True Stories 22: 10s—The King's Speech

As we move into the second decade of the 21^st century, we find a film that captivated pretty much everyone. It’s The King’s Speech by David Seidler.

David Seidler? Never heard of him? I hadn’t either until The King’s Speech. And I still remember him receiving his Oscar for the screenplay—the oldest person to win the best original screenplay Oscar… well, oldest so far. And the film won the big four—screenplay, director, actor & picture.

The background of how Seidler wrote the film is fascinating. He’d written mostly TV stuff and kid’s animated things. There was about a 20-year break in his career where he got nothing produced. So not exactly your normal rise to fame that culminates in writing a hit movie.

But this story was important to him. Like the King, he was a stutterer. He even remembers hearing the King speak on radio, hearing that stutter, and feeling that if the King could do that—speak on the radio with a stutter—maybe he could do something in the world too, despite his stutter. Seidler would overcome his stutter by about age 16, but the King’s story never left his thoughts.

When he became a writer, he decided he’d like to write a screenplay about the King’s struggles with his stutter and how it affected his life. But he wanted to get the permission of the Queen Mother, Queen Mary, before doing so. He sent a letter to Buckingham Palace and waited a very long time for a response. The Queen Mother asked him not to write this screenplay during her lifetime as this was a painful period of her life and brought back those memories… He was disappointed, but he understood and promised her he wouldn’t write the script during her lifetime. But since the Queen Mother lived until the ripe age of 102 he had to wait some time.

He began his writing after her death and in his research found the King’s tutor’s diaries of their sessions together. And not only did those diaries show the techniques he used to help the King with his stutter, they were also a fascinating record of the tutor’s time with the King—the stuff great drama is made of. Take a look at the trailer for that great drama:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcxBrTvLbBM

Seidler’s script is about as near perfection as you can get. And what an honorable writer. Can you imagine a writer of today writing to Buckingham Palace and asking for “permission” to write a script about anyone in the monarchy—living OR dead? Laughable, right?

But when you write stories about real people that’s a real question—what obligation do you have to those people to NOT make things up? Granted, if you’re writing ‘true stories’ you’re NOT writing a documentary—it’s a movie. No one knows what happened between, say, a King and a Queen in the privacy of their home—it’s the writer who has to imagine those conversations and try to bring them to life. But where do you draw the line?

Seidler did everything he could NOT to invent things unless they were plausible. Next week we’ll look at a film that invented all over the place—and it was released in the same year as The King’s Speech, 2010. And its writer won the Academy Award—in the category of best adapted screenplay. Staying true to history? This writer didn’t care… and yet has been rewarded all over the place.

Figured out who we're talking about? Stay tuned next week and find out!

Copyright © Diane Lake

06Nov22

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com