I first noticed him in Robin Hood, Prince Of Thieves, which, fittingly, he completely stole. I can't remember any of that film except the bits with Rickman in.

Agreed completely. He was fantastic in that role. Too bad the rest of the film was so unwatchable.

Hey, here's a question for you English-types:

Did Costner's awful half-assed attempt at an English accent irritate you guys as much as it did me?

Throughout the entire film, I just kept wishing he'd simply drop the accent and talk in his own voice. It took what could have (in theory) been a good film, and made it impossible to sit through.

I'm wondering if a badly-done impersonation of an English accent irritates Brits as much as it does Americans.

I don't have many examples of the reverse case to draw an inference from. Off the top of my head, I can think of only Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi) in Star Trek: The Next Generation as an example of someone who's got an English accent and is trying to sound more American in the role. She does a pretty good job most of the time, enough to have fooled me for a long time. I had always noticed something a little "off" about her speech patterns, but couldn't quite put my finger on it. Then I saw her interviewed, and was surprised to hear her "real" English voice. Now, when I see her play the Troi role, I can hear what she's doing and see what it was I couldn't pinpoint before: She deliberately over-emphasizes her R's in an attempt to sound more American.

The thing is, hearing Marina do it, to my American ear, it just makes her sound slightly exotic and not like a person doing a bad accent. But to me, hearing Costner trying to sound English by just refusing to pronounce his R's and nothing else grates like nails on a blackboard.

Anyone else have opinions on this?