James McAvoy ups his voice game in animated flick “Sherlock Gnomes”

ABC/Paula Lobo(NEW YORK) — Sherlock Gnomes, the sequel to 2011’s Gnomeo & Juliet, hits theaters today with all-star voice cast that includes new additions Johnny Depp, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Mary J. Blige.

James McAvoy and Emily Blunt are also reprising their roles as Gnomeo and Juliet. So how did McAvoy up his vocal game this time around to keep up with his new cast mates?

“Uh, I basically made sure I did a lot of shouting, a lot of screaming, I’d go out really late at night and try to make sure that my voice was husky and sort of raspy and sexy as possible,” he jokes to ABC Radio.

He adds, a little more seriously, that it’s all about infusing Gnomeo with the right kind of energy.

“On this one, you just got to inhabit it and enjoy it,” he says. “You try to put as much of something different in Gnomeo as you can.”

This time around, Gnomeo and Juliet enlist the help famed detective Sherlock Gnomes, voiced by Depp, and his partner Watson, voiced by Ejiofor, to solve the mysterious disappearance of some other garden gnomes. The adventure is set to music by Elton John, who’s also a producer on the film.

As for what another sequel might bring, McAvoy proves there will never be a shortage of gnome-themed puns.

“Well, we could do like we get transported to another alternate sort of reality and we’ve got to get back and we could call it There’s No Place Like Gnome, ’cause it’s a kind of play on The Wizard of Oz,” McAvoy suggests. “You could do one about like a talent competition and it would be like There’s Gnome Business Like Gnome Business,” then adds, “I dunno, that’s kinda bad. I’m gonna stop now while I’m ahead.”

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