Caspian’s Accent Changed for Dawn Treader, Ben Barnes reveals

When I went to the set of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Ben and I were talking and he randomly brought up the fact that he is using no Mediterranean accent in the film. It was a decision of the filmmakers that the Telmarines not all have that accent anymore, so now he’s using his actual British accent. He recently conducted an interview with the magazine “Mouth” where he speaks about it:

Mouth Magazine: How did it feel reprising your role as (the now) King Caspian?

Ben Barnes: It was a great experience reprising the role. It’s a different take on the character with a new director and new studio invovled. We decided that Caspian and the Telmarines would no longer have European accents, as they felt CS Lewis is a quintessentially English writer. The story is my favourite of the seven books and it has a feel of a roving, mythical, adventure tale.

Read the full interview at Ben Barnes Fan

52 Comments

  1. Either way, Spanish or British – it’s still in Europe … ;).
    But really, I hope they don’t just drop the spanish accent alltogether – you can’t loose an accent naturally (as a people) in the short time from PC to VDT… Can you? Not TOO big a deal, but still… I’m honestly confused…

    • its not a short time – in earth years it’s 1 year, so thats considerably more in narnian years.
      between LWW and PC it had been 1300 narnian years but only a bit of time in earth years.

      • Actually, it was only three years in Narnian time between PC and VDT. Says so in the book and the movie. Still, I don’t think that’s enough time for an entire culture/people to drop an accent.

  2. It’s still Ben Barnes voice. It will be okay. I’ve heard his interviews. He is still Caspian.

  3. To be honest, I never really liked the accent he used in PC. I really didn’t like it. I think it’s kinda weird that they are totally changing his accent…but I’m glad they are! When I read the books, I actually imagined Prince Caspain having a British accent. So I’m glad:)

    • Agreed, I’d never once thought of him as having a Spanish accent in the book, to be honest. And I really didn’t like the one in the movie, but it just seems odd to switch accents… Ah well, as Daniel said, it’s still Ben Barnes so I’m good. 😛 And it probably won’t be such a big deal in the movie itself.

  4. Never understood the whole Spanish accent since the original tel’s were said to be from a island in our world and the ancestors of pirates. Lets say that a whole ship had 50 men on it and if they were to intermix with natives (no females on the ship I assume) the gene pool would be VERY much changed in 2-3 generations and so the accent would go poof very fast.

    Just my thoughts, Ben did a great job in PC and his work in VDT is just as good.

  5. The accents never really bothered me in “Prince Caspian,” because I thought it gave the Telmarines a more authentic feel and heritage. However, I am sure these new filmmakers know what they are doing. What I find interesting is the trickle of news that indicate “Voyage of the Dawn Treader” will be quite a cinematic departure than the first two Narnia films. I wonder if this third entry will be like the “Harry Potter” movies in terms of trying to improve art, acting, plot, etc. with each successive film. In any event, I cannot wait!!!

  6. I’m sure they thought about it and weighed the pluses and minuses and decided that it was better to drop the accent. Maybe Paul M. would share his opinion on this? 🙂

    • I’m fine with the change. It makes it easier for everyone involved to just work on their acting instead of assuming an accent each time and being conscious of that (not an easy thing, let me tell you).

        • And it is hard to maintain an accent. I particpated in speach team in college and one of the most requent comments I got from judges conscerined the consitency of my accents as they could easily drift. Many times it will happen in films that an actor maya cidentally break theri accent, i.e. in the third X-men film, actor Hugh Jackman’s more American/Canadian accent breaks durring a speech in a scene and you can hear his Australian accent and the impact of the scene and Wolverine’s speech is lost.

          • At first I didn’t notice it at first but then I realized the difference, I liked his accent before but then I liked how he was using his real accent. But the part in PC was when Susan has to leave prince caspian and narnia. In the book caspian didn’t even like Susan.

      • Paul, I guess you have a right to be “fine” with this, but it makes no sense to me at all. The difficulty of assuming an accent is an excuse, NOY a good reason to drop it.
        Have you read my article about this?

        • I have in fact read your article about it, and I also know a few of the facts behind the decision, which no one has really mentioned thus far. Namely that it was the director’s decision to drop the accent almost right away. He didn’t understand why the Telmarines needed it in the first place, from what I have heard. Ultimately I think it will not hurt the story, that Caspian has a different accent. It’s not very different from his actual accent, he has the same voice and the story is what drives the film and not how the characters speak.

