Harvey Weinstein got his way. Last month we reported that good old Harvey wanted to somehow re-edit The King’s Speech so he could reach a wider audience and get out to families. Or as we like to call it: make more money. Apparently there isn’t much gone from the film and they haven’t cut anything out. According to Deadline, they muted 3 of the 5 prominent ‘fucks’ from the film.
Because only two prominent uses of ‘fuck’ won’t disturb younger children at all, right? The word is used around 17 times in the film sometimes in rapid succession and becomes obscured as Firth says it, still makes no sense. Certainly the tirade of swearing, which Lionel Logue (as played by Geoffrey Rush) uses to help Colin Firth’s Bertie overcome a part of his stammer, is one of the funniest parts of the film, if not the finest.
Also this should come very soon rather than the 90 day breaking in period which is usually required. Apparently this was also an Oscar decision to get a PG-13, an attempt to get more of a profile boost before the votes are cast. It comes too late to affect that now, but it’s pretty much a lock for the top prize anyway, and no amount of fucks was going to keep Colin Firth away from the Best Actor award. Plus it’s made over 15 times of its budget worldwide. It’s a pointless decision.
