Weinstein May Censor “Speech”
Harvey Scissorhands — that’s Harvey Weinstein to most of the world — may be at it again. He may re-edit “The King’s Speech” to excise coarse language and secure a lower rating that will open it to a broader audience. This is the stupidest bit of censorship since Gwyneth Paltrow dumbed down Cee-Lo’s hit single to “Forgive You” on “Glee.” In the case of “King’s,” Harvey’s snipping would mean that the best motherfucking scene in the movie — where the speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush: beyond brilliant) encourages the King (Colin Firth) to curse in order to overcome his stuttering — would be gone. This would presumably encourage parents to take their children to the movie, whose R rating would presumably become PG-13 with the alteration. News flash for Harvey: plenty of parents, urged by their family and friends who have seen the movie, are already taking their children to see “King’s,” because they know that the cursing is minimal and it’s a hell of a lot less shocking to a 10-year-old than it probably is to her or his grandparents.
