Introducing... It or, rather, Eddie Izzard as the voice of It, ad-libbing, wish-granting animated star of Five Children And It.

In 2004, surrealist comedian and actor Eddie Izzard has three films to his name: a Western, Blueberry, a latter-day Ratpack shindig, Ocean's Twelve, and the very British Five Children And It, John Stephenson's adaptation of E Nesbit's tale of childhood adventures and magical wishes. Izzard lends his voice to the animated creature of the title, the grouchy Sand Fairy, named It by the children who find him. Charles Hutchinson investigates.

Eddie, how did you settle on the unusual accent for voicing It?

"I wanted my voice to have this European thing, which came into my head when I was reading it. I think there was a certain pressure, maybe from America, saying this wouldn't work. But I was kinda stiff, and I said if it's not going to work, then get someone else. I said I think it will work. My answer to people of America not being able to understand a European accent was 'Hasta La Vista, baby. I'll be back!' That guy had an Austrian accent, and I'd stake my life on it! And everyone found that very groovy, so it just shows Middle America can swing with anything it wants to."

How would you describe the accent you used?

"It's somewhere between French and Italian, I think. And I like both countries, so I'm happy to be like that. He's 2000 years old plus, so he must've picked up a few accents on the way. I felt he became slightly more English when he was drugged. So I liked the fact that when he was off his face, he's slightly more English - which makes us more sexy."

Was it hard to record It's voice without seeing the images?

"It was a little difficult, but Nick Hirschkorn, the young producer, grabbed the script when I said I need to read it with someone. I've just done a Disney film called The Wild, which is pure animation, and I forced the director to read it back to me and play with me.

"On animation films people often will record totally separately, so you just go in and do your lines and even do them out of order. It's all separated, and they do this because you can get anyone at any time, and it keeps the costs down. You can pay people less money, as you can get them in when they can fit it into their schedule. But I think get them all in together, so they're bouncing off each other, getting emotion off each other.

"Anyway, I sat down with Nick and fired all this stuff at him, and then I ab-libbed off it as well. I took the script, especially when the It character is on the table and young Horace is having a go at me... it just gave me freedom to go crazy. I think I have done the Enigma Variations of E Nesbit."

Is this your first animated project?

"I did one for Aardman before. I want to make my own series. This character Pants Cat I've worked on for years, I want to make him into an animated thing. I'm a huge fan of The Simpsons, and I felt this would be a great way to get my comedy out without having my face all over it, so that I could still have free rein to do dramatic things without people going 'total association'. I mean, there will be vocal association, but if I can do crazy voices, then I can do all my comedy on television or on film, which will leave me free to do drama as well without all the baggage of comedy."

Your next role is a cameo in Ocean's Twelve. How did you become involved?

"The producer, Jerry Weintraub, was the producer of The Avengers, my second film. So I get a call saying 'Call Jerry Weintraub. Do you want to be Ocean's Twelve?' I did, and he'd suggested it to Steven Soderbergh, the director. He puts me on to George Clooney, and he says 'Hey, Eddie. We're in Amsterdam...'. I think he'd visited many places in Amsterdam! My scene is with George and Brad Pitt and all of them. I have two scenes, one talking to Catherine Zeta-Jones on the phone - I'm an expert on holograms - and the second is with everyone, talking to George and Brad."

Finally, Eddie, if It could grant you a wish, what would it be?

"Well, I want unlimited wishes. I've already worked that out! I think if I had one wish, it would be able to speak every language. It would be really good to go through African tribes and be able to talk to everyone."

Five Children And It opened on Friday, Oct 22

Updated: 09:23 Friday, October 22, 2004