BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
CATEGORY: Achievement in directing
INTERVIEW WITH: Tom Hooper
FILM: "The King's Speech"
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Q. I would just like to ask you to expand on the trio of man love that you mentioned on stage (laughter) and how important that was.
A. I think Geoffrey, Colin and I have an extraordinary connection. We had a rehearsal period of about three weeks where we workshopped the script, worked daily on the script. And I just I think we became incredibly good friends and became close in that rehearsal period. And we will be good friends, we will be friends for life. And I think there's something about I don't know. There's something about in the way I would be shooting them, the fact that I like them so much as people, probably probably is in the DNA of the movie, and they're liking for each other is in the DNA in the movie. There's a lot of kindness in the movie, a lot of compassion in the movie, and along side, in a professional relationship we respect each other so much was probably what Geoffrey Rush is jokingly referred to as something a bit more.
Q. Tom.
A. Baz.
Q. Congratulations, Tom. I was on the set with you on this movie in the snow, and you know, there's no money get to half the cast lunch, but you prevailed. You made this great movie. Tom, two things. One, where does your career go now? And two, Helena told me that she couldn't get a looking with you boys in this movie.
A. First of all, I just want to thank you for being the very first journalist ever to want to interview me, Baz. So, here's to you. In 2001? 2002? Yeah. And you've been a great supportist, thank you.
So, the first question, I've completely forgotten your questions. I actually had half a glass of champagne.
Q. Helena saying she couldn't get a looking because it was a boys movie.
A. We basically shot the Jeffrey and Colin stuff first. And so, when she arrived, she arrived in this incredibly strong bond between them, and it was a source of this endless quality from then on. But she felt that the real love story was between the two men and not between her and Colin. But she, you know, she acted the supportive wife brilliantly on camera, as you know, but off camera was constantly teasing us for the fact that the love should really be between him and her husband.
Q. Talking of champagne, Tom, how will you celebrate tonight?
A. I don't know, but I don't think I am going to go to bed for a while. I have got Oprah Winfrey at 10 a.m. I've got Today Show at 5 a.m. So, I don't want to be the first guest on Oprah to be drunk.
Q. Congratulations on the Oscar. I was wondering if you and the producers and Colin, with all the historical source material, have considered a sequel?
A. I think that will be a little difficult, as my film was about a man overcoming his stammering, and he definitely has overcome it. I think you are going to have to look elsewhere for the next one.
Q. Hi, Tom. What does mom think you should do next?
A. That's a very good question. She's under a little bit of pressure now for the magic of the next Oscar winning picture, but I'm not sure she's going to achieve it for a while. She hasn't been invited to another free play reading. So, that's something I'm hoping is going to happen soon.
Q. Actually my question leads from the last one. I was enchanted by the story of your mom in finding a play, but it also reminds me of this whimsical nature of finding film projects, and I am wondering if you could talk to that a moment because you are in the film industry that's, you know, that's always going through people with difficulties getting their films seen, but here you are in this triumphant night. So I am curious if you could expand on the whimsical nature of finding these gemstones.
A. I think I didn't quite believe that there were masterpieces sitting unread in attics. I kind of thought the system worked; that there were scouts everywhere was sufficient. If someone wrote a good script, people would know that it existed. And the story of how this film came to be is a classic example of how that's not the case. I mean, this play it was a play reading, but this play failed to be produced. I mean this play was going nowhere when, you know, I came to it and when my producers came to it and Geoffrey came to it. And so it's maybe more open minded to the idea that there may be masterpieces or wonderful stories that lie neglected, and the system doesn't always necessary deliver to you the best stuff that's out there.
Q. Both David and Colin had both expressed tonight how they have gotten e mails and calls and letters from people who have been transformed by this film, and I am just wondering what has been your what has been the reaction to it on a personal level to you?
A. I mean, I'm continually astonished by the, you know, the personal stories I encounter of how this film has changed people from a woman I met at a London screening, who saw it three times and had a late who had a brain aneurysm, from a late onset stammerer in middle age and saying how grateful she was to the movie to a friend of mine, who actually, after coming through a screening of KING'S SPEECH and seeing the film seeing the scene where it talks about the about not being letting go of letting go of the father's expectations. This friend of mine actually started to come out after THE KING'S SPEECH because he realized he was trying to live up to his father and not look after himself, and that scene inspired him to be someone he'd never been before, to a woman I met yesterday, who had seen the film six times and said she had been praying that it goes home with an Oscar.
