Peaky Blinders star Cillian Murphy has revealed that he visited various Birmingham boozers to help him perfect Tommy Shelby's accent.
The star of the BBC drama also said that one thing he hated about preparing for the part was having to beef up.
Cillian joined the show's creator Steven Knight, who is from Birmingham, at the real-life local that provides the setting for many of his memorable scenes just so he could get the hang of the distinctive dialect.
He told this week’s Radio Time s: “I hung out with Steve, and we went to the actual Garrison pub in Birmingham with his Brummie mates.
“And they’re singing Birmingham City songs and telling all sorts of stories, and I was recording on my iPhone, and then I took that home, and used it to try and track the accents, you know.
“And then I would call Steve and just leave voicemails on his phone in the accent and see how close I was to it.”
The 45-year-old also admitted there is “no iota of commonality” between Tommy and himself, and it was tricky turning himself into the tough guy.
He said: “I’m not a very physically imposing person. So I have to eat a lot of protein and lift a lot of weights. So that takes a while, which I hate.”
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