Pierce Brosnan, who was born in Drogheda, Co Louth and raised in Navan, Co Meath before moving abroad in his teens, is drawing some criticism for his Irish accent in the new Paramount+ series "MobLand."
In the show, Brosnan, who is now based in California, stars as Conrad Harrigan, "the head of a very successful Irish crime family based out of London."
He's joined by Helen Mirren, who plays his Irish wife Maeve, and Tom Hardy, who plays Conrad's 'fixer' Harry DeSouza.
While the crime series is enjoying strong viewership figures - Paramount+ said on Thursday that the global premiere delivered 8.8 million viewers in its first seven days - some critics are 'distracted' by Brosnan's Irish accent.
Writing for ScreenRant, Bill Dubiel criticizes both Brosnan and Mirren's Irish accents, describing them as "distracting" and "exaggerated."
Maddy Mussen wrote for The Standard: "While it’s great fun to see Brosnan on screen in this kind of role, his rogue Irish accent (which gets even more rogue when you remember Brosnan is actually Irish himself) proves to be quite the distraction and any real threat he poses is completely obscured by the way he insists on rolling his r’s with each sentence."
On social media, one viewer wrote: "Pierce Brosnan seems to have forgotten his hiberno English."
"Watching Mobland and Pierce Brosnan’s accent is doing laps of the entire country," another said. "Man’s gone from Cork to Dublin and back to Kerry mid-sentence."
"Considering he’s Irish, Pierce Brosnan’s attempt at an Irish accent can only be described as f--king offensive," another posted.
However, Brosnan's "MobLand" co-star, Co Westmeath native Lisa Dwan, doesn't agree with the criticism.
“Well, I'm Irish and I knew immediately he was doing a Kerry accent, which is west of Ireland," she told Parade.
“I knew exactly who he was modeling the character on. I could hear it. So to me, it sounded quite authentic.”
She added: "I think it really works with Conrad's violence and kind of raw insanity to have almost a comedic Irish accent. I think it actually is a really good foil."
As it happens, Brosnan explained ahead of the show's debut that he was indeed using a Kerry accent (or at least, attempting to.)
Speaking on the March 28 episode of The Dave Moore Podcast, Brosnan said: "Last summer, I spoke to Guy [Ritchie, executive producer] for the first time about it and had he read the five episodes, and I started talking about the character and he said, 'Listen, don't worry about it. We'll just - 15 minutes on the day. Put it out of your mind, we'll sort it out. Don't worry about it.'
"And, of course, I put the phone down and did worry about it, as you do, because you have to prepare.
"And then literally, five weeks later, I was on the set.
"Tom Hardy, Guy. First day, big scene, three pages, important dialogue, important information, and he [Ritchie] just said 'Go Irish. More Irish, more Irish, more Irish.'
"And my Irish accent has kind of dissipated into the mists of time, somewhat, California, and everything.
"So I thought, what kind of accent would he have?
"Kerry.
"Kerry, Kerry, Kerry has a lovely singsong lilt to it, and has a bite to it, and has a sense of humor to it, but it can be very hard and grab you by the throat in the hands of Conrad.
"It gave me the character.
"So, it was literally 15 minutes before shooting that he became more Irish.
"And that's how Conrad Harrigan was born, really."
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