The King's Speech (film)
Encyclopedia
The King's Speech is a 2010 British historical drama film
directed by Tom Hooper
and written by David Seidler
. Colin Firth
plays King George VI who, to cope with a stammer, sees Lionel Logue
, an Australian speech therapist played by Geoffrey Rush
. The men become friends as they work together, and after his brother abdicates the throne
, the new King relies on Logue to help him make a radio broadcast on Britain's declaration of war on Germany
in 1939.
Seidler read about George VI's life after overcoming a stuttering condition he endured during his youth. He started writing about the men's relationship as early as the 1980s, but postponed work, at the Queen Mother's wishes, until her death in 2002. He later rewrote his screenplay for the stage to focus on the essential relationship between the two protagonists. Nine weeks before filming began, Logue's notebooks were discovered and quotations from them were incorporated into the script.
Principal photography
took place in London and around Britain from November 2009 to January 2010. The opening scenes were filmed in Elland Road
, Leeds (for the since-demolished Wembley Stadium), Buckingham Palace
interiors in Lancaster House
, and Ely Cathedral
stood in for Westminster Abbey
. The cinematography differs from other historical dramas; hard light was used to give the story a greater resonance and wider than normal lenses were used to recreate the King's feelings of constriction. A third technique Hooper employed was the off-centre framing of characters: in his first consultation with Logue, George VI is captured hunched on the side of a couch at the edge of the frame.
Released in the United Kingdom on 7 January 2011, The King's Speech was a major box office and critical success. Censors initially gave it adult ratings due to profanity, though these were later revised downwards after criticism by the makers and distributors in the UK and some instances of swearing were muted in the US. On a budget of GB£8 million, it earned over US$400 million internationally (£250 million). It was widely praised by film critics for its visual style, art direction, and acting. Other commentators discussed the film's representation of historical detail, especially the reversal of Winston Churchill
's opposition to abdication. The film received many awards and nominations, particularly for Colin Firth's performance; his Golden Globe Award for Best Actor was the sole win at that ceremony from seven nominations. The King's Speech won seven British Academy Film Awards
, including Best Picture
, Best Actor
(Firth), Best Supporting Actor
(Rush), and Best Supporting Actress
(Bonham Carter). The film also won four Academy Awards: Best Picture
, Best Director (Hooper), Best Actor
(Firth), and Best Original Screenplay
(Seidler).
), the second son of King George V
, stammering through his closing speech at the 1925 British Empire Exhibition
at Wembley Stadium, with his wife, Elizabeth, Duchess of York (Helena Bonham Carter
), by his side. The Duke despairs after several unsuccessful treatments, until his wife persuades him to see Lionel Logue
(Geoffrey Rush
), an Australian speech therapist in London. During their first session, Logue requests that they address each other by their Christian names—a breach of royal etiquette—and proceeds to call the prince "Bertie". To persuade him to follow his treatment, Logue bets Prince Albert a shilling that he can read perfectly at that very moment, and gives him Hamlet
's "To be, or not to be
" soliloquy to read aloud, which he does while listening to loud music on headphones. Logue records Bertie's reading on a gramophone record
; convinced he has stammered throughout, Bertie leaves in a huff, declaring his condition "hopeless." Logue offers him the recording as a keepsake.
After King George V (Michael Gambon
) makes his 1934 Christmas address
, he explains to his son how important broadcasting is to the modern monarchy. He declares that "David" (Edward, Prince of Wales, played by Guy Pearce
), Prince Albert's older brother, will bring ruin to the family and the country as king. King George demands that Albert train himself, starting with a reading of his father's speech. After an agonising attempt to do so, Prince Albert plays Logue's recording and hears himself making an unbroken recitation of Shakespeare. He returns to Logue, and they work together on muscle relaxation and breath control, while Logue gently probes the psychological roots of his stuttering. The Duke soon reveals some of the pressures of his childhood: his strict father, the repression of his natural left-handedness
, a painful treatment for knock-knees
, a nanny who favoured his elder brother, and the early death of his younger brother, Prince John
. As the treatment progresses, the two men become friends and confidants.
In January 1936, George V dies, and David accedes to the throne as King Edward VIII, still wanting to marry Mrs Wallis Simpson (Eve Best
), a socialite American divorcée. At Christmas in Balmoral Castle
, Prince Albert points out that Edward cannot marry a divorced woman and retain the throne; Edward accuses his brother of a medieval-style plot to usurp him, cites his speech lessons as an attempt to ready himself, and resurrects his childhood taunt of "B-B-B-Bertie".
At his next session, the Duke has not forgotten the incident. He is frustrated that his speech has improved while talking to most people—except his own brother. Logue, observing that when he curses he does not stutter, has him swear out loud. After doing so, Albert briefs him on the extent of David's folly with Mrs Simpson, and Logue insists that Albert could be king. Outraged, he accuses Logue of treason
and, in his anger, mocks Logue's failed acting career and humble origins, causing a rift in their friendship. When King Edward VIII does abdicate to marry
, Prince Albert becomes King George VI. The new King realises that he needs Logue's help; he and the Queen visit the Logues' home to apologise. When the King insists that Logue be seated in the King's box during his coronation in Westminster Abbey
, the Archbishop of Canterbury
(Derek Jacobi
) questions Logue's qualifications. This prompts another confrontation between George VI and Logue, who explains he began by treating shell-shocked soldiers during the war. When the King remains unsure of himself, Logue sits in King Edward's Chair
and dismisses the Stone of Scone
as a trifle. George VI remonstrates Logue for his disrespect, surprising himself with his own sudden eloquence.
Upon the September 1939 declaration of war
with Nazi Germany
, George VI summons Logue to Buckingham Palace
to assist him in preparing for his upcoming radio address to Britain and the Empire
. As millions of people listen to their radios, the King delivers his speech as if to Logue, who guides him silently throughout. Afterwards, the King steps onto the balcony of the palace with his family, where thousands of Londoners have gathered to listen, cheer, and applaud.
A title card explains that Logue was always present at King George VI's speeches during World War II. It notes that in 1944 Logue was made a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
, in recognition of personal service to the Monarch. Also noted is the continuation of their friendship for the remainder of their lives.
developed a stammer, which he believes was caused by the emotional trauma of World War II
and the murder of his grandparents during the Holocaust
. King George VI's success in overcoming his stammer inspired the young Seidler, "Here was a stutterer who was a king and had to give radio speeches where everyone was listening to every syllable he uttered, and yet did so with passion and intensity." When Seidler became an adult, he resolved to write about King George VI. During the late 1970s and 1980s he voraciously researched the King, but found a dearth of information on Logue. Eventually Seidler contacted Dr. Valentine Logue, who agreed to discuss his father and make his notebooks available if the Queen Mother gave her permission. She asked him not to do so in her lifetime, and Seidler halted the project.
The Queen Mother died in 2002. Three years later, Seidler returned to the story during a bout of creative work inspired by a recovery from cancer. His research, including a chance encounter with an uncle whom Logue had treated, indicated he used mechanical breathing exercises combined with psychological counselling to probe the underlying causes of the condition. Thus prepared, Seidler imagined the sessions. He showed the finished screenplay to his wife, who liked it, but pronounced it too "seduced by cinematic technique". She suggested he rewrite it as a stage play to focus on the essential relationship between the King and Logue. After he had completed it, he sent it to a few friends who worked in theatre in London and New York for feedback.
In 2005, Joan Lane of Wilde Thyme, a production company in London, received the script. Lane started talking with Simon Egan and Gareth Unwin of Bedlam Productions
, and they invited Seidler to London to rewrite the play again, this time for the screen. Together, Lane and Bedlam Productions organised a reading of the play in Pleasance Theatre, a small house in north London, to a group of Australian expatriates, among whom was Tom Hooper's
mother. She called her son and said, "I've found your next project".
Instead of trying to contact his agent, Lane asked an Australian staff member to hand-deliver the script to Geoffrey Rush's house, not far away from hers in Melbourne. Unwin reports that he received a four page e-mail from Rush's manager admonishing them for the breach of etiquette, but ending with an invitation to discuss the project further. Iain Canning from See-Saw Films
became involved and, in Gareth Unwin's words: "We worked with ex-chair of Bafta Richard Price, and started turning this story about two grumpy men sitting in a room into something bigger." Hooper liked the story, but thought that the original ending needed to be changed to reflect events more closely: "Originally, it had a Hollywood ending ... If you hear the real speech, he's clearly coping with his stammer. But it's not a perfect performance. He's managing it."
The production team learned—some nine weeks prior to the start of filming—of a diary containing Logue's original notes on his treatment of the Duke. They then went back and re-worked the script to reflect what was in the notes. Hooper said some of the film's most memorable lines, such as at the climax, when Logue smiles, "you still stammered on the W" to the King, who replies "I had to throw in a few so they would know it was me" were direct quotations from Logue's notes. Changes from the script to reflect the historical record included Michael Gambon improvising the ramblings of George V as he signed away authority, and the decision to dress the Duke in an overcoat rather than regal finery in the opening scene.
Seidler thought Paul Bettany
would be a good choice to play King George VI, Tom Hooper preferred Hugh Grant
, though both actors refused the offer. Once they met with Firth and heard him read for the part, Seidler and Hooper were convinced of his suitability for the role.
The UK Film Council
awarded the production £1 million in June 2009. Filming began in December 2009, and lasted 39 days. Most was shot in the three weeks before Christmas because Rush would be performing in a play in January. The schedule was further complicated by Bonham-Carter's availability: she worked on Harry Potter
during the week, so her scenes had to be filmed during the weekend.
in Southwark. The entire street was transformed into 1930s London. Large advertisements, for (among other things) Bovril
and fascism
were placed on the walls; streets were sprayed with grit and buildings with grime. A neighbour of Hooper's had told him the smog in London at the time was so thick that cars had to be guided by someone walking in front. To create this scene the crew pumped in so much artificial smoke that the fire alarms in a nearby boutique sounded. According to Hooper, the scene was a good opportunity to show Logue's socio-economic background.
On 26 November, a week's filming with Firth, Rush, and Jacobi began at Ely Cathedral
, the location used for Westminster Abbey
. The production had asked for permission to film in the Abbey but were denied due to the demands of tourism. Though Lincoln Cathedral
is architecturally a closer match to the Abbey, they preferred Ely, a favoured filming location. Its size allowed them to build sets showing not just the coronation, but the preparations before it.
