The Madness of King George (1994)

The Americas outed Hawthorne.

Sharp sharp, the king, the king!

R2 I am the king, you lift my leg

Jeremy Northam was in it? Which role?

R4 He was the Prime Minister.

No, R5. That was Julian Wadham as Pitt the Younger.

R6 Sorry! I get the two mixed up. To me, they are the English version of Dylan McDermott and Dermot Mulroney.

Goodness me

R8 saw a sheep with five legs.

C'mon, England, do it, do it!

Push off, ya fat turd.

I loved Helen Mirren in this--she deserved the Best Supporting Actress Oscar.

Fat lot you care

Mmmm, what-what, hey-hey.

I liked John Wood as Lord Chancellor Baron Edward Thurlow.

Rupert Graves....sigh....

R16 good or bad sign?

When will you get it into your head that one can produce a copious, regular and exquisitely turned evacuation every day of the week and still be a stranger to reason?

The play on which the movie is based is called The Madness of George III. I heard that the powers that be in Hollywood changed the title lest we dumb Americans think the movie was a sequel. Anyone know if that’s true?

Good, r17. He's dead sexy.

R19 I had heard the same thing, which made me wonder if it really was true or just a well-spread rumor, and it turns out... maybe?

R19 R21 Yeah, Americans are dumb.

R20 Yes, he really is! James Ivory and Ismail Merchant discovered him

Rupert Everett was still young and good looking...

Groom of the Stool was exactly as office sounded; a functionary at royal courts who waited upon their majesties while on the toilet, and or responsible for carrying away slop buckets.

The play was too chaotic. The movies was much better.

IIRC, even though he was already outed he was asked to bring a female date to the Oscars.

Title of film was changed for American and perhaps other audiences, but not for reasons given in this thread.

It was simply felt Americans and others wouldn't comprehend "George III" was a monarch, this coupled with desire to work "king" into title somehow.

This still applies today and causes all sort of endless but needless confusion. Elizabeth II is a monarch, there is no need to refer to HM as "Queen Elizabeth" or "Queen Elizabeth II", monarchs are simply known by their given (Christian in European cases), and numerical order .

One reason dowager Queen Elizabeth went with "Queen Mother" was that royal handlers and others felt the public both in UK and elsewhere would confuse HM with her mother since both shared same first name. Things became further complicated when widowed Queen Elizabeth flatly refused use of dowager, which she couldn't have done anyway because Queen Mary was still alive.

Queen Charlotte is black!

I love the music of Handel in this. Particularly Zadok the Priest.

R27, I remember reading that "The Madness of George III" misled survey-takers, who thought it was the third movie in a franchise about the madness of George, so the distributor changed the title slightly.

@R29

"One of the last official acts of the reign of George I of Great Britain was to both naturalize George Frideric Handel as a British citizen and to commission Handel to write the coronation anthem for King George's son and successor, George II.

As 1727 drew to a close, Britain had been enduring a generation's worth of political and religious turmoil. The union of Scotland and England was still tenuous at best, with many Scots and English Catholics (Jacobites by name) still supporting the line of the deposed King James II. When George I (of the House of Hanover) assumed the throne in 1714, he was hardly popular -- he spoke German and not English -- many Jacobites rose against him and joined James in rebellion. The rebellion was put down, but anti-Hanoverian sentiments still ran strong.

George I looked to the Old Testament for a parallel to his situation, and found one in 1 Kings. The Bible told how King David of Israel, while nearing death was facing his own succession crisis. After some deliberation, he chose his son Solomon as his heir, rather than Solomon's ambitious half-brother Adonijah. In a grand ceremony, David's most trusted advisors, Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet, annointed Solomon as king. George feared another Jacobite uprising (which nonetheless came in 1745), and wanted to use the spectacle of his son's coronation to establish George II as the legitimate ruler in the public's eye.

Thus Handel was called upon to write an appropriately-grandiose set of anthems for the ceremony, and he didn't disappoint. Four anthems were sung that day: The King Shall Rejoice, Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened, My Heart Is Inditing and Zadok the Priest, but it is the last that has endured.

Zadok the Priest was first sung during the annointing of George II during his coronation on 11 October 1727. It since has been sung at at every British coronation since 1727, the only anthem from Handel's four to endure the last three centuries. It is traditionally performed during the sovereign's anointing."

Zadok The Priest - Queen's Elizabeth II coronation 1953

To those who wonder about the close relationship between monarchy, church and nobility, clip of QEII's coronation has it all on display.

Napoleon Bonaparte found all this out rather well when he decided not just to make himself Emperor of France, but also wanted a coronation.

Looking at that clip of QE II's coronation puts one in mind how much Britain has changed in decades since.

The peerage is still largely white, but C of E is not, nor still exclusively male. Both Prince Charles and Prince William will likely have a far more multi-cultural coronation ceremony complete with "inclusion" and "equality" reflecting modern UK.

Writer of commentary quoted in YT link above (R31) has things incorrect.

An Act for naturalizing Louis Sechehaye, George Frideric Handel, Anthony Furstenau and Michael Schlegel among others made them British *subjects*

Now as to exactly who is a British subject versus citizen, that is complicated.

Michael Schlegel? Any rejection to Margaret, Helen and Tibby?

Did we not just have this thread?

Alan Bennett's plays are rather feeble.

His diaries are more interesting than his poorly-structured non-dramatic full-length plays.

The actor in the main role may have been satisfactory on stage but he can't carry an international best-selling movie.

[quote] Nigel Hawthorne gives one of the greatest film performances

Hyperbole like this, OP, undermines your credibility.

I prefer Richard the Third compared to George the Third.

[quote]Richard the Third

He had style, he had grace, he gave good face.

OP, you do write deathless prose.

[quote] Hawthorne humanizes King George to a level most actors could never do.

Are you suggesting that King George was divine?

English monarchs do claim to be a 'Defenders of the Faith' but I doubt they claim to be divine.

More deathless prose.

[quote] He should have one the Academy Award.

[quote] The Americas outed Hawthorne.

The Americas quit King George's Britain..

Nick Hytner fucked my ass.

But did he do it in a subtle, nuanced way, R46, with with a hint of whimsy?

R46 Was Kevin Spacey watching?

What are some of you talking about?

Hawthorne gives a great performance. He adds so much depth, humanity, and sadness to George III. Most people inaccurately say George III was a tyrannical man child. History proves that is not the case. It was mainly parliament that was ruthless to the Colonies.

Granted, Nigel Hawthorne is one of my favorite actors so I might be biased, but he gives a damn good performance and should have one the Academy Award. If the Americans did not out him, he would have won.

It was a SMALL performance. He was easily outshone by the fabulous costumes and the supporting cast.

Alan Bennett writes SMALL plays. They may contain a subtle witticism or two but they are SMALL.

R50 Goodness me

Goodness me, the Colonies.

"It was a SMALL performance."

Maybe George III was just a SMALL man after all, in the grip of forces beyond his control, including those inside his own body.

R52 They are now called the United States, sir.

[quote] They are now called the United States, sir.

Are they? Goodness me. "The United States." Well, I haven’t mentioned them. I prefer not to, whatever they’re called.

Another great quote:

George III: Baker, before you leave, I have a secret mission for you. I want you to hand over Gibraltar to Spain. Get Minorca in return. Can you do that?

Dr. Baker: I'm a physician, sir.

George III: Well, then you should have no difficulty.

Apparently Mirren almost quit this movie in a row with producers over nudity

I liked Geoffrey Palmer as the clueless doctor.