The King's Speech

Last week at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Colin Firth presented the Montecito Award to Geoffrey Rush, and then “The King’s Speech” director, Tom Hooper presented cast members Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter the newly created ‘Ensemble’ Award.

Here is the calm before the storm….  The limo or SUV drops off each person at the far end of the carpet and they take the long walk while stopping for pictures and interviews as they head into the Arlington Theatre:

Here are a few images of Geoffrey Rush arriving for the interviews and red carpet walk:

I didn’t know very much about Geoffrey Rush before the evening.  But after listening to his charming responses, charismatic personality and funny gracious demeanor, I’m a big fan!  Here’s a more unique red carpet shot through the viewfinder of a videographer, and an image of Helena Bonham Carter as she answered questions:

It was a busy night on the red carpet as Billy (William) Baldwin and Christopher Lloyd, two judges for the festival, also arrived and walked the carpet:The most fanfare was probably for Colin Firth.  His popularity sure has skyrocketed, but after listening to him answer questions and give his podium speech it’s easy to see why, he seems like a very classy and down to earth fellow!

Geoffrey Rush’s background (and current position) is acting in plays…so it was no surprise that he was very comfortable in front of the live audience during the award presentation!!

Rush flew in from Australia just for the event and flew right back!  There was just enough time for director, Tom Hooper to present the Ensemble award:

The King’s Speech received TWELVE Academy Award Nominations, including ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Actor’, ‘Best Supporting Actor’, ‘Best Supporting Actress’, and ‘Best Director’!!!  After seeing how close the cast and director are, and learning more about them I will be cheering loudly (from my couch)!!…  Maybe one day I’ll get to photograph the awards…I’ll throw that out there in writing because if you don’t have wishes, how can they come true!?

Thanks for checking out the blog post and good luck King’s Speech!