Lancaster House
, an opulent, government-owned period house in London, was used for the interiors of Buckingham Palace that the King walks through prior to making his speech and for the official photograph afterwards; it cost £20,000 a day to rent. The 1936 Accession Council
at St. James's Palace
, where George VI swore an oath, was filmed in February in the Livery Hall of Drapers' Hall, after principal photography had been completed. The room, ornate and vast, met the occasion: the daunting nature of the new King's responsibilities was shown by surrounding him with rich detail, flags and royal portraiture.
The crew investigated Logue's former consultation rooms, but they were too small to film in. Instead, they found a high, vaulted room not far away in 33 Portland Place. Eve Stewart, the production designer, liked the mottled, peeling wallpaper there so much that she recreated the effect throughout the entire room. In his DVD commentary, Hooper said he liked Portland Place as a set because it felt "lived-in", unlike other period houses in London. The scenes of the Duke of York at home with his family were also filmed here; showing the Prince living in a townhouse "subverted" expectations of a royal drama.
The opening scene, set at the closing ceremony of the 1925 British Empire Exhibition
at Wembley Stadium, was filmed on location at Elland Road
, home of Leeds United, and Odsal Stadium
, home of the Bradford Bulls
. Elland Road was used for the speech elements of the prince stammering his way through his first public address, and Odsal Stadium was selected because of the resemblance of its curved ends to Wembley Stadium in 1925. The crew had access to the stadium only at 10 pm, after a football game. They filled the terraces with inflatable dummies and over 250 extras dressed in period costumes. Live actors were interspersed to give the impression of a crowd. Additional people, as well as more ranks of soldiers on the pitch, were added in post-production with visual effects
.
Other locations include Cumberland Lodge
, Harley Street
, Knebworth
, Hatfield House
, the Old Royal Naval College
in Greenwich
, Queen Street Mill
Textile Museum in Burnley
, and Battersea Power Station
, which doubled as a BBC
wireless control room. The final cut of the film was completed on 31 August 2010.
, also a professional voice coach to actors, proposed exercises the King might have done with Logue, and made suggestions on how to imagine Logue's mix of physical and psychological coaching for the film.
In addition, Firth watched archive footage of the King speaking. In an interview with Allan Tyrer published by the British Stammering Association
, Swain said: "[It] was very interesting while we were working on the film just to think tonally how far we could go and should go with the strength of George's stammer. I think a less courageous director than Tom [Hooper] – and indeed a less courageous actor than Colin [Firth] – might have felt the need to slightly sanitise the degree and authenticity of that stammer, and I'm really really pleased that neither of them did." In May 2011 Firth said he was finding traces of the stammer difficult to eliminate: “You can probably hear even from this interview, there are moments when it’s quite infectious,” he said.“You find yourself doing it and if I start thinking about it the worse it gets, if nothing else it’s an insight in to what it feels like.”
. In a film about a man struggling to articulate himself, Desplat was wary of overshadowing the dramaturgy, "This is a film about the sound of the voice. Music has to deal with that. Music has to deal with silence. Music has to deal with time."
The score is a sparse arrangement of strings and piano (with the addition of oboe and harp in one cut), intended to convey the sadness of the King's muteness, and then the growing warmth of friendship between him and Logue. The minimalist approach emphasises the protagonist's struggle for control. Desplat used the repetition of a single note to represent the stickiness of the King's speech. As the film progresses, growing banks of warm strings swaddle the deepening friendship between the two leads. The music rises to a climax in the coronation scene. Hooper originally wanted to film the scene without music, but Desplat argued that it was the real climax of the story—the point when the friendship was ratified by their decision to trust each other. "That is really rare", said Desplat, "mostly you have love stories". To create a dated sound, the score was recorded on old microphones extracted from the EMI
archives which had been specially made for the royal family.
The music played during the broadcast of the 1939 radio speech at the climax of the film is from the 2nd movement (Allegretto) of Beethoven
's 7th Symphony
; it was added by Tariq Anwar, the editor. When Desplat later joined the team to write the music, he praised and defended Anwar's suggestion. Hooper further remarked that the piece's notoriety helps elevate the status of the speech to a public event. The score was nominated for several awards, including Best Original Score
at the Oscars, Golden Globes, and BAFTAs, winning the latter award.
, Manohla Dargis
wrote that the feeling of entrapment inside the King's head was rendered overly literal with what she believed to be a fisheye lens
, though in these scenes the wider lenses were used. Hooper also discussed using the 18mm lens, one he likes "because it puts human beings in their context".
Roger Ebert
noted that the majority of the film was shot indoors, where oblong sets, corridors, and small spaces manifest constriction and tightness, in contrast to the usual emphasis on sweep and majesty in historical dramas. Hooper used wide shots to capture the actors' body language, particularly Geoffrey Rush, who trained at the L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq
in Paris and "is consequently brilliant in the way he carries his body". Hooper widened his scope first to capture Rush's gestures, then full body movements and silhouettes. The approach carried over to Firth as well. In the first consultation scene, the Duke is squeezed against the end of a long couch framed against a large wall, "as if to use the arm of the sofa as a kind of friend, as a security blanket?". Martin Filler praised the "low-wattage" cinematography
of Danny Cohen, as making everything look like it has been "steeped in strong tea".
At other times, the camera was positioned very close to the actors to catch the emotion in their faces: "If you put a lens 6 inches from somebody's face, you get more emotion than if you're on a long lens 20 feet away," Cohen said in an interview. Hooper sought a second subtlety while filming the first consultation room scene between the two men, having placed the camera 18 inches from Colin Firth's face: "I wanted the nervousness of the first day to percolate into his performances."
Historical dramas traditionally tend to use "soft light", but Hooper wanted to use a harsher glare, which gives a more contemporary feel, and thus a greater emotional resonance. To achieve the effect, the lighting team erected huge blackout tents over the Georgian buildings, and used large lights filtered through Egyptian cotton.
, Logue said that "Resonantly and without stuttering, he opened the Australian Parliament in Canberra in 1927"; this was just seven months after the Duke began to work with Logue. Hugo Vickers, an adviser on the film, agreed that the alteration of historical details to preserve the essence of the dramatic story was sometimes necessary. The high ranking officials, for instance, would not have been present when the King made his speech, nor would Churchill have been involved at any level, "but the average viewer knows who Churchill is; he doesn't know who Lord Halifax and Lord Hoare [sc. Sir Samuel Hoare] are."
Robert Logue, a grandson of Lionel, doubted the film's depiction of the speech therapist, stating "I don't think he ever swore in front of the King and he certainly never called him "Bertie". Andrew Roberts, an English historian, states that the severity of the King's stammer was exaggerated and the characters of Edward VIII, Wallis Simpson, and George V made more antagonistic than they really were, to increase the dramatic effect.
Christopher Hitchens
and Isaac Chotiner challenged the film's portrayal of Winston Churchill's role in the abdication crisis. It is well established that Churchill encouraged Edward VIII to resist pressure to abdicate, whereas he is portrayed in the film as strongly supportive of Prince Albert and not opposed to the abdication. Hitchens attributes this treatment to the "cult" surrounding Churchill's legacy. In a smart, well-made film, "would the true story not have been fractionally more interesting for the audience?" he wondered. They also criticised the film for failing to indict the appeasement
of the era. While the film never directly mentions the issue, Hitchens and Chotiner argue that it implies that George VI was against appeasement, especially in the final scene portraying "Churchill and the King at Buckingham Palace and a speech of unity and resistance being readied for delivery". Far from distancing himself from Chamberlain's appeasement policy, King George VI despatched a car to meet Neville Chamberlain
when he returned from signing the Munich Agreement
with Hitler in September 1938. The King and Chamberlain then stood on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, acclaimed by cheering crowds. This led historian Steven Runciman
to write that by acting as he did to endorse Chamberlain's foreign policy, King George VI perpetrated "the biggest constitutional blunder that has been made by any sovereign this century." The Guardian
corrected the portrayal of Stanley Baldwin
as having resigned due to his refusal to order Britain's re-armament, when he in fact stepped down as "a national hero, exhausted by more than a decade at the top".
Martin Filler
acknowledged that the film legitimately used artistic license
to make valid dramatic points, such as in the probably-imagined scene when George V lectures his son on the importance of broadcasting. Filler cautions that George VI would never have tolerated Logue addressing him casually, nor swearing, and the King almost certainly would have understood a newsreel of Hitler speaking in German. Filler makes the larger point that both the King and his wife were, in reality, lukewarm towards Churchill because of the latter's support for his brother during the abdication crisis. They only warmed to Churchill later in the war, because of his performance as a wartime leader.
Commenting on the film's final scene on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, Andrew Roberts has written, "The scene is fairly absurd from a historical point of view – Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill were not present and there were no cheering crowds outside Buckingham Palace." Overall, Roberts praises the film as a sympathetic portrayal of the King's "quiet, unassuming heroism", and he states: "The portrayals by Firth and Bonham Carter are sympathetic and acute, and the movie’s occasional factual bêtises should not detract from that."
in the United States. It was screened at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
, on Firth's 50th birthday, where it received a standing ovation and won the People's Choice Award. The theatrical release poster was re-designed to show an extreme close-up of Firth's jaw and a microphone after Hooper criticised the first design as a "train smash". Tim Appelo called the original, air-brushed effort, which showed the three leads, "shockingly awful" though the new one "really is worthwhile".
The film was distributed by Transmission in Australia and by Momentum Pictures
in the United Kingdom. The Weinstein Company
distributed it in North America, Germany, Benelux
, Scandinavia, China, Hong Kong, and Latin America. The film was released in France on 2 February 2011, under the title Le discours d'un roi. It was distributed by Wild Bunch Distribution.
by the British Board of Film Classification
, due to scenes where Logue encourages the King to shout profanities to relieve stress. At the London Film Festival, Hooper criticised the decision, questioning how the board could certify the film "15" for bad language but allow films such as Salt (2010) and Casino Royale
(2006) to have "12A" ratings, despite their graphic torture scenes. Following Hooper's criticism, the board lowered the rating to "12A", allowing children under 12 years of age to see the film if they are accompanied by an adult. Hooper levelled the same criticism at the Motion Picture Association of America
, which gave the film an "R" rating, preventing anyone under the age of 17 from seeing the film without an adult. In his review, Roger Ebert criticised the "R" rating, calling it "utterly inexplicable", and said, "This is an excellent film for teenagers". In January 2011 Harvey Weinstein
, the executive producer and distributor, said he was considering having the film re-edited to remove some profanity, so that it would receive a lower classification and reach a larger audience.
