Sam Keeley opened up about learning the Philadelphia accent for Task, which his co-star Mark Ruffalo also called the toughest dialogue in his entire acting career.
The 34-year-old actor, who plays motorcycle gang member Jayson in the new HBO series based in Pennsylvania’s Delaware County, told People that learning the “Delco” dialect “was a nightmare,” and dialect coach Susanne Sulby helped him and the cast to learn the accent.
“She was responsible for me being able to sound the way I sounded on the job,” Keeley adds. “Because obviously the Delco accent is very specific, you know what I mean? There’s certain vowels. So for me, I had no context to the accent, I had no context to the language.”
Likewise, Mark shared same sentiments in a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight, as he plays priest-turned-FBI agent’s role.
Speaking about how he adopted the dialect as a native from Delaware County, Pa, the Oscar-nominated star shared, “There’s nothing like it. It’s like the north meets the south, with a mid-Atlantic, it’s the craziest dialect I’ve ever heard.”
“As soon as you get it, it feels like you’re in New York or in the south or somewhere you’re not supposed to be,” Mark said jokingly.
Mark also praised the Mare of Easttown dialect coach who helped the cast nail that “authentic” and wild accent.
“She comes from that tradition, and she was an amazing dialect coach. She worked with everybody, and spent hours and hours and hours with us,” the 57-year-old praised. “She was with us every day on set. She really helped create that world in an auditory sort of way.”