The King's Speech - In Cinemas from 7th January (05/01/2011)
The most talked about feature film of the past year, The King's Speech, finally comes to cinema screens across the UK on Friday 7th January. Hotly tipped to sweep the board at this year's Oscars, The King's Speech, filmed partly in Yorkshire, has screened at festivals across the globe to critical acclaim, picking up a host of awards and nominations. The King's Speech (Momentum Pictures) is a feature-length depiction of the unorthodox relationship between England's King George VI, to be played by Colin Firth, and his Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue - played by Oscar-winner Geoffrey Rush - who helped him to overcome his stammer.
Director Tom Hooper returned to the region to shoot scenes for the feature in December 2009 following the success of his shoot for The Damned United. Screen Yorkshire provided crew and locations support for the Yorkshire leg of The King's Speech shoot, which drafted in a large number of local crew and extras to take part in crowd scenes which were filmed at Bradford Bulls Stadium and Leeds United's Elland Road.
Chris Hordley, Production Liaison Manager at Screen Yorkshire, says: ''We were delighted to welcome Tom Hooper back to Yorkshire so soon after 'The Damned United'. Attracting one of the UK's leading directors back to the region for another major feature is testament to the world class crew and facilites that are based in Yorkshire.''
In addition to the real life extras, a number of the 'actors' in the crowd scenes are actually inlatable dummies (pictured here at Elland Road supplied by Skipton based The Inflatable Crowd Company UK.
Danny Burraway, company director of The Inflatable Crowd Company UK, says: ''We create the mass, while the real extras, placed in front of the inflatables and intermingled throughout, provide the life by moving or cheering. Texture and attention to detail is crucial to making this illusion as seamless as possible, so we provide a full clothing and accessory package, including items such as realistic faces, wigs, hats and other accessories to match the period and look of the real extras. We have the facilities to create any crowd for any type of scene, from a formal theatre to supporters at a large sporting event.’’ Find out more about The Inflatable Crowd Company UK here
The King's Speech is based on the true story of Queen Elizabeth II's father and his remarkable friendship with maverick speech therapist Lionel Logue. As the second son of George V, Prince Albert "Bertie" was not expected to ascend to the throne, but when his brother Edward chose to abdicate to marry Wallis Simpson, Bertie was his successor and in 1936 he became King George VI. Thrust into the international spotlight, he engaged Lionel Logue who helped him find a voice to lead the nation.
Emmy award-winning director Tom Hooper is no stranger to filming in Yorkshire as his previous feature The Damned United filmed at locations across the region including Leeds United, Elland Road, Headingley Stadium, The Royal Hotel in Scarborough and Bradford Police Station. Made with the support of the Screen Yorkshire Production Fund, The Damned United stars Micheal Sheen as Brian Clough and charts the story of his fated 44-day tenure as Manager of Leeds United in 1974, and was released to rave reviews in March 2009.
Three-time BAFTA nominee Colin Firth (A Single Man, Mamma Mia!) stars in THE KING'S SPEECH as Prince Albert, alongside his Shakespeare in Love colleague, Oscar®-winner Geoffrey Rush (Pirates of the Caribbean, Shine), as speech therapist Lionel Logue. The multi-award-winning cast includes Helena Bonham Carter (Harry Potter, Sweeney Todd) as Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother), with BAFTA-nominee Jennifer Ehle (Pride and Glory, Pride and Prejudice) as Logue's wife Myrtle, Guy Pearce (The Hurt Locker, Memento) as the abdicating King Edward VIII, Derek Jacobi (The Golden Compass, Gosford Park) as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Cosmo Lang, Timothy Spall (The Damned United) as Winston Churchill and Michael Gambon (Harry Potter) as King George V.
THE KING'S SPEECH is a See-Saw Films/Bedlam Productions feature film presented by The Weinstein Company and the UK Film Council, in association with Momentum Pictures, Aegis Film Fund and Molinare London.
