DIALECT EXPERT SOUNDS OFF ON ‘BRIDGET JONES’ CONTROVERSY

DIALECT EXPERT SOUNDS OFF ON ‘BRIDGET JONES’ CONTROVERSY

HOLLYWOOD (Wireless Flash) – Texas actress Renee Zellweger’s letter-perfect London accent in Bridget Jones’s Diary has squashed those critics who questioned casting her as a Brit – but one dialect coach doesn’t see why there was a controversy in the first place. “Dialect doctor” Robert Easton – who is also known as “The Henry Higgins of Hollywood” – claims it’s possible to teach any thespian a new accent. He’s spent 30 years helping American actors sound British and he thinks Americans have gotten a reputation for bad English accents by a handful of actors who think deviating from their Yankee personalities will hurt their careers. Although Easton didn’t work on Bridget Jones, he knows the ropes of both Texan and London accents: his current gig is teaching the veddy British Patrick Stewart a Texas twang for a new version of King Lear.

Mon 04-16-01