The King (2007 film)
| The King | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Directed by | Matthew Saville |
| Produced by | Jason Stephens |
| Written by | Jaime Browne Kris Mrksa |
| Starring |
Stephen Curry Stephen Hall Shaun Micallef |
| Music by | Bryony Marks |
| Cinematography | Leilani Hannah |
|
Release date
|
20 May 2007 |
|
Running time
|
100 minutes |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Budget | A$2.1 million |
The King: The Story of Graham Kennedy is an Australian television film examining the life of Australian entertainer Graham Kennedy.
Produced in Australia by the Sydney based independent production company Crackerjack Productions for TV1 and the Nine Network, The King was first shown on 20 May 2007 on TV1 for Foxtel and Austar and became the highest rating drama ever screened on subscription television in Australia, drawing 511,000 viewers. It later aired on the Nine Network on 27 August 2007.
The film faced criticism from some of those close to Kennedy who felt it did not portray him accurately, feeling that he was portrayed too broadly in a dark manner in the film, as well as what one commentator noted was a "mad rush to out him, sexually".
The screenplay was written by Jaime Browne and Kris Mrksa; the director was Matthew Saville and the producer was Jason Stephens. Filming began on 6 December 2006 with a A$2.1 million budget and a 20-day shooting schedule. The ABC's Ripponlea studios were utilised to film the scenes for sequences involving Kennedy's roles on In Melbourne Tonight and Blankety Blanks.
Stephen Curry (who plays the role of Graham Kennedy) lost 14 kilograms to portray the young Kennedy, and then regained the weight in two weeks over Christmas 2006 to play the older Kennedy.
A Herald Sun article published on 28 November 2006 headed "Pals protect mate" reported that Kennedy's friends Bert Newton, Noeline Brown and her husband TV writer Tony Sattler were "refusing to help producers of a telemovie about his life."
...
Wikipedia