What Do The Critics Say?

"Likable characters being played by fine actors, and ends up as another example of formula polished to a bright shine. A traditional, formulaic movie, but it works quite well." Jeffrey Chen WINDOW TO THE MOVIES "Contains brilliant cinematography, acting and direction. Give Firth the Oscar!" Kevin McCarthy BDK REVIEWS "While not a stylistic groundbreaker, historical dramas don't come any better. It might be set in the rarefied world of British royalty, yet it tells a universal story. Cinematically told and firmly rooted in its characters, this is an absolute crowd pleaser." Annette Basile FILMINK "Let's say it without equivocation: Colin Firth deserves an Oscar for his lead role in The King's Speech as the stammering King George VI." Claudia Puig USA TODAY "This is a real actor's piece and Geoffrey Rush, who was one of the executive producers, and Colin Firth are really superb in these roles; Helena Bonham Carter too." David Stratton AT THE MOVIES "A playful comic drama that treats serious matters of state as a sitcom-level inconvenience for three perfectly delightful characters played by three talented actors at peak blitheness." Tim Brayton ANTAGONY & ECSTASY

"The power of The King's Speech comes from its performances. Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter have been perfectly cast. The film’s focus is on Bertie’s relationship with an Australian speech therapist named Lionel Logue." Matthew Toomey ABC RADIO BRISBANE "Crowd-pleasing awards bait; but so well-executed, it's all you can do to resist." Philip Kemp TOTAL FILM "There are certain films which you know immediately are destined for many accolades and awards. "The King's Speech" is one of those. Without gushing and embarrassing myself, Firth's performance is magnificent. Firth should have the Oscar locked up. The part of Lionel Logue was made for Rush: he's perfection." Jeanne Kaplan's KAPLAN vs KAPLAN "Old-fashioned filmmaking at its best: a good story, elegantly told, and a joy to watch." Moira MacDonald SEATTLE TIMES "The film everybody's talking about is, quite fittingly, a film about talking. And a great one, certainly as far as A-grade performance showcases go." Jim Schembri THE AGE "It all starts with the incredible performance by Firth, who surely seems destined to win his first Oscar. Rush is equally mesmerizing as Logue, a man who insists upon doing things his way, and who won't accept failure on any level. The movie is filled with lessons of love, friendship and persistence against impossible odds." David Kaplan KAPLAN vs KAPLAN

