Sean Bean hails from Sheffield, although he trained at RADA and worked with the RSC so he can loose his local accent quite easily if he wants.

The Rohirrim weren't always Irish-- PJ wanted them to be, I think, and then changed his mind or something... so most of the time they're English, but a few scenes sneaked into the final cut with their quasi-Irish accents, like the scene when Eowyn says, "They were unarmed" :P

Where is Sean Bean from? And, yes, I loved the Cockney orcs ;)

Irish, do you reckon? For the Rohirrim I mean. The only one that clearly stands out so I remember is the guy who says:
"Thee Uruk-hei are too meny!"
Which I thought was only because they got a NZ actor, bless him, for the role.
Personally I think that would be....extremely cool though, if the Lake Towners were to be Northern. For example I was tickled pink by the cockney orcs they had in The Two Towers, and adding more British regional accents would defintely be in the same vein. I suspect Boromir's accent might have had something to do with Sean Bean, although he can certainly do received pronunciation when he wants to ('Goldeneye' springs to mind).

Well, Bard was in the North... so I don't see why a Northern accent would be bad... as long as they made all the Lake Towners sound Northern. They almost made the Rohirrim sound Irish, and then changed them back to English. Didn't Boromir have a bit of a Northern accent, though?

Richard Armitage 'PHWOAARH' Bard, you mean.

And I'm sorry if that comment seems in rather questionable taste, but just blame the BBC costume drama department, and the Daily Mail for unleashing free DVDs of their adaptation of 'North and South' on an unsuspecting public for it.

So. IMDB tells me that Richard Armitage isn't really from Lancashire but I was completely, completely sold on that accent. Would it be weird having Bard as a northerner? If Richard Armitage did happen to be cast as Bard and if they were to give him some lines (which I suspect he doesn't have any of....in the book) would it be a good idea if he did him all 'oop north'? Would it? Would it?

Ah, I'm totally going to have to check out Lords of the North now ;)

Talking of fake accents - we just don't need them when we can have the real thing!

I've been listening to Richard Armitage's brilliant 12 hour audio recording of Bernard Cornwell's "Lords of the North" (about the Saxon warrior Uhtred) for the last few days, and really... his voice is nothing short of wonderful. IMO the worst thing about Viggo's Aragorn was his very weak voice (with an occasionally lapsing accent); in contrast Armitage has a voice that could easily inspire men to hurl themselves into the midst of an advancing goblin army. It's an amazing instrument - deep, powerful, extraordinarily expressive, and very, very sexy. He can spit words out with venom or caress them in the most beautiful way. I would SO love to hear him speak words written by Tolkien.

(If you want something to immerse yourself in and make the hours fly by - a long drive, doing the housework, etc - I can't recommend the "LotN" recording highly enough. It's been on the audiobooks bestseller list for ages and I can see why - it's a tour de force.)

Olyphant was great on DEADWOOD on HBO for three seasons.

Yes, Yes, Yes, Richard definitely would make a brilliant Bard

My sentiments exactly Lalaithiel.

Hmmm... have not seen any of those films. I'll have to IMDB him or something... but I do like his last name... makes me want to quote Sam's poem...

Tim Olyphant most recently starred in the "Hitman" and he also played the bad guy in the most recent Die Hard adventure. He has a memorable role as a porn director in "the Girl Next Door".

Ha, ha-- yes, Ethelwynn, the ENGLISH North and South, and not the American one! I have never heard of Tim Olyphant, YMN. I like the last name, though ;). And yes, British actors are always preferable. Especially if they're Richard Armitage :).

Richard Armitage would be the PERFECT actor to play Bard. PERFECT.

I didn't realize that there was an entire thread devoted to this guy. I think he's a great choice. Being a huge fan of Westerns, I've always had Tim Olyphant ( Deadwood) as my ideal candidate to play Bard. But I have to admit, my gut feeling is that the character should be English, Welsh or Scottish. No more fake accents please!