I think I first noticed the trend during Robert Altman's 1998 film The Gingerbread Man. "Hey, that's noted Englishman Kenneth Branagh playing Southern lawyer Rick Magruder!"

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"I guess it's true," young Me thought to himself, "those English guys really are the masters of disguise. Plus, you know, they're good with accents."

Notoriously, Jude Law carried on the tradition with his turn in Cold Mountain.

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Sean Penn's disastrous remake of All the King's Men featured Sir Anthony Hopkins as a Southern gentleman!

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Admittedly, Straw Dogs went with Swedish Alexander Skarsgard for its lead Southern baddie, but they did bring in English/Aussie Dominic Purcell as backup.

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Of course, if I give it just a moment's thought, I realize that this all started a long, long time ago, when Vivien Leigh nabbed the lead in Gone with the Wind.

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And of course, this is by no means any sort of exhaustive list, just a smattering off the top of my head. And of course, it's just a lead up to the main event, today's release of the Southern moonshiner saga Lawless, opening today (my review will be up directly). Lessee, here...

Noted Brit Tom Hardy (right) and Aussie Jason Clarke. Aussies are sort of English, right? At any rate, they ain't American.

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Highly noted Brit Gary Oldman.

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Brit Guy Pearce - granted, he's playing a Chicago cop, but he's still down South.

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Yet another Aussie, Mia Wasikowska.

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Oh, well, at least we got Shia in there.

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