Actually, I am fairly sure that Agent Elrond is a Brit, at least technically, despite his long term domicile in Aus. He was educated at Bristol Cathedral school (and looked so cute in his choirboy gear!) so I think his accent is actually genuine.. and it makes me go weak at the knees
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I agree about Sean Bean - and he resolutely kept his accent in the Scottish play BUT while I don't object to regional accents as such, I just felt that it was inconsistent .. I spent all of FOTR wondering also if Gondor was going to be twinned with the South Riding!! And given that all the Aussies managed pretty good accentless english .....
Oh, I really think that Costner's Robin Hood is maybe even worse than Dick van Dyke's. It was ages before I could watch that film long enough to see the divine Alan Rickman - the first time it appeared on TV, I saw Costner land at ostensibly at Dover, and announce "Tonight we will dine at my fathers house in Nardingham" and laughed so much that I feared internal injury. That would be quite a trek even today (the necessity of negotiating London's orbital carpark still outweighed by the greater speed provided by the car over the horse!) but in the 12th century? Especially since they seemed to go via Hadrian's wall if I remember right... At least it is a good reminder that there are greater film travesties than Haldir arriving at Helm's Deep :P