2022 was a remarkable showcase of the power of Irish actors — The Banshees of Inisherin, Aftersun, The Quiet Girl, etc. In 2023, we’re getting another Irish acting showcase, but this time both Irish actors will be leaving their natural accents behind. Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal, two of our Academy Award–nominated young Irish talents, are co-starring in Foe, a film set 40 years in the future in an American farmhouse. In the newly released first trailer, there isn’t a ton of speaking from either of them, but the snippets we do get are definitely American — saying vague but ominous things with clear R sounds like, “I’ve always had this fantasy that there’s something else out there for me†(Ronan), and “You’re wasting your time, because we haven’t even been on an airplane†(Mescal). They star alongside Aaron Pierre (The Underground Railroad), who is British but gets to use his natural accent.
Based on the novel of the same name by Iain Reid (I’m Thinking of Ending Things), the film is directed by Garth Davis (Lion), coming out in theaters on October 6, and is “rooted in a sort of old-school Americana,†according to Vanity Fair. Plus, it was filmed in Australia, where Davis is from, and Reid is Canadian. To this we say: Why? You got our fave Galway girls together and now you’re gonna make them speak in American accents? Let the Irish folk be Irish, or at least give us a press tour.
This post has been updated with the trailer.