Plain speaking

Explaining why so many Brits and Australians are cast in lead roles for films set in the American South this year, a dialect coach says “Southern is easier for non-native American speakers” to learn(“Accent on the South,” by Michael T. Jarvis, Dec. 28).

You know who it’s even easier for? American actors from the South. Granted, finding Southerners with the box-office draw of Nicole Kidman and Jude Law might be difficult, but it’s a stinging insult to the hundreds of fine Southern actors when plum character roles are handed to “stars of the London stage” who mangle the dialect.

Please stop shoveling the baloney about “Cold Mountain” director Anthony Minghella’s tireless quest for authenticity. Looking for Southerners in Ireland and London makes as much sense as looking for magnolias in Mongolia.

Mack Dryden

Valley Village