Tony Earnshaw: Superb Firth talking himself into pole position for an Oscar

He may have lost this year, but the odds on Colin Firth lifting the Oscar in 2011 are getting shorter by the day.

His moving performance as the stuttering young George VI in The King's Speech has been lauded and applauded by those who saw it at the Toronto International Film Festival, where the film carried off the top prize, the Cadillac People's Choice Award.

There is talk that Firth will be joined in the nominations by co-stars Helen Bonham Carter, playing Queen Elizabeth, and Geoffrey Rush, playing unorthodox Australian speech therapist Lionel Logue.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

I saw aspects of Firth's performance up close last December when I laboured for two freezing days as an extra, playing a 1920s' English bobby in a sequence shot at Leeds United's Elland Road ground.

Director Tom Hooper replayed the key scene – in which Firth, playing the young Prince Bertie before he became monarch, struggles to deliver his words at Wembley before a crowd of thousands – countless times.

And Firth was pitch-perfect on every take.

Now foreign audiences are starting to take notice.

It's accepted that Colin Firth is one of the finest actors of his generation but has never enjoyed the right role at the right time. Playing the nervous, stammering prince could well be his passport to glory and a degree of cinematic immortality.

Yorkshire played a significant part in the plausibility of the background to The King's Speech. As well as using Elland Road, scenes were shot at the Bradford Bulls' stadium, at Odsal. So those fortunate enough to join in Firth's travails will be able to witness God's Own County on the big screen come early January.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Yorkshire has been seen to good effect in some acclaimed motion pictures over the years. Half a century ago, clandestine lovers Simone Signoret and Laurence Harvey were at the thumping heart of Room at the Top, which was nominated for six Academy Awards and nabbed two.

The Railway Children hinted at a lost world of Edwardian innocence that can never be again. Wuthering Heights offered a slice of timeless Victorian gothic. And in Kes, a poor boy from a dysfunctional family sought freedom via a soaring, elegant kestrel.

Audiences love a good period drama, and The King's Speech is shaping up to join that canon of films that represent the rich tapestry of classic British cinema.

If Colin Firth lifts the shiny golden man next year, it will be as much a triumph for the land of the white rose as it will be for a fine actor at the zenith of his career.

And I will be among a select few who will be able to say, with no small degree of pride: "I was there to see it."