I have a programme called Skype running on my computer, which means that Michael Jennings can send me emails and invite immediate conversation. Here is his latest, on the subject of yesterday's posting about films stars etc.

Hmm. Just reading your culture blog. It has of course been noted by many people that Hollywood casting agents are always casting the same small number of actors because they have themselves seen very few movies and have very little imagination. One thing to be said for Quentin Tarantino is that his movies are always interestingly cast because he has seen more movies than anyone and he remembers good performances in obscure seventies TV series and the like.

Which is probably a better explanation of what I was writing about than I offered.

Picture of Ashley Judd there. She appears in lots of films, and in this case I agree with those myopic and ignorant casting agents. No wonder she looks so smug. I even like it when she is miscast in rubbish, as often happens. (New Hollywood job description: Miscasting Agent.)