One of the highlights of the What We Do in the Shadows TV series is without a doubt Matt Berry’s vampire Laszlo Cravensworth. The actor has made the character his own by using his signature vocals and audible stylings to deliver some of the most iconic and memorable moments from the series entirely, but it turns out that this isn’t always intentional.
Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Berry mentioned that some of his most famous phrasing is simply him attempting to navigate the countless American pop cultural references that are baked in.
“In this past season, there were so many American [pop culture] references, and I haven’t got a clue what hardly any of them are. You just kind of navigate those and make them work for your own language and speech pattern. But you know, it was a show that was created by two Kiwis from New Zealand, and their sense of humour is kind of similar to our [British] sense of humour.”
He continues, “Most of the names I pronounce [incorrectly] aren’t on purpose — it’s because I don’t know what they are. Especially sports, all these ballgames … baseball, softball, I haven’t got a clue what any of that is! It will be just a case of saying what I think it is, just sort of launching into it like that. You put your own spin on things.”
Hopefully this means we can look forward to a whole batch of brilliantly butchered pronunciation in the coming season of the show.