This Can't Really Be the Actual King's Speech Poster, Right?

At some point yesterday you may have noticed The King's Speech was having one of those weeks: A bunch of award nominations on Monday followed by a bundle of anti-MPAA goodwill gift-wrapped and delivered on Tuesday. And then came... this, the first American poster for the Weinstein Company's Best Picture thoroughbred. Looks like someone needs needs more than just speech therapy.

I know Todd Phillips hates it when we do this, but! Let's break it down (the full image is below):

· Tagline

"When God couldn't save The King, The Queen turned to someone who could." No, no, no, no, no. First of all, "The King" and "The Queen" are not capitalized. Bad copy editing! Second of all, who are the king and queen? Are they on this poster? If so, who are they? How does anybody know? And what does the king need saving from? Also, let's not bring God into it; it's more alienating than it is ingratiating. If the goal is to broaden heartland appeal or something, downplay the monarchs and put the king in the military attire they used in the British poster. And maybe call it Transformers: The King's Speech. Or Jackass 4.

· Photos

Aside from the gruesome Photoshop mask of Colin Firth's face, what are Helena Bonham Carter and Geoffrey Rush even doing with their faces? What's with the hair tufting out over Carter's forehead, all thin and wispy like the crazy lady digging for exact change in front of you in the grocery store's quick-check aisle? Why does Rush look as though he was sculpted from a raw potato? These are three hideous, hideous visages lined up about as elegantly as eight-track tapes at a garage sale. And face it: Neither you nor I are in the market for eight-track tapes. (And don't even get me started on that backdrop; if they were going for "clogged toilet," they got it.) Why is no one speaking or preparing to speak? I'm so confused.

· Credits

You have one Oscar winner (Rush) paired here with two Oscar nominees. Director Tom Hooper, meanwhile, helmed the brilliant John Adams for HBO. So: Where is this talent legacy on the poster? Come on, son! If the Weinsteins are trying to sell prestige, I don't want to hear about it in horrible taglines and semi-recognizable British stars made up to look like Masterpiece Theater walk-ons. I want to see OSCAR OSCAR OSCAR. I want that golden kiss all over the place and the aura to immerse me. I want blurbs. I want demonstrable prowess, not, "Your in-flight crew today is Colin, Helena and Geoffrey. We'll be cruising at an altitude of BORING."

Anyway, this poster is terrible.

kingsspeechposter_large.jpg

· The King's Speech Poster: Exclusive Moviefone Premiere [Moviefone via Awards Daily]



Comments

  • James says:

    Um, how about good copy editing...?
    "The King" and "The Queen" are, indeed, capitalized.
    Check out every instance of the appearance of those titles on their official website:
    http://www.royal.gov.uk/

  • Ah, yes, their official Web site. That paragon of language and style.
    Here in the world of the living, it's capitalized ahead of names (or in a proper title like, say, The King's Speech) and lower-case when standing alone. This poster -- from an American distributor for an American audience -- is wrong.

  • casting couch says:

    The only really bad thing about this poster is the bad photoshopped faces. Nothing wrong with the tagline. 'Mericans aren't that unsophisticated, are they?

  • bitterghettogirl says:

    Ok, I agree about the faces but the tagline is fine. It's just a pun on the British national anthem 'God Save the King/Queen'. I don't think its's aimed at rubbing religion in our faces!

  • I get the pun. The point is that between God and royalty and the rest, this poster is enough to turn off 90 percent of potential viewers outside cities. And it's been celebrated as an audience favorite everywhere it's played, so I'd think something closer to the British poster -- tagline, "A Nation is Waiting," or something -- would make not just good sense, but obvious sense.

  • jen says:

    Nit-picky, (but so is the article) only two of them are British.
    Geoffrey Rush is Australian.

  • Katharina says:

    These actors are also not unknown at all. In actual fact, they're three of the best known actors in the world. The poster is shocking, but not because of them!