Pierce Brosnans Cringey Irish Accent Explained!

The backlash back in his native land after audiences first heard 's supposed 'Kerry' accent was immediate, but his Irish co-star says the Meath man isn't to blame. 

Director ’s last-minute changes are what led to the stick poor Pierce got over his ‘Healy-Rae’ MobLand accent, Westmeath actress Lisa Dwan has revealed.

The hit TV show about warring families, also starring and , has broken records for the streaming platform Paramount+ and developed a fevered fanbase globally.

But closer to home, a backlash against Brosnan’s accent in the series prompted a response from the Meath man last year, who explained he went ‘full tilt’ trying on a Kerry brogue instead of his own ‘very soft’ accent.

Now co-star Lisa Dwan, who plays his character’s lawyer O’Hara Delaney, had said it was Ritchie, who directed the first two episodes, who encouraged Brosnan to lay it on thick.

Dwan told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘I remember that [Brosnan] was put under pressure on the day very quickly to come up [with something].

‘Guy Ritchie asked him to be more Irish. And so, in his head, he thought of Kerry, and he came up with a kind of Healy-Rae style character – that was what popped into his head.

‘And I think the juxtaposition of someone with that slightly comical accent and the propensity for such extreme violence and anger and power was a good mix as a character.’

Dwan revealed her own MobLand character had been written as English.

‘It was Guy Ritchie who decided very last minute that he felt she should be Irish, so that was quite funny.’

The show’s Irish creator Ronan Bennett also created Netflix smash Top Boy, but in that case wrote Dwan’s character Lizzie as Irish.

The Athlone-born actress calls herself ‘a Beckett nerd’ – she is a renowned interpreter of his work and has toured the globe in sellout one-woman plays – and was cast in Top Boy thanks to a call from Bennett.

It was cancelled by Channel 4 but revived with Canadian rap superstar Drake as executive producer.

‘I was introduced to Drake and I didn’t know who he was,’ Dwan said.

She ‘wasn’t familiar with those cultural references’ and ‘certainly didn’t listen to drill music’ – featured heavily in the series – but says the rest of the cast, featuring some drill stars, ‘were so lovely to me, and they could have been very dismissive’.

The frequent misogynistic lyrics of the genre even gave her a new perspective on sexism in the arts, at a time when she was also teaching Beckett in prestigious US Ivy League universities.

‘We can think that in the world of sophisticated high theatre there’s no misogyny,’ Dwan said, unable to contain a laugh, ‘or the treatment of women is somehow better – it isn’t.’

‘There’s certainly enough sophisticated misogyny going about. So misogyny just goes across the board, however it’s expressed.

‘So there’s something even more refreshing about it being as blatant as that – and it was great to play such a badass character [in Top Boy] as Lizzie,’ she added. That show ‘opened so many doors’ and has served as the acclaimed stage performer’s way back to major screen roles.

As well as MobLand, there followed parts in the James Nesbitt-fronted BBC drama Bloodlands, and the RTÉ crime series Blackshore.

The latter has just been picked up by the BBC and has ‘really become a surprise hit’.

‘It’s mad,’ Dwan said. ‘I cannot get over how well it’s done. It’s been in the top 10 [on the iPlayer] for three weeks, and the feedback has been unbelievable. I’m really blown away by the reviews, by audience response, by how well it’s done.’