ANNE HATHAWAY - HATHAWAY'S PRIVATE TUITION TO PERFECT BRITISH ACCENT

Actress ANNE HATHAWAY turned to veteran stars JULIE WALTERS and MAGGIE SMITH for help in perfecting her British accent for Becoming Jane, because she feared she would be ridiculed for her Americanised twang. Hathaway, a New York native, had private tuition from her co-stars for her role as author Jane Austen in the Julian Jarrold-directed movie, and admits she felt "stupid" talking in the accent when she was away from the set. She says, "It was the thing I knew people would talk about the most, 'Oh, here's this young American upstart playing a beloved British icon'. "I felt really stupid staying in the accent the whole time. I really owe a lot to the rest of the cast who would sit there and coach me through dinner."