So, it does seem to touch people in the most extraordinary way across the age range from nine to 90, across cultures, across all sorts of boundaries, and seems to have this extraordinary democratic reach, which is you know, and I made films I hope people want to see, and the greatest reward is being that something that was so personal to me that I wasn't making for, you know I wasn't trying to make a blockbuster. I was just trying to make something personal and from my heart. The fact that's connected in an extraordinary democratic way is very touching.
Q. Obviously you had a huge historical responsibility with this film. What was your greatest challenge?
A. I think probably the greatest challenge was the risk with this film is it could have been quite slight. It's a film about a man who makes a bad speech, and at the end, he makes quite a good speech, a brilliant speech. And I have thought a key thing was to get inside the mind of someone who stammers, because if you are a severe stammerer, even ordering lunch in at a restaurant can be hugely traumatic.
You may not order fish or you may not order beef, you may order fish because you're worried you're going to stammer on the B, and I felt if Colin could capture the intense drama and suspense of being a stammerer, and then add into it the constitutional implications with the stammerer who became King against his will, and then the story would open up. There's so many stories about conflict between people. This is really a story about a conflict within someone. It's hard to tell. There's so much more to acting, and I think Colin is being acknowledged tonight probably because he did it so brilliantly.
Q. Hello.
A. Hi, Mark. You don't have as many medals on your lapel.
Q. A great night in all the above line categories, obviously, and again, congratulations. Bit of a shout out in the below the line categories. Can you talk about some of the contributions your department heads in areas like cinematography and production design?
A. I'm pleased you asked that. I'm standing here on the shoulders of an extraordinary team and some of whom are long term collaborators, Danny Cohen, my director of photography, did JOHN ADAMS, did LONGFORD, and the way he photographed this movie I thought is integral to telling something that could have been a series of talking heads into something that was acknowledged as cinematic. Eve Stewart, I mean the wall in the consulting room which has now become famous. The very first day of preproduction, she said, I am going to take you to Logue's consulting room. I'm in London, and I recognize London inside out.
I had no idea this place existed, and she led me to this real house and showed me this room, and I knew we had the movie when I saw that room. So her contributions have been immense. Tariq Anwar, my brilliant editor, who cut AMERICAN BEAUTY, THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE, among many other great films. It was his idea to choose Beethoven's Seventh, all the classical musical choices are his, and I think this film is so much about the way it's edited, it's understated, but it's very clean and Jenny Beavan, costumes, and Frances Hannon on makeup, and you know, I think I was very blessed with an extraordinary team and I am very, very aware that this award is really an honor to them.
Q. Congratulations. A couple people have already asked you questions about your mom. But I am wondering when your mom first came to you with the idea for the movie, did you love it right away? Were you a little skeptical?
A. I am very embarrassed to admit that I did not read it. So, you know, I think I was directing JOHN ADAMS, so I was in LA, and I was legitimately busy, post producing nine hours of JOHN ADAMS. I was trying to get it out for March. And so, not only did she find it, she also reminded me every two weeks for about three or four months that I really should read it, and thank God, I did because when I read it I rang her up and said sorry it's taken me so long; yes, it is my next movie.
Q. Congratulations, sir. The King overcomes his greatest fear to seek speech therapy and ultimately give the speech. Since you've explored this subject, what advice do you have for service members who need to overcome their greatest fears on a daily basis in these wars?
A. It's a very good question. I think I think that the film is about the power of friendship. And I think the armed forces, more than many people, understand the importance of camaraderie, the importance of the friends you make on the frontline to get you through the fear, to get you through the anxiety. And I think what the film is saying is sometimes the way to conquer your fears is not by turning into yourself, it's about turning out to others, it's looking to those around you, finding that friendship in your team that allows you to share your burden. And I think the military have a great tradition of understanding that it is often through the group that you find power.
Q. Thank you so much and congratulations.
A. Thank you.
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