Father role attracted McGregor

Ewan McGregor took on his latest film role in 'The Impossible' because he got to play a father.

The 41-year-old actor - who has four children with his production designer wife Eve Mavrakis said fatherhood heavily influenced his decision to accept the part in the thriller because he's never played a dad before.

He said: "I wanted very much to do this film because I'm a father, you know? I have four children now, and I've never really explored being a parent in a film before.

"It's odd because I've been a father for 15 years and yet I've never really played … I can't think of one, I've never really played a dad or explored what it means to be a dad."

Ewan - who is most known for his roles in 'Moulin Rouge' and 'Trainspotting' - plays father Henry in the film, and he thought his accent helped him bring the part to life.

The Scottish star added to FlicksandBits.com: "I felt that I wanted to make Henry much more like me - because I thought I could play a character, but I wanted to explore being a parent against this terrible backdrop, this horrible disaster.

"I thought the most effective way to do that was to play Henry as me. So I used my own voice, I didn't use an accent, I didn't make any attempt to sound English as opposed to Scottish - because my children don't have Scottish accents and they've grown up with me all of their lives."

The film - which also stars Naomi Watts - depicts one family's struggle to survive a festive nightmare, after the boxing day tsunami hit Thailand in 2004.