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By JODY THOMPSON
Royal welcome: Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter and Colin Firth arrive for the London Film Festival premiere of The King's Speech at the Odeon Leicester Square with Helena radiant in Vivienne WestwoodIt's already being tipped for Oscars glory - so it was hardly surprising that a star-studded crowd was out in force tonight for the London premiere of new movie The King's Speech.
Starring Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Guy Pearce and Geoffrey Rush to name but a few, it tells the story of how King George VI ascended to the throne despite his terrible stutter after his brother Edward VIII abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson.
Often-eccentric Ms Bonham Carter - famed for her often offbeat approach to fashion - looked stunning in Vivienne Westwood tartan-bodiced dress with a black silk full skirt.
The royal three: Geoffrey, Helena and Colin crack up as they pose for the camera
Film buffs: Will Young, left, was at the premiere, as was Sir Ben Kingsley and his wife Daniela Lavender It's the second night in a row that Helena's worn Westwood - yesterday, she wore an Anglomania skirt-suit for a press conference launching the film at the London Film Festival.
Despite her unflattering lipstick yesterday that observers remarked made her teeth look a bit yellow, as her bag declared, tonight the actress was very much a 'glamour girl'.
Firth meanwhile plays the nervous royal - known as Bertie - who reluctantly took the role despite a severe speech impediment.
Hollywood stars: Claire Danes, wearing a retro print black and red dress, and fiance Hugh Dancy at the Leicester Square gala screening
Red carpet: Colin and his wife Livia and Helena's husband, director Tim Burton
Check her out: Ms Bonham Carter wearing Vivienne Westwood again yesterdayCoaxed along by his wife Queen Elizabeth - played by Bonham Carter - he is also trained to overcome his stammer by an Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue, played by Pirates Of The Caribbean star Rush.
He then becomes a voice of comfort to his subjects on the radio as Britain is plunged into the Second World War.
Directed by The Damned United's Tom Cooper, it also features Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill, and Jennifer Ehle - who Colin previously starred alongside in his famous TV adaptation of Pride And Prejudice - as Logue's wife Myrtle.
It also features Guy Pearce as Edward VIII, Michael Gambon as King George V, and Derek Jacobi as Dr Cosmo Lang.
Until earlier this week, the film was set to be saddled with a 15 certificate, a decision based on a scene where Bertie shouts out swear words to try and thwart his stutter.
However, Cooper and his cast led such a protest that the BBFC backed down and hours before the BFI London Film Festival screening, gave the film a 12A rating.
Firth is already named as a favourite to win Best Actor at next year's Oscars, just three years after Helen Mirren landed the Best Actress gong for her role as the late king's daughter in The Queen.
Intriguingly, the film's screenwriter David Seidler says he began working on the idea in the 1980s and wrote to the Queen Mother about it.
However, he claims that she wrote back asking him not to make the film in her lifetime, as the memories were still 'too painful'.
The film opens across the UK on 7 January.
source :dailymail
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