The award-winning film "The King's Speech" has its roots at Cornell, said David Seidler '59, who addressed an audience before and after a showing of the film April 12 in Willard Straight Theatre.

"Right here at Cornell was the beginning," said Seidler, who coped with stuttering as an adolescent. "When I was a student, I always thought vaguely about doing something about Bertie [King George VI], because he was a childhood hero."

"The King's Speech" dramatizes how speech therapist Lionel Logue helped the king overcome his stutter, with the threat of a world war looming around the corner.

Seidler, who won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the film, said his parents would encourage him to listen to speeches that King George VI gave, because the king gave "wonderful, moving speeches that were uniting the free world," despite his stutter.

"As I grew up a little bit, I vowed I would do something about Bertie, and it was at Cornell, probably during my sophomore or junior year, that I started reading about Bertie," said Seidler.

He noted that one scene, in particular, was personal. In the film, he said, King George VI noticeably uses the "naughty F word" as speech therapy to help him overcome his stutter.

"I was 16. I knew because I was told that if you don't get a handle on your stutter by late adolescence, your chances of succeeding go down precipitously. I was a little bit depressed by this realization. But I'm not a person who stays with depression very long," Seidler said. "I get defiant. And I found myself jumping up and down in my bed, basically shouting the F word. If I am stuck with stuttering, well F word all of you, you're stuck with listening to me, I have a right to be heard. When I made that psychological turn, within two weeks, my stutter melted away," he said.

When asked about whether he was surprised by all the critical acclaim the film has garnered, Seidler replied, "I had no idea that it would be received to the extent it's been. Considering that in its first inception, we saw it as a one million-pound, three-camera production, certainly when people accuse the film of being Oscar bait, I get into hysterical giggles. But to be honest, once I saw Colin and Geoffrey in front of the camera, I knew it was going to be pretty good," he said.

"The King's Speech" was nominated for 12 Academy Awards; in addition to winning for screenplay, the film won for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor.

Farhan Nuruzzaman '12 is a writer intern for the Cornell Chronicle.