Unless it's a specific accent, or something about physicality you have to change, I am generally not such a conscious actor.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The thing with being able to do accents is that it's still completely separate from being an actor.
When I first tried the American accent, for a moment I thought I could never be an actor because I just could not do it. But then I thought, 'Okay, it'll just be something that I work at until I get it.'
As an actor, you're always changing.
No one understands my accent. I'm constantly going to auditions and being told they don't like how I talk. You have to live with criticism, and I don't take it personally.
I'm not entirely comfortable saying I'm an actor, because it seems like a very weird, almost dorky thing to say you are.
I'm in four different films this year, and I have four different accents. I sound different in every film. You have to love a character to play it well, and change in my work is what I want.
Funny enough, every role that I have had, I try to tone down my accent or speak with better diction.
As an actor, you always have to reinvent yourself or you end up in the gutter somewhere. It's my job to always change people's minds. I've known that for a long time and I've had to do it.
The odd thing is if you asked me to do the accent now I would find it very difficult unless I was also playing that part, because I associate it so much with entering into the role and stepping into someone else's shoes.
People say I've 'retained' my Cockney accent. I can do any accent, but I wanted other working-class boys to know that they could become actors.