When asked whether he used a speech therapist while between not throwing away the humor without throwing
mor without throwing away
researching the role Firth replied: “Not really no, I consulted with
several people. I had a dialogue coach because in a way the
discovery of the stammer had to be quite personal and it had to be
quite specific to this individual. It had to come from some visceral
place but it also had to be very carefully monitored for the sake of
the drama because if it takes 20 minutes to get a word out it will
affect the pace of the film (laughs). So you have to find something,
which is not only authentic and expressive, but which is also very
specific to this person and what he’s going through. You also have
to find something that doesn’t alienate the audience, that doesn’t
slide into some sort of pastiche, that isn’t painful in a way that
people resist it. This is where I had to work very closely with Tom
(Director Tom Hooper). This was one of his early concerns with
how to pace it and how to score it if you like. How bad it has to be
here, in order for it to get to here? When are the relapses? How
much can we afford to dwell in painful silences? Having established
them can we perhaps afford to pick up the pace because of the
humor in the film? I know there’s a jokey reference that timing
wasn’t his strong suite, but you do have to tread a very careful line
38 A DISTINcTIve STYle . coM
the stammer. Tom was very closely involved in how that would be
laid out.”
“Having said that we did have a speech therapist come by during
rehearsal who gave us very good advice in the forms it can take.
My sister is a voice therapist so she was extremely helpful in terms
of the exercises that can be done. For example in the montage
sequence, most of those came from her consultations. But I think
the best consultant I had was David Seidler the screenwriter, he
was so compelling about the experience and what you do in life to
negotiate around the speech problems that you have. The fact that
it has a profound affect on your identity, because you don’t do
what you want to do, you do what you can do in a lot of cases,
maybe you can’t order Beef at a restaurant because you can’t get
the B out so you have to order the Fish. You make choices
according to these limitations. That insight and what my sister gave
me were definitely the most useful help I got.”
While preparing for this role, Firth couldn't employ his usual