Colin Firth & Geoffrey Rush Interview For The King's Speech
Colin Firth & Geoffrey Rush Interview For The King's Speech
While at the BFI London Film Festival I caught up with Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush for Tom Hooper's fantastic new movie The King's Speech'. Oscar buzz surrounding their respected performances have steadily been picking speed. Check out what they had to say below.
How much research did you do in order to achieve the stammer so realistically?
Colin Firth: A Lot. I've done a lot in my life because it's the third time I've played a character with a stammer. What was interesting to me is that you don't just pull out your stammer from your last performance. It really doesn't work that way, that was an education for me, because I thought I could (laughs). What you're doing every time as an actor.what you're portraying is not stammering. That's really what you've got to arrive at. That's what the persons going through. So at different times in my life I've researched it as an issue, and spoken to people who experience it, including our own writer. He was probably my best source, he had overcome a stammer himself, well not overcome, he says it will still come back if he talks about it. But he was incredibly eloquent, it wasn't so much about what's happening physiologically that was interesting to me, I had to find that my own way and apply it to how this man appears on the page and timed to how Tom wanted it, he kind of scored it, he sculpted it a great deal, it was like how much do we need at this point, in order to show this much recovery. There was an awful lot of technically plotting it, but then you have to do something that's far more visceral and instinctive than that, and what interested me most than what's going on in a mans muscles was talking to David what the fears are. David would say for instance when it was bad it was all you think about. He said when you would go to a restaurant you wouldn't order the Fish if you couldn't get out the F, you would order the Beef, even if you wanted the Fish. Your life can be dictated by that fear, it doesn't matter what's at stake and what you have to do that day, it's can I say it?' Those things were very insightful to the terror this man felt.
If you look at him when he's saying a speech you could see a little narrative towards what he was going through, at least how I interpret it. He hits a word then you realise that moment comes when that words not gonna come out. Then you see the dismay, then you see another attempt, then you see him containing himself. To me there's something quite heroic and epic right there in those few seconds. Then you see him come right back out of it and carry on with the same dignity and the attitude of there's nothing to do but to go forward. That revealed to me more about the character than everything.
Did your views towards the British Monarchy change while making the film? As you're from a country that has mix feeling towards the monarchy (laughs). Your characters probably the key towards bringing George VI to life.
Geoffrey Rush: (Laughs) Yes I've always had an intriguing and fascinating obsession with the whole British dynasty of royalty. I find the complexity of the history and the shaping of the houses and sometimes bloody passing on, weird claimed lineage fascinating. I suppose the house of Windsor which is still with us was to me the first reality TV show. I remember the first time they let the cameras into the palace in the late sixties/early seventies was a sort of at home with Windsor's. I find all that intriguing. I'd like my country to be a little more adult and independent but I do find the presence of royalty and monarchy in contemporary life still intriguing.
How are you personally with public speaking? I wondered have you ever suffered stage fright or something like that?
Geoffrey Rush: I'm a patron of the Melbourne Film Festival and an ambassador for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and a few public things like that, so I'm asked time to time. I've discovered now I prefer to prepare my own notes or write the speech and really hone it down to be hopefully entertaining. I try to get a laugh at least by the second line and then say what you need to say. The only experience I've had in the early nineties of stage fright was when I was working in the theatre I went through a really bad period for three or four years of dread inducing panic attacks before going on stage. And then I got an international film career and they sort of disappeared (laughs). I think that was the cure, I'm not sure.
Colin Firth: Yes I do suffer from those fears. I got appalling stage fright last time I went on stage at the opening night, I only had two weeks rehearsal and hadn't had a dress rehearsal and I had to open with a two page monologue. So I locked myself in the toilet, at around fifteen minutes to curtain up. I wasn't planning to stay there (laughs), I just thought I needed to take a deep breath. Then I went outside to get some air, so I went out through the fire door, which locked behind me, at now about five minutes to curtain up. So I had to go around the front through the audience, the very people I was terrified of, I had to go through all of them, full body contact and I couldn't remember the code to get backstage, I had to beg to get back in. then I was told I had to go straight on stage, and I weirdly remembered the words and got to the end. It was a car crash (laughs). So what I think happens is there's a tension that can be debilitating and there can be a tension that can god willing turn into something functional.
Did you know much about George VI before undertaking the role?
Colin Firth: I didn't know very much. Almost nothing at all. My parents were children during his reign. I remember my Mum talking about his reluctance to take the throne and how reluctant he would have been. There was an expression of admiration towards him, I remember her telling me about the stammer and the relationship between Elizabeth and him as a close and loving one. Those are vestiges of my childhood memory and that's about it. I didn't know much at all.
How To Use Consultative Selling To Ace Your Next Interview Robert De Niro Interview For Stone – Which Also Stars Edward Norton & Mila Jovovich Edward Norton Interview For Stone – Which Also Stars Robert De Niro & Mila Jovovich Olivia Williams Interview For Ghost Pierce Brosnan Interview For Roman Polanski's Ghost Eli Roth Interview For The Last Exorcism Seven Easy Steps to Landing the Interview! Ewan McGregor Interview For The Ghost Sylvester Stallone Interview For The Expendables Dominic West Interview For Centurion Olga Kurylenko Interview For Centurion Sharlto Copley Interview For The A Team How to Handle Unusual Interview Situations