Jason Segel collects puppets
British actor Idris Elba needed to perfect his American accent for the hit HBO show The Wire so he spent some time sitting in a barbershop in Brooklyn. This obviously paid off since the show’s creator actually believed Idris was an American.
He said: ”They used to call me English. ‘Yo, waddup, English!’ I was like, ‘I’m trying to get this accent down, do you mind if I just sit in the barbershop and talk?’ And that was it, man. When you’ve got people snapping on you, you can’t come back with the rebuttals in an English accent. It’s not quick enough. They’d be like, ‘What you say? The queen ain’t up in here. Ain’t nobody can understand you.’ So you know, I’d just have to get into it.”
The 41-year-old actor’s accent was so convincing that the show’s creator David Simon thought he was from the United States. ”I remember David Simon asked me on the last audition, ‘Where in the US are you from?’ This whole time I’ve been talking in an American accent. So I said, ‘Listen guys, I’m English.’ David was like, ‘Get the f**k out of here,” Elba recalled.
Good job, Elba! Another proof of the famous saying: “When there is a will – there is a way!” If we what to achieve anything in life, we need to put a goal first and work hard on achieving it, not just sit and cry if something goes not the way we want. If it doesn’t work, then you just need to work harder, that is.