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Oscars: ‘King’s Speech’ writer moved to tears

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There was no stammering backstage from David Seidler.

“I’m still a stutterer,” he said. “I just know all the tricks. … I don’t have to think about it anymore.”

Seidler took home the Oscar for original screenplay Sunday night for “The King’s Speech.” The golden statue is a welcomed accolade, sure, but Seidler beams more when discussing the film’s impact on the stuttering community.

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“It really moves me to tears,” he said. “A speech therapist wrote to me that one of her clients [a teenage girl] was being terribly bullied for being a stutterer. This girl was determined not to take it. … What made the difference? [she said] ‘I have a voice.’ ”

But what does Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of the royal family think of the film’s portrayal of her father, King George VI?

“We have certainly heard — and it has not been denied — that her majesty has seen the film. We were told that she was moved and amused. I am deeply moved by that. I am very gratified that, if it’s true, she really understood that this was written and made with a great deal of respect and love for her father … and I’m glad she didn’t send me to the Tower of London for putting the F-word in her father’s mouth.”

Here, here!

-- Yvonne Villarreal

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