Dominic West, aka Detective Jimmy McNulty, is a British actor who had to adjust his accent to be authentic in his role on the iconic TV series โThe Wireโ. The show is set in Baltimore and is suffused with Baltimore culture, including its language.
Co-creator Ed Burns said that West spent a lot of time going over the accent withย David Simon: โโNow, say it likeย po-lice.โ โPolice.โ โNo,ย po-lice.โโ Others helped out as well. Peter Gerety, a veteran of stage and screen who played Judge Daniel Phelan, said West asked him for guidance:
He said, โI need you to listen to me. Iโve got to get this Baltimore accent down,โ because, of course, heโs British. He actually does a really good American accent, but I sort of sat with him, and he just worked through stuff for a couple of days, just to get his Baltimore accent closer. Not that I was all that great with it, but I think I helped him a little bit.
Dominic West elaborates on the challenge:
It never got any easier for me. It was a real problem for me, actually. I worked pretty hard on it. I think the producers felt that, eventually, perhaps I wouldnโt need the coach anymore, but I did. I needed it right up until we wrapped the whole series, and it was a constant effort particularly any time he [McNulty] got emotional or you started shouting. Thatโs when you lose the accent and start going into your own accent. I always dreaded those scenes, and it was a pain.