Never has a movie so closely resembled the relationship I have with Comedy Film Nerds very own Graham Elwood. One time, he was the vibrant Geoffery Rush to my stammering Colin Firth when I, for some reason, was hired by the Travel Channel to host a 7 hour live Ghost Hunt on Halloween Night at a defunct mental asylum in Weston West Virginia.
Never has a movie so closely resembled the relationship I have with Comedy Film Nerds very own Graham Elwood. One time, he was the vibrant Geoffery Rush to my stammering Colin Firth when I, for some reason, was hired by the Travel Channel to host a 7 hour live Ghost Hunt on Halloween Night at a defunct mental asylum in Weston West Virginia.
And just as King George VI felt duly unprepared for a life of public speaking, I too, had no experience with reading from a teleprompter. While the king worked his whole life with one coach, our relationship, too, bonded in the hour and half that Graham Elwood, master of the multi prompter presentation technique, came over and said “don’t move your eyes when you read.”
This movie is just about the true story of the improbable relationship that formed between King George VI (the present Queen’s Dad) and his Voice Coach. Here Colin Firth as “Bertie” and Geoffery Rush as “Lionel Logue” carry this movie on their capable shoulders. Based on historical facts, we find out that Bertie would have remained the Duke of York if his older brother, David, hadn’t abdicated to marry that divorcee commoner Wallace Simpson. ( I love when asked what he sees in her, the reply ” it seems she’s learnt certain skills in Shanghai” History teaches that a kingdom will fall for a great blowjob.)
It seems that as princes, David was always favored over Bertie and so the poor king-to-be developed all sort of self esteem problems and a stutter that haunted him his entire life. In the movie they sort of make it seem like, after “The king’s speech” is broadcast on the brink of WWII he would live happily ever after. But in fact, he had Lionel with him for every speech he gave for the rest of his life.
Well directed by Tom Hooper who captures the fear of public speaking so well when a young Duke of York had to address Wembley Stadium. Shot from the duke’s point of view, we cross from the personal to the public with sudden clarity of magnitude that makes anyone with any hint of stage fright shit their pants. All the scenes are cut to highlight the emotional journey as opposed to all the historical details, making for a much more satisfactory and palatable film. His coronation is reduced to a rehearsal and then the family watching the black and footage after the fact.
But of the course this movie rests on the performances and the Oscar is all but wrapped up for Colin Firth. His believable stammering, carried by a man who is regal yet self debasing and is pushed into a role he didn’t want at Britain’s most crucial time in history as the last remaining democracy in Europe. All of these things are front and center on his brain yet Colin doesn’t need to telegraph any of it. And Rush is at his lightest as a vocal coach so self assured that he seems at times impetuous. They both mirror and play contrasting qualities that is a delight to watch.
In the end, he makes it through his nine minute speech and goes on to give others, while I have never gone back to host SEVEN HOUR LIVE TELEVISION EVENTS because as Graham Elwood would tell you, “that’s just stupid.”
Graham is available for private teleprompter classes. Please supply your own teleprompter.
–Dean Haglund
