In Contention

‘The King’s Speech’ trailer

Written by

in

What else can we really say about “The King’s Speech” at this point? The bulk of two Off the Carpet columns have already been dedicated to this early frontrunner. It captured audience support at Toronto. And now we wait for it to open and, hopefully, pull in some decent coin. The Weinstein Company has released the first trailer for the film via Yahoo! Movies and it’s a bit awkwardly edited for my tastes, but at least you all finally get a good look at what’s in store. Check it out by clicking the image below or watch an embed after the jump.

Comments

42 responses to “‘The King’s Speech’ trailer”

  1. Guy Lodge Avatar

    I’m glad you don’t think the trailer shows the film in its best light — because I must confess, if this arrived with no advance hype at all, I wouldn’t be looking forward to it after that.

  2. davidraider88 Avatar
    davidraider88

    Wow, that looks great. Can’t wait

  3. tintin(uruguay) Avatar
    tintin(uruguay)

    This is the front-runner? mmm…may be the movie is superb, but the trailer…

  4. Dylan Avatar
    Dylan

    Whoa, I got chills from that trailer that I did not expect to get.

  5. Jim T Avatar

    The trailer kinda sucks. I hope the film has a totally different character.

    “Why should I listen to you?”
    “Because I want an Oscar!”
    “Yes, you do”

  6. Katie Avatar
    Katie

    Awful trailer. I was going to Facebook it to whip up some enthusiasm in my non-film blog friends but this won’t go down too well.

    Have to wait until Jan 7th to see this in the UK, ugh.

  7. James Avatar
    James

    I don’t hate or love the trailer. I like all the footage I’m seeing despite it not being promoted in a completely affective way.

  8. Sean C. Avatar
    Sean C.

    The individual scenes look fine, the trailer itself isn’t; it jumps around too much, and lacks flow.

  9. Duncan Houst Avatar

    “Never judge a film by it’s trailer” seems to be the recurring theme for trailers today. Still, I rather liked what I saw here, and I can’t wait to see the film on Saturday!

  10. Michael W. Avatar
    Michael W.

    If The King’s Speech becomes a player, I can’t see anyone but Colin Firth winning the Oscar.

  11. Derek 8-Track Avatar
    Derek 8-Track

    I think they are going the crowd pleaser route for the trailer. Its like they want to be the Brit pic and Blind Side all at once.

    “You’re changing that boys life”
    “No. He’s changing mine. ”

    It kind of feels like the opening to Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, or when the Jamaican Bobsled team picks up the bobsled and carries it across the finish line in Cool Runnings. Or when Rudy gets carried off the field. kind of like when Richard Gere swoops up Debra Winger. or when Tony Danza Catches that line drive in Angels in the Outfield. All goosebumpy

  12. JJ Avatar
    JJ

    Wow. I mean, not the ‘best trailer ever’, but I definitely get the picture. Can’t wait to see this.

  13. André (FINALLY recovering from his mugging!) Avatar
    André (FINALLY recovering from his mugging!)

    I don’t know why people dislike the trailer, I thought it was quite wonderful!

    sad that this won’t play here in the Rio Fest.

    actually, this is one of the worst years for our festival in quite a while!

  14. Graysmith Avatar
    Graysmith

    Glad there are others feeling the same thing.. Not a particularly good trailer. Feels kind of rushed and just a mish-mash of footage. I do agree with the sentiment that if I didn’t already know about the glowing reviews and reactions seeing just this would do very little to make me want to see it. A shame really if the film itself is that good. One can only hope the Weinsteins put together a second trailer down the line if they want to get more butts in the seats.. this one won’t cut it.

  15. Ella Avatar
    Ella

    I think it looks great. It captures the dynamic between the two men, and the gravity of pre-WW2 and Hitler’s threat, with some humor thrown in.

  16. Tye-Grr Avatar
    Tye-Grr

    Hmmm… Looks good, despite the trailer.

  17. Andrew M Avatar
    Andrew M

    Yeah I agree with everyone else on here that this trailer isn’t that good, but the movie it self looks really good. Looks brilliantly shot too.

  18. Patriotsfan Avatar
    Patriotsfan

    Looks a little on the stereo-typical side (too many “wow isn’t that profound” lines), but the basic story seems interesting, so hopefully it will be good.

  19. cineJAB Avatar
    cineJAB

    I’m having a hard time believing that i might like this film more than Inception or Toy Story 3.

  20. Angry Shark Avatar
    Angry Shark

    blrrrrrr.
    Looks like Oscarbait. Doesn’t help that it’s a Weinstein pony. But I’ll give this a fair shake nonetheless because Rush is never not awesome, and Firth should have won the Oscar for A Single Man.

