irish accent because she already speaks with an accent. Kidman is from Australia. She has an Australian accent. Australia. Au-stra-lia. Ireland and Australia are about 10,700 miles apart from each other.

When I think of this, I sometimes wonder how that interviewer is doing. Is she making it in life? Is she figuring things out? Is she okay?

Glad I don’t speak with a funny accent.