The Madness of King George
Short description
In 1788, King George III of Britain begins behaving erratically, alarming both his household and his government. The king's doctors resort to the harsh treatments of the era, while Queen Charlotte and Prime Minister William Pitt try to keep his condition hidden from Parliament. The Prince of Wales sees his father's decline as an opportunity to seize power, setting up a struggle between the king's supporters and those who would replace him.
Nicholas Hytner directed the film, his first feature, from a screenplay by Alan Bennett adapting his own stage play. Nigel Hawthorne plays the king, with Helen Mirren as Queen Charlotte, Ian Holm as the doctor Willis, and Rupert Graves among the supporting cast. The production was made in the United Kingdom and the United States, with a credited cast of 51 and crew of 79, and it runs 107 minutes.
On IMDb the film holds a critics' rating of 7.8/10 from 47 reviews, while on TMDB it has a rating of 6.8/10 from 276 votes. Its worldwide box office came to 15 million USD. The film blends comedy, drama and history, and it remains the earliest entry in Hytner's directing career, followed by The Crucible, The Object of My Affection, Center Stage, The Lady in the Van, The Choral and Giant.
What's left behind the scenes
- Many historians believe that George III's mental state was a consequence of porphyria, a hereditary disease that causes urine to turn bluish. Recent research, particularly of his correspondence, has revealed episodes of obsession, and the medications for obsession at that time could also have caused the bluish discoloration of urine, which some mistook as a sign of a psychiatric illness.
- The filmmakers knew from the very beginning that Nigel Hawthorne (1929-2001) should play the role of George III. Alan Bennett, the author of the play adapted for the screen by Nicholas Hytner, agreed to the adaptation only on the condition that Hawthorne would play the monarch.
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