Charting the similarities between 'Hyde Park on Hudson' and 'The King's Speech

Even the indie world can have copycats. The critical and, more importantly, box-office success of The King's Speech in 2010 has spawned at least one imitator: Hyde Park on Hudson. Keeping with the light, uplifting tone of The King's Speech, the project stars Bill Murray as FDR. The historical movie focuses on one weekend, during which the King of England made his first visit to America and stopped by FDR's country home, Hyde Park on Hudson.

The picture won't come out until December 7, but the trailer for the Focus release debuted yesterday. I took a look at the trailer and documented some of the similarities between the two films.

They both have King George. Americans will certainly love that in this picture, the King takes a back seat to FDR.

An outsider.  THe King's Speech had Geoffrey Rush as a speech teacher who treated the royals more casually than one might expect. Hyde Park has Laura Linney as FDR's distant cousin (and lover), who appears to do the opposite, giving a sense of reverence to the proceedings.

Gentle humor. Gentle romance. FDR tells the press not to take pictures of him and the King in their bathing suits. People think FDR and his cousin are having an affair and get caught spying out a window.

Candid moments with royals. "Can I call you Elizabeth?" A character says to the Queen, in what appears to be an uncomfortable breech of protocol.

War in the background. Same World War II, and right at the beginning of it too.

Rulers with disabilities. King George had a stutter. FDR can't walk.

Oscar bait.  The King's Speech won the four biggies: picture, director, actor, and screenplay. Bill Murray definitely wants a Best Actor statuette.

 

For all their similarities, and even because of them, I have Hyde Park on Hudson on my to-see list. Biopics are often sweeping, long, and drab, but The King's Speech showed that focusing on light-hearted historical snippets can create humanizing portraits of staid historical figures. The tourism industry in the Hudson Valley is already preparing for an upswing in visitors interested in checking out the area. I'll raise their bet.