Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson apologize to the people of Toronto
The Man From Toronto has landed (here's the official trailer, if that's what you seek) and reviews are, so far, pretty meh.
I have yet to catch the highly-anticipated and many-times-over-delayed film on Netflix, where it dropped early this morning, but can already say without a doubt that it will feature some big explosions and sassy banter between leading men (who are not from Toronto), Woody Harrelson and Kevin Hart.
Slick assassin meets bumbling tourist and forms an unlikely friendship? How ever will this play out in action-comedy form? And will anyone in the entire damn movie, even just one person, one time, say the word "Toronto" like people from Toronto do?
How to say you're not from here without saying you're not from here..
— Adam Smith (@PPhlensing) June 2, 2022
Trailer for Man From Toronto exclusively features people who can't pronounce Toronto https://t.co/7yzUJquB6u
Judging by the trailer and recent comments from the movie's top-billed stars, I don't think so. But at least the actors are sorry for putting that heinous hard T in "Toronto" so many times throughout the course of the film, now that they know how upset it makes locals.
Harrelson and Hart explicitly said in an interview published by the Toronto Sun on Friday that they meant no disrespect when pronouncing "Toronto" as "Toe-RON-toe," as opposed to the correct "Turr-AHN-oh" or "ChurAHNoh," as some people say.
"You gotta remember, I'm not from Toronto. If you're from Toronto, of course you have an understanding of how it's supposed to be said," Hart told the newspaper in a video call.
"It's the name of Woody's hitman character and all of the people who are referring to him are not from Toronto... He's a world-renowned hitman and the legend of his killings has grown over the years and throughout his career. So, you've got to think, everyone was pronouncing it that way — the Man From Miami, the Man from Wichita — it was all over. Everyone is saying Toe-RON-toe because they're from all over the place."
I'm not sure where my dad got this pronunciation, but he says, "TER-RANNA." https://t.co/If2ZxZ0hw4
— Chair of Squirrel-Rodent Relations at Antifa U. (@SquizzRadical) June 23, 2022
The American actor and comedian's explanation makes sense, and while I do not speak for the people of Toronto, I think we can all pretty much forgive Kevin Hart for the slight.
But Harrelson? He's literally lived in Toronto while staging plays, filming movies and charming the socks off everyone at TIFF. What's his excuse?
He does not have one, but he apologizes for the repeated pronunciation errors in his latest film, despite the fact that most of the errors were not in fact made by him.
"Any time it's mispronounced to Torontonians, we apologize," said Harrelson concisely, later noting that he loves Canada's largest city.
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