Jamie Dornan Discusses Practicing a Czech Accent for ‘Anthropoid’

Anthropoid, a historical thriller starring Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan, Harry Lloyd, Toby Jones, Charlotte Le Bon, and Bill Milner, is based on the true story of Operation Anthropoid in World War II, in which Czechoslovak exile soldiers assassinated German Nazi Reinhard Heydrich. Murphy and Dornan sat down with BackstageOL’s Dave Morales to discuss their roles as two soldiers from the Czechoslovakian army-in-exile and having to talk with a Czech accent.

“[Director] Sean [Ellis] had a clear idea of what they wanted [the accent] to be, and they didn’t want it to be something that was really overbearing,” Dornan explained. “They didn’t want it to be too accented to a point that you’re really picking up on it. You wanted it to be relatively subtle so…it wouldn’t draw you away from the actual story.”

“We had the benefit of working with a lot of Czech actors and having a ninety-percent Czech crew around us,” Dornan continued. “Czech actors are speaking English with a Czech accent, so that was what we were trying to achieve, so it was quite useful to have them.”

Anthropoid marches into theaters on August 12. Watch the full interview below: