By George! The making of 'King's Speech'
British filmmaker Tom Hooper directed a sports movie that too few Americans got to see, “The Damned United,” based on the true story of soccer coach Brian Clough.
Hooper, 38, won't have that problem with his new movie “The King's Speech,” a magnificently directed and acted fact-based drama that's sure to nab Oscar nominations for picture, director and actor.
It's about how England's King George VI (Colin Firth) shared a tempestuous relationship with an Australian speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush) hired to cure a bad case of stuttering.
I spoke to Hooper by phone.
Q. What's the secret to getting great performances from your two lead actors?
A. I think one of the reasons the scenes between the two men play so well is that we were very, very, rigorous about the writing. We made sure there was never a redundant line, that the structure of the scene worked, and there was wit in them. Like many things, it looks effortless when you've done all the hard work before.
Q. I know “The King's Speech” started out as a stage play, and the movie sort of reveals this at the beginning, but then the project slams into cinematic overdrive and becomes a real movie. What's your secret?
A. I thought that the close up would be a key shot in the movie, because it's only in the close up we see the pain and the suffering of Bertie (King George) and what he's going through.
I wanted to find a way to make the close-ups feel cinematic, so I shot the close-ups with a slightly wider lens, not real wide, but slightly wider.
In conventional close-ups, you shoot with longer lenses so that the space behind people's heads goes out of focus. That's not very interesting.
For Colin, I tried to find a visual way to communicate what stuttering was like. Colin and I decided that stuttering was about enduring silence, nothingness and absence. so I framed his face against empty walls, against negative space. It was my way of stranding Colin in these big empty frames over blankness.
Q. What about for Rush?
A. For Geoffrey, we surrounded him with a fireplace, book shelves, things that defined him. We gave these two characters an atmosphere that helped convey what the king was going through.
Q. What attracted you to David Seidler's original play?
A. I was brought up by an Australian mother and an English father. I've always been interested in the tension created by that kind of relationship. Then this fell into my lap.
Q. Americans will love this movie because the informal Australian therapist is a perfect American stand-in.
A. You're absolutely right. If this were a story about an American speech therapist, it would play the same. The lack of respect for the rules and the class system. It would play the same for an American.
Q. The therapist's wild office is practically a character in your movie. How did your production designer create it?
A. It's a location. It's a real place. The wall developed that look over two centuries. That's not a set. That's a real room. I grew up in London. I've seen lots and lots of locations, but I've never seen this room.
Q. What was your greatest joy while making this movie?A. Working with Colin and Geoffrey. They've become my friends for life. I love them dearly. The friendship we formed was my greatest joy making this film.