The Inside Story The story of this production begins in the 1940s with the war. As a child, screenwriter and playwright David Seidler suffered from a profound stammer. Listening to King George VI's speeches on BBC radio during and after the war inspired him to think that if the King could cope with a stammer, so could he. As a result, George VI, the stammering King who had to speak, became a boyhood hero and role model for David, and ultimately the inspiration for this film. David started researching King George VI while at university, reading Wheeler Bennet's biography. But it was not until he wrote "Tucker; the man and his dream" for Francis Ford Coppola that he felt the confidence to write a film about the subject closest to his heart. Renewing his research, this is when David first encountered the name Lionel Logue. "I started getting tiny blips on the radar screen of the name Lionel Logue. Not much was ever said about him in the various biographies of the King, but I could smell a story. I did a bit of detective work in London and came up with an address for one of his sons who agreed to meet me." Valentine Logue told David that he had some of his father's papers, but David should check with the Queen Mother before proceeding. The Queen Mother (George VI's widow) wrote back to him to ask him not to write the film in her lifetime as "the memories of these events are still too painful." David, out of respect for her, waited. Finally in 2005 he sat down to write, and wrote the first draft in stage play form, as an exercise in discipline, to keep the story focused on character. As it was many years later David was no longer able to find any members of the Logue family so the Logue papers remained unread Immediately there was interest in the stage play in London. And here chance intervened. Geoffrey Rush had the play script posted to him unsolicited through his Melbourne letterbox by a London based Australian assistant returning home for Christmas. Despite this unconventional approach, Geoffrey read it and loved it. Geoffrey said he wanted to do it as a film, not as a play. Director Tom Hooper (well known for his long list of TV credits) came by the script entirely by the fact of being half English, half Australian. The director's Australian mother Meredith was invited by North London Australian friends to an unrehearsed play reading in a London fringe theatre of the yet to be produced play "The King's Speech", having never been invited to a play reading in her life before. Impressed by the play, she nevertheless saw it as a film, and asked David to send the script to Tom. David was already a big fan of Tom's HBO work, and Tom was knocked out by the script. Meanwhile producer Gareth Unwin had optioned the play as a film and taken it to Iain Canning and Emile Sherman from See-Saw Films, who, as they run an Anglo-Australian production company were perfectly suited to this material. Having worked with Geoffrey on "Candy" (2006) and "$9.99" (2008), Emile Sherman was delighted to be working with the actor again on the company’s first UK production, and Iain was fresh from the success of "Control" (2007) and "Hunger" (2008). When Hooper met with Colin Firth about playing the role of the King, he immediately convinced. "Everything I read about King George VI showed that the King had this indestructible core of niceness at the centre of his being: I feel the very same way about Colin; he has this extraordinary moral compass, humility and kindness that I strongly felt made him perfect for Bertie. And going right back to Colin's role in "Tumbledown", his extraordinary performance of a physically and emotionally damaged veteran of the Falklands war, I had been a long term admirer of his ability to dramatize vulnerability with compelling force. He also immediately brought to bear his remarkable intelligence on the role." The production then had the good fortune to discover through its research that Lionel Logue had a grandson living in London, Mark Logue, who still had Logue's papers, all unpublished and never seen by any historians of the period. They included a diary detailing his working relationship with the King, fragments of an autobiography, even the King's medical report card! The script was immediately re-written to include gems of information from the diaries. Helped by this treasure trove of information Hooper and Venice Film Festival Volpi Cup winner Firth (2009) immediately began work researching the King's stammer, watching all available archive of the King and meeting contemporary speech therapists. "A lot of speech problems stem from children feeling their voices are not heard. That no one cares what they say and that makes them increasingly hesitant about being able to speak," says Hooper. "Bertie was afflicted by this stammer at a time where people considered it a sign of mental weakness. He had a really bleak upbringing. His father King George V treated his sons like recalcitrant naval cadets with himself as the commanding officer. There was a complete lack of any emotional connection with his parents and as a left-handed child he was retrained to be right-handed, he had bowed legs and was retrained by having to wear metal splints for years. I am sure his stammer came from all that. This is the story about how this man overcame this to become a great king. He was probably the most reluctant king in history." was inspired by the relationship between the King and Lionel Logue, "You can see in film footage of Prince Albert how much inner turmoil is going on in his life as somebody who hasn’t got a comfortable control of their voice, particularly in public. But when he bursts a smile, you can see his warmth, in some ways the story takes on a Shakespearean dimension because you get the big outer world and you get a very good look at the inner life of the man." For Seidler too. the heart of the story is about being heard and having a voice. "Bertie is the second son. His brother David is immensely popular, he could speak beautifully, he could handle the microphone brilliantly, he was good looking, he was dashing, he was stylish and he was everyone’s Prince Charming. Poor Bertie was shy, stammering and stuttering, but a family man. He was deeply in love with Elizabeth (Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon), they had two beautiful daughters and he just wanted to be left alone. He knew he had to do the occasional royal duty but they were very minor. Until the occasion of the closing of the Wembley Stadium Empire Exhibition. It was just heartbreaking, he absolutely freezes he just can’t do it. Bertie understood that for privilege you pay the price of duty." In fact, when Bertie died (from cancer on February 6th 1952), Churchill (who, in april 1953 was made Knight of the Order of the Garter, Britain’s highest order of knighthood) presented a wreath of flowers with just one word on it: 'Valour'. As for Louge: "He got into speech therapy when he started to work a lot with soldiers returning to Australia from the front in Europe who were suffering from shell-shock and were verbally locked. He knew a lot about anatomy and muscle therapy and breathing exercises. He pioneered an almost psychotherapeutic approach. He knew the problem was not simply a physical one, that there was something, mostly around the age of four or five, some kind of trauma in the child that creates stammering. It's unblocking that that gives a little bit of edge to Lionel trying to get inside this royal persona who is very formal and stamped by centuries of tradition," says 1997 Oscar winner Rush. Elizabeth, Bertie's wife, was very supportive of her husband. "One thing everyone agrees on is that he drew on her for support probably as much as anybody. There’s a picture which I think is very eloquent of his dilemma and of their relationship, which is of him in full regalia in Canberra, Australia about to speak, sometime in the 1920s, and you can see the rictus of terror, not just in his face but in his entire posture, staring at the ground as if he is starring into the abyss. She is next to him and everything about her seems to be saying, 'it’ll be okay, I believe in you, you’ll be fine.' She was clearly very devoted to him and very committed to helping him with his problem. She was the one who went to find Logue, and she participated in the sessions and the exercises. So she’s critical to him overcoming his situation, and he clearly adored her," Firth ("Nanny McPhee" & "A Single Man") notes. Everyone said that he could not have been King without her. 2000 and 2009 Empire Award winner Helen Bonham Carter adds: "It was through her support and her strength. He was not equipped in his personality or suited to being King in any way, and he knew it. It was more than just the stammer, he was terribly shy, he was under-confident. Physically he wasn’t that strong and he wasn’t made for a great public role or responsibility. She was from a very posh Scottish family and she was perfectly equipped to play a part as a public figure. Together they could do it. He drew upon her strength and her confidence and her fortitude. It was a real partnership and it was a very good marriage." The unpublished Lionel Logue diaries made an enormous contribution to the accuracy of the project. "The great gift of this film was to uncover the diaries," says Hooper. "I can’t stress enough what an amazing discovery it was. As a resource these previously confidential documents and letters explained their relationship and were invaluable. Generally when you research a story you find things that are true are more unusual than if you had invented them. For example the famous photograph of Bertie and the microphone in his navel kit sitting at his desk in a grand room turns out to be fake. It's posed. They didn’t do his speeches as King in this grand scenario; he did it standing up at an old school desk with the window open with his jacket off; all details that we found through the diaries." 1997 and 1999 BAFTA winner Rush, points out that Mark Logue was also able to show the filmmakers a number of photographs of his family. "They showed the family in a domestic setting, as well as with the royal family, which helped a lot in terms of the feel and look of the character. The research has been very meticulous. More often than not in historical films people take a lot of dramatic license. There is something about this particular story and this time, between the First and Second World Wars where the reality and actuality of what went on is so intriguing." Bonham Carter and Firth enjoyed working together, their different approaches exemplified by the day they got stuck in a lift together. "Don't get stuck in a lift with Colin," Bonham Carter advises. "I knew he was claustrophobic and I could feel his pain. But I thought 'Actually this is quite useful as it's like being with Bertie, someone who is deficient, emotionally vulnerable, fragile and needs protecting.' It was a really small lift, to give him credit. We were very intimate." And Firth's response? He joked: "If I had to choose somebody to get stuck in a lift with she comes fairly high on the list because she's amusing, attractive and very small." Almost everything in the film was shot on location in London, apart from the interior of Logue’s apartment which was a set at Elstree Studios. What's It All About?

