Oscar Buzz: Colin Firth Delivers 'The King's Speech'
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Will Colin Firth make a speech at the Academy Awards for his performance in 'The King's Speech'? Find out why the film based on a true story is garnering major Oscar buzz!
"It's boy meets therapist, boy gets therapist, boy loses therapist -- it's a bromance," joked Colin at Friday night's AFI FEST 2010 ensemble tribute to the film and its stars and director, Tom Hooper. "It's all but disappeared from history in a way, and George VI unfairly, I think, found himself a bit of a footnote..."
In theaters November 26, 'The King's Speech' stars Colin as England's King George VI, who dreads public speaking due to his serious stammering problem. After the ordeal of delivering an oration, he recruits unorthodox speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) to help him overcome his impediment and lead his country into war. The film also stars Helena Bonham Carter as the future Queen Mother Elizabeth, Guy Pearce as Edward VIII, Derek Jacobi as Dr. Cosmo Lang, Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill and Michael Gambon as King George V.
"What you have here is something that happened in the wings," explained Colin. "It was a man who didn't know that he had the qualities he had. He didn't know that he was probably brave. He didn't know that he had all this dignity and humanity, and here's a man trying to reach another man through all the stiff protocols of not just royalty, but any males in 1930s Europe."
'Speech' was the talk of The Toronto International Film Festival after it was crowned with the People's Choice Award (both 'American Beauty' and 'Slumdog Millionaire' won the same award and went on to win the Best Picture Oscar). Firth, nominated for his turn in last year's 'A Single Man,' is the driving force of the film; with the buzz surrounding his performance -- and the Academy loves stories of individuals overcoming adversity -- he may be officially ready to deliver his first Oscar speech.
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