Entertainment
David Seidler, 'The King's Speech' screenwriter, dies at 86
David Seidler, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of the acclaimed 2010 drama “The King’s Speech,” has died. He was 86.
Seidler’s manager, Jeff Aghassi, told The Times that Seidler died Saturday while fly-fishing in New Zealand. No specific cause of death was given, but Aghassi said, “David was in the place he loved most in the world — New Zealand — doing what gave him the greatest peace, which was fly-fishing. If given the chance, it is exactly as he would have scripted it.”
“The King’s Speech” writer David Seidler, left, and director Tom Hooper onstage at the 83rd Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles in 2011.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)
“The King’s Speech” swept the top categories at the Oscars in 2011, winning Seidler the award for original screenplay; the film also was named best picture, and Tom Hooper won in the directing category and Colin Firth won lead actor.
“The King’s Speech” is based on the true story of Britain’s King George VI (portrayed by Firth), who struggled with a severe lifelong stutter and was helped by Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush) ahead of his first national radio address after the start of World War II.
“Before the invention of radio, it was enough that they were these supreme, remote figures, who you saw at a distance over the heads of thousands of people, and they had great plumes on their heads so you knew which one was the king,” Seidler told The Times in 2010. “As a common man, you never heard the king speak. And then suddenly, you not only heard him speak, but you could hear him in your living room, in the privacy of your home where you could comment rudely about him. Big difference.”
Seidler himself overcame a childhood stutter, an experience he drew on in crafting an empathetic portrayal of George VI as he’s faced with a monumental task of public speaking at a perilous moment for his country.
“You know, I couldn’t have written this story when I was 33,” he told The Times in 2011. “Life provides all sorts of terrible obstacles and only later do you realize that they are really all for the good. I was crushed when [George VI’s widow, Queen Elizabeth] the Queen Mother told me not to write this in her lifetime. But I wasn’t ready. To tell the story correctly, I had to plunge myself back into the experience of being a stutterer. That meant going back to the pain and isolation I knew as a child. And I know inside that I just couldn’t have done that as a younger man. I wasn’t ready until now.”
Seidler, who was born in 1937 in Britain, moved to the U.S. in the early days of World War II. He attended Cornell University, where he was friends with writer Thomas Pynchon. His early gigs in entertainment included writing Japanese monster-movie translation dubs, and he broke into TV with the 1960s series “Adventures of the Seaspray.”
Before “The King’s Speech,” Seidler had an up-and-down career of features, including 1988’s “Tucker: The Man and His Dream,” about automobile designer Preston Tucker, directed by his former high school classmate Francis Ford Coppola.
The two had a bitter falling-out after the film, though, and Seidler returned to his career in television, which included the 1999 children’s animated feature “Madeline: Lost in Paris.” Before that, he’d written biopic-style TV movies such as 1985’s “Malice in Wonderland,” which starred Elizabeth Taylor as Louella Parsons, and 1988’s “Onassis: the Richest Man in the World.”
He survived a cancer scare in the early 2000s that pushed him to finally tackle his life’s dream of writing the script that became “The King’s Speech.”
“I was feeling powerfully sorry for myself, but then I rallied and threw myself into my work,” he told The Times. “I said to myself, ‘David, if you’re not going to write Bertie’s story now, when exactly are you doing to do it?’ “
More recently, a stage version of “The King’s Speech” was a success on London’s West End and was planned for a Broadway debut before the 2020 pandemic. According to Aghassi, Seidler “had multiple projects in active development, including documentary, limited series and feature films.”
Seidler is survived by two adult children, Maya and Marc.
By and large, the zombie subgenre has bitten off more than it can chew in modern times. Between George Romero survival films and camp comedies, the well has become pretty infected. But once in a while, along comes a movie like This Is Not A Test.
Let’s sink our teeth into this new release and see how it stacks up against the classics.
The tone and tenor of this film represent the classic survival movies like Night Of The Living Dead. But the thing that grabs the audience about This Is Not A Test is the trauma of the characters. Holt shines as a withdrawn survivor of an abusive home, trying to cut through the wreckage to reunite with her sister. Each of the main characters have standout traits, and they bathe in strongly acted moments as the stress of the situation changes who they are.
The gore in This Is Not A Test is pretty strong. The attacks spring quickly and when they do, the special effects team does a good job showcasing the battle scars. The camera work is also frenetic in a good way, because the chaos of the chase scenes puts the viewers in a first-person perspective. This film lets you feel like a part of the survivors, so their journeys are interactive.
Longtime fans may say that there’s nothing new in This Is Not A Test, and maybe they’re right. There’s no fresh take on the monsters here, no crazy origin, nothing that we haven’t seen in the past fifty-eight years. But the pacing nails a great balance between getting to know the characters and getting the zombie splatter fest. The mental meltdowns of the characters feel well earned, and the arc of Sloane and her sister brings a lot of heart and investment to the story. Even the most jaded zombie horror fans will find something to appreciate here, even as a background movie.
