Trivia / The King's Speech

• All-Star Cast: In addition to the aforementioned Firth, Rush, and Bonham Carter, there are supporting roles played by Sir Derek Jacobi, Guy Pearce, Timothy Spall, and Sir Michael Gambon.
• Corpsing: Blink and you'll miss it, but Lionel is laughing heartily during Albert's Cluster F-Bomb. This wasn't scripted and Geoffrey Rush was just losing his composure at the hilarious delivery, but Tom Hooper thought it was such a great addition that they kept it.
• Dueling Works: There seemed to be an effort to force the movie into this with The Social Network, both big-hitting, big-budget biopics trying to nab Oscars and pretty much the only two contenders for Best Picture. (Toy Story 3 was also nominated but no animated film has ever won the award). This went right into the actual Oscars ceremony: Social Network's synth version of "Hall of the Mountain King" was the music for the opening montage while the title speech was the backdrop of the Best Picture montage.
• Enforced Method Acting: According to a behind-the-scenes feature, the first scene filmed was the first interaction between Albert and Lionel at the latter's home. The director intended for nervousness of the first day to filter into the actors' performances. The camera was also placed very close to Colin Firth, to heighten the awareness that he was being watched closely.
• Fake American: The English Eve Best plays American socialite Wallis Simpson.
• Fake Brit: The Australian Guy Pearce as Edward VIII. Granted, at the time there was no separate Australian citizenship, Australia was merely a self-governing part of the Empire (this is also a subversion for Pearce, who was actually born in Britain from a British mother and moved to Australia when he was three).
• Fake Nationality: Jennifer Ehle was born in North Carolina. Yes, this means that we have an American playing an Australian, an Australian playing a Brit, and a Brit playing an American. The mind boggles...
• Irony as She Is Cast: Despite playing King George VI, Colin Firth is actually a British republican advocating the abolition of the monarchy. Still, he accepted a CBE.
• One-Hit Wonder: Most of screenwriter David Seidler's career had been spent writing TV movies and not-particularly-successful animated films such as Quest for Camelot and The King and I. After winning an Oscar for his screenplay for this film, he promptly retired, deciding to end his career on a high note (granted, he was 73 years old when the film was released).
• Playing Against Type: Helena Bonham Carter has personally stated that she plays the crazy people well. The last time she was a queen, she yelled "Off with their heads" every five minutes. But as the Duchess of York, she's an eloquent, articulate, caring and supportive mother and wife.
• Reality Subtext:
  • The film's writer was himself a stutterer, who took great inspiration from listening to King George's radio addresses, with his parents assuring him the King once stuttered worse than him.
  • Colin Firth revealed that playing a stutterer had physical effects on him, inducing him headaches and an odd left arm paralysis that lasted some days. Derek Jacobi also warned Firth that the role might make him actually stutter himself for some time after wrapping production.
• What Could Have Been: Paul Bettany was the first choice to play King George VI, but turned it down. Hugh Grant was also offered the part (he had played a stutterer before) and Robert Downey Jr. was considered for it too.

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