Geoffrey Rush almost turned down a role in acclaimed new movie The King's Speech because he thought the film would be a major failure.
The picture, starring Colin Firth as stuttering British monarch King George VI, has opened to rave reviews and a series of high profile honours, and it is expected to sweep the upcoming Golden Globe Awards at the weekend (16Jan11).
Rush has won a number of nominations for his role as the King's speech therapist in the film, but admits he never believed the project would be so successful.
He says, "The curious thing is that people start to say 'Oh this is obviously an Oscar-bait thing, you do this because you've got (a character with) a disability, you've got a prestige English name, you've got a Royal King...'
“(But) when we sat and read the initial script which actually came onto my front doorstep in Melbourne... the first thing I read was ‘Well no one will want to go and see this,’ let alone ‘Oh this is an Oscar-worthy film.’"
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