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Sam Keeley is breaking down what it was like to perfect his Philadelphia accent for Task — and why the process of getting it down was a “nightmare.”
The Irish actor, 34, revealed to PEOPLE at the New York City premiere of the new HBO series on Sept. 4 that the accent — specifically, the “Delco” dialect based in Pennsylvania’s Delaware County — was something of an adjustment.
Taking place in Delaware County,Task stars Mark Ruffalo as FBI agent Tom Brandis and Keeley as motorcycle gang member Jayson. As he shares, he had to get his “Delco” accent into good form as he prepared for the role. “It was a nightmare,” he tells PEOPLE of learning the accent with the help of dialect coach Susanne Sulby.
“She was responsible for me being able to sound the way I sounded on the job,” Keeley adds. “Because obviously the Delco accent is very specific, you know what I mean? There’s certain vowels. So for me, I had no context to the accent, I had no context to the language.”
Keeley only started to feel “the cadence and the rhythm” of the Philly dialect when he got to the city. He gives credit to the dialect coach, saying, “So it was Suzanne. She’s fantastic.”
Peter Kramer/HBO
Tom Pelphrey, who takes on the role of Robbie Prendergast in the series, similarly revealed to TV Line that the accent was a “great challenge.”
“It was a little intimidating, but it was good. It kept me very honest,” he said. “I had to work really hard at it. We had a great accent coach, Susanne Sulby… and always had access to her, which was amazing.”
Pelphrey, 43, added that he even made a friend with the accent and was able to pick up on his vocal deliveries during phone calls. “We’d talk about football and stuff, and he knew I was listening for his sounds a little bit, but we were comfortable enough with each other that he wasn’t too self-conscious,” Pelphrey said.
“Because there’s part of an accent where you can get it as good as you want on paper, but there’s a part of my brain [where I] have to hear the real thing to trust that it sounds right.”
Task follows Ruffalo’s Tom Brandis as he investigates a string of violent robberies in the Philadelphia suburbs. It also features appearances from Emilia Jones, Jamie McShane, Thuso Mbedu, Fabien Frankel, Alison Oliver and Raúl Castillo, among others. It premiered on HBO on Sept. 7, with new episodes arriving weekly.
To prepare for the role, Ruffalo consulted with real-life retired FBI special agent Scott Duffey. As he told PEOPLE, Duffey taught him a meaningful lesson about the field: “I learned that the best FBI agents have a lot of empathy,” he said.
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Task airs weekly on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and is be available to stream on HBO Max.