Hooper, however, refused to cut the film, though he considered covering the swear words with bleeps. Helena Bonham Carter also defended the film, saying, "[The film] is not violent. It's full of humanity and wit. [It's] for people not with just a speech impediment, but who have got confidence [doubts]." After receiving his Academy Award, Colin Firth noted that he does not support re-editing the film; while he does not condone the use of profanity, he maintains that its use was not offensive in this context. The scene serves a purpose. An alternate version, with some of the profanities muted out, was classified as "PG-13" in the United States; this version was released to theatres on 1 April 2011, replacing the R-rated one.
, the film was the highest earning film on its opening weekend. It took in £3,510,000 from 395 cinemas. The Guardian said that it was one of the biggest takes in recent memory, and compared it to Slumdog Millionaire
(2008), which, two years earlier, earned £1.5 million less. The King's Speech continued a "stunning three weeks" atop the UK Box office, and earned over £3 million for four consecutive weekends, the first film to do so since Toy Story 3
(2010). After five weeks on UK release, it was hailed as the most successful independent British film ever.
In the United States The King's Speech opened with $355,450 (£220,000) in four theatres. It holds the record for the highest per-theatre gross of 2010. It was widened to 700 screens on Christmas Day and 1,543 screens on 14 January 2011. It eventually made $138 million in North America overall.
In Australia The King's Speech made more than AUD
$6,281,686 (£4 million) in the first two weeks, according to figures collected by the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia. The executive director of Palace Cinemas
, Benjamin Zeccola, said customer feedback on the film was spectacular. "It's our No.1 for all the period, all throughout the country. ... I think this is more successful than Slumdog Millionaire and a more uplifting film. It's a good example of a film that started out in the independent cinemas and then spread to the mainstream cinemas."
Of the film's net profit, estimated to amount to $30–40 million (£20-25 million) from the theatrical release alone, roughly 20% will be split between Geoffrey Rush (as executive producer), Tom Hooper, and Colin Firth, who receive their bonuses before the other stakeholders. The remaining profit is to be split equally between the producers and the equity investors. The UK Film Council
invested £1 million of public funds from the United Kingdom lottery into the film. In March 2011 Variety
estimated that the return could be between fifteen and twenty times that. The Council's merger into the British Film Institute
means that the profits are to be returned to that body.
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes
gives the film a score of 95% based on reviews from 212 critics, with an average score of 8.6/10. It summarised the critical consensus as: "Colin Firth gives a masterful performance in The King's Speech, a predictable but stylishly produced and rousing period drama." Metacritic
gave the film a weighted score of 88/100, based on 41 critiques, which it ranks as "universal acclaim".
Empire
gave the film five stars out of five, commenting, "You'll be lost for words." Lisa Kennedy of the Denver Post gave the film full marks for its humane qualities and craftsmanship: "It is an intelligent, winning drama fit for a king – and the rest of us", she said. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times
awarded the film a full four stars, commenting that "what we have here is a superior historical drama and a powerful personal one." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian
gave four stars out of five, stating, "Tom Hooper's richly enjoyable and handsomely produced movie ... is a massively confident crowd-pleaser."
Manohla Dargis
, whilst generally ambivalent towards the film, called the lead performances one of its principal attractions. "With their volume turned up, the appealing, impeccably professional Mr. Firth and Mr. Rush rise to the acting occasion by twinkling and growling as their characters warily circle each other before settling into the therapeutic swing of things and unknowingly preparing for the big speech that partly gives the film its title," she wrote. The Daily Telegraph
called Guy Pearce's performance as Edward VIII "formidable ... with glamour, charisma and utter self-absorption". Empire said he played the role well as "a flash harry
flinty enough to shed a nation for a wife." The New York Times
thought he was able to create "a thorny tangle of complications in only a few abbreviated scenes". Hooper praised the actor in the DVD commentary, saying he "nailed" the 1930s royal accent.
The British Stammering Association
welcomed the release of The King's Speech, congratulating the film makers on their "realistic depiction of the frustration and the fear of speaking faced by people who stammer on a daily basis". It said that "Colin Firth's portrayal of the King's stammer in particular strikes us as very authentic and accurate." The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists welcomed the film, and launched their "Giving Voice" campaign around the time of its commercial release.
Allociné
, a French cinema website, gave the film an average of four out of five stars, based on a survey of 21 reviews. Le Monde
, which characterised the film as the "latest manifestation of British narcissism
" and summarised it as "We are ugly and boring, but, By Jove!, we are right!", nevertheless admired the performances of Firth, Rush, and Bonham Carter. It said that, though the film swept British appeasement under the carpet, it was still enjoyable.
Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realm
s and the daughter of King George VI, was sent two copies of the film before Christmas 2010. The Sun newspaper reported she had watched the film in a private screening at Sandringham House
. A palace source described her reaction as being "touched by a moving portrayal of her father". Seidler called the reports "the highest honour" the film could receive.
, The King's Speech won the Academy Award for Best Picture
, Best Director (Hooper), Best Actor
(Firth), and Best Original Screenplay
(Seidler). The film had received 12 Oscar nominations, more than any other film. Besides the four categories it won, the film received nominations for Best Cinematography
(Danny Cohen
) and two for the supporting actors (Bonham Carter and Rush), as well as two for its mise-en-scène: Art Direction
and Costumes.
At the 64th British Academy Film Awards
, it won seven awards, including Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Best Actor for Firth, Best Supporting Actor for Rush, Best Supporting Actress for Bonham Carter, Best Original Screenplay for Seidler, and Best Music for Alexandre Desplat
. The film had been nominated for 14 BAFTAs, more than any other film. At the 68th Golden Globe Awards
, Firth won for Best Actor. The film won no other Golden Globes, despite earning seven nominations, more than any other film.
At the 17th Screen Actors Guild Awards
, Firth won the Best Actor award and the entire cast won Best Ensemble, meaning Firth went home with two acting awards in one evening. Hooper won the Directors Guild of America Awards 2010
for Best Director. The film won the Darryl F. Zanuck
Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture at the Producers Guild of America Awards 2010
.
The King's Speech won the People's Choice Award at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
, Best British Independent Film
at the 2010 British Independent Film Awards
, and the 2011 Goya Award
for Best European Film
from the Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España
(Spanish Academy of Cinematic Art and Science).
Historical drama film
The historical drama is a film genre in which stories are based upon historical events and famous persons. Some historical dramas attempt to accurately portray a historical event or biography, to the degree that the available historical research will allow...
directed by Tom Hooper
Tom Hooper (director)
Thomas George "Tom" Hooper is a British film and television director of English and Australian background. Hooper began making short films at the age of 13, and had his first professional short, Painted Faces, broadcast on Channel 4 in 1992. At Oxford University Hooper directed plays and...
and written by David Seidler
David Seidler
David Seidler is a British-American playwright and film and television writer. He was most successful for writing the play and the screenplay for the film The King's Speech, for which he won the Academy Award and a BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay.-Early life and family:Seidler was born in...
. Colin Firth
Colin Firth
SirColin Andrew Firth, CBE is a British film, television, and theatre actor. Firth gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice...
plays King George VI who, to cope with a stammer, sees Lionel Logue
Lionel Logue
Lionel George Logue CVO was an Australian speech therapist and stage actor who successfully treated, among others, King George VI, who had a pronounced stammer.-Early life and family:...
, an Australian speech therapist played by Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting , three British Academy Film Awards , two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen...
. The men become friends as they work together, and after his brother abdicates the throne
Edward VIII abdication crisis
In 1936, a constitutional crisis in the British Empire was caused by King-Emperor Edward VIII's proposal to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American socialite....
, the new King relies on Logue to help him make a radio broadcast on Britain's declaration of war on Germany
Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II
Britain along with most of its dominions and Crown colonies, and British India, declared war on Nazi Germany in 1939. War with Japan began in 1941, after it attacked British colonies in Asia...
in 1939.
Seidler read about George VI's life after overcoming a stuttering condition he endured during his youth. He started writing about the men's relationship as early as the 1980s, but postponed work, at the Queen Mother's wishes, until her death in 2002. He later rewrote his screenplay for the stage to focus on the essential relationship between the two protagonists. Nine weeks before filming began, Logue's notebooks were discovered and quotations from them were incorporated into the script.
Principal photography
Principal photography
thumb|300px|Film production on location in [[Newark, New Jersey]].Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production....
took place in London and around Britain from November 2009 to January 2010. The opening scenes were filmed in Elland Road
Elland Road
Elland Road is an all-seater football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has been the permanent residence of Leeds United A.F.C...
, Leeds (for the since-demolished Wembley Stadium), Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
interiors in Lancaster House
Lancaster House
Lancaster House is a mansion in the St. James's district in the West End of London. It is close to St. James's Palace and much of the site was once part of the palace complex...
, and Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...
stood in for Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
. The cinematography differs from other historical dramas; hard light was used to give the story a greater resonance and wider than normal lenses were used to recreate the King's feelings of constriction. A third technique Hooper employed was the off-centre framing of characters: in his first consultation with Logue, George VI is captured hunched on the side of a couch at the edge of the frame.
Released in the United Kingdom on 7 January 2011, The King's Speech was a major box office and critical success. Censors initially gave it adult ratings due to profanity, though these were later revised downwards after criticism by the makers and distributors in the UK and some instances of swearing were muted in the US. On a budget of GB£8 million, it earned over US$400 million internationally (£250 million). It was widely praised by film critics for its visual style, art direction, and acting. Other commentators discussed the film's representation of historical detail, especially the reversal of Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
's opposition to abdication. The film received many awards and nominations, particularly for Colin Firth's performance; his Golden Globe Award for Best Actor was the sole win at that ceremony from seven nominations. The King's Speech won seven British Academy Film Awards
British Academy Film Awards
The British Academy Film Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . It is the British counterpart of the Oscars. As of 2008, it has taken place in the Royal Opera House, having taken over from the flagship Odeon cinema on Leicester Square...
