At Telluride in September, Geoffrey Rush revealed to me that the script for “The King’s Speech” originally came to him in play format. Writer David Seidler had penned the story of King George VI overcoming a speech impediment in broad theatrical strokes. But it was too vast and, the actor thought, the central idea would be better suited to film. Soon enough a film was underway and Rush was called upon to take a role.
It still has that contained vibe. Guy noted in his London Film Festival take on the film that “if I came to the film cold, I would immediately, but incorrectly, peg it as an adaptation of a stage work.” So it’s interesting to note that the story may come back full circle.
Arts Beat’s Patrick Healy reports today that Broadway producer Michael Alden has acquired the stage rights to the film. The piece also notes that Seidler wrote it originally as a screenplay and later as a stage work in order to work out various relationships but the news is you might see the film transition to Broadway or London’s West End very soon (depending on how it does on screens, of course).
Writes Healy:
Publicity materials for the film said that a stage version would be produced on Broadway in the spring of 2011, but Mr. Alden said he did not have a timetable. “If Barbra Streisand wants to play Queen Elizabeth,” he said, referring to George VI’s wife, “we’ll go to Broadway in the spring, but otherwise I don’t see a rush.” He has made an offer to Adrian Noble, the former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, to direct the stage play, he added, but Mr. Noble has yet to sign on.
Alden also says that the play will be “a wholly different experience than the movie” and that “there’s also a lot more stuff in the play than there is in the movie.” Read the rest at Arts Beat.
[Photo: The Weinstein Company]