  21. SJG Avatar
    SJG

    I think the trailer was sentimental and kind of overplayed its hand, but I feel pretty convinced that that’s just a failure of the marketing and not of the film. The cast comprises such an impressive array of actors, the story is genuinely compelling, and the whole thing gives every indication of being an artistically composed film that I can’t help but think that it’s going to be a quite good movie.

    Sometimes trailers just suck, and I think it’s especially difficult to make a period biopic about a rather obscure historical tidbit (“Oh no! The King has a stammer!”) look appealing to the masses in 2 minutes.

    It’s bad I think because the people making the trailer rely on conventions of advertising that seem “current” but then come to look dated in short order. Go back and watch the trailer for a movie like “Rain Man” for instance. Great movie, awful trailer (that probably didn’t look so bad at the time) but it got butts in the seats.

  22. matsunaga Avatar
    matsunaga

    I don’t want to assume anything but it seems like the Best Actor race is just between Colin Firth and James Franco?

    Firth in my opinion should have won for “A Single Man”… This man definitely knows how to plot a major redemption… He’s the one to beat this year…

  23. DeJaVous Avatar
    DeJaVous

    Trailer tells too much of the story. I wanted to see this, and now I feel like I already did.

  24. ninja Avatar
    ninja

    Eh, A-grade Oscar wankjob. Firth will duel with Franco for Best Actor, though, and The Social Network will win Picture and Director.

  25. Andrew M Avatar
    Andrew M

    @Ninja I would say Best Adapted Screen play is more of a lock for The Social Network then Picture and Director. I hope your right though.

  26. al b. Avatar
    al b.

    I thought it was great, this thing looks fantastic!

  27. Hunter Tremayne Avatar

    Nothing is beating this.

  28. JJ Avatar
    JJ

    Kris, hard to tell from the trailer (which I feel is disjointed, but shows the quality/possible greatness nevertheless), but is the movie more a comedy or drama? I can’t wait for the film. But I DO hope another trailer surfaces.

  29. Glenn Avatar

    True, the trailer is technically not very good, but they don’t even really NEED to have a good trailer for this, do they? I mean, all the adults who care about seeing movies that are winning a lot of awards will go see it regardless and the only other target audience they need to single out is the blue rinse set and this trailer would be like bread and butter to them.

    What’s the point in trying to market this movie as “youthful” or, er, “not British”? They know who they’re marketing to and I’m sure they’ve sold a whole bunch of tickets that mightn’t have gone sold if they’d done some out-of-place modern trailer.

  30. Drew Avatar
    Drew

    Yeah that was kind of meh

  31. JJ Avatar
    JJ

    It’s between Duvall and Firth….Franco can’t knock either of them off.

  32. Andrew Rech Avatar
    Andrew Rech

    I see something good under this somewhat clunky trailer, Helena Bonham Carter looks great to me.

  33. j Avatar
    j

    I would prefer Facebook to look like the front-runner so it can lose steam and Speech can then overtake it with a grand sweep.

  34. André Avatar
    André

    I still think “Social Network” will take the big 3, but this looks like it will get quite a few nods.

  35. JJ Avatar
    JJ

    Hm, there’s two JJ’s now, it seems. Should I name myself JJ1?

  36. Guy Lodge Avatar

    You could post under your real name. ;)

  37. JJ Avatar
    JJ

    True, Guy. That’s John. Though, I think there’s a “John”, too. Haha. I think I’ll do JJ1.

  38. ninja Avatar
    ninja

    @Andrew (#26), I will be proven right. TSN is a timely, socially relevant movieand a biopic. AMPAS love those. This is just a perfect combo. And it`ll be a hit.

    King`s Speech will end up an actor`s movie. Firth will very likely score a win helped by the combo of critical acclaim + loss last year. Rush and maybe HBC will get supporting nods. But bottom line is that performances will be noted more than anything else. With TSN, it`s Fincher`s baby although the cast is stellar. But he is the biggest star. TSN and Fincher win.

    Of course, I`d always be more than thrilled for Black Swan or Inception upsets because I`m a die-hard supporter of genre movies.

  39. JJ1 Avatar
    JJ1

    I agree with ninja. I think Oscar WIN buzz is with TSN … for now. TKS looks great, but may wind up being an actors/technical acknowledgement player. But what do I know.

  40. JJ1 Avatar
    JJ1

    Kris (and to all who’ve seen it), what are TKS’s chances in editing, cinematography, & Score (particularly)?

  41. Food Freak Frank Avatar

    I’ve heard a lot of amazing things about this movie. The trailer did make it look a little boring, but I love the cast so i’m pretty sure I’ll love the movie.