, including Best Picture
BAFTA Award for Best Film
This page lists the winners and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language and Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for each year, in addition to the retired earlier versions of those awards...
, Best Actor
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Best Actor in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.-Superlatives:...
(Firth), Best Supporting Actor
BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Best Actor in a Supporting Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding supporting performance in a film...
(Rush), and Best Supporting Actress
BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Best Actress in a Supporting Role is a British Academy Film award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding supporting performance in a film...
(Bonham Carter). The film also won four Academy Awards: Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
, Best Director (Hooper), Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Firth), and Best Original Screenplay
Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. Before 1940, there was an Academy Award for Best Story for writing. For 1940, it and the award in this article were separated into two awards. Beginning with the...
(Seidler).
Synopsis
The film opens with Prince Albert, Duke of York (played by Colin FirthColin Firth
SirColin Andrew Firth, CBE is a British film, television, and theatre actor. Firth gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice...
), the second son of King George V
George V
George V was king of the United Kingdom and its dominions from 1910 to 1936.George V or similar terms may also refer to:-People:* George V of Georgia * George V of Imereti * George V of Hanover...
, stammering through his closing speech at the 1925 British Empire Exhibition
British Empire Exhibition
The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley, Middlesex in 1924 and 1925.-History:It was opened by King George V on St George's Day, 23 April 1924. The British Empire contained 58 countries at that time, and only Gambia and Gibraltar did not take part...
at Wembley Stadium, with his wife, Elizabeth, Duchess of York (Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter
Helena Bonham Carter is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first film role as the titular character in Lady Jane...
), by his side. The Duke despairs after several unsuccessful treatments, until his wife persuades him to see Lionel Logue
Lionel Logue
Lionel George Logue CVO was an Australian speech therapist and stage actor who successfully treated, among others, King George VI, who had a pronounced stammer.-Early life and family:...
(Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting , three British Academy Film Awards , two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen...
), an Australian speech therapist in London. During their first session, Logue requests that they address each other by their Christian names—a breach of royal etiquette—and proceeds to call the prince "Bertie". To persuade him to follow his treatment, Logue bets Prince Albert a shilling that he can read perfectly at that very moment, and gives him Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
's "To be, or not to be
To be, or not to be
"To be, or not to be" is the opening phrase of a soliloquy from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet , Act III, Scene 1. It is the best-known quotation from the play and probably the most famous in world literature but there is disagreement on its meaning, as there is of the whole speech.- Text :This...
" soliloquy to read aloud, which he does while listening to loud music on headphones. Logue records Bertie's reading on a gramophone record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
; convinced he has stammered throughout, Bertie leaves in a huff, declaring his condition "hopeless." Logue offers him the recording as a keepsake.
After King George V (Michael Gambon
Michael Gambon
Sir Michael John Gambon, CBE is an Irish actor who has worked in theatre, television and film. A highly respected theatre actor, Gambon is recognised for his roles as Philip Marlowe in the BBC television serial The Singing Detective, as Jules Maigret in the 1990s ITV serial Maigret, and as...
) makes his 1934 Christmas address
Royal Christmas Message
The Queen's Christmas Message is a broadcast made by the sovereign of the Commonwealth realms to the Commonwealth of Nations each Christmas. The tradition began in 1932 with a radio broadcast by George V on the British Broadcasting Corporation Empire Service...
, he explains to his son how important broadcasting is to the modern monarchy. He declares that "David" (Edward, Prince of Wales, played by Guy Pearce
Guy Pearce
Guy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A...
), Prince Albert's older brother, will bring ruin to the family and the country as king. King George demands that Albert train himself, starting with a reading of his father's speech. After an agonising attempt to do so, Prince Albert plays Logue's recording and hears himself making an unbroken recitation of Shakespeare. He returns to Logue, and they work together on muscle relaxation and breath control, while Logue gently probes the psychological roots of his stuttering. The Duke soon reveals some of the pressures of his childhood: his strict father, the repression of his natural left-handedness
Bias against left-handed people
Bias against left-handed people is the discrimination, conscious or not, against people who are left hand dominant. "For centuries, left-handers have suffered unfair discrimination in a world designed for right-handers." Approximately 8-15% of the world's population is left-handed...
, a painful treatment for knock-knees
Genu valgum
Genu valgum, commonly called "knock-knee", is a condition where the knees angle in and touch one another when the legs are straightened. Women have a wider pelvis than men and a relatively shorter length of the thigh bone, and as a result, have a greater static genu valgum than men...
, a nanny who favoured his elder brother, and the early death of his younger brother, Prince John
Prince John of the United Kingdom
The Prince John was a member of the British Royal Family, the youngest son of King George V and Queen Mary. The Prince had epilepsy and consequently was largely hidden from the public eye.-Early life:...
. As the treatment progresses, the two men become friends and confidants.
In January 1936, George V dies, and David accedes to the throne as King Edward VIII, still wanting to marry Mrs Wallis Simpson (Eve Best
Eve Best
Eve Best is an English actress, best known for her roles as Dr. O'Hara in the Showtime television series Nurse Jackie, as Wallis Simpson in the 2010 film The King's Speech, and Dolley Madison in the 2011 American Experience television special about that First Lady.-Early life and education:Best...
), a socialite American divorcée. At Christmas in Balmoral Castle
Balmoral Castle
Balmoral Castle is a large estate house in Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is located near the village of Crathie, west of Ballater and east of Braemar. Balmoral has been one of the residences of the British Royal Family since 1852, when it was purchased by Queen Victoria and her...
, Prince Albert points out that Edward cannot marry a divorced woman and retain the throne; Edward accuses his brother of a medieval-style plot to usurp him, cites his speech lessons as an attempt to ready himself, and resurrects his childhood taunt of "B-B-B-Bertie".
At his next session, the Duke has not forgotten the incident. He is frustrated that his speech has improved while talking to most people—except his own brother. Logue, observing that when he curses he does not stutter, has him swear out loud. After doing so, Albert briefs him on the extent of David's folly with Mrs Simpson, and Logue insists that Albert could be king. Outraged, he accuses Logue of treason
High treason in the United Kingdom
Under the law of the United Kingdom, high treason is the crime of disloyalty to the Crown. Offences constituting high treason include plotting the murder of the sovereign; having sexual intercourse with the sovereign's consort, with his eldest unmarried daughter, or with the wife of the heir to the...
and, in his anger, mocks Logue's failed acting career and humble origins, causing a rift in their friendship. When King Edward VIII does abdicate to marry
Edward VIII abdication crisis
In 1936, a constitutional crisis in the British Empire was caused by King-Emperor Edward VIII's proposal to marry Wallis Simpson, a twice-divorced American socialite....
, Prince Albert becomes King George VI. The new King realises that he needs Logue's help; he and the Queen visit the Logues' home to apologise. When the King insists that Logue be seated in the King's box during his coronation in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
, the Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
(Derek Jacobi
Derek Jacobi
Sir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
) questions Logue's qualifications. This prompts another confrontation between George VI and Logue, who explains he began by treating shell-shocked soldiers during the war. When the King remains unsure of himself, Logue sits in King Edward's Chair
King Edward's Chair
King Edward's Chair, sometimes known as St Edward's Chair or The Coronation Chair, is the throne on which the British monarch sits for the coronation. It was commissioned in 1296 by King Edward I to contain the coronation stone of Scotland — known as the Stone of Scone — which he had captured from...
and dismisses the Stone of Scone
Stone of Scone
The Stone of Scone , also known as the Stone of Destiny and often referred to in England as The Coronation Stone, is an oblong block of red sandstone, used for centuries in the coronation of the monarchs of Scotland and later the monarchs of England, Great Britain and the United Kingdom...
as a trifle. George VI remonstrates Logue for his disrespect, surprising himself with his own sudden eloquence.
Upon the September 1939 declaration of war
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
with Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, George VI summons Logue to Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
to assist him in preparing for his upcoming radio address to Britain and the Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. As millions of people listen to their radios, the King delivers his speech as if to Logue, who guides him silently throughout. Afterwards, the King steps onto the balcony of the palace with his family, where thousands of Londoners have gathered to listen, cheer, and applaud.
A title card explains that Logue was always present at King George VI's speeches during World War II. It notes that in 1944 Logue was made a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Royal Victorian Order
The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
, in recognition of personal service to the Monarch. Also noted is the continuation of their friendship for the remainder of their lives.
Cast
- Colin FirthColin FirthSirColin Andrew Firth, CBE is a British film, television, and theatre actor. Firth gained wide public attention in the 1990s for his portrayal of Mr. Darcy in the 1995 television adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice...
as King George VI - Geoffrey RushGeoffrey RushGeoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting , three British Academy Film Awards , two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen...
as Lionel LogueLionel LogueLionel George Logue CVO was an Australian speech therapist and stage actor who successfully treated, among others, King George VI, who had a pronounced stammer.-Early life and family:... - Helena Bonham CarterHelena Bonham CarterHelena Bonham Carter is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first film role as the titular character in Lady Jane...
as Queen Elizabeth - Guy PearceGuy PearceGuy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A...
as King Edward VIII - Michael GambonMichael GambonSir Michael John Gambon, CBE is an Irish actor who has worked in theatre, television and film. A highly respected theatre actor, Gambon is recognised for his roles as Philip Marlowe in the BBC television serial The Singing Detective, as Jules Maigret in the 1990s ITV serial Maigret, and as...
as King George VGeorge VGeorge V was king of the United Kingdom and its dominions from 1910 to 1936.George V or similar terms may also refer to:-People:* George V of Georgia * George V of Imereti * George V of Hanover... - Timothy SpallTimothy SpallTimothy Leonard Spall, OBE is an English character actor and occasional presenter.-Early life:Spall, the third of four sons, was born in Battersea, London. His mother, Sylvia R. , was a hairdresser, and his father, Joseph L. Spall, was a postal worker...
as Winston ChurchillWinston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice... - Jennifer EhleJennifer EhleJennifer Ehle is an American actress of stage and screen. She is known for her BAFTA winning role as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 mini-series Pride and Prejudice.-Early life:...
as Myrtle Logue - Derek JacobiDerek JacobiSir Derek George Jacobi, CBE is an English actor and film director.A "forceful, commanding stage presence", Jacobi has enjoyed a highly successful stage career, appearing in such stage productions as Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, and Oedipus the King. He received a Tony Award for his performance in...
