Queen Elizabeth II\u2019s dad, Albert\u2014the gentle, stammering Duke of York\u2014never was meant to be king. And from Hollywood\u2019s early honors this season, a drama based on his life never seemed destined as heir-apparent at the Academy Awards.<\/p>\n
Yet \u201cThe King\u2019s Speech\u201d took a step closer to the best-picture crown Tuesday, leading the Oscars with 12 nominations and gaining momentum against the Facebook chronicle \u201cThe Social Network,\u201d which had previously ruled the awards season.<\/p>\n
Hollywood\u2019s top prize on Feb 27 now seems like a two-picture duel between stories about a monarch who lives in terror of a 1930s tool of mass communication\u2014the radio microphone\u2014and a college kid who helped define the Internet era by inventing Facebook.<\/p>\n
Also nominated for best picture are the western \u201cTrue Grit,\u201d second with 10 total nominations; the psychosexual thriller \u201cBlack Swan\u201d; the boxing drama \u201cThe Fighter\u201d; the sci-fi blockbuster \u201cInception\u201d; the lesbian-family tale \u201cThe Kids Are All Right\u201d; the survival story \u201c127 Hours\u201d; the animated smash \u201cToy Story 3\u201d; and the Ozarks crime thriller \u201cWinter\u2019s Bone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe King\u2019s Speech\u201d is a pageant in the truest Oscar sense, with pomp, ceremony and history like past best-picture winners \u201cThe Last Emperor,\u201d \u201cLawrence of Arabia,\u201d \u201cA Man for All Seasons\u201d and \u201cShakespeare in Love.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also an intimate, personal tale of love and kinship as royal Albert (best-actor front-runner Colin Firth) is buoyed by the devotion of his wife (supporting-actress nominee Helena Bonham Carter) and makes an unlikely friend out of a commoner, his wily speech therapist (supporting-actor contender Geoffrey Rush).<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very, very human story. After all, how many of us are so blessed that we go through life without having to overcome some kind of personal obstacle?\u201d said \u201cThe King\u2019s Speech\u201d writer David Seidler, who grew up with a stammer himself and earned a nomination for original screenplay.<\/p>\n
Seidler said young people who were reluctant to see a historical film \u201cend up absolutely loving it and wanting to see it again, because they understand the emotions of being teased, being bullied, being marginalized, and they really understand the power of a supportive friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meantime, \u201cThe Social Network\u201d seems like a film completely in the here and now as Harvard computer genius Mark Zuckerberg (best-actor nominee Jesse Eisenberg) reinvents the art of keeping in touch with the viral growth of Facebook, whose half a billion users stay connected with friends online.<\/p>\n
But the motivations at the core of the film are ancient as Zuckerberg battles old friends and associates over the Web site\u2019s riches.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a timeless story, one with themes as old as storytelling itself: of friendship and loyalty, of betrayal, power, class, jealousy,\u201d said Aaron Sorkin, a nominee for adapted screenplay for \u201cThe Social Network.\u201d \u201cThese are things that Aeschylus would have written about or Shakespeare would have written about. And it\u2019s just lucky for me that neither of those guys were available, so I got to write about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with Firth, other acting favorites claimed Oscar slots, including Christian Bale as a former boxer whose career unravels amid drugs and crime in \u201cThe Fighter.\u201d<\/p>\n
The best-actress field shapes up as a two-woman race between Natalie Portman as a ballerina losing her grip on reality in \u201cBlack Swan\u201d and Annette Bening as a lesbian mom in \u201cThe Kids Are All Right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Firth, Bale, Portman and Bening all won Golden Globes for their performances.<\/p>\n
The supporting-actress Oscar could prove the most competitive among acting prizes. Melissa Leo won the Globe for \u201cThe Fighter\u201d as the domineering matriarch of a boxing family. But she faces strong challenges from that film\u2019s co-star Amy Adams as a boxer\u2019s tough girlfriend and 14-year-old newcomer Hailee Steinfeld as a girl who rides along with a U.S. marshal to track her father\u2019s killer in \u201cTrue Grit.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Social Network\u201d won best drama at the Globes and was named best film by key critics groups, positioning it as the early Oscar favorite. \u201cThe King\u2019s Speech\u201d pulled an upset last weekend by beating \u201cThe Social Network\u201d for top honors at the Producers Guild of America Awards, whose winner often goes on to claim the best-picture Oscar.<\/p>\n
Firth\u2019s Albert, known as Bertie to his family, inherited the British throne in 1936 after his older brother abdicated. The reluctant new monarch took the name of his father and reigned as King George VI, continuing his struggle to overcome his speech impediment at a crucial time, as his subjects looked to their ruler for inspiration amid the stirrings of World War II.<\/p>\n
The film offers up history as rip-roaring entertainment, with surprising laughs and an uplifting message.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly positive, and I think that is why people are responding,\u201d said Bonham Carter. \u201cIt\u2019s also just helpful to see how somebody can be fundamentally helped by another human being. He\u2019s pulled out of this deep, dark hole, and how we can all, if we surrender ourselves, can be helped by somebody else.<\/p>\n
The best-picture field is a mix of solid commercial successes such as \u201cThe King\u2019s Speech,\u201d \u201cThe Social Network\u201d and \u201cBlack Swan,\u201d huge blockbusters such as \u201cToy Story 3\u201d and \u201cInception,\u201d and modest earners such as \u201c127 Hours\u201d and \u201cWinter\u2019s Bone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The box-office results range from $400 million domestically for \u201cToy Story 3,\u201d which also is the favorite to win the animated-feature award, to just $6 million for \u201cWinter\u2019s Bone,\u201d a tiny-budgeted film that won the top prize at last year\u2019s Sundance Film Festival and now has earned four Oscar nominations, including acting honors for Jennifer Lawrence and John Hawkes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis feels crazy. I don\u2019t mean to sound like disavowing the film in any way, but it\u2019s like, are they sure?\u201d said \u201cWinter\u2019s Bone\u201d director and co-writer Debra Granik, who earned an adapted-screenplay nomination. \u201cThere are still statistically very rare instances of a very small film being able to have a life that could be communal, that could be part of a national discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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