Britishness:
In 2003, the Government defined a British film as
"reference to obvious cultural elements such as: a setting in the UK or a focus on British people abroad; a predominantly British cast; a story line about some aspect of British life — past, present or future."
Times have changed since then, the britishness of a film does not necessarily mean that it is a quintessentially british cast and story line sometimes it just means that it is directed by a british director and predominantly made in England. For example We Need To Talk About Kevin is a British film, it is directed by Scottish director Lynne Ramsay and would be classed as a British film even though it is set in America. However in regards to The King's Speech in many cases it would be regarded as a quintessentially British film because of the fact that the majority of the main cast members are of British descent, for example Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter. Also the director, Tom Hooper, is a British director and has many British credentials to his name such as The Damned United and Les Miserables. Many british films however do get help from international production companies and distributors and in The King's Speech case The Weinstein Company helped distribute the film.
Exhibition:
The King's Speech was a surprising success, it exceeding the expectations of many of the production companies behind it. Momentum Pictures was shocked at the amount that the film generated a "£3.52m opening weekend, including modest previews of £227,000." It beat many of the most popular british films of the recent years such as Slumdog Millionaire (which got £1.83m on the opening weekend), Atonement (which got £1.63m on the opening weekend) and Calender Girls (which generated £1.88m on the opening weekend).
The film's general reception was incredibly positive and well received. The American audience was very partial to seeing this film, they were intrigued by the britishness and quintessential life of what they would expect in England. The fact that the royals play such a big part in the American lives because they don't have a monarchy of their own it means that they adopt our history and royalty and embrace just like an true British patriot would.
Many critics, especially the British ones, were key to point out the inaccuracies in the story and the melodramatic portrayal of some of our most key players in history. People such as Timothy Spall's portrayal of Winston Churchill was critiscised for being to over the top in his mannerisms. However generally the reception by all the major newspaper companies gave it four or five stars which shows that even though some inaccuracies would be noticeable to some observant eyes that this film still won over the audiences due to it's touching story line and the sentimental value behind it.
"At first, The King’s Speech, directed by Tom Hooper, looks awfully familiar, a musty historical drama full of monarchs and period costumes and atmospheric fog. Peer a bit closer though, and it’s a thoroughly modern tale, the true-life story of a king’s efforts to overcome his stammer in order to face his public, constructed like a contemporary makeover narrative."
Sukhdev Sandhu at The Telegraph
"But overall the film is a major achievement, with Firth presenting us with a great profile in courage, a portrait of that recurrent figure, the stammerer as hero. He finds as many different aspects of stammering as the number of ways of photographing sand explored by Freddie Young in Lawrence of Arabia or John Seale in The English Patient. And as they did, he deserves an Oscar."
Phillip French at the Guardian
"For all its period trappings and occasionally heavy-handed Freudian psychodrama, ‘The King’s Speech’ always comes back to the unlikely friendship between two superbly sketched, immaculately played characters. By the rousing wartime finale, it’ll be a staunch, hard-hearted republican who doesn’t feel the urge to yell, ‘God save the King!’"
Tom Huddleston at TimeOut
One of the main criticisms for the film has been the historical inaccuracies that have been noticed by critics. One of the main inaccuracies has been the fact that the political history involved is not exactly correct.
"The King's Speech has been criticised by several writers for glossing over Bertie's support for Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasement towards Adolf Hitler."
As said by Alex von Tunzelmann at the Guardian. However in the bigger picture, the film can brush past these errors. This isn't a film about World War Two and the time leading up to that. It is a film showing the very human struggle of a public figure and the way he dealt with that in a very tough part of his life.
Production Issues:
One of the main production issues with this film was purely for the fact that the script was completely unusual and incredibly different to what was on the film market in today's society, it's not everyday that you get a film about a King with a stammer. The producers struggled to find stars as well to be in the film as they needed that star value to help push box office sales for the film. Gareth Unwin of Bedlam Productions sent Geoffrey Rush, one of the main stars of the film, the script to his personal address in the hope that he would see a spark in the story and sentimentality in it to star in it. His agents and managers were incredibly angry with this, however despite that Rush knew that this was a special script that deserved it's say on film. Unwin says
"This flies against every fibre of me knowing how the business works. I ended up with a four-page email from his manager tearing me a new one. But it finished off with Geoffrey saying he liked it and that we should talk. We wouldn't have got to talk to Geoffrey at that stage otherwise. Joan [Lane - theatre producer and agent to David Seidler, who wrote the original script] was audacious in her thinking and it did pay off."
