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Catherine Zeta-Jones chatted to her father on the phone to ensure her accent was Welsh enough to narrate a documentary about Welsh celebrities climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
Producer John Morgan, who recorded Zeta-Jones' narration for the documentary A Mountain to Climb, told Welsh newspaper the Western Mail he had encouraged the actress to speak to her father David prior to doing the voiceover.
The 37-year-old actress has in the past been criticised for adopting a more American accent and last year she reportedly told fellow Welsh performer Charlotte Church to lose her Cardiff brogue if she ever wanted to make it in Hollywood.
Morgan said when he first met with the actress in New York to discuss the project, she was making a film which required her to have an American accent.
"So we made sure that when we went to record her in her home in Spain, she had the full Welsh treatment before we started recording . . . we encouraged her to talk to her dad on the phone too. The end result sounds wonderful."
Zeta-Jones' father, David Jones, was also instrumental in getting his daughter to accept the narration role in the first place.
Morgan said he outlined the documentary to Jones, who thought it was a project his daughter would take part in.
"He was marvellous and asked her on our behalf and the next thing you know we're on our way to New York to meet Catherine to talk about the project," Morgan said.
A Mountain To Climb follows former Welsh internationals JPR Williams and David Pickering and other Welsh personalities as they attempt to scale Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) Wales Full Stop appeal.
- NZ HERALD STAFF
