With thanks to my friend Rowell Gormon for posting the link on the VO-BB, you’ll find an interesting video here from the BBC on coaching a Brit how to do an American accent.
Update: Don’t miss the article below the video. Here’s a key quote …
You mustn’t play an accent,” Berkery says. “You must play a character who has an accent, but you must never play an accent.
And …
An authentic accent will be “second-nature” to an actor, Berkery says, likening it to fluency in a foreign language where a person doesn’t have to think about the process of speaking.
Good stuff. I also notice there will be a number of attempts at American accepts posted sometime tomorrow. Should be great fun to go back and listen. (Probably about as much fun as the Brits would have at our expense if we attempted a “British” accent and put it on the web for all to hear.)