I have one major pet peeve when it comes to actors, and that's bad Southern accents. No matter how good the movie is, or how talented the actor can be, as soon as you hear the Deliverance-style twang, or worse, the Steel Magnolia "Ah do declare," I'm out. Remember The Insider? Fine movie, but the Southern accent on the woman who played Russell Crowe's wife killed the movie for me.

Let's hope Paul Bettany, then, is a master of accents, since he'll be playing Dakota Fanning's abusive dad in the Southern drama The Secret Life of Bees, Variety tells us. In the movie Fanning's character runs away from her father and winds up living with a trio of sisters who are beekeepers, to be played by Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson and Sophie Okonedo. From the plot description it seems like Bettany's character would be in the beginning of the movie and disappear, but since it's Bettany you can bet it's at least a meaty supporting part.

I like Paul Bettany, and I trust him to pull off the part that can usually be so horribly cliched-- the hard-drinking, not-so-nice Southern daddy. Of course, this is a guy who was in The Da Vinci Code, so his presence isn't exactly an automatic sign of quality. Still, I'm excited about this movie even though I ought to proceed carefully-- those fake Southern accents will kill ya!