Matthew Goode felt the pressure when he was cast as Adrian Veidt, a.k.a. Ozymandias in Watchmen nearly two decades ago now. The all-important role nearly went to some A-list actors including Jude Law and Tom Cruise, and Goode did not take it for granted when he snatched it away from them at a young age. However, in a new interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Goode admitted that he has one big regret about his performance — his accent. His dual voices for Veidt were not universally beloved by fans, and they were not easy for Goode to pull off consistently, either. He told host Josh Hurwitz that in hindsight, he wishes he had kept it simple in that regard.

“I wish I hadn’t overthought it,” Goode said. “I mean, I wish I hadn’t tried to give him a kind of German accent when he’s, you know, full American in public and then a kind of soft-ish German-American accent… I could have just made it easier on myself, because then people go, “He couldn’t hold his accent.’ You’re like, ‘Uh, okay, that’s like, I understand why you might think that.’”

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“But it was a wonderful experience, again, really great actors — Patty Wilson, Billy Crudup’s still a great friend of mine. The laughter I had working with Billy Crudup! He’s quintessentially one of the finest actors around, I mean seriously,” he concluded. In the same interview, Goode reflected on his mindset when he got the job and all the buzz about more established actors taking it instead.