Shannon Elizabeth was 'devastated' after American Pie changed her accent with ADR
Shannon Elizabeth understands the criticism of her American Pie accent.
The actress behind foreign exchange student Nadia in the 1999 coming-of-age sex comedy and its sequels said she warned her friends not to watch the film after production changed her accent. Elizabeth said she worked hard with a dialect coach to capture a Czech accent, but production "messed" with the final product during ADR (automated dialogue replacement) sessions.
"When I did American Pie, they called me in to do ADR," Elizabeth recalled on the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast. "They were like, 'We're gonna play with the accent.' So I'd say something and then they'd go, 'Okay, do less of an accent.' I was like, 'Why are they messing with this accent so much?' I had worked really hard with a dialect coach on this."
Everett Collection Shannon Elizabeth as Nadia in 'American Pie 2'
"I told all my friends, 'This movie's gonna suck because they messed with my accent so much,'" Elizabeth continued. "I was like, 'No, they're ruining it. Don't watch it.' I was devastated after ADR." The actress recalled criticisms surrounding her accent at the time, "And I'm like, yeah, 'cause they messed with it. They didn't let me do what I wanted to do," she said.
Elizabeth revealed she was paid a "couple thousand" dollars for her role as Nadia, the student who Jason Biggs' character Jim hopes to lose his virginity to, but didn't care at the time, as it was her first studio film. "I would have done it for free," Elizabeth said. "I was so happy to book a role." However, she refused to return to the sequels until she received her desired amount.
"I walked away from a lot of offers many times," Elizabeth said. "My lawyer and my manager and agent all thought I was crazy. They were pushing me to say yes. I just kept saying no. I don't know why. I guess I had a number in my head I felt like they should pay and I got them to that number."
"You get 15 minutes, so you gotta milk it," she said.
Elizabeth reprised her role in American Pie 2 and American Reunion. Her other credits include Scary Movie, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Love Actually, and Playing With Beethoven.
Watch Elizabeth's podcast interview in full above.
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