AMERICAN star Liv Tyler reckons she has her time in the blockbuster Lord Of The Rings films to thank for her part in the BBC’s big new drama, Gunpowder.
The three-part epic, is a retelling of the 17th Century attempt to blow up Parliament and assassinate the King.
Liv, 40, daughter of Aerosmith rocker Steven, plays the key role of Anne Vaux and says timing was everything.
She had just moved to London with her partner Dave Gardner and had baby daughter Lula Rose when the call came for the part.
“I read the script and then they were like, ‘Oh by the way – it starts filming in two weeks. Can you do an English accent?’” reveals Liv, who has also been in huge films such as Armageddon.
“Thank God, I’ve done an English accent a few times before in films like The Lord Of The Rings, Onegin and Plunkett & Macleane.
“I got together with the dialect coaches I worked on with those projects and discovered there was an English voice still in there.
“So I said yes, I would love to be a part of it and it all happened very fast.
“I got on the train to Leeds and there I was, in a ruff and full 17th Century costume as Lady Anne.”
Liv says it really was the Rings movies, in which she played Arwen, that were instrumental.
“I think we shot over the course of three-and-a-half years, so it was always something we had to slip in and out of.
“It was interesting to hear Arwen’s voice again.”
The stellar cast for Gunpowder includes Game Of Thrones star Kit Harrington as the man behind the plot, Robert Catesby, Tom Cullen as Guy Fawkes, Mark Gatiss as Robert Cecil and Scot Derek Riddell as King James 1 of England.
Gunpowder, BBC1, Saturday, 9.10pm.
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