I’ve now seen “The King’s Speech” screen before four different audiences – including its Toronto Film Festival premiere, a Beverly Hills screening room, the AFI Fest gala – and each time the film played extraordinarily well. Monday night’s Arclight Sherman Oaks showing in theWrap Screening Series was no exception, with a packed house greeting the film with sustained applause and audience members raving about it to director Tom Hooper during the Q&A with Sharon Waxman.
Before he did the Q&A, Hooper sat in the Arclight lounge and did a brief video interview about his film, in which Colin Firth plays Britain’s King George VI and Geoffrey Rush plays Lionel Logue, the Australian speech therapist who helped the king overcome a speech impediment after his unexpected ascension to the throne – and the public-speaking duties it entails – upon the abdication of his older brother, Edward VIII.
Topics included the way the film subverts the usual trappings of royal films; historical accuracy, and how it’s sometimes impossible to achieve; and the selfishness of Edward.