1925: King George V reigns over a quarter of the world's people. He asks his second son, the Duke of York, to give the closing speech at the Empire Exhibition in Wembley Stadium, London. Held to strengthen the bonds of the fifty eight countries of the British Empire, the Empire Exhibition is the largest exhibition staged anywhere in the world. The speech will be broadcast live across the nation and the Empire using the new technology of radio: in fact, this is the first radio broadcast ever given by the Duke of York. The speech is a disaster: afflicted by a debilitating nervous stammer since childhood; he can barely produce a sound. When Bertie gives up on his impediment, Elizabeth, unbeknownst to him, takes matters into her own hands and, incognito, visits Lionel Logue, a speech therapist on Harley Street. He believes he can help her husband. She cautiously engages his services.

The Verdict "Every so often, cinemagoers a treated to something really, really special. In this case it is "The King's Speech", which features three leads: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helen Bonham Carter; all of whom demand great respect for their acting ability and sustainability throughout their respective careers. Here, despite their personal familiarity, they produce characters we cannot resist: all the while, doing it so convincingly; we believe they are the real deal. It's hard not to feel a deep empithy for 'Bertie'; to admire the conviction of Louge; or ignore the patient love, support and conviction of the late 'Queen Mum'. Hell! Even those who claim to be in favour of a Republic, will find much to admire in "The King's Speech". An absolutely delightful experience. A gem! Highest commendation. 5 STARS." Who Is Playing Who?

Colin Firth Helena Bonham Carter Freya Wilson Ramona Marquez Geoffrey Rush Calum Gittins Jennifer Ehle Dominic Applewhite Ben Wimsett Derek Jacobi Michael Gambon Guy Pearce Claire Bloom Orlando Wells Tim Downie Timothy Spall Roger Parrott Eve Best

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King George VI/Bertie Queen Elizabeth Princess Elizabeth Princess Margaret Lionel Logue Laurie Logue Myrtle Logue Valentine Logue Anthony Logue Archbishop Cosmo Lang King George V King Edward VIII Queen Mary Duke of Kent Duke of Gloucester Winston Churchill Neville Chamberlain Wallis Simpson

Directed by Tom Hooper Screenplay David Seidler Produced by Iain Canning/Emile Sherman/Gareth Unwin Original Music by Alexandre Desplat Cinematography by Danny Cohen Film Editing by Tariq Anwar Casting by Nina Gold Production Design by Eve Stewart Art Direction by Netty Chapman Set Decoration by Judy Farr Costume Design by Jenny Beavan Run Time 118 minutes Rated M [AUST] Copyright ©2010 - Paramount Pictures - All Rights Reserved ©1999-2011 - The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved. Protected by Australian & International Copyright, Trademark Laws & Intellectual Property Rights.