The main production companies involved with the film were See-Saw Productions (a British and Australian production company), Bedlam Productions (The King's Speech was the first official film produced by this company, owned by Gareth Unwin) and Momentum Pictures (a key player in the British film industry). There were no real major Hollywood companies behind this film, however with the help of The Weinstein Company, owned by the ruthless Harvey Weinstein, it quickly became a word of mouth hit.
One of the major financiers for the film then was The Weinstein Company. Also the UK Film Council was responsible for giving the film the kick start it needed to start filming, it gave the production team £1 million to help in June 2009 and filming began in December lasting 39 days.
The film also was intended at the start to be a stage play, David Seidler who suffered with a stammer as a child wrote a script about this story and initially intended it for a London stage. However, in 2005 Joan Lane received a script and she started talking to Simon Egan and Gareth Unwin of Bedlam Productions, now intending it for the silver screen. They organised a reading of the play which is where Tom Hooper's mother saw the script and recommended that Hooper should do this as his next project.
Distribution and Marketing:
These posters that would have been released just before the film came out. They are very eye catching and would have generated a lot of curiosity about the film. With the very minimal design and bold quotations it makes people who don't know a lot about the film very intrigued and interested to know more about it. The close up photographs of Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush really catch our eyes as a passer by. Also with the graphics used, "God Save The King" on Firth's and positives comments about the film on Rush's, it makes us realise that this film about the monarchy and the fact that it has received many positive reviews already, it gives a positive message that this is a film worth seeing. Also with the muted colours and simple background it means we can focus on what the text is trying to say to us and the simplicity also means that we know that this regal film will be very stylistic and 'art-house'.
These trailers are for different audiences. The top one here is for American audiences and it focuses on Geoffrey Rush's character and his guidance in helping the King, however the UK version focuses more on the 'britishness' of the film and it also uses the famous Shakespearean quote "some men are born great, others have greatness thrust upon them" this adds to the trailer and also adds an air of patriotism to the British people and because it is about our history and that sense of the monarchy being the central base of English attention. Also in the UK trailer Helena Bonham Carter's character calls her husband the 'Duke of York' whereas in the US trailer she says 'the King', when she meets Geoffrey Rush's character. This makes sure that the American audience knows that this is a important person and that this is a real story about a real monarch. It also gives the international audience more of a understanding about King George and his importance to the British history.
The use of posters and trailers in the marketing scheme especially behind these kind of films is very important because they grab the audience's attention and make them want to see the film. Posters are made to be very eye catching and noticeable and are placed on billboards and the sides of buses to attract passers by and encourage them to go and see the film. Film trailers are made to show you a few snippets of the film to engage and interest the audience enough to persuade them to see the film.
Major Issues Facing British Film Makers:
With the rise in technology spreading all over the world it means that the access to this and also the finance side of the cameras and technology is more available to British film makers, however in saying this the British film makers are still facing major issues. This is because of the budgets normally sourced for independent British films is done in the UK and this means that the amount that the film makers get isn't necessarily as much to create a big, big hit than a Hollywood 'Big Six' production. However this also means that the profit that needs to be made is a more reachable goal when the budget itself is lower than expected. Also in 2010, the UK was experiencing a tough time generating the profit that was expected. This is the time around which The King's Speech came out.
Although the King's Speech is a very lucky film and it has essentially revived the British Film Industry.
"The irony of the situation has been observed, But what we're feeling right now is triumphant. What we have is the most successful independent British film of all time, made as a direct result of public funding. That's a great validation and a great thing to have at the end of a very difficult eight-month period. Yes, it's a bittersweet moment. But it's also an amazing legacy for the UKFC as a whole."
Said Tanya Segatchian, head of the UKFC's film fund
It shows the UK and US film audience that British films, even if they may be more sentimental and touching in most cases, are still worth investing in and the problems associated with the money side of the issue are very trivial at the end of the day. Even though it is a money associated business if the love of the film and the story behind the film is emotion grabbing enough then the audience will come and the money will start to generate. The fact of the matter is that films such as The King's Speech reach such a wide audience and with the fascination of the monarchy in all parts of the world then it means that British films get more recognition as a whole.
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