Geoffrey Rush Talks King's Speech, the MPAA and Completing his EGOT

Has there been a funnier representation of the word "f*ck" ever filmed?

[Laughs] Ultimately it becomes a kind of improvised tongue twister. David Seidler, the author of the screenplay, that's very much echoing his own therapy that he experienced in the '40s as a child. David was born in 1937, and he used to listen to George VI on the radio delivering these very notable, inspirational wartime speeches. And his parents said to him, "There's hope for you, listen to this man." As the film sort of highlights, up against the frantic, almost messianic speeches of Hitler, this man became a major voice to galvanize the psyche of Britain. They were being severely bombed and blitzed and there was even talk at one point of even the King and Queen being shuffled off to Canada. They made a very definite, emblematic choice to stay with the people at home at Buckingham Palace.

The scene that I mentioned in the last question also stuck the film with an R rating. What's your opinion of the rating controversy?

Well, for what I know of whatever the censorship body is called -- the MPAA or something -- but they just have a fundamental rule that once you've said the "F word" more than three times or something it suddenly means that it automatically gets an R rating without any kind of specific analysis or how its language might be being used. Which, in the context of our film, is relatively benign because it's not in any way used in an abusive or sexual context. It's a tongue twister that's got some explosive dynamite. I did a junket in Britain for the London Film Festival and it had been rated 15, which I don't know what that is in the States...

There's also a PG-13.

They moved it down to 12, which meant anyone 12 and up accompanied by a guardian, or whatever the classification is. Because they kind of figured that they really needed to take a look at comparing various violence ratings on different films, what's deemed appropriate. And a lot of people felt, without it being a wordy history lesson, there's something in the context of this film and the nature of families structures -- whether they're royal or whether they're from Australia or wherever -- the role of the family plays a terribly important part that's passed from one generation to the next. Lionel kind of does it with a great sense of play and improvisation; doing a bit of Shakespeare with his kids.

Are you familiar with the American television show 30 Rock?

No. But I have heard of the EGOT, or something...

You are one Grammy win away from an EGOT.

Yes, I know. I thought they should have made the acronym GOTE. [Laughs] I don't know, it's one of those things. It was a great honor last year getting the Tony in New York. On lots of levels, we were one of the first Australian theater companies to take a show directly into the commercial arena on Broadway. That in itself is a triumph for us in terms of artistic expansion and development.

With the proliferation of superhero movies today, do you think Mystery Men came out about 10 years too soon?

Yes, you know, there was something curious about that film. I mean, for me, it was just the ideal project to come along at a point where I'd been in two Elizabethan films and I played Javert in Les Misérables -- and I really felt the itch to get out of tights. And there were a number of summer blockbusters just prior to that like, I think, Deep Impact or Armageddon. The whole idea of a kind of superhero story that was very, very domestic and very suburban really tickled me as an Australian. It felt very much like an Australian sense of comedy. And it had the most amazing cast; every name on that poster is like a curious combination of great comedic talent in a way. Ben Stiller, Paul Reubens and Tom Waits is in there... Bill Macy. Just a hybrid of stuff. Yeah, it kind of came and went but I know a lot of people who come up to me and say, "Hey, I'm Pencilhead." Or they open their coat and go, "I'm Ballerina Man." I thought it was great to see a very funny superhero story.

It does seem to have reached that cult favorite status. It may have been a little bit before its time.

Well, it's always there on DVD!

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