The Kings Speech

 

 

 

The Kings Speech:

 

The kings speech is a 2010 British historical drama production, directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seilder.

 

The film tells the story of the man who became King George VI, the father of Queen Elizabeth II. Who, after his brother abdicates, George (known as 'Bertie' by close relatives) reluctantly takes the thrown. Plagued by a dreaded stammer and considered to be unfit to be the King, Bertie engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue. Through a number of un expected techniques and unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice and lead the country proudly through war.

 

Box Office:

 

Budget- $15,000,000 (approx.)

 

Opening Weekend- £3,523,102 (Jan 2011)

 

Gross- $138,795,342 (10 June 2011)

 

In the UK and Ireland, the film was the highest earning film on its opening weekend on 395 cinemas. The Kings Speech continued a ''stunning three weeks'' stop the UK Bok Office, and earned over £3,000,000,000 for 4 consecutive weekends, the first film to do so since Toy Story 3 in 2010. After five weeks on UK release, it was hailed as the most successful independent British film ever. It holds the record for the highest per-cinema gross of 2010 as well.  
It was widened to 700 screens on Christmas day and then widened again too 1,543 screens on the 15th January 2011. 

 

What is Britishness:

 

 

''Britishness is the state or quality of being British, or of embodying British characteristics and the is used to refer to that which binds and distinguishes British people and forms the basis of their unity and identity, or else to explain expressions of British Culture.''  

 

 

 

Tom Hooper:

 

 

Tom Hooper is a British film and television director who began making short films at the age of around 13yrs old. He had his first professional short, 'Painted Faces' broadcast on Channel 4 in 1992. At Oxford University, Hooper directed plays and television commercials, who then (after graduation) directed episodes of 'Quayside', 'Byker Grove', 'Cold Feet' and 'Eastenders'.

 

Hooper's work was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for his pieces 'Prime Suspect' and 'John Adams'. He also won one for 'Elizabeth I' and was nominated for the British Acadamy (BAFTA) TV Craft Award for being Best Director for 'Longford'. ONe of his most influential and recognisable pieces, 'The Kings Speech' won multiple awards such as Best director (from the Directors Guild of America) and Best Director nomination at the BAFTA's.

 

Criticism of the film:

 

Empire gave the film a wopping 5 stars and commented- ''You'll be lost for words''

The film has received widespread critical acclaim. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 94% based on reviews from 233 critics; their average rating was calculated as 8.6/10. It summarised the critical consensus as: ''Colin Firth gives a masterful performance in The Kings Speech, a predictable by stylishly produced and rousing period drama''.

 

The British Stammering Association welcomed the release of The Kings Speech congratulating the film makes their ''realistic deception of the frustration and the fear of speaking faced to people who stammer on a daily basis''. It is said that ''Colin Firths portrayal of the Kings stammer in particular strikes us a very authentic and accurate''. 

 

The films origins:

 

(David Seidler was the writer for the production)

 

As a child, David Seidler 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.

When Seilder became an adult, he resolved to write about King George VI and during the late 1970's, he voraciously researched the King but found a lack of information on Logue.

Eventually, he contacted Dr. Valentine Logue, who agreed to discuss his father and make his notebooks available if the Queen's Mother gave her permission. She asked him not to do so within her lifetime and Seilder halted the project.

She then died in 2002. 3 years later, he returned to the storyline during a shorty period of creative work which was inspired by the recovery from cancer.

His research included a chance encounter with an uncle that Logue had treated, which indicated he used mechanical breathing exercises combined with psychological counselling to understand the underlying causes of the condition. With this information in hand, he imagined the sessions in which is took place. Seidler showed the screenplay to his wife, who liked it but pronounced it '' too seduced by cinematic technique''. She then suggested he would rewrite it as a stage play to focus on the essential relationship between  Logue and the King. Once he had completed it, he sent it to a few friends who currently worked in theatres in London and New York for feedback. 

In 2005, Joan Lane of Wilde Thyme, a production company in London received the script as well. Lane started talking with Gareth Unwin and Simon Egan of Bedlam Productions and they then invited Seidler to London to rwwrite the play again, yet this time, for the screen.

Shortly after, Ian Canning from See-Saw Films became involved.

 

The production team learned, 9 weeks prior to starting filming, of a diary containing Logues original notes on his treatment with the Duke of York. They then went back and re-worked the script to reflect on the original notes. Tom Hooper said that the most memorable lines on the film are those of which are from the original notes. 

 

The production companies & Distributors:

 

 Momentum Pictures is the leading independent motion picture in the UK and Ireland and releases approximately 20 theatrical films a year with several dtv releases.



The Weinstein Company is an American mini-major studio founded by Harvey and Bob Weinstein in 2005. The companies films are released on DVD and Blu-ray by Anchor Bay Entertainment.

Marketing:

For the marketing of the film, there wee a vast number of a variety of different poster used in order too entice the audience into watching the film. There were a number of official trailers to appeal to the UK and America, followed by an official website to promote the film even more.  [www.kingsspeech.com/]
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