Generation Kill

A friendly suggestion to David Simon and Ed Burns, if I may be so arrogant. When you have an actor playing a Brazilian immigrant and his fellow soldiers take him to task for speaking Spanish, when in fact he is speaking Portuguese and the character corrects him, make sure your actor speaks English with a Portuguese accent, not a Spanish one.

Comments

[Alexandre Correa]

Well not only he has a Spanish accent but his pronunciation of the words if for the Most part incorrect. Not to mention that the name BaPtista does not exist in Brasil, hence we spell it Batista without the "P".

[Randy Paul]

The name issue doesn't bother. After all, their is the football player Julio Baptista and there was Spanish immigration into the south of Brazil in the 19th century. In addition, it is certainly possible for someone to be the descendant of Spanish immigrants. Finally, the book on which the series is based (and it, in turn is based on fact), does have a soldier named Leandro Baptista (with a p).

I find the speech and accent issues to be more annoying. A little research would have taken care of it. That's inexcusable.

[Thomas]

He actually was given the silver star in 2005

[Alexandre Correa]

Randy,

I'm Brasilian. Originally from the south of Brasil and I know about half dozens BaTistas and not a single BaPtista. Julio Batista (the player) has no "p" on his name. As per the book, Leandro sounds to me as a regular 100% Brasilian. Yet the dude not only looks 100% from one of the islands and his accent is undeniable spanish. Ed Burns messed up.

[Randy Paul]

Alexandre,

Júlio Baptista most certainly does spell his last name with a p. That's how he's listed on this page on the CBF site. Google his name and that is how it will come up.

Other than that I agree with you. As for being 100% from the islands, maybe accent-wise, but his face could most certainly come from Brazil, although maybe not from Santa Catarina ;-)

[Alexandre Correa]

Randy,

I'm from Rio Grande do Sul. Any face could come from Brasil, white, black, yellow, blue, green we have all kinds of people here. But you won't slip one dominican/puerto rican or so other kinda of newrocican by me. Even more so with that thin mustache, nobody has that in Brasil. The possibilty of BaPtista being a spanish descendt person in Brasil (remote) but exists. Altough I know for a fact that JB (the player) family does not come from Spain. Now about his name:
He is born Julio BaTista. He added the P when playing in Spain and upon receiving citizenship from Spain's goverment being now a spaniard and playing from Real Madrid and before Sevilla he adjusted his name to his country of residence. Back to the dude from the show, he does not look, sound or even resemble a Brasilian, not even close.

[Leandro Baptista]

My last name is indeed spelled with a "P" ...Baptista. Not sure where the name derives from, but I was born in Rio. As for the actual depiction of my character, well, HBO definitely got it wrong. I certainly was made fun of for my accent amongst my peers, however, I never spoke Portuguese, much less Spanish while communicating on the radio or with my fellow Marines. You can say I was used as some sort of comic relief in the series to accentuate its eccentric humor. And I certainly do not look Puerto Rican in real life...on that same note, a few of the actors actually look very much like the real Marines depicted. I find it all very amusing.

[Randy Paul]

Leandro,

Thanks for stopping by. That certainly settles it!

[Alexandre Correa]

BaPtista? Born in Rio and does not speak portuguese? C'mon pal, you can come up with something better than that.

[Randy Paul]

That's not what he said. He said the following:

I certainly was made fun of for my accent amongst my peers, however, I never spoke Portuguese, much less Spanish while communicating on the radio or with my fellow Marines.

In other wordss, he spoke neither Portuguese nor Spanish on the radio while speaking to his fellow marines. You need to read more carefully.

[Alexandre Correa]

I will excuse myself based on the fact that I don't simple read hence the mother tongue in my country is not English and I must translate everything posted here. It is always possible that something became off once you are translating something. Mas p/ o fuzileiro,pq vc deixou q os caras da producao o mostrando com aquele ator tao ridiculo?

[carlos haag]

Dear Sgt Baptista,

I am a brazilian journalist and I would like to do an article on you for a brazilian magazine. Please get in touch with me at carloshaag@uol.com.br. best,

Carlos Haag

[Mike figueroa]

Hey everyone, I am the actor who played SGT Baptista, L. I do appologise for the misrepresentation of Brazilians and more importantly of SGT Baptista. I was used more as comic relief and unfortunately, I had very little help by way of an accent coach. I do appologise and hopefully, will be able to play a brazialian better if given the chance too do so again. SGT Baptista is a great soldier and hero. It is nearly impossible to actually play a man of that quality.. I truely hope I dis not completely dissappoint him.
Thank you for watching and for all the great opinions
mike figueroa