Scarlett Johansson has promised her performance in period drama The Other Boleyn Girl will convince movie fans she is British.

The actress is preparing to head to the UK to start shooting the film, in which she will star as Mary Boleyn who, though she never married him, had two children by King Henry VIII.

"As far as we know, he never proposed to Mary. Instead he went and wed her sister Anne," she explained of the history. The star also brushed off complaints that three Americans - her, Eric Bana and Natalie Portman - had scored parts in the quintessentially English tale.

"The three foreign actors will be using English accents," she told the Daily Mail. "I'll take away the eyebrows and the make-up and you won't notice I'm American." She added, however: "I'm a bit scared about it, because it's such a melodramatic tale."

Johansson said she is looking forward to the trip to Britain, planned for the next couple of weeks. She commented: "London's my second favourite city, after New York."