James Wilby and Juliet Aubry as Bertie/Duke Of York/George VI and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in Bertie And Elizabeth. (2003)
The Sunday Post: June 2, 2002:
James Wilby had the challenging task of playing Bertie, and enjoyed getting his teeth into the role.
"When we filmed the scene where the Royal Family wave to the crowds outside Buckingham Palace, we mirrored exactly what they did, but we only had 10 members of the film crew weakly shouting 'Hurrah,''' he laughs.
James tried to mimic the stammer that blighted the life of the man who found himself King after the abdication crisis.
"I went to see a speech therapist because I didn't want to overdo it - after all it isn't I Claudius."
Playing the role of a man who died early from lung cancer hasn't stopped James from smoking.
"It's complete foolishness on my part, I know. My father died of lung cancer, too, yet I still haven't stopped."
James' favourite role is as dad to his 13-year-old son Barney.
"He's very happy at the moment because I got us into the premiere of Star Wars. He probably thinks I can do anything now."
Doncaster Free Press - Thursday 30 May 2002:
James Wilby has played a lot of roles in his time- but the hardest challenge of all for the 37-year-old actor was to play the late King George VI, from his late teenage years until his untimely, from Cancer, in 1952.
"I really am a total duffer at history," admits James, who memorably starred in films like Maurice and Howard's End, and who recently gave a chilling performance in one of Lynda La Plante's crime thrillers in the Trial and Retribution series.
James is dressed casually in a light beige shirt and jeans, but for several months last year, when Bertie and Elizabeth was being filmed in the south-west of England, and chiefly around and in the Marquess of Bath's stately pile of Longleat House (it stood in for Buckingham Palace), he was constantly in well-cut lounge suits, formal dress uniforms of the RAF and the Royal Navy, and even in full Highland dress in a kilt.
James says: "The whole thing changed my own views on the Monarchy very profoundly. I didn't honestly really know what any of them actually did, for a start, apart from opening hospitals and such.
"So the research turned up an awful lot for me. The war years, in particular, when Churchill was Bertie's Prime Minister, were fascinating. The King was privy to every decision that Churchill and the cabinet took.
"The King was and is extremely underrated, both as a person and as a King. He had a firm, unshakeable sense of duty, and you have to admire that. It's clearly something that he passed on to his daughter, the present Queen. I still don't know quite where I stand on royalty, I admit that, but that doesn't stop one admiring the man and his achievements.
"My own duty, I thought, was to get it right."
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