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By Cindy Davis | Posted Under Trade News | Comments (19)

kings_speech.jpg

Usually when I hear of a period drama I turn tail, run screaming and never look back. I find most of them (the ones I’ve seen) dreary, boring and sleep inducing. There are a few exceptions but right this moment I can’t think of a one. That said, if a filmmaker threw in a little Geoffrey Rush with his droll humor, a couple of pretty men (Colin Firth, Guy Pearce) and Helena Bonham Carter I might be convinced to at least have a look. Add critics raving, a Toronto Film Festival Audience Award win, Oscar buzz and an amusing clip - well, what can I do? I might have to bite the bullet and see The King’s Speech.

Set in 1936, The King’s Speech is a humorous look at Britain’s King George VI (Firth), who was literally thrown under the crown when his brother abdicated the throne to marry a commoner. The man who would rather not be King was suddenly expected to lead his country to war (with Nazi Germany). But Bertie, as the King was nicknamed, had a huge problem to overcome: the man could hardly speak a proper sentence. He had a terrible stutter and would freeze up in a one-on-one conversation, never mind trying to give a speech to unite a country. Enter Lionel Logue (Rush), an Australian speech therapist who employs a number of interesting therapies to help Bertie, as seen in this clip:



It’s nice to see Helena Bonham Carter back to form as Bertie’s wife, Queen Elizabeth. The King’s Speech also stars Michael Gambon as King George V, Guy Pearce as Edward VIII and Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill. Directed by Tom Hooper (“John Adams”, “Elizabeth I”), the film is set to hit theaters November 26, 2010.









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Comments

9.0 on IMDB? Really?

Posted by: Me at September 22, 2010 5:15 PM

I'm looking forward to this. I know someone who was able to see it in Toronto and loved it.

Posted by: DarthCorleone at September 22, 2010 5:16 PM

"Usually when I hear of a period drama I turn tail, run screaming and never look back...That said, if a filmmaker threw in a little Geoffrey Rush with his droll humor, a couple of pretty men (Colin Firth, Guy Pearce) and Helena Bonham Carter I might be convinced to at least have a look."

Em......throw in Maggie Smith and that's pretty much the cast of every period movie of the past 20 years.

Posted by: PaddyDog at September 22, 2010 5:20 PM

Guy Pearce was in period dramas?

Posted by: Irina at September 22, 2010 5:26 PM

Never heard of it and the premise sounds silly.

*watches clip*

I AM SO THERE. :D

Posted by: Linda at September 22, 2010 5:44 PM

Would one consider Quills a period drama?

Posted by: Cadet at September 22, 2010 6:38 PM

Guy Pearce: Time Machine and Count of Monte Cristo

Posted by: PaddyDog at September 22, 2010 6:52 PM

Also, his entire run on Neighbours was a period piece if you consider I was only pathologically crazed enough to watch it at a certain time of the month.

Posted by: PaddyDog at September 22, 2010 6:57 PM

George VI's wife was not Queen Elizabeth. She was Queen consort, or for most of the 20th century, the Queen Mother, when her daughter became Queen Elizabeth II. There have only been two Queen Elizabeths, one reigning now and one best known for being played by Cate Blanchett.

Posted by: AM at September 22, 2010 7:06 PM

Guy Pearce: Time Machine and Count of Monte Cristo

Those are period dramas? Just because they're set in another century? Count "Ravenous" if you're at it then. Those are action or adventure movies. My definiton of period drama is something in the lines of Gosford Park or a Jane Austen adaptation.

Posted by: Me at September 22, 2010 7:07 PM

I'm certainly no history buff, AM. But according to the information about the movie, Helena's Elizabeth was called Queen (though according to wiki she was officially a Queen consort and called Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

Posted by: Cindy at September 22, 2010 7:41 PM

Guy Pearce was in that horrible Houdini movie with Catherine Zeta Jones wasn't he? Though one movie hardly makes a trend. And if The Count of Monte Cristo is a period drama then so is The Three Musketeers. And The Mask of Zorro. And Pirates of the Caribbean.

Posted by: Irina at September 22, 2010 7:43 PM

Standard (common) usage was to call her Queen Elizabeth (formal usage was Queen Consort); following the death of her husband and the accession of Elizabeth II she was styled Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

Enough of this! I say we have a period drama about the Hanoverians. There were a bunch of sots and lechers for you!

Posted by: The Wanderer at September 22, 2010 8:12 PM

Well at least we know what's going to win the Oscar for best costume since it always goes to British period movies.

Posted by: John W at September 22, 2010 9:17 PM

Why would a Jane Austen adaptation be a period piece but not the Count of Monte Cristo or the Three Musketeers? They're all based on books originally written in a historical period.

Posted by: PaddyDog at September 22, 2010 9:53 PM

I've always been intrigued of the Edward VIII affair (cough), and this looks doubly entertaining. Add in Timothy Spall as Churchill and it looks like a wild night at id's house.

Posted by: idiosynchronic at September 23, 2010 10:38 AM

This looks right up my alley. And The Count Of Monte Cristo shouldn't be considered a period drama because it is a flaming piece of dog poo. He ends up living happily ever after with Mercedes? My ass.

Posted by: Anne (in Reno) at September 23, 2010 10:53 AM

Isn't it fun seeing Helena Bonham-Carter in the well-tailored version of the stuff she normally wears?

Posted by: Mrs. Julien at September 23, 2010 3:25 PM

Touche, Mrs. Julien.

Posted by: PaddyDog at September 23, 2010 6:02 PM