I think directors can become overly infatuated by gilt and gold, and the word "lavish" and everything being magnificent.

The more uncompromisingly specific you are the more you end up touching the bigger universal truths.

Great acting is all about being in the moment, being in the present tense.

I think directors can become overly infatuated by gilt and gold, and the word "lavish" and everything being magnificent.

Well, I'm half Australian, half English and I live in London. That is the only reason I came upon this story. My Australian mother, Meredith Hooper, was invited in late 2007 by some Australian friends to make up a token Australian audience in a tiny fringe theater play reading of an unproduced, unrehearsed play called 'The King's Speech.

I think people enjoy finding out something genuinely new.

In "The King's Speech," patriotism is utterly contained within a historical moment, the third of September, 1939, where the aggressor is clear, the fight is clear, it hasn't become complicated over time.