Unless you spent the past couple of days under a rock, you know the British indie The King’s Speech is the leading Oscar contender, having garnered the most nominations of this year’s heavy hitters. So it may surprise you to learn that the film’s executive producer/distributor Harvey Weinstein may be looking to recut his highly acclaimed drama to attract younger audiences.
According to the LA Times (via THR) Weinstein is looking to trim some of the biopic’s so-called obscene language so that the R-Rated drama can be resubmitted to the dreaded MPAA for a PG-13 or even PG rating. He’s been hashing out this proposed plan of action with the film’s now Oscar-nominated director, Tom Hooper.
“The British numbers are huge because the rating lets families see the movie together,” Weinstein told the Times. “Tom and I are trying to find a unique way to do this that keeps his vision of the movie.”
You may well remember the Weinsteins were initially displeased with the R rating, which was awarded because of a scene where the man who would be king (played by Oscar-nominee Colin Firth) tries to tackle his stutter by cursing up a storm. So yep, lots of f-bombs in that sequence, but not in the sexual context that is said to make the word so damning to the MPAA’s murky standards.
Yet when you pair the Oscar attention the flick is getting with Weinstein’s quote it seems that this is hands down a money call. The film, which has a budget of $12.3 million, has already made more than $100 mil worldwide, but with Oscar and a more family friendly rating the sky is the limit.
The question is will tampering with The King’s Speech rattle voting Academy members? The new “clean” version would not hit theaters until after the Oscar’s broadcast on February 27, but Weinstein’s bravado has long been rumored to bristle the Academy’s stodgier members. So while they seem to love the biopic now, who is to say the idea of a more commercial recut won’t affect their vote?
Before its possible re-release, the film, which is opening wider in the coming weeks, will be striving to draw in audiences generally turned off by period pieces by playing up the Oscar nods, its themes of friendship, and its highly acclaimed cast, who will be kept on the publicity circuit to “so that [The King’s Speech] remains on the minds of the public.”
“The message more was about the critics, but now we’re trying to get across that this classic movie is just as cool as the other movies people are seeing,” explains Weinstein.
One such tweak in the advertising: the film’s tagline has been, “It takes leadership to confront a nation’s fear. It takes friendship to conquer your own.” But soon, “Some things never go out of style: Friendship; Courage; Loyalty,” will be plastered across the feature’s new promotional posters in hopes of garnering a more “mainstream” audience.
The film’s director “could not be reached for comment.”
What do you think about this proposed revision? Will this make you more interested in seeing The King’s Speech if you haven’t yet?