And my mother died. How 'bout you.

You bought it how ya saw it. Thank you.

_ Lovely woman. _ Well well.

What else would I do with myself.

Hi, I'm Erik Singer.

[Narrator] Erik is a dialect coach

who helps actors with their accents in film and television.

Impersonation of Truman Capote.

Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote.

I'd only just handed him the final scene

when the bellhop told me I had a phones call.

This is just amazing in every way.

His particular vocal quality

and mannerisms are just like Capote's.

I think journalism can be taught

but I don't think creative writing can be taught.

The accent is dead-on perfect.

It was my stepfather, Joe Capote.

And the accent's totally integrated

Calling to say that my mother died.

It's integral to the character

and what the actor is doing as the character.

He had quite a lot to say about us.

(Capote laughing)

David Oyelowo - Selma.

But we shall be victorious in our quest.

We shall cross the finish line hand in hand.

David's not doing an impersonation.

It's more of an evocation.

Which means he's just suggesting

this very familiar voice.

I'm so glad we're here together today.

Listen to how much of his vocal range

Martin Luther King Jr. actually uses.

A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice.

And compare it to David Oyelowo.

We shall cross the finish line hand in hand.

Not quite the same.

Cate Blanchett - The Aviator.

He's a urologist, but it's all tied up

inside the body, don't you find.

So this is a great evocation of

Katharine Hepburn's particular idiolect.

If I had to quibble with it, I'd say that

Blanchett relies really strongly

on Hepburn's timbre and intonation.

You're deaf.

She doesn't quite have the posture.

She has a very open jaw,

perhaps from her theater training.

If you're deaf you must own up to it.

As opposed to the sort of high, tight

and slightly forward jaw that Katharine Hepburn had.

Women and men, simply are not the same.

Men can't be friends with woman, Howard.

They're just not the same.

Idris Elba - Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

My Lord, it is not I but the government

that should be put in the dock.

This is a great job.

Elba does a lot to capture Mandela's

particular vocal characteristics

and mannerism and placement.

Which, I hope to live for.

He's actually got a little bit

of a retracted, a pulled back tongue root.

Listen to the word, prepared.

I am prepared.

As opposed to prepared.

I am prepared.

Prepared. Prepared.

We call that the square lexical set.

It should be a monophthong for Mandela

and Xhosa accents generally

whereas Elba makes it a diphthong.

I plead not guilty.