that while she loves doing accents, “this one did drive me crazy.” But Green and Gillespie knew that McKinnon, Bennett,could handle it. “Philly is one of those weird ones that just sort of fit in my mouth from the moment I heard it,” says McKinnon. “I wasn’t trying to do an impression of [Winslet] per se, because I am not a shining angel on Earth—I was just trying to embody all that is bizarre and perfect about the Philly accent.
Everyone else spent the late-night shoot muttering their lines to themselves, determined to nail their inflection. Though Robles wasn’t familiar with it—“I had never heard this accent come out of a human”—Green was on hand to serve as a dialect coach. Fineman’s big line, “she got home on her own,” was designed to show off those Delco’s. “Chloe was going up to me and saying that over and over again to get it right, because she really cares,” says Green.
But even the expert didn’t get everything right. “The one thing I do kick myself about is, and this is on me—we say, ‘wooder,’ but it’s really ‘wudder.’ And if I could do it all again, I would remember that. But it does sound so insane when you’re doing it. You’re like, Yeah, that’s it. It’s insane. Absolutely crazy.” Another line was too tough even for McKinnon, and wound up on the cutting room floor: “Whoever did the durdur murder’s goin’ down for manslurter.
It’s no surprise Green and Gillespie didn’t ask Musk, a billionaire with no prior acting experience, to attempt the accent as well. Instead, they gave their host the comedic equivalent of a layup—a one-line role as a creepy priest. “We just thought, Oh, that’ll be a big laugh at the end for him,” says Green. Which was fine by Robles. “I was like, If he is really bad,” she says, “at least it’s only one line.
None of them knew that Musk had a trick up his cassock. Upon arriving on set, says Robles, “he told me he had a voice prepared. And I was like…Ooookay?” Her trepidation gave way to surprise when Musk actually delivered the line, and his intonation—part Vincent Price, part Bond villain—wasn’t half bad. “We had him in and out in like 10 minutes. I feel like he really nailed it.