The King’s Speech and Oscars s-s-s-success

The God of Thunder or King George VI with a stammer? That was what it came down to for director Tom Hooper who was tossing up between comic-book movie Thor and period drama The King's Speech as his next project. But with The King's Speech headed for Oscars glory, Hooper definitely made the right decision.
``I was very happy with what I chose,'' says the filmmaker from his Sydney hotel room.
``As a director there are two types of movies that are being made at the moment and that's huge, juggernaut movies with big budgets and indie films.
``You either go big or go to smaller movies and the great thing about doing this is you can do stuff that's not straining for a big audience.
``I love the fact we made this in a way that was very uncompromising.''

It appears audiences and critics love that too, with Hooper (below) speaking on the phone this morning after the Australian premiere in Sydney. Hooper says he was `overwhelmed at how much the film played like a comedy' with the audience laughing for minutes at a time.
``I think the Aussies got the jokes more than the Brits and Americans did,'' he says.Which makes sense, considering Geoffrey Rush plays an unconventional Australian speech therapist who's called in to help fix the debilitating stammer of King George VI, played by Colin Firth. Hooper himself is half-Australian and says it was his Australian mother who first introduced him to The King's Speech via an underground version on the London theatre scene. The film has come a long way from theatre origins to industry insiders touting it as a red-hot Oscars favourite, with nominations likely across several major categories
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Hooper, who won an Emmy for his mini-series Elizabeth I, is quick to dismiss the hype.
``It's still very early days, none of the nominations have come out yet and I like to keep focus on what has already happened (at awards ceremonies),'' he says.
``The funny thing about all these award ceremonies is part of the experience, if you're ever lucky enough to win an award, is that you have to make an acceptance speech and our whole film is about a fear of public speaking, which is an interesting connection.''But the filmmaker is more enthusiastic about Firth and Rush's chances of winning at the awards, with Helena Bonham Carter even an outside chance for best supporting actress.
``They are both men who are at the top of their game and doing extraordinary work,'' he says.
``I just went to see Geoffrey in his play in Sydney which he dominated and he's such an extraordinary Australian actor and talent.
``And with Colin, he had A Single Man last year and The King's Speech this year . . .I'm biased, but I think they deserve everything they get.''

The King's Speech opens on Boxing Day.