The King's Speech Page #3

VALENTINE:

Stand and deliver!

LIONEL:

(falling into the game)

`ow dares molest...Jack The Ripper?!

The boys scream with delight and a sword fight ensues - Lionel

using his brolly.

LIONEL (CONT'D)

Beware, Highwaymen, or I'll run yee

through.

PETER:

We're Swagmen, not Highwaymen, Dad.

TKS/Seidler/09/17/08 10.

LIONEL:

Oh.

(then)

Beware, jolly Swagmen, I'll skewer yer

gizzards.

Lionel wife - MYRTLE - appears at the head of the stairs; a

sweet-faced, down-to-earth woman.

MYRTLE:

You'll all hang from the gallows if you

don't come for tea.

LIONEL:

Boys, I think we'd best go up.

13 INT. LOGUE'S DINING ROOM - EVENING 13

Logue, Myrtle, and the boys are finishing at the table.

LIONEL:

Had a visit from a lady today.

MYRTLE:

Another spoiled silly?

VALENTINE:

May we be excused?

LIONEL:

You must stay, bored stupid, listening to

your parents' inane conversation.

THE BOYS:

(grinning)

Thanks, dad!

LIONEL:

And mum.

THE BOYS:

And mum!

They start to leave.

MYRTLE:

Take your plates.

The boys grabs their plates and exit. After a moment...

MYRTLE (CONT'D)

No wonder about the silly. You're so good

at what you do.

TKS/Seidler/09/17/08 11.

LIONEL:

At what I do.

(then, deliberately being

`theatrical')

Twas a Lady with a capital L.

MYRTLE:

Oh, Lionel, that'd get us home in grand

style wouldn't it?!

LIONEL:

She came on behalf of her husband. Which is

not the proper way. I told her I was fully

booked.

Myrtle is clearly disappointed

LIONEL (CONT'D)

She was...too high and mighty. Know what I

mean.

She does. There's an unspoken code between them.

MYRTLE:

We wouldn't want that.

Covers her letdown.

MYRTLE (CONT'D)

Hard to feel sorry for that sort.

Silence, then:

LIONEL:

Had a call. Wish me luck?

MYRTLE:

Course, Lionel. Loads and loads.

14 INT. CHILDREN'S NURSERY, 145 PICCADILLY - NIGHT 14

Elizabeth, fashionably attired for an evening-out, is curled on

a bearskin rug reading "Peter Pan" to the girls.

ELIZABETH:

"Mr. and Mrs. Darling and Nana rushed into

the nursery too late. The birds were

flown."

Bertie enters, handsome in a tuxedo. Elizabeth closes the book.

ELIZABETH (CONT'D)

Tomorrow, Chapter IV, `The Flight'.

TKS/Seidler/09/17/08 12.

The two little girls clap with joy.

MARGARET ROSE:

Oh, to fly away!

BERTIE:

Weren't they lucky.

Within his family, Bertie's stutter is virtually absent.

LILIBET:

One would have to learn to fly properly of

course.

MARGARET ROSE:

Now a Daddy story!

BERTIE:

Can I be a penguin instead?

He drops to his knees and waddles. In his tux he looks like a

penguin. The girls giggle, but are undeterred.

LILIBET:

The horsie story, please.

BERTIE:

Ah well.

Called upon to perform, the stutter returns slightly. But the

two girls listen raptly, ignoring their father's minor

impediment, and it fades.

BERTIE (CONT'D)

Once upon a time there were two horsies. A

white horse that went clip clop clip clop

through Hyde Park. And a black horse that

went clip clop clip clop through Hyde Park.

They met in the middle of Hyde Park. The

white horse said "neigh". The black horse

said, "neigh". The white horse continued

on, clip clop clip clop through Hyde Park.

The black horse continued on, clip clop

clip clop through Hyde Park. And that's the

end of the story. Now off to bed.

As the girls exit:

LILIBET:

A silly story really. But Father tells it

rather well.

The girls have gone.

TKS/Seidler/09/17/08 13.

BERTIE:

David called. He said come round to The

Fort on Friday and stay for dinner.

ELIZABETH:

Will she be there?

BERTIE:

I suppose.

ELIZABETH:

Seriously?

BERTIE:

Seriously, she'll be there.

ELIZABETH:

I think I meant... is David serious?

BERTIE:

About our coming?

ELIZABETH:

About her!

BERTIE:

A married American? Twice divorced? He

can't be.

ELIZABETH:

She can.

15 INT. STAGE OF A LONDON THEATRE - NEW DAY 15

Movements behind a curtain.

MUFFLED VOICE (UNSEEN)

Now?

From the auditorium:

DIRECTOR:

Now!

Someone pushes through a gap. Its Lionel.

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