My friend Elisa Carlson, voice and speech teacher at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, the lady who introduced me to Suzuki lo these many years ago (20!), posted a link
this abstract for an article from the New Yorker about a man, Tim Monich, who coaches Hollywood stars on dialect. Apparently he coached Brad Pitt for Inglourious Basterds. The abstract quotes Sutherland (Donald?) as saying:“He’s not a mechanic, and he doesn’t impose. He comes in from underneath and supports your instincts; he doesn’t try to define them.” At the same time, he mentions Edith Skinner, who from what I know, is all about precise differentiations between sounds, so if he is that touchy-feely, it's on top of real depth of understanding.
Elisa mentions that she is now represented by the same agent as Monich, so maybe she'll be telling us stories about coaching celebrities in how to talk before long.
Unfortunately you have to be a New Yorker subscriber to read the whole article, but even the abstract is worth a look.
