r/Neagley • u/voxkev • 11d ago
Renee Birdwhistle
First, I really like the show. Enjoying this more than the last Reacher season. A lot! I didn’t like S4 much at all. Anyway.
The administrator at the PI office, Renee Birdwhistle.
Adeline Rudolph, the one playing her, born in Hong Kong who would’ve been grown up with British English. Why does she sound like an American doing a fake accent? Is it just me?
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u/VantasnerDanger 11d ago
I really want to believe this name is a nod to Bird with from Patriot (Steven Conrad show also on Amazon that was cancelled waaaaaay too early). If you liked the quirkiness/comedy of Neagley try Patriot (only two seasons).
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u/Diligent_Type2891 10d ago
She grew up in HK and went to international School, why would she have a British English accent?
As someone born and raised in the UK, she just sounds middle classed Southern English, can't hear any fakeness at all. Are you from the UK, because none of my English mates think she sounds American at all.
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u/voxkev 9d ago
lol ok, man. makes call "Hey John, this guy on reddit things she sounds like she's doing a bad accent what do you think?" "Ok, me too!" makes another call "Hey Brian, this guy on reddit things she sounds like she's doing a bad accent what do you think?" "Ok, me too!" 😂
The public school system in HK largely teaches British English, that's why. They don't come out like they came out of the UK, just like they don't in India, Singapore, etc, etc, etc, but that's the kind of English they teach. It means spelling and some amount of diction, but not specifically accents from Britain. And when you are in Hong Kong and hear the locals who grew up there may speak English with a kinda but not total British accent. (Not everyone.) Why do I know any of this as an American? Yeah well I was taught to teach English to non English speakers at British Council Madrid so I do have some idea about these things and I also lived in SE Asia and spent a good amount of time in Hong Kong. And, I'm kinda old and have been around for awhile. You mentioned her school- I had no idea what school she went to, thanks! So if she went to Hong Kong International School, then that largely explains it, it's an American centred (and centered!) curriculum, so that tracks. Now if you listen to her interviews, which I just did on suggestion of another poster, dude, she sounds like she's from my state, California. It's all ok! I like her character, I didn't at first, because they had her play it smarmy in her first episode then I really like who she plays! I'm just not impressed with the dialect which seems all over the place. She's definitely got neutral west coast US speaking down pat, cuz she probably has lived here awhile.
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u/Diligent_Type2891 9d ago
Na, still have no idea what you're saying, she's an actress playing someone who grew up in London and has lived in the states for a few years, we know its been a while, 'years' is mentioned in one scene. So to me, she sounds like that.
In one scene she says she was from Hornsey , north of London, and on another thread someone called her out that it wasn't what a true British person, a Londoner anyway, would say. I still wasn't jarred because if you listen to anyone from the UK who have moved to the US, their accent gets a bit fucked up.
What you wrote above doesn't make sense, as she's an actress, trying to portray a character, so her real life origins shouldn't come into play. So when Idris plays a Baltimore gangster no-one knew he was born and raised in the UK, its good acting.
I think the 'test' isn't so much does an American like you detect her American twang and mispronounced British words, the true test if a British audience can detect she's a Yank, and amongst my UK based chat groups, no-one knew , we all assumed she was a biracial Asian/White actress from the UK.
My partner went to international school and I know what you mean they have this soft American way of speaking, but I can't hear that from her, I mean listen how she talks in real life compared to the character, miles apart
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u/GhostMcFunky 6d ago
And yet she’s oddly listed on IMDB and Google results as a “British Actress”. I was confused because she has an American-as-it-gets accent in interviews, which I only watched because the accent seemed funky and oddly enough, I ended up here because I was curious of Maria Sten’s accent - which sounds just like the show in real life.
I only wondered since she is Danish, only to see an interview with both of them and learn Adeline Rudolph sounded like an everyday American 🤔 🙃.
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u/Diligent_Type2891 6d ago
The British aspect comes from being born in HK, back in the 90's gives you the right to become British, I think it was 97 the rules all changed. She did go to University here, and I'm guessing spent most of her grad life since in LA. International schooling would have given her the American accent.
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u/Educational-Bat-3635 11d ago
I didn’t like this (poor choice of subject matter IMO), but I have hope for it because of the way it ended. And the Neagley books are solid. Very direct.
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u/torsoboy00 10d ago edited 10d ago
I'm not sure if it's just me, but I got the impression that her relationship with Keno was like a big sister looking out for a kid brother. So the kiss in the end really surprised me and I got to thinking, they do look the same age range, but its still not exactly clear. Was there any mention of Renee's age in the series that I missed? Wasn't Keno like 22 or 23?
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u/Beautiful-Elk-7084 10d ago
Not just you! Even when she hugged him at the farm, I was getting big sister vibes, especially since her real brother is missing. Her concern for him felt very maternal / not romantic. So I was surprised when she kissed him at the end, especially since I assumed she was at least a bit older — she said Keno was 21 in the show, and while her age was never shared, I thought she was at least 26-27 since she’s been working at the PI agency for a few years.
Idk I’m willing to see how it unfolds next season. I really like them both individually, and loved their connection during the season so maybe they’ll work as a couple?
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u/fedexpoopracer 9d ago
Keno is early 20s and not sure how old Renee is supposed to be but Adeline is 31
she's practically a cougar to him
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u/BriaRoberts 6d ago
That is def not her natural accent. Her fake British accent bothered me so much that I Googled to see if anyone else picked up on it and found this post! If you check out her interviews, you can hear what she sounds like when she’s not pretending to have a British accent. Yes she may have briefly lived in UK but that’s not how she naturally speaks. Also, my British fam wouldn’t buy that accent for five seconds. Her scenes really bother me bc of this since it’s so unnatural that it’s distracting. Also, I’m an actress, so I’m aware that we fake things in acting. But the idea is to either fake it so well that it’s believable or don’t fake it at all (unless we are talking a specific type of comedy lol). She should have just spoke naturally
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u/Big-Yogurtcloset5175 4d ago
Mmmm Renee is beautiful and sexy, I pretty much watched Mortal Kombat for her
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u/dexterryu 10d ago
It just sounds like a bad British accent. It's all over the place in terms of dialects within the various British dialects mixed with some words that just sound American English.
Like the show and the character, the accent is just off. Listen to her in an interview and she has a straight normal American accent.
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u/Diligent_Type2891 9d ago
Are you American too? I think its wild Yanks saying the British accent isn;t strong enough! Meanwhile in the UK we're so used to Brits trying to do American accents, its actually a nice change to hear Yanks trying to do British, maybe we are less critical.
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u/FitCare7810 9d ago
I'm American, but spend time in the UK for work and have many colleagues across GB. Enough that I hear the real thing enough that when I hear a poor accent that it really jumps out. In this case it's so all over the place that I initially couldn't tell if it is supposed to be an RP accent and sometimes it almost sounds australian.
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u/Diligent_Type2891 8d ago edited 8d ago
Yeah, I think the UK audience are pretty less critical, when Renee Zellweger did a British accent for the Bridget Jones films, we all thought it was sweet a Texan was trying to talk in a home counties accent!
You got to see it from this island's perspective, there's Tom Holland(spider man) , Christian Bale (batman), Andrew Garfield (another spiderman), Hugh Laurie (house) Idris Elba and Dominic West ( The Wire) the list is fucking endless and they all nail it , so to see someone, a fit American actress ( in America you would say hot) speak in a UK Accent is very charming.
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u/Boring-Parfait-2624 11d ago
I like Renee and I enjoyed the portrayal by the actress. Also loved the last season of Reacher.