Katherine Langford has gained considerable recognition for her role on the Netflix drama 13 Reasons Why. The actress received praise for the portrayal of Hannah Baker for the first two seasons of the controversial show. Her talent has not gone unnoticed, and Langford was featured in the blockbuster films Avengers: Endgame and Knives Out, the latter of which was directed by Rian Johnson. Johnson has also seen the talent the young star possesses and spoke about it in a recent interview.
Rian Johnson praised Katherine Langford’s peculiar gift
Langford’s scenes in Endgame were unfortunately cut from the theatrical version, but the actress still stole the show in Knives Out. While breaking down a scene from the film with Vanity Fair, Johnson revealed what it was like working with Langford. The murder mystery followed the suspicious death of Harlen Thrombrey, the patriarch of the Thrombrey family, and one of them may be responsible for his untimely demise.
Langford’s character was the granddaughter of the deceased man. The movie featured an all-star cast, but this didn’t stop her from holding her own. According to Johnson, Langford was not only a great actress, but she was able to do something else that he found remarkable: The young actress managed to adjust her accent constantly and seamlessly during filming.
“Katherine Langford is awesome. She is, along with Toni [Collette] — Katherine’s also an Aussie, and she’s so good at accents. I slowly realized when you’re just talking to her in between takes, depending on who’s she’s talking to, she will adjust her natural accent to match yours,” Johnson explained.
The young actress was impressive on the set
The filmmaker explained that when Langford was speaking with certain people on set, she could, in a sense, mimic their tone and accent, including when she was conversing in her own native tongue.
“When she was talking to me, she was talking with an American accent. Talking to Toni, she’s back into her Australian accent,” Johnson stated. Katherine Langford was even able to copy Daniel Craig’s English accent, though it wasn’t exactly a mirror match.
“Daniel, I swear, it starts like lilting to English. It’s just — she’s skilled at it. It’s just like she’s not messing with you, it’s just like second nature to her. And she’s been working so much internationally also. She’s like — every single movie she does, she’s in a different country. So it’s possible her brain is just not sure, at this point, what accent she is,” Johnson joked. The director ended by commenting, “but she was lovely.”
Katherine Langford is set to star in the science fiction-fantasy drama, Spontaneous, so she’ll be using her American accent one more time.