Is it that hard to create a movie poster that makes it seen as if the lead actors actually posed together in the same realm? Whoever did this King’s Speech one-sheet for the Weinstein Co. didn’t try hard enough. Colin Firth and Helena Bonham Carter “agree” to some extent, but the incongruent pasting of Geoffrey Rush reminds me of the quality of international action-flick posters that I’ve seen at the American Film Market.

And why didn’t these three pose together in costume during filming? It used to be a relatively common practice.

Incidentally: Movieline’s Stu Van Airsdale dislikes this poster even more than myself.

I’m two days late and two dollars short, but the MPAA’s decision to give Tom Hooper‘s The King’s Speech an R rating is nothing short of surreal. It’s all about a single scene in which Colin Firth‘s King George VI, during one of his speech-therapy sessions with Geoffery Rush‘s Lionel Logue, experiences an emotional breakthrough of sorts as he lets go with a string of vulgarities in a Tourette’s Syndrome way.

This is another example of that old, much-ridiculed MPAA tendency to give films with blue language the same R rating that they routinely hand out to blood-caked torture porn. Late Monday night Hooper told L.A. Times columnist Patrick Goldstein that the decision means that “violence and torture are okay, but bad language isn’t. I can’t think of a single film I’ve ever seen where the swear words had haunted me forever, the way a scene of violence or torture has, yet the ratings board only worries about the bad language.”

This is the second ratings slapdown suffered by the Weinstein Co., which has justifiably railed against the MPAA’s having given Derek Cianfrance‘s Blue Valentine an NC-17 over a couple of no-big-deal sex scenes. The prime offender is reportedly a hotel-room sex scene between the married Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, although it isn’t the least bit titillating — it mainly conveys the resentment that has built up between them.

There’s really no logical reason to show respect for the MPAA. Their values are almost Tea Party loony. But there’s also no reason for the Academy to wave away Blue Valentine because of the NC-17. It deserves to be one of the ten Best Picture nominees, I feel, as a gesture of respect for its emotional honesty, high-quality acting and John Cassavetes stamp. You have to have at least one “little” movie in there to round out the pack.

No one of any taste cares very much about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 (Warner Bros., 11.19). The franchise peaked six years ago with Alfonso Cuaron‘s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Fandango is nonetheless reporting that nearly 500 showtimes have sold out in advance, and that the film is accounting for 61% of Fandango’s daily ticket sales. No one cares, it doesn’t matter, it’s just the fan base, etc.

Hollywood Elsewhere will attend and cover the 10th annual Marrakech Film Festival (12.3 to 12.11). Official participants include competition jury chief John Malkovich and short film jury president Sigourney Weaver. Attendees will include James Caan, Keanu Reeves, Harvey Keitel, Francis Coppola, Gabriel Byrne, Maggie Cheung, Gael Garcia Bernal, Benoit Jacquot, Eva Mendes and Emmanuelle Seigner.

Last night’s election results will ensure great Boehner arrogance and prolonged, head-splitting misery. As Huffpost analyst Sam Stein wrote early this morning, “If government seemed stalemated and futile before, the next two years will bring new meaning to deadlocked.” But the results weren’t entirely catastrophic. The corporate-fellating uglies now have the upper hand in the House of Representatives, but Democrats still have their U.S. Senate majority. And several righties were beaten.

In California Jerry Brown beat Meg Whitman, and Barbara Boxer whipped Carly Fiorina. Delaware Tea Party loon Christine O’Donnell was destroyed by Democrat Chris Coons. Sen. Harry Reid defeated Tea Party wacko Sharron Angle in Nevada. Denver’s Democratic mayor John Hickenlooper (i.e., the late George Hickenlooper‘s cousin) was elected Colorado governor. Ohio’s Nazi-reenacting Rich Iott went down to defeat.

“Exit polls found that nearly nine in ten voters believe the economy is in bad shape,” wrote Arianna Huffington. “The same percentage said they feel pessimistic about America’s economic future. And while a large majority of voters still believe that George Bush is to blame for getting us into this mess, they are clearly holding Barack Obama accountable for not fixing it. The Pottery Barn rule — ‘you break it, you own it’ — was given a twist tonight. Even if you weren’t the one who broke it, you own it. So it is with our broken economy. Bush broke it, but Obama, underestimating just how broken it is, owns it.”

“It was a historic session — one of the most productive since the New Deal — but in the end, it was brief,” Stein observed. “Four years after taking over Congress with the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives, Democrats lost control of the chamber in a devastating, wipeout election.”

And California’s Prop. 19, which sought the legalization of marijuana for all adults, was defeated by an approximate vote of 57% opposing to 42% favoring.

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews: “Let me ask you, Congresswoman…Congresswoman Bachmann, are you hypnotized tonight? Has someone hypnotized you? Because no matter what I ask you, you give me the same answer. Has someone put you under a trance tonight?”

Due Date director Todd Phillips made time earlier this afternoon for a chat at the Greenwich Hotel. He reads the column (which is flattering), but hadn’t caught up with the review that I posted yesterday afternoon (which is cool). And he was half-surprised that I respect and enjoy what the film is doing differently, and that I find it just plain funny besides. Apologies for the milky-white light in segment #1 — should have been more careful with camera placement.

Phillips leaves tonight for London and then catches another flight to Bangkok, which is where Hangover 2 (which is halfway through shooting) is partly or mostly set. The story takes place two years after the Las Vegas episode. Bangkok is as party town, so you know what’ll probably happen and where it’ll probably go.

We spoke a bit about the Mel Gibson/Hangover 2 issue in segment #2, and I repeated my oft-stated opinion that no matter how Gibson is handling his alcohol issues off-screen, he’s a natural at playing heebie-jeebie jabberwocky types. Phillips said he knows people who’ve seen The Beaver and they’re saying Gibson kicks it hard and that director Jodie Foster has done a really expert job.

I need to grim up, steel myself, be a man and see Tyler Perry‘s For Colored Girls. This is the job, the duty, the life I’ve chosen. So do it already and enuf with the attitude.

Congrats to Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech snagging eight nominations (best film director, screening and four acting noms) for the 13th annual Moet British Independent Film Awards, which were announced yesterday morning in London. Chris Morris‘s Four Lions, Gareth Edwards‘ Monsters and Mark Romanek‘s Never Let Me Go also received multiple noms — great. But how seriously can anyone take these awards if they’ve also nominated Matthew Vaughn‘s Kick-Ass for best film?

Later today in Los Angeles (i.e., at 4 pm) Newmarket is having the first “official” press screening of Peter Weir‘s highly-touted The Way Back. And yet it’s showing at “absolutely the worst screen in town, the tiny Fairbanks room at Raleigh Studios, which is infamous for lousy picture and sound,” a friend remarks. “This for an epic picture of vast scope and luscious sound.” Newmarket is obviously trying to keep costs down, but this sounds like a case of penny-wise, pound-foolish.

Manhattan’s IFC center is has booked a new 35mm print of Tokyo Story, Yasujiro Ozu‘s renowned masterpiece, for two weeks — Friday, 11.26 through Thursday, 12.9. And by the way, Paul Schrader‘s “Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Dreyer, Bresson” — the conveyance of “spiritual states with austere camerawork, acting devoid of self-consciousness, and editing that avoids editorial comment” — isn’t a bad way to kill time.