as Archbishop Cosmo Lang - Anthony AndrewsAnthony Andrews-Life and career:Andrews was born in London, the son of Geraldine Agnes , a dancer, and Stanley Thomas Andrews, a musical arranger and musical conductor. He grew up in the North Finchley district of London...
as Stanley BaldwinStanley BaldwinStanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC was a British Conservative politician, who dominated the government in his country between the two world wars... - Eve BestEve BestEve Best is an English actress, best known for her roles as Dr. O'Hara in the Showtime television series Nurse Jackie, as Wallis Simpson in the 2010 film The King's Speech, and Dolley Madison in the 2011 American Experience television special about that First Lady.-Early life and education:Best...
as Wallis Simpson - Freya WilsonFreya Wilson-Background:Wilson attends the St Paul's Girls' School in Brook Green, Hammersmith. She is a prestigious reader and won the Old Possum's Poetry Prize in her category in 2011.-Career:...
as Princess Elizabeth - Ramona MarquezRamona MarquezRamona Marquez is an English child actress from Wandsworth, South London, most known for her role as Karen Brockman in the BBC One sitcom Outnumbered...
as Princess MargaretPrincess Margaret, Countess of SnowdonPrincess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon was the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II and the younger daughter of King George VI.... - Claire BloomClaire BloomClaire Bloom is an English film and stage actress.-Early life:Bloom was born in the North London suburb of Finchley, the daughter of Elizabeth and Edward Max Blume, who worked in sales...
as Queen MaryMary of TeckMary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V.... - Tim DownieTim DownieTim Downie is an English actor and writer.He was born in England. Before starting his professional career, Downie trained at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.-Television:...
as Duke of GloucesterPrince Henry, Duke of GloucesterThe Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester was a soldier and member of the British Royal Family, the third son of George V of the United Kingdom and Queen Mary....
Development
As a child, David SeidlerDavid Seidler
David Seidler is a British-American playwright and film and television writer. He was most successful for writing the play and the screenplay for the film The King's Speech, for which he won the Academy Award and a BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay.-Early life and family:Seidler was born in...
developed a stammer, which he believes was caused by the emotional trauma of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the murder of his grandparents during the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
. King George VI's success in overcoming his stammer inspired the young Seidler, "Here was a stutterer who was a king and had to give radio speeches where everyone was listening to every syllable he uttered, and yet did so with passion and intensity." When Seidler became an adult, he resolved to write about King George VI. During the late 1970s and 1980s he voraciously researched the King, but found a dearth of information on Logue. Eventually Seidler contacted Dr. Valentine Logue, who agreed to discuss his father and make his notebooks available if the Queen Mother gave her permission. She asked him not to do so in her lifetime, and Seidler halted the project.
In 2005, Joan Lane of Wilde Thyme, a production company in London, received the script. Lane started talking with Simon Egan and Gareth Unwin of Bedlam Productions
Bedlam Productions
Bedlam Productions is an independent film and television production company based in Soho, London and has been in operation since 2009. Bedlam was founded by Simon Egan and Gareth Unwin; the two met while studying film at Ravensbourne College...
, and they invited Seidler to London to rewrite the play again, this time for the screen. Together, Lane and Bedlam Productions organised a reading of the play in Pleasance Theatre, a small house in north London, to a group of Australian expatriates, among whom was Tom Hooper's
Tom Hooper (director)
Thomas George "Tom" Hooper is a British film and television director of English and Australian background. Hooper began making short films at the age of 13, and had his first professional short, Painted Faces, broadcast on Channel 4 in 1992. At Oxford University Hooper directed plays and...
mother. She called her son and said, "I've found your next project".
Instead of trying to contact his agent, Lane asked an Australian staff member to hand-deliver the script to Geoffrey Rush's house, not far away from hers in Melbourne. Unwin reports that he received a four page e-mail from Rush's manager admonishing them for the breach of etiquette, but ending with an invitation to discuss the project further. Iain Canning from See-Saw Films
See-Saw Films
See-Saw Films is an independent film production company founded in 2008 by Emile Sherman and Iain Canning. See-Saw operates out of both London and Sydney.-History:...
became involved and, in Gareth Unwin's words: "We worked with ex-chair of Bafta Richard Price, and started turning this story about two grumpy men sitting in a room into something bigger." Hooper liked the story, but thought that the original ending needed to be changed to reflect events more closely: "Originally, it had a Hollywood ending ... If you hear the real speech, he's clearly coping with his stammer. But it's not a perfect performance. He's managing it."
The production team learned—some nine weeks prior to the start of filming—of a diary containing Logue's original notes on his treatment of the Duke. They then went back and re-worked the script to reflect what was in the notes. Hooper said some of the film's most memorable lines, such as at the climax, when Logue smiles, "you still stammered on the W" to the King, who replies "I had to throw in a few so they would know it was me" were direct quotations from Logue's notes. Changes from the script to reflect the historical record included Michael Gambon improvising the ramblings of George V as he signed away authority, and the decision to dress the Duke in an overcoat rather than regal finery in the opening scene.
Seidler thought Paul Bettany
Paul Bettany
Paul Bettany is an English actor. He has appeared in a wide variety of films, including A Knight's Tale, A Beautiful Mind, and The Da Vinci Code...
would be a good choice to play King George VI, Tom Hooper preferred Hugh Grant
Hugh Grant
Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...
, though both actors refused the offer. Once they met with Firth and heard him read for the part, Seidler and Hooper were convinced of his suitability for the role.
The UK Film Council
UK Film Council
The UK Film Council was set up in 2000 by the Labour Government as a non-departmental public body to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee governed by a board of 15 directors and was funded through sources including the...
awarded the production £1 million in June 2009. Filming began in December 2009, and lasted 39 days. Most was shot in the three weeks before Christmas because Rush would be performing in a play in January. The schedule was further complicated by Bonham-Carter's availability: she worked on Harry Potter
Production of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the 2010/2011 two-part epic finale of the Harry Potter film series. Both parts, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, are directed by David Yates, written by Steve Kloves and based on the novel of the...
during the week, so her scenes had to be filmed during the weekend.
Location and design
The set design presented a challenge for the film-makers: period dramas rely to an extent on the quality of production, but their budget was a relatively limited £8 million. The film had to be authentic—combining regal opulence with scruffy, depression-era London. On 25 November 2009, the crew took over the Pullens buildingsPullens buildings
The Pullens buildings, also known as the Pullens Estate, are some of the last Victorian tenement buildings surviving in London, England. In the Walworth, Newington area, they are near Elephant and Castle and Kennington Underground stations....
in Southwark. The entire street was transformed into 1930s London. Large advertisements, for (among other things) Bovril
Bovril
Bovril is the trademarked name of a thick, salty meat extract, developed in the 1870s by John Lawson Johnston and sold in a distinctive, bulbous jar. It is made in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, owned and distributed by Unilever UK....
and fascism
British Union of Fascists
The British Union was a political party in the United Kingdom formed in 1932 by Sir Oswald Mosley as the British Union of Fascists, in 1936 it changed its name to the British Union of Fascists and National Socialists and then in 1937 to simply the British Union...
were placed on the walls; streets were sprayed with grit and buildings with grime. A neighbour of Hooper's had told him the smog in London at the time was so thick that cars had to be guided by someone walking in front. To create this scene the crew pumped in so much artificial smoke that the fire alarms in a nearby boutique sounded. According to Hooper, the scene was a good opportunity to show Logue's socio-economic background.
On 26 November, a week's filming with Firth, Rush, and Jacobi began at Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral
Ely Cathedral is the principal church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and is the seat of the Bishop of Ely and a suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Huntingdon...
, the location used for Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
. The production had asked for permission to film in the Abbey but were denied due to the demands of tourism. Though Lincoln Cathedral
Lincoln Cathedral
Lincoln Cathedral is a historic Anglican cathedral in Lincoln in England and seat of the Bishop of Lincoln in the Church of England. It was reputedly the tallest building in the world for 249 years . The central spire collapsed in 1549 and was not rebuilt...
is architecturally a closer match to the Abbey, they preferred Ely, a favoured filming location. Its size allowed them to build sets showing not just the coronation, but the preparations before it.
Lancaster House
Lancaster House
Lancaster House is a mansion in the St. James's district in the West End of London. It is close to St. James's Palace and much of the site was once part of the palace complex...
, an opulent, government-owned period house in London, was used for the interiors of Buckingham Palace that the King walks through prior to making his speech and for the official photograph afterwards; it cost £20,000 a day to rent. The 1936 Accession Council
Accession Council
In the United Kingdom, the Accession Council is a ceremonial body which assembles in St. James's Palace upon the death of a monarch , to make a formal proclamation of the accession of his or her successor to the throne, and to receive a religious oath from the new monarch...
at St. James's Palace
St. James's Palace
St. James's Palace is one of London's oldest palaces. It is situated in Pall Mall, just north of St. James's Park. Although no sovereign has resided there for almost two centuries, it has remained the official residence of the Sovereign and the most senior royal palace in the UK...
, where George VI swore an oath, was filmed in February in the Livery Hall of Drapers' Hall, after principal photography had been completed. The room, ornate and vast, met the occasion: the daunting nature of the new King's responsibilities was shown by surrounding him with rich detail, flags and royal portraiture.
The crew investigated Logue's former consultation rooms, but they were too small to film in. Instead, they found a high, vaulted room not far away in 33 Portland Place. Eve Stewart, the production designer, liked the mottled, peeling wallpaper there so much that she recreated the effect throughout the entire room. In his DVD commentary, Hooper said he liked Portland Place as a set because it felt "lived-in", unlike other period houses in London. The scenes of the Duke of York at home with his family were also filmed here; showing the Prince living in a townhouse "subverted" expectations of a royal drama.
The opening scene, set at the closing ceremony of the 1925 British Empire Exhibition
British Empire Exhibition
The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley, Middlesex in 1924 and 1925.-History:It was opened by King George V on St George's Day, 23 April 1924. The British Empire contained 58 countries at that time, and only Gambia and Gibraltar did not take part...
at Wembley Stadium, was filmed on location at Elland Road
Elland Road
Elland Road is an all-seater football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has been the permanent residence of Leeds United A.F.C...