          I’ve lived with that decision for eight months as of today, though. While I do agree that continuity is of the utmost importance, I also feel that the director has to ultimately do what he feels is the right thing for the film that he has been given. While I thought the Telmarines being of Mediterranean decent was how I had imagined them, I also know what happened to some friends of mine who lived overseas for as short a time as Caspian had spent with the Narnians: they came back having assumed the accent of the natives. We called one friend “British Greg” because he didn’t switch back to his american accent for a few months.

          • i politely disagree 🙂 usually i agree w/ your opinions, but in this case i totally agree with Mr. Sommer. for me, no matter what was good or bad or what reasons went in to the decision, in the end, the movie is part of a series and they need to stick w/ the same ideas throughout.

  7. I am definitely NOT happy about this. I will be posting an article on Examiner.com about it shortly. You will be able to view it by clicking on my name above.

  8. Hmm… I’m a little disappointed to tell the truth. Why are the filmakers messing with the characters that they have already established? 🙁 To be direct, first they changed voices with Reepicheep and now giving Caspian a new accent.

    Well, I guess those are the only two things that I have heard about VDT so far that have disappointed me. I’m still looking forward to the movie, though! 😉

    • I totaly agree!
      when i heard about VDT i was soo excited. i though ‘oh well, its not disney anymore, their loss… Fox’ll be able to take the credit for this film, which i’m sure will be good’ but now i’m thinking that maybe it wont be as good as i had hoped.

      Changing the accent is worst thing i’ve heared! YOU DON’T JUST LOOSE YOUR ACCENT over 3 years! Escpecialy if there will be no hit of it! If its gonna be bens normal voice (or like the one he uses in easy virtue) then i think that it’ll compleatly take away from the effect! And for the peaple who have seen PC and go to see VDT but don’t visit sites like this, then its gonna come as a massive shock!

      But like you, this is the only bad thing i’ve heared so far! and i still can’t wait. plus i think that the casting of Will Poulter as Eustice was a good choice. Sorry for writing this long rant,and i’m sure over all it will be a great film. I just hope it does well so that they make The Silver Chair.
      Thanks 🙂

  9. i’m very upset about this. in my opinion no matter how good or bad something was to begin w/ (the accent, reepicheep’s voice, etc.) they SHOULD NOT change it just b/c they don’t like it! if they keep changing little (or not so little) things like this, i have a feeling i’m going to be pretty disappointed.
    personally i was ok w/ the accent, but i understand why some people wouldn’t be, and either way, like i said, they shouldn’t change it no matter what. i’m getting kinda nervous…..

  10. I won’t miss the accent…I didn’t like it. It seemed like they were struggling too much to make the accent authentic that it sounded forced, in my opinion. It didn’t roll off their tongues (if you get what I’m saying 🙂 )Though I’m sure if I watch Prince Caspian and VDT back to back it will be a shock.

  11. Personally…I did not think the accent made the acting any better. Ben did a wonderful job and will continue to perform like a seasoned actor. It is hard to believe that C.S. Lewis would have wanted the accent to enhance the story anyway. The English accent will be more original than trying to have the speaking Telmarines put an accent on. Really… I think Andrew had to do this because his Telmarine actors were Italian, Spanish and what not…it would have been more difficult to have them try an English accent then to have Ben do a broken accent…makes sense…204 days….:)

    • Narniawarrior, The Telmarine actors in Prince Caspian were intentionally chosen because they were “Italian, Spanish, and what not.” The casting call specified that was what the studio was looking for. The accent was decided upon before the actors were chosen – not the other way around.

  12. I think I would have kept his accent the same as in Prince Caspian, but it is done now and I believe the movie will be great anyway! 🙂

  13. I think it’s very natural to have him switch accents. He’s the king of people that have English accents so his accent would change naturally from Spanish to English.

    • Accents do not change that quickly. By the book, it’s only been three years. Most people who have spoken with an accent until their teenage years never lose it – even into late adulthood.
      I’m sorry, but such explanations are just wishful thinking. This whole thing was ill-advised, and not thought out very well at all.
      Frankly, I am beginning to wonder about the competence of the team that has put this movie together.
      Nothing against you, Carissa. I’m just getting rather frustrated with the new filmmakers.

      • “Accents do not change that quickly. By the book, it’s only been three years. Most people who have spoken with an accent until their teenage years never lose it – even into late adulthood.”

        Tell that to my friend “British Greg.” American accent until he lived in England for 2 years. He came back with a strong British accent that stuck for a long time.

      • As someone who moved from England to Australia, I completely disagree with the fact that accents do not change that quickly. However, his accent should not have changed completely, in my experience and other people that I know, there should be some words of which the accent is still traceable. His accent change would have been due to being with so many Narnians, but it should not have been completely English.

