By MCN Editor editor@moviecitynews.com

THE QUEEN APPLAUDS THE KING’S SPEECH

Posted Friday, February 4th, 2011 - Comments Off on THE QUEEN APPLAUDS THE KING’S SPEECH
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H.R.H. Queen Elizabeth Enjoys Private Screening of Academy Award®-Nominated Film About Her Father, King George VI

New York, NY, February 4, 2011 – The Weinstein Company (TWC) is honored to learn that Her Royal Highness, Queen Elizabeth, has enjoyed a private screening of THE KING’S SPEECH, as reported by Duncan Larcombe, Royal Editor, in today’s edition of The Sun.  The film, directed by Tom Hooper and written by David Seidler, tells the story of Her Majesty’s father, King George VI, as he struggles to overcome a crippling speech impediment while grappling with his sudden, unexpected ascension to throne and the mounting danger of Nazi Germany.  THE KING’S SPEECH stars Colin Firth as King George VI, Geoffrey Rush as the King’s speech therapist, Lionel Logue, and Helena Bonham Carter as Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

The Sun article is here.

THE KING’S SPEECH has been nominated for 12 Academy Awards®, including Best Picture; Best Director; Best Original Screenplay; Best Actor in a Leading Role (Firth); Best Actor in a  Supporting Role (Rush); Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Bonham Carter); Best Cinematography; Best Editing; Best Art Direction; Best  Original Score; Best Costume Design; and Best Sound Mixing.  It is one of the year’s most honored films, with accolades including:  SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Cast and Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role (Firth); the PGA Award for Outstanding Producer of a Theatrical Motion Picture (Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin); the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Feature Film (Hooper); and the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture-Drama (Firth).

THE KING’S SPEECH has been seen and admired by many notable public figures, including    British Prime Minister David Cameron, who hosted a private screening at his home over the Christmas holidays; Prince Andrew; Lord and Lady William Astor; Lord Edward Spencer-Churchill; and Edwina Sandys, the granddaughter of Winston Churchill (portrayed in the film by Timothy Spall).  The film’s entertainment industry admirers include Woody Allen, Barbra Streisand, John Travolta, Lord Richard Attenborough, Daniel Craig, Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, Bono, and screenwriter William Goldman.

Screenwriter David Seidler said, “To learn Her Majesty has seen the film, and was moved, in turn moves and humbles me greatly.  When, thirty years ago, the Queen Mother asked me to wait and not tell this story during her lifetime, because the memory of these events was still too painful, I realized the depths of the emotions involved.  Now this story has been written and filmed with a great deal of love, admiration, and respect for Her Majesty’s father.  That Her Majesty has responded favorably to this, is wonderfully gratifying.”

Said Harvey Weinstein, TWC co-Chairman and executive producer of THE KING’S SPEECH, “On behalf of the director Tom Hooper; the producers, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin; Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter and our entire ensemble cast: we are deeply honored and humbled by Her Majesty’s appreciation of the film.  It was a labor of love for all of us and this is high praise, indeed.”

ABOUT THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY

The Weinstein Company (TWC) is a multimedia company launched in October 2005 by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the brothers who founded Miramax Films in 1979.  TWC also encompasses Dimension Films, the genre label founded in 1993 by Bob Weinstein, which has released such popular franchises as SCREAM, SPY KIDS and SCARY MOVIE.  Since its launch, TWC and Dimension Films have also released such films as GRINDHOUSE, LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN; 1408; I’M NOT THERE; THE MIST; THE GREAT DEBATERS; VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA; THE READER; THE ROAD; CLERKS II; FACTORY GIRL; HALLOWEEN; THE PAT TILLMAN STORY; PIRANHA 3D; the 2010 Oscar® winner INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS and 2010 Oscar nominees A SINGLE MAN and NINE; and 2011 Golden Globe Best Foreign Language Film nominee THE CONCERT.

Currently in release is Tom Hooper’s THE KING’S SPEECH,  which has been nominated for twelve 2011 Academy Awards®, including Best Picture; Derek Cianfrance’s Academy Award-nominated BLUE VALENTINE; and John Wells’ feature directorial debut, THE COMPANY MEN.  Recently wrapping is MY WEEK WITH MARILYN, Robert Rodriguez’s SPY KIDS 4, and the new installment of the SCREAM franchise, SCREAM 4.  Currently in production is Douglas McGrath’s I DON’T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT.

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon