Geoffrey Rush in The Diary of a Madman.   (Photo: Heidrun Lohr)

I’m sure you’ve read the slams against The King’s Speech—that it soft-pedals the facts, including the royals’ links to Nazism.
Yeah, yeah. That’s unfortunately part of the more abrasive end of the mercantile spectrum, or the selling of films. I think it’s up to the audiences. I only pay attention to it for the fascination.

Fascination with what?
Well, I’d love to be Gogol writing about this: Why do people act in this way? Because sometimes it’s the mean-spiritedness that he encountered, or the ambition within the confines of his own bureaucratic office structure. Sometimes that’s just on a larger national scale.

Related:

• Archive: “Theater Features”
• Articles by Logan Hill
• Table of Contents: Feb 14, 2011 issue of New York | Subscribe!