James McAvoy on Doing an American Accent

Scottish actor James McAvoy explains the secret behind his perfect American accents.

Transcript

00:00What's the key to a perfect American accent?

00:08Hire an American actor. That's the key to a perfect American accent is hire an American actor.

00:14It's generally not so much what's the key to a perfect accent, it's more what's the key to feeling like you are that person.

00:21I'd rather hear somebody do a really bad accent but really have, inhabit the voice of the character that they're playing

00:27than hear a perfect accent but really just not connect with what they're doing, you know.

00:32Finding the character's voice is slightly different from finding the character's accent, I think, and I always generally try to find the voice.