Harrison Ford Says the Accent Isn't on the Russian Accent with 'K-19'

June 18, 2002
zap2it.com
by Vanessa Sibbald

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - For his new film, "K-19: The Widowmaker," Harrison Ford plays a Russian submarine captain in charge of a brand new ship armed with nuclear missiles.

Ford tells Zap2it.com that he didn't find speaking in a Russian accent "so difficult" -- however, it makes it easier that he wasn't aiming for complete authenticity.

"If it was completely authentic, they would be speaking Russian," quips "K-19's" director Kathyrn Bigelow, whose previous movies include "Near Dark," "Point Break" and "Strange Days."

Instead of spending too much time worrying about making the accents precisely right, Bigelow strove to color the film with an overall Russian feel.

"In order not to have a completely subtitled movie, which was not something that I found inconceivable but perhaps on this scale it was, I wanted to - like the production design, like everything else - create a coloration," she explains. "We basically developed what we familiarly call 'K-19 speak.'"

The idea was to keep the actors focused on the scene instead of how to say the scene, keeping the flow of conversation easy.
"I wanted them to have a grace and an ease with which they spoke but yet have a slight coloration," she adds.

This isn't the first time the question of how to do a Russian accent has been debated on film. In 1990's "The Hunt for Red October," director John McTiernan decided to open the film with the actors on the Russian submarine Red October speaking Russian, and then switching early on to English through the use of a camera devise. For the rest of the film, Sean Connery barely attempts to cover up his Scottish accent as the Russian captain, Marko Ramius.

For "K-19," Ford says there was also a debate on whether or not to use Russian accents at all.

"There was some question of whether or not we should be doing an accent and I thought it would help remind us always that we were in a Russian context," he tells Zap2it.com. "One of the more important things to do in this film was to maintain a Russian point of view -- and not for the purposes of commentary or temporary pleasure."

"Besides which, I had an Irish co-star, real Russians on the crew, actors from England, actors from America -- I think it helped unify the whole sound," he adds.

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