Adam MacDonald has made another intense hit here, and This Is Not A Test is currently available to stream on Shudder.
Entertainment
‘You’re scaring my people.’ Shia LaBeouf’s alleged stalker arrested after posting viral video
Shia LaBeouf’s alleged stalker has been arrested after posting a video of the actor asking to be left alone.
According to Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office booking records, Alyssa Lee Couture, 40, was arrested Monday night and booked on a misdemeanor charge of stalking. Hours earlier, Couture had posted a video of a confrontation with LaBeouf in what appeared to be a grocery store parking lot. The “Honey Boy” actor is shown speaking to Couture through the window of a car.
“Leave me alone. God bless you. Leave me alone,” LaBeouf says calmly in the video. “You’re scaring my dad. You’re scaring my people. Leave me alone.”
Couture has posted more than 5,000 videos on her Instagram, most of which feature the woman addressing the embattled actor, whom she appears to believe is her husband. In a GoFundMe launched in May, Couture wrote that she was hoping to raise $70,000 to find permanent housing and that she had been living in her car and staying with family members. She also wrote that she had schizophrenia, among other disabilities.
Although the New Orleans Police Department does not identify Couture’s stalking victim as LaBeouf due to privacy policies, the timeline of her booking appears to line up with the confrontation with LaBeouf.
According to People, LaBeouf left Los Angeles after his split from actor Mia Goth last year and relocated to Louisiana to be closer to family.
In June, he pleaded guilty to three counts of simple battery, months after he went viral for his involvement in a Mardi Gras altercation in New Orleans. The actor, 39, was arrested in New Orleans on Feb. 17. At the time, New Orleans police confirmed LaBeouf was charged with two counts of simple battery for allegedly assaulting two men near a bar in the French Quarter. TMZ published bystander video of the incident and footage of LaBeouf walking through the French Quarter hours before the brawl.
The actor was released from jail shortly after his arrest and posted $100,000 in bond. More than a week after LaBeouf’s initial arrest, the New Orleans Police Department issued a second warrant for the actor’s arrest in connection with the same incident, and he racked up an additional simple battery charge. Prior to the second arrest, a New Orleans judge ordered LaBeouf to begin substance abuse treatment and undergo weekly drug testing.
Times staff reporter Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.
- THE ODYSSEY
- Starring: Matt Damon, Tom Holland and Anne Hathaway
- Directed by: Christopher Nolan
- Rated: R
- Running time: 2 hrs 45 mins
- Universal
Our score: 4.5 out of 5
EPIC. If I was asked to describe Christopher Nolan’s latest film, that is the word I would use. He has mounted a film that rivals the greatest achievements of filmmakers like Cecil B. DeMille or David Lean. And, like the films of those mentioned, it’s runs a tad too long.
I was shocked, but pleased, to see that my 12-year-old granddaughter recently did a school paper on King Agamemnon. Thank goodness they’re still teaching History in our schools. Based on Homer’s “The Odyssey,” the film tells the story of King Odysseus (Damon) and his adventures which, if you’ve read “The Odyssey,” include the Trojan Horse, the Cyclops and assorted angry Greek gods. The film covers each of these adventures in great detail, sparing nothing in the production design department. While Odysseus is away – and he’s gone for a l-o-n-g time, his wife Penelope (Hathaway) has to endure a never ending string of “suitors,” men lining up in the hopes of replacing the King should he not return. The men are nothing more then scavengers, taking advantage of the law of Zeus, which decrees no one should be turned away. This angers the Queen’s son, Telemachus (Holland), who must control his temper when the men try to bait him into a fight, the idea being if Telemachus is killed, the new husband would become the King. It’s all very interesting and complicated. And long.
Director Nolan is one of the rare filmmakers who, in my opinion, has never made a bad film. From “Memento” to the “Dark Knight” trilogy to the Oscar-winning “Oppenheimer,” he has proven himself a true master of cinema. “The Odyssey” only adds to that distinguished resume’
The cast is a tribute to Nolan himself who, like Woody Allen, can pretty much get anyone he wants for his films because, as an actor, why wouldn’t you want a credit in one of his films. Besides the three stars named above, the cast includes Robert Pattinson, John Leguizamo, Zendaya, James Remar, Jon Bernthal, Oscar nominees Samantha Morton and Elliot Page as well as Oscar winners Charlize Theron and Lupita Nyongo. As MGM used to advertise, “more stars than there are in heaven.”
The script and story are pretty faithful to the source material, though for some reason it bothered me whenever Telemacus referred to Odysseus as “dad.” Never father. The weird things you notice. Visual.y the film is stunning and the Trojan Horse and battle of Troy are worth the price of admission alone. I will add that I did see the film in 70 mm and, if that format is playing in your town, I urge you to see it in that format.
On a scale of zero to five, “The Odyssey” receives ★★★★ ½
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