, home of Leeds United, and Odsal Stadium
Odsal Stadium
Odsal Stadium is a stadium situated in Odsal, Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. The venue is used for rugby league and has been the home ground of Bradford Bulls/Bradford Northern since 1934...
, home of the Bradford Bulls
Bradford Bulls
Bradford Bulls is a professional rugby league club based in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They play in the European Super League and are currently joint 10th in the league....
. Elland Road was used for the speech elements of the prince stammering his way through his first public address, and Odsal Stadium was selected because of the resemblance of its curved ends to Wembley Stadium in 1925. The crew had access to the stadium only at 10 pm, after a football game. They filled the terraces with inflatable dummies and over 250 extras dressed in period costumes. Live actors were interspersed to give the impression of a crowd. Additional people, as well as more ranks of soldiers on the pitch, were added in post-production with visual effects
Visual effects
Visual effects are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a live action shoot. Visual effects involve the integration of live-action footage and generated imagery to create environments which look realistic, but would be dangerous, costly, or...
.
Other locations include Cumberland Lodge
Cumberland Lodge
Cumberland Lodge is a 17th century country house in Windsor Great Park located 3.5 miles south of Windsor Castle. It is now occupied by a charitable foundation which holds residential conferences, lectures and discussions concerning the burning issues facing society. The primary beneficiaries of...
, Harley Street
Harley Street
Harley Street is a street in the City of Westminster in London, England which has been noted since the 19th century for its large number of private specialists in medicine and surgery.- Overview :...
, Knebworth
Knebworth
Knebworth is a village and civil parish in the north of Hertfordshire, England immediately south of Stevenage. The civil parish covers an area between the villages of Datchworth, Woolmer Green, Codicote, Kimpton, Whitwell, St Paul's Walden and Langley, and encompasses the village of Knebworth, the...
, Hatfield House
Hatfield House
Hatfield House is a country house set in a large park, the Great Park, on the eastern side of the town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England. The present Jacobean house was built in 1611 by Robert Cecil, First Earl of Salisbury and Chief Minister to King James I and has been the home of the Cecil...
, the Old Royal Naval College
Old Royal Naval College
The Old Royal Naval College is the architectural centrepiece of Maritime Greenwich, a World Heritage Site in Greenwich, London, described by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation as being of “outstanding universal value” and reckoned to be the “finest and most...
in Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
, Queen Street Mill
Queen Street Mill
Queen Street Mill is in Harle Syke, a suburb to the north-east of Burnley, Lancashire. It was built in 1894 for The Queen Street Manufacturing Company. It closed on 12th March 1982 and was mothballed...
Textile Museum in Burnley
Burnley
Burnley is a market town in the Burnley borough of Lancashire, England, with a population of around 73,500. It lies north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Brun....
, and Battersea Power Station
Battersea Power Station
Battersea Power Station is a decommissioned coal-fired power station located on the south bank of the River Thames, in Battersea, South London. The station comprises two individual power stations, built in two stages in the form of a single building. Battersea A Power Station was built first in the...
, which doubled as a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
wireless control room. The final cut of the film was completed on 31 August 2010.
Dialogue
In developing his portrayal of George VI's stammer, Firth worked with Neil Swain, the voice coach for the film. His sister, Kate FirthKate Firth
Kate Firth is a professional voice coach and stage actress, and sister to actors Colin Firth and Jonathan Firth. She has a therapeutic counselor background in the field of human communication, and extensive experience in theatre, psychology and applied linguistics.-Life and Work:Kate Firth was...
, also a professional voice coach to actors, proposed exercises the King might have done with Logue, and made suggestions on how to imagine Logue's mix of physical and psychological coaching for the film.
In addition, Firth watched archive footage of the King speaking. In an interview with Allan Tyrer published by the British Stammering Association
British Stammering Association
The British Stammering Association , a charity since 1978, is a national membership organisation in the United Kingdom for adults and children who stammer...
, Swain said: "[It] was very interesting while we were working on the film just to think tonally how far we could go and should go with the strength of George's stammer. I think a less courageous director than Tom [Hooper] – and indeed a less courageous actor than Colin [Firth] – might have felt the need to slightly sanitise the degree and authenticity of that stammer, and I'm really really pleased that neither of them did." In May 2011 Firth said he was finding traces of the stammer difficult to eliminate: “You can probably hear even from this interview, there are moments when it’s quite infectious,” he said.“You find yourself doing it and if I start thinking about it the worse it gets, if nothing else it’s an insight in to what it feels like.”
Music
The film's original score was composed by Alexandre DesplatAlexandre Desplat
Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat is a French film composer. He has received four Academy Award nominations, five BAFTA nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, winning a Golden Globe for his work on The Painted Veil in 2006, and two Grammy nominations. In 2011, Desplat won his first British...
. In a film about a man struggling to articulate himself, Desplat was wary of overshadowing the dramaturgy, "This is a film about the sound of the voice. Music has to deal with that. Music has to deal with silence. Music has to deal with time."
The score is a sparse arrangement of strings and piano (with the addition of oboe and harp in one cut), intended to convey the sadness of the King's muteness, and then the growing warmth of friendship between him and Logue. The minimalist approach emphasises the protagonist's struggle for control. Desplat used the repetition of a single note to represent the stickiness of the King's speech. As the film progresses, growing banks of warm strings swaddle the deepening friendship between the two leads. The music rises to a climax in the coronation scene. Hooper originally wanted to film the scene without music, but Desplat argued that it was the real climax of the story—the point when the friendship was ratified by their decision to trust each other. "That is really rare", said Desplat, "mostly you have love stories". To create a dated sound, the score was recorded on old microphones extracted from the EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
archives which had been specially made for the royal family.
The music played during the broadcast of the 1939 radio speech at the climax of the film is from the 2nd movement (Allegretto) of Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's 7th Symphony
Symphony No. 7 (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92, in 1811, was the seventh of his nine symphonies. He worked on it while staying in the Bohemian spa town of Teplice in the hope of improving his health. It was completed in 1812, and was dedicated to Count Moritz von Fries.At its debut,...
; it was added by Tariq Anwar, the editor. When Desplat later joined the team to write the music, he praised and defended Anwar's suggestion. Hooper further remarked that the piece's notoriety helps elevate the status of the speech to a public event. The score was nominated for several awards, including Best Original Score
Academy Award for Best Original Score
The Academy Award for Original Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Superlatives:...
at the Oscars, Golden Globes, and BAFTAs, winning the latter award.
Visual style
Hooper employed a number of cinematic techniques to evoke the King's feelings of constriction. He and cinematographer Danny Cohen used wider than normal lenses to photograph the film, typically 14mm, 18mm, 21mm, 25mm and 27mm, where the subtle distortion of the picture helps to convey the King's discomfort. For instance, the subjective point of view shot during the Empire exhibition speech used a close up of the microphone with a wider lens, similar to the filming technique used for one of the Duke's early consultations with a physician. In The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with A.O. Scott. She was formerly a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice. She has written for a variety of publications, including Film Comment and...
wrote that the feeling of entrapment inside the King's head was rendered overly literal with what she believed to be a fisheye lens
Fisheye lens
In photography, a fisheye lens is a wide-angle lens that takes in a broad, panoramic and hemispherical image. Originally developed for use in meteorology to study cloud formation and called "whole-sky lenses", fisheye lenses quickly became popular in general photography for their unique, distorted...
, though in these scenes the wider lenses were used. Hooper also discussed using the 18mm lens, one he likes "because it puts human beings in their context".
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
noted that the majority of the film was shot indoors, where oblong sets, corridors, and small spaces manifest constriction and tightness, in contrast to the usual emphasis on sweep and majesty in historical dramas. Hooper used wide shots to capture the actors' body language, particularly Geoffrey Rush, who trained at the L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq
L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq
L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq is a school of physical theatre situated in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. Founded in 1956 by Jacques Lecoq, the school is a professional two-year course...
in Paris and "is consequently brilliant in the way he carries his body". Hooper widened his scope first to capture Rush's gestures, then full body movements and silhouettes. The approach carried over to Firth as well. In the first consultation scene, the Duke is squeezed against the end of a long couch framed against a large wall, "as if to use the arm of the sofa as a kind of friend, as a security blanket?". Martin Filler praised the "low-wattage" cinematography
Cinematography
Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
of Danny Cohen, as making everything look like it has been "steeped in strong tea".
At other times, the camera was positioned very close to the actors to catch the emotion in their faces: "If you put a lens 6 inches from somebody's face, you get more emotion than if you're on a long lens 20 feet away," Cohen said in an interview. Hooper sought a second subtlety while filming the first consultation room scene between the two men, having placed the camera 18 inches from Colin Firth's face: "I wanted the nervousness of the first day to percolate into his performances."
Historical dramas traditionally tend to use "soft light", but Hooper wanted to use a harsher glare, which gives a more contemporary feel, and thus a greater emotional resonance. To achieve the effect, the lighting team erected huge blackout tents over the Georgian buildings, and used large lights filtered through Egyptian cotton.
Historical accuracy
Cathy Schultz pointed out that the film-makers tightened the chronology of the events to just a few years: the Duke of York in fact began to work with Lionel Logue in October 1926, ten years before the abdication crisis, and the improvement in his speech was apparent in months rather than years, as is suggested by the film. In a 1952 newspaper interview with John GordonJohn Gordon (journalist)
John Rutherford Gordon was a Scottish newspaper editor and columnist.Born in Dundee, Gordon began work on the Dundee Advertiser in 1904. He was rapidly promoted, and by the end of the decade was overseeing the Perthshire and Dundee editions of the People's Journal...
, Logue said that "Resonantly and without stuttering, he opened the Australian Parliament in Canberra in 1927"; this was just seven months after the Duke began to work with Logue. Hugo Vickers, an adviser on the film, agreed that the alteration of historical details to preserve the essence of the dramatic story was sometimes necessary. The high ranking officials, for instance, would not have been present when the King made his speech, nor would Churchill have been involved at any level, "but the average viewer knows who Churchill is; he doesn't know who Lord Halifax and Lord Hoare [sc. Sir Samuel Hoare] are."
