British actor Jude Law worked on southern American accent for 'Genius'

LOS ANGELES - Actor Jude Law said he'd had help on the set from American actress Laura Linney in refining the southern American accent he uses to portray the novelist Thomas Wolfe in the film "Genius", showing at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Wolfe, who was born in North Carolina, had the distinct accent of the Appalachian Mountains region, which Law said he'd mastered with the help of a dialect coach -- and Linney, who is also from that area and plays the wife of book editor Max Perkins.

"So I had an extra pair of ears on set reminding me of certain vowel sounds and word endings," Law told a post-screening news conference on Tuesday.

Linney said Law was "underestimating what he was able to do" in adapting his voice to fit the part, adding: "What I loved, being on set, was also hearing him speak as the rhythm felt very familiar to me." -Reuters