“Rule, Britannia!” THE KING’S SPEECH To Premiere At 35th Toronto International Film Festival

I’ve been a “For King and Country” monarchist since I was little, so you can imagine how pleased I was when I read there would be another biopic, especially one on the present Queen’s, Elizabeth II, father George VI. Tom Hooper’s THE KING’S SPEECH will have it’s North American premiere at the 35th Toronto International Film Festival taking place from September 9 to 19. Click here to listen King George VI’s broadcast speech to the British Empire from Buckingham Palace on September 3rd, 1939.

THE KING’S SPEECH will make a fine addition to the wealth of cinema and tv miniseries from the United Kingdom on the British Monarchy consisting of THE LION IN WINTER, & RICHARD III through THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY VIII, ELIZABETH, & THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE and finally YOUNG VICTORIA, MRS. BROWN, EDWARD THE KING, EDWARD and MRS SIMPSON, and THE QUEEN.

Along with the plethora of movies already pertaining to events surrounding the monarchs like BECKET, A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, LADY JANE and CROMWELL, one can watch their way through the British Empire. I’m still curious about Madonna’s 2001 W.E. – a two-tiered romantic drama focusing on the affair between King Edward VIII and American divorcee Wallis Simpson and a contemporary romance between a married woman and a Russian security guard.

In this video from earlier this year, Colin Firth talks about his role as George VI in THE KING’S SPEECH.

In THE KING’S SPEECH, Firth plays Bertie, a shy prince who was expecting to lead a quiet life until his older brother, after being crowned Edward VIII, abdicated in order to marry divorcee Wallis Simpson. At that point, it became urgent for Bertie, about to ascend the throne as George VI, to get rid of his stammer. Enter an unorthodox speech therapist from Australia named Lionel Logue – played in the movie by Geoffrey Rush. Thanks to Logue’s miraculous intervention, Bertie acquired the confidence to be regal and lead his country into World War II.

The cast includes Helena Bonham Carter as Bertie’s wife, Elizabeth (later much beloved as the Queen Mother), Geoffrey Rush and Jennifer Ehle as Lionel & Myrtle Louge, Michael Gambon as George V, Guy Pearce as Edward VIII, Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill, Anthony Andrews as Stanley Baldwin, and Derek Jacobi as the Archbishop of Canterbury.

From director Tom Hooper, (THE DAMNED UNITED and HBO’s miniseries “John Adams” and “Elizabeth I”), with a screenplay by David Seidler (TUCKER: THE MAN AND HIS DREAM) and edited by Tariq Anwar (REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, AMERICAN BEAUTY), you can bet Harvey Weinstein will push hard to see THE KING’S SPEECH among the 10 in the 2011 Best Picture race.THE KING’S SPEECH will be in theaters on November 26, 2010.