Robert Logue, a grandson of Lionel, doubted the film's depiction of the speech therapist, stating "I don't think he ever swore in front of the King and he certainly never called him "Bertie". Andrew Roberts, an English historian, states that the severity of the King's stammer was exaggerated and the characters of Edward VIII, Wallis Simpson, and George V made more antagonistic than they really were, to increase the dramatic effect.
Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens is an Anglo-American author and journalist whose books, essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the...
and Isaac Chotiner challenged the film's portrayal of Winston Churchill's role in the abdication crisis. It is well established that Churchill encouraged Edward VIII to resist pressure to abdicate, whereas he is portrayed in the film as strongly supportive of Prince Albert and not opposed to the abdication. Hitchens attributes this treatment to the "cult" surrounding Churchill's legacy. In a smart, well-made film, "would the true story not have been fractionally more interesting for the audience?" he wondered. They also criticised the film for failing to indict the appeasement
Appeasement
The term appeasement is commonly understood to refer to a diplomatic policy aimed at avoiding war by making concessions to another power. Historian Paul Kennedy defines it as "the policy of settling international quarrels by admitting and satisfying grievances through rational negotiation and...
of the era. While the film never directly mentions the issue, Hitchens and Chotiner argue that it implies that George VI was against appeasement, especially in the final scene portraying "Churchill and the King at Buckingham Palace and a speech of unity and resistance being readied for delivery". Far from distancing himself from Chamberlain's appeasement policy, King George VI despatched a car to meet Neville Chamberlain
Neville Chamberlain
Arthur Neville Chamberlain FRS was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. Chamberlain is best known for his appeasement foreign policy, and in particular for his signing of the Munich Agreement in 1938, conceding the...
when he returned from signing the Munich Agreement
Munich Agreement
The Munich Pact was an agreement permitting the Nazi German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along Czech borders, mainly inhabited by ethnic Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe without...
with Hitler in September 1938. The King and Chamberlain then stood on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, acclaimed by cheering crowds. This led historian Steven Runciman
Steven Runciman
The Hon. Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman CH — known as Steven Runciman — was a British historian known for his work on the Middle Ages...
to write that by acting as he did to endorse Chamberlain's foreign policy, King George VI perpetrated "the biggest constitutional blunder that has been made by any sovereign this century." The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
corrected the portrayal of Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC was a British Conservative politician, who dominated the government in his country between the two world wars...
as having resigned due to his refusal to order Britain's re-armament, when he in fact stepped down as "a national hero, exhausted by more than a decade at the top".
Martin Filler
Martin Filler
Martin Myles Filler is a prominent American architecture critic.Born in Colorado Springs, CO, Filler received a BA in Art History from Columbia College in 1970 and an MA from Columbia University's Department of Art History and Archaeology in 1972...
acknowledged that the film legitimately used artistic license
Artistic license
Artistic licence is a colloquial term, sometimes euphemism, used to denote the distortion of fact, alteration of the conventions of grammar or language, or rewording of pre-existing text made by an artist to improve a piece of...
to make valid dramatic points, such as in the probably-imagined scene when George V lectures his son on the importance of broadcasting. Filler cautions that George VI would never have tolerated Logue addressing him casually, nor swearing, and the King almost certainly would have understood a newsreel of Hitler speaking in German. Filler makes the larger point that both the King and his wife were, in reality, lukewarm towards Churchill because of the latter's support for his brother during the abdication crisis. They only warmed to Churchill later in the war, because of his performance as a wartime leader.
Commenting on the film's final scene on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, Andrew Roberts has written, "The scene is fairly absurd from a historical point of view – Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill were not present and there were no cheering crowds outside Buckingham Palace." Overall, Roberts praises the film as a sympathetic portrayal of the King's "quiet, unassuming heroism", and he states: "The portrayals by Firth and Bonham Carter are sympathetic and acute, and the movie’s occasional factual bêtises should not detract from that."
Release
Theatrical release
The film had its world premiere on 6 September 2010 at the Telluride Film FestivalTelluride Film Festival
The Telluride Film Festival was started in 1974 by Bill and Stella Pence, Tom Luddy and Jim Card in the town of Telluride, Colorado, United States. It is operated by the National Film Preserve....
in the United States. It was screened at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
2010 Toronto International Film Festival
The 35th annual Toronto International Film Festival, was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 9 and September 19, 2010. The opening night gala presented Score: A Hockey Musical, a Canadian comedy-drama musical film. Last Night closed the festival on September 19.2010 TIFF included...
, on Firth's 50th birthday, where it received a standing ovation and won the People's Choice Award. The theatrical release poster was re-designed to show an extreme close-up of Firth's jaw and a microphone after Hooper criticised the first design as a "train smash". Tim Appelo called the original, air-brushed effort, which showed the three leads, "shockingly awful" though the new one "really is worthwhile".
The film was distributed by Transmission in Australia and by Momentum Pictures
Momentum Pictures
Momentum Pictures , an Alliance Films company, is one of the leading independent motion picture distributors in the UK and Ireland and releases approximately 20 theatrical films a year, with several stv releases....
in the United Kingdom. The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company is an American film studio founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 2005 after the brothers left the then-Disney-owned Miramax Films, which they had co-founded in 1979...
distributed it in North America, Germany, Benelux
Benelux
The Benelux is an economic union in Western Europe comprising three neighbouring countries, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. These countries are located in northwestern Europe between France and Germany...
, Scandinavia, China, Hong Kong, and Latin America. The film was released in France on 2 February 2011, under the title Le discours d'un roi. It was distributed by Wild Bunch Distribution.
Ratings controversy
The film was initially given a 15 certificate15 certificate
The 15 certificate is issued by the British Board of Film Classification to state that, in its opinion, a film, video recording, or game should not be seen or purchased by a person under 15 years old....
by the British Board of Film Classification
British Board of Film Classification
The British Board of Film Classification , originally British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom...
, due to scenes where Logue encourages the King to shout profanities to relieve stress. At the London Film Festival, Hooper criticised the decision, questioning how the board could certify the film "15" for bad language but allow films such as Salt (2010) and Casino Royale
Casino Royale (2006 film)
Casino Royale is the twenty-first film in the James Bond film series and the first to star Daniel Craig as fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
(2006) to have "12A" ratings, despite their graphic torture scenes. Following Hooper's criticism, the board lowered the rating to "12A", allowing children under 12 years of age to see the film if they are accompanied by an adult. Hooper levelled the same criticism at the Motion Picture Association of America
Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. , originally the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America , was founded in 1922 and is designed to advance the business interests of its members...
, which gave the film an "R" rating, preventing anyone under the age of 17 from seeing the film without an adult. In his review, Roger Ebert criticised the "R" rating, calling it "utterly inexplicable", and said, "This is an excellent film for teenagers". In January 2011 Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein, CBE is an American film producer and movie studio chairman. He is best known as co-founder of Miramax Films. He and his brother Bob have been co-chairmen of The Weinstein Company, their film production company, since 2005...
, the executive producer and distributor, said he was considering having the film re-edited to remove some profanity, so that it would receive a lower classification and reach a larger audience.
Hooper, however, refused to cut the film, though he considered covering the swear words with bleeps. Helena Bonham Carter also defended the film, saying, "[The film] is not violent. It's full of humanity and wit. [It's] for people not with just a speech impediment, but who have got confidence [doubts]." After receiving his Academy Award, Colin Firth noted that he does not support re-editing the film; while he does not condone the use of profanity, he maintains that its use was not offensive in this context. The scene serves a purpose. An alternate version, with some of the profanities muted out, was classified as "PG-13" in the United States; this version was released to theatres on 1 April 2011, replacing the R-rated one.
Box office
In the UK and IrelandIreland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, the film was the highest earning film on its opening weekend. It took in £3,510,000 from 395 cinemas. The Guardian said that it was one of the biggest takes in recent memory, and compared it to Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire is a 2008 British epic romantic drama adventure film directed by Danny Boyle, written by Simon Beaufoy, and co-directed in India by Loveleen Tandan. It is an adaptation of the novel Q & A by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup...
(2008), which, two years earlier, earned £1.5 million less. The King's Speech continued a "stunning three weeks" atop the UK Box office, and earned over £3 million for four consecutive weekends, the first film to do so since Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3
Toy Story 3 is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated comedy-adventure film, and the third installment in the Toy Story series. It was produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Lee Unkrich. The film was released worldwide from June through October in Disney Digital...
(2010). After five weeks on UK release, it was hailed as the most successful independent British film ever.
In the United States The King's Speech opened with $355,450 (£220,000) in four theatres. It holds the record for the highest per-theatre gross of 2010. It was widened to 700 screens on Christmas Day and 1,543 screens on 14 January 2011. It eventually made $138 million in North America overall.
In Australia The King's Speech made more than AUD
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar is the currency of the Commonwealth of Australia, including Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, and Norfolk Island, as well as the independent Pacific Island states of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu...
$6,281,686 (£4 million) in the first two weeks, according to figures collected by the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia. The executive director of Palace Cinemas
Palace Films
Palace Films and Cinemas is an Australian film production and distribution company that is also a major cinema chain especially in Melbourne. Palace Cinemas currently comprises 20 cinemas with 85 screens...
, Benjamin Zeccola, said customer feedback on the film was spectacular. "It's our No.1 for all the period, all throughout the country. ... I think this is more successful than Slumdog Millionaire and a more uplifting film. It's a good example of a film that started out in the independent cinemas and then spread to the mainstream cinemas."
Of the film's net profit, estimated to amount to $30–40 million (£20-25 million) from the theatrical release alone, roughly 20% will be split between Geoffrey Rush (as executive producer), Tom Hooper, and Colin Firth, who receive their bonuses before the other stakeholders. The remaining profit is to be split equally between the producers and the equity investors. The UK Film Council
UK Film Council
The UK Film Council was set up in 2000 by the Labour Government as a non-departmental public body to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee governed by a board of 15 directors and was funded through sources including the...
invested £1 million of public funds from the United Kingdom lottery into the film. In March 2011 Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
estimated that the return could be between fifteen and twenty times that. The Council's merger into the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
means that the profits are to be returned to that body.
Critical response
The King's Speech has received widespread critical acclaim.Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
gives the film a score of 95% based on reviews from 212 critics, with an average score of 8.6/10. It summarised the critical consensus as: "Colin Firth gives a masterful performance in The King's Speech, a predictable but stylishly produced and rousing period drama." Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
gave the film a weighted score of 88/100, based on 41 critiques, which it ranks as "universal acclaim".
Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
gave the film five stars out of five, commenting, "You'll be lost for words." Lisa Kennedy of the Denver Post gave the film full marks for its humane qualities and craftsmanship: "It is an intelligent, winning drama fit for a king – and the rest of us", she said. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
awarded the film a full four stars, commenting that "what we have here is a superior historical drama and a powerful personal one." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
gave four stars out of five, stating, "Tom Hooper's richly enjoyable and handsomely produced movie ... is a massively confident crowd-pleaser."
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis
Manohla Dargis is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with A.O. Scott. She was formerly a chief film critic for the Los Angeles Times, the film editor at the LA Weekly, and a film critic at The Village Voice. She has written for a variety of publications, including Film Comment and...
, whilst generally ambivalent towards the film, called the lead performances one of its principal attractions. "With their volume turned up, the appealing, impeccably professional Mr. Firth and Mr. Rush rise to the acting occasion by twinkling and growling as their characters warily circle each other before settling into the therapeutic swing of things and unknowingly preparing for the big speech that partly gives the film its title," she wrote. The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
called Guy Pearce's performance as Edward VIII "formidable ... with glamour, charisma and utter self-absorption". Empire said he played the role well as "a flash harry
Flash Harry (St Trinian's)
Henry Cuthbert Edwards aka Flash Harry is a fictional character from the St. Trinian's series of films who first appears in the 1954 The Belles of St Trinian's. The term refers to "an ostentatious, loudly-dressed, and usually ill-mannered man", who may also be a spiv...
flinty enough to shed a nation for a wife." The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
thought he was able to create "a thorny tangle of complications in only a few abbreviated scenes". Hooper praised the actor in the DVD commentary, saying he "nailed" the 1930s royal accent.
The British Stammering Association
British Stammering Association
The British Stammering Association , a charity since 1978, is a national membership organisation in the United Kingdom for adults and children who stammer...
welcomed the release of The King's Speech, congratulating the film makers on their "realistic depiction of the frustration and the fear of speaking faced by people who stammer on a daily basis". It said that "Colin Firth's portrayal of the King's stammer in particular strikes us as very authentic and accurate." The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists welcomed the film, and launched their "Giving Voice" campaign around the time of its commercial release.
Allociné
AlloCiné
AlloCiné is a service organization providing information on the programs of french cinema, especially centering on novelties' promotion with DVD information. The enterprise is founded as telephonic communicator, then diversified as internet portal site, which offers sufficient information by fast...
, a French cinema website, gave the film an average of four out of five stars, based on a survey of 21 reviews. Le Monde
Le Monde
Le Monde is a French daily evening newspaper owned by La Vie-Le Monde Group and edited in Paris. It is one of two French newspapers of record, and has generally been well respected since its first edition under founder Hubert Beuve-Méry on 19 December 1944...
, which characterised the film as the "latest manifestation of British narcissism
Narcissism
Narcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
" and summarised it as "We are ugly and boring, but, By Jove!, we are right!", nevertheless admired the performances of Firth, Rush, and Bonham Carter. It said that, though the film swept British appeasement under the carpet, it was still enjoyable.
Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realm
Commonwealth Realm
A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state within the Commonwealth of Nations that has Elizabeth II as its monarch and head of state. The sixteen current realms have a combined land area of 18.8 million km² , and a population of 134 million, of which all, except about two million, live in the six...
s and the daughter of King George VI, was sent two copies of the film before Christmas 2010. The Sun newspaper reported she had watched the film in a private screening at Sandringham House
Sandringham House
Sandringham House is a country house on of land near the village of Sandringham in Norfolk, England. The house is privately owned by the British Royal Family and is located on the royal Sandringham Estate, which lies within the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.-History and current...
. A palace source described her reaction as being "touched by a moving portrayal of her father". Seidler called the reports "the highest honour" the film could receive.
Awards and nominations
At the 83rd Academy Awards83rd Academy Awards
The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2010 and took place February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, Academy Awards ...
, The King's Speech won the Academy Award for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
, Best Director (Hooper), Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(Firth), and Best Original Screenplay
Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material. Before 1940, there was an Academy Award for Best Story for writing. For 1940, it and the award in this article were separated into two awards. Beginning with the...
(Seidler). The film had received 12 Oscar nominations, more than any other film. Besides the four categories it won, the film received nominations for Best Cinematography
Academy Award for Best Cinematography
The Academy Award for Best Cinematography is an Academy Award awarded each year to a cinematographer for work in one particular motion picture.-History:...
(Danny Cohen
Danny Cohen
Danny Cohen is the current Controller of BBC One, the BBC's flagship television channel in the United Kingdom. He is the youngest person to be appointed as Controller of the channel.- Education :...
) and two for the supporting actors (Bonham Carter and Rush), as well as two for its mise-en-scène: Art Direction
Academy Award for Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
and Costumes.
At the 64th British Academy Film Awards
64th British Academy Film Awards
The 64th British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTAs, were held on 13 February 2011 honouring the best national and foreign films of 2010. The nominees were announced on 18 January 2011. The King's Speech earned the most nominations with fourteen...
, it won seven awards, including Best Film, Outstanding British Film, Best Actor for Firth, Best Supporting Actor for Rush, Best Supporting Actress for Bonham Carter, Best Original Screenplay for Seidler, and Best Music for Alexandre Desplat
Alexandre Desplat
Alexandre Michel Gérard Desplat is a French film composer. He has received four Academy Award nominations, five BAFTA nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, winning a Golden Globe for his work on The Painted Veil in 2006, and two Grammy nominations. In 2011, Desplat won his first British...
. The film had been nominated for 14 BAFTAs, more than any other film. At the 68th Golden Globe Awards
68th Golden Globe Awards
The 68th Golden Globe Awards was broadcast live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on January 16, 2011, by NBC. The host was Ricky Gervais....
, Firth won for Best Actor. The film won no other Golden Globes, despite earning seven nominations, more than any other film.
At the 17th Screen Actors Guild Awards
17th Screen Actors Guild Awards
----Best Cast - Motion Picture: The King's Speech----Best Cast - Drama Series: Boardwalk Empire----Best Cast - Comedy Series: Modern Family...
, Firth won the Best Actor award and the entire cast won Best Ensemble, meaning Firth went home with two acting awards in one evening. Hooper won the Directors Guild of America Awards 2010
Directors Guild of America Awards 2010
The 63nd Directors Guild of America Awards, which was given out on January 29, 2011, honors the outstanding directorial achievement in feature films, documentary and television. -Feature Film:Tom Hooper - The King's Speech...
for Best Director. The film won the Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl F. Zanuck
Darryl Francis Zanuck was an American producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors...
Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture at the Producers Guild of America Awards 2010
Producers Guild of America Awards 2010
The 22nd Producers Guild of America Awards, given on January 22, 2011, honouring the best film and television producers of 2010.-Theatrical Picture:The King's Speech*127 Hours*Black Swan*Inception*The Fighter...
.
The King's Speech won the People's Choice Award at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
2010 Toronto International Film Festival
The 35th annual Toronto International Film Festival, was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 9 and September 19, 2010. The opening night gala presented Score: A Hockey Musical, a Canadian comedy-drama musical film. Last Night closed the festival on September 19.2010 TIFF included...
, Best British Independent Film
BIFA Award for Best British Independent Film
The British Independent Film Award for Best British Independent Film is an annual award given to the best British independent film. The award was introduced in the 1998 ceremony, and the current award winner is The King's Speech.- 1998–1999 :...
at the 2010 British Independent Film Awards
British Independent Film Awards
The Moët British Independent Film Awards is an annual award ceremony celebrating achievement in independently funded British film and cinema. Nominations and jury are announced at the beginning of November with the award ceremony taking place in late November or early December.-History:The British...
, and the 2011 Goya Award
Goya Awards
The Goya Awards, known in Spanish as los Premios Goya, are Spain's main national film awards, considered by many in Spain, and internationally, to be the Spanish equivalent of the American Academy Awards....
for Best European Film
Goya Award for Best European Film
The Goya Award for Best European Film is one of the Goya Awards, Spain's principal national film awards.-1990s:-2000s:-Awards by nation:-External links:**...
from the Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España
Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España
The Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias Cinematográficas de España is a Spanish professional organisation dedicated to the promotion and development of Spanish cinema...
(Spanish Academy of Cinematic Art and Science).
See also
- Bertie & Elizabeth (2002), a television film which also addresses the stammering of the king (played by James WilbyJames WilbyJames Jonathon Wilby is an English film, television and theatre actor.-Early life and education:He was born in Rangoon, Burma to a corporate executive father...
). It was a co-production of PBS (Masterpiece Theater) and Carlton TelevisionCarlton TelevisionCarlton Television was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties including the cities of Solihull and Coventry of the West Midlands, south Suffolk, middle and east Hampshire, Oxfordshire, south Bedfordshire, south Northamptonshire, parts of Herefordshire & Worcestershire,...
. - A Month in the CountryA Month in the Country (film)A Month in the Country is a 1987 British film directed by Pat O'Connor. The film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by J. L. Carr, and stars Colin Firth, Kenneth Branagh, Natasha Richardson and Patrick Malahide...
(1987), Firth's first screen role, in which he plays a stammering World War I veteran.
Further reading
- Bowen, C. (2002). Lionel Logue: Pioneer speech therapist Retrieved 1 January 2011. A second article by Hitchens discussing the film's interpretation of history, and some rebuttals to Seidler's response.
- Logue, Mark and Conradi, Peter. (2010) "The King’s Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy", New York: Sterling Publishing Co., (written by Lionel Logue's grandson and a journalist with the Sunday Times), ISBN 978-1-4027-8676-1
- St Claire, M, "An Australian Cures Defect in King's Speech", The Australian Women's Weekly, (Saturday, 2 January 1937), p.12.
External links
- Flickr set of photographs from filming in Southwark, London
- Footage of King George VI stammering in the 1938 speech from British Pathé
- King George VI Addresses the Nation at the BBC ArchivesBBC ArchivesThe BBC Archives are collections documenting the BBC's broadcasting history.- Overview :The archives contain 1 million hours of media material dating back to the 1890s, with early material on wax cylinder. With other materials such as photos and written documents the archive contains 11 million...