  14. aww… I liked the accent… Caspian is, after all, not strictly a Narnian…. It separated Caspian and the Telmarines from the British-accented Narnians… Not to mention consistency

  15. I think that as the king of Narnian animals (who all use English accents), his accent would veer more toward English. That is what happened to me (well, obviously I’m not the king of Narnia, but still). I learned how to speak in one place, then moved to another with a very different accent. Now my accent is sort of an awkward blend of the two. So the fact that he is no longer constantly exposed to the Telmarine accent could definitely make his accent shift. So it’s plausible.

    Also, Ben did well but the accent was definitely detrimental. He wasn’t as expressive as he could have been because he was worried about keeping the accent up.

    Although I agree that the accent switch messes with continuity, it’s definitely plausible that it would change over a period of three years.

    • “Plausible” perhaps, but not likely. By your own admission you speak with “an awkward blend of the two” accents you have been exposed to.
      Plus, it appears that this change with affect ALL of the Telmarines (including the seven lords). That is not very plausible at all, since they were not living in Narnia after Miraz was defeated.
      Like I said to Carissa above, such explanations are pretty much wishful thinking.

  16. “I’m beginning to wonder about the competence of the team that has put this movie together.”
    Mark no matter what I don’t think they can be as bad as the last one and they most have a good reason. I didn’t like the accent anyway.

  17. “Plus, it appears that this change with affect ALL of the Telmarines (including the seven lords). That is not very plausible at all, since they were not living in Narnia after Miraz was defeated.”

    Actually, all minus seven of them have been living in Narnia this whole time. The accent change of the seven lords all depends on the accents of the people whom they are traveling among. Caspian doesn’t clearly remember when/why they were sent, apart from people telling him, so if we assume he’s roughly 20 that means they’ve been out for at least sixteen years. That’s plenty of time for an accent to switch completely.

    I never said it was likely, only that it was plausible. If everything that happened in a movie was likely we’d be leading revolts against Hollywood and demanding more interesting movies.

    Wishful thinking? No, I don’t do that. I think of logical, possible explanations for situations.

  18. I liked the Spanish-sounding accent. I think a plausible in-universe explanation would be: 1. he’s around the Narnians all the time so he’s bound to pick it up 2.It’s stated in the Prince Caspian book that there’s something in the air that kind of gives the Pevensies an edge when needed. So if he spoke with the accent and said “Ready your weapons” the army wouldn’t reply “What about mushrooms?”.

  19. from the commentaries and special features and stuff, Caspian(Ben Barnes) British accent is actually really cool. Im looking forward to seeing how this movie turns out. 🙂

  20. Didn’t think he was using it on this one. Got to see many of his scenes and just thought he was being lazy and noone picked up on it. bahaha well there you go!

  21. I mean, he could just stand there and look pretty without talking and I would be okay with it. 🙂

  22. The new accent/new voice for Reepicheep will ruin the continuity of the movies, in my opinion. Once the film-makers make a decision on stuff like this for a series of movies, they should stick with it in the subsequent movies. Voyage of the Dawn Treader is not a stand alone movie!

  23. i’m gutted he didnt have his spanish accent 🙁 i really liked it.
    i think english accents sound so bad in films (maybe its just because i’m so used to hearing american accents in films all the time)
    im british so hearing the british accent is boring….his lil spanish accent added something 🙁 so sad! lol

  24. I’m so bummed he didn’t have the accent anymore. I just saw the movie with my wife and 2 kids and my daughter and I didn’t even think it was the same actor! Ben did age a little and he had more facial hair in VDT which made him look a little different. Take out the accent and I thought they changed the actor. I thought this for at least 20 minutes getting more and more upset that this lame replacement Caspian could not even do the accent, but my wife finally pointed out that this was Ben. The movie was really good, but not because of Caspian. He seemed way more relaxed in this film, and his mysteriousness was gone without the Spanish accent. The Director is very good, but this decision was a bad mistake, sure wish they could re-shoot this movie with the PC accent.

    • yeah, i was disappointed they changed it and I liked they were spanish, it differentiated them from the narnians and i didn’t like either how ben looked like a different person. I dont think the middle of a trilogy is the place to change your lead actor’s nationality.

      I was ok with them changing reep’s voice though because, talented as Eddie Izzard is, he was miscast for this role and gave a very superficial portrayal of a deep and profound and noble character. at least if you keep an open mind, you could blame the voice change because of aging. and who knows how old he is in mouse years by now!

      • I wish they had kept him spanish but just made the accent lighter, that would have made more sense-

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