{"id":66668,"date":"2012-12-05T16:28:44","date_gmt":"2012-12-05T21:28:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=66668"},"modified":"2012-12-06T06:59:49","modified_gmt":"2012-12-06T11:59:49","slug":"richard-armitage-talks-to-theonering-net","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2012\/12\/05\/66668-richard-armitage-talks-to-theonering-net\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Armitage talks to TheOneRing.net"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The fortunate greendragon with Richard Armitage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Monday 3rd December, TORn staffer greendragon (\u2018tis I!) was lucky enough to have a sit down with The Hobbit\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0Thorin Oakenshield, actor Richard Armitage.\u00a0 A fascinating, erudite and humble man, he spilled the beans on his thoughts on bringing Thorin to life, shed some light on Peter Jackson as a true actors\u2019 director and not just a technical wizard, and even dropped some hints about dwarf women and what lies in store for Thorin!<\/p>\n

Let me start by answering the question which I know will be on the minds of many readers…\u00a0 Yes, he really is that handsome.\u00a0 Yes, he really is that charming; he has the ability to make you feel, as he talks to you, that you are the only person who matters.\u00a0 This skill in focusing and being \u2018in the moment\u2019 is an important part of the intensity he brings to his acting; and it gives him that reputation for making interviewers go weak at the knees.\u00a0 (I\u2019m pleased to report that my knees were reliable throughout the interview!)\u00a0 And yes, he really was wearing black, leather trousers – Guy of Gisborne lives on!<\/p>\n

UPDATE: Courtesy of our friends at TolkienBrasil<\/a>, we can now offer Portuguese readers a translation of the interview<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what he had to say (contains only very minor spoilers):<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

We began our discussion talking about successful auditioning, and dealing with nerves.<\/strong><\/p>\n

RA: It\u2019s bloody hard…\u00a0 Shall I tell you how I, when I finally started getting jobs…\u00a0 the one way I got through it was, I had to imagine that they\u2019d said to me, \u2018This person\u2019s dropped out, we want you, you\u2019re filming tomorrow – we just need to hear you do it now, but you\u2019re going to be filming tomorrow.\u2019\u00a0 So it\u2019s like, oh well they already want me, but I need to decide what I\u2019m doing tomorrow, coz I\u2019m going to be on camera tomorrow.\u00a0 So that\u2019s how I get through an audition…<\/p>\n

GD: Congratulations on the movie; it\u2019s so exciting that it\u2019s finally coming out!<\/strong><\/p>\n

RA: Thank you.\u00a0 You guys [the fans at TheOneRing.net] are so supportive.<\/p>\n

GD: The tone for this movie is perhaps a little lighter than the Lord of the Rings<\/em> movies; just as The Hobbit<\/em> is more of a children\u2019s book…<\/strong><\/p>\n

RA: It\u2019s interesting, it\u2019s a tough call, because the minute they get out the door at Bag End they face danger after danger after danger.\u00a0 It gets really dark.\u00a0 So I\u2019m really glad that Pete took the time at Bag End just to enjoy the dwarves when they were able to be fun and relaxed.\u00a0 Because that\u2019s the one thing I was really trying to fight for with Thorin, trying to find – was just a glimmer of humour, a chance for him to smile, coz it\u2019s just not there.\u00a0 Otherwise he\u2019s just this cantankerous old git.<\/p>\n

GD: But the sadness and vulnerability which you bring to the role prevent him seeming too cantankerous!<\/strong><\/p>\n

RA: That\u2019s interesting … coz the sadness is really at his own failing.\u00a0 I think there\u2019s a certain amount of recognition of what he\u2019s good at and what he\u2019s not good at, and the fear that he\u2019s going to go down the same road as his father who\u2019s lost, they don\u2019t know where he is.\u00a0 And it\u2019s that fear that he\u2019s going to go down the same road.\u00a0 The anger comes from Azog\u00a0and the grandfather being beheaded, and then of course the unfathomable fear of what\u2019s in that mountain… and leading his few friends, his own nephews, towards that fear – it\u2019s just such a terrible thing to do.\u00a0 Because, you know, Balin\u00a0and Dwalin and himself are the only people who really know what\u2019s in that mountain, yet he\u2019s got these kind of shiny faced dwarves all sitting around the table thinking about this gold, and in the back of his mind he\u2019s thinking, \u2018You have no idea what you\u2019ll be facing – we\u2019ve seen it – but you\u2019re still going to come with me…\u2019\u00a0 That\u2019s a really tough thing to ask – to know that you\u2019re leading them into horror.<\/p>\n

GD: Characteristics of your Thorin remind me of Shakespearean monarchs; did you look to Shakespeare or other theatre and literature for inspiration?<\/strong><\/p>\n

RA: You know, I looked mainly through Tolkien – I looked at all of his work, looked to mainly the dwarves, coz he writes about dwarves in general …\u00a0 In terms of preparation, it kind of happened by accident coz I was doing vocal work, coz I wanted him to sound a certain way. I wanted to pitch my voice lower, I wanted him to be able to speak quietly but resonantly … and I ended up using Henry V, Richard III and Macbeth as soliloquies that I could use to get some vocal production going.\u00a0 But I found in all three of those characters [aspects of Thorin] … the whole idea of the rallying cry of a leader on the battlefield is very much Henry V; the self hating deformity of Richard III was sort of relevant; and also the Macbeth figure when it comes to the gold lust – this man who believes he is doing the right thing and gets corrupted by something which ultimately destroys him …\u00a0 I just felt that those three figures were all going to be pretty useful for me to have in my head.<\/p>\n

Philippa really writes \u2026 the writing really evolved around both of our work – so she did take that character into a kind of Shakespearean tone.\u00a0 I mean, Tolkien is kind of a bit cheeky with Thorin …\u00a0 you know, when Thorin speaks at Bag End Tolkien kind of has a go at him and says, \u2018That was his way\u2019 – that Thorin could be kind of \u2026 overly verbose as a speaker!\u00a0 He\u2019s almost like, \u2018Get on with it!\u2019\u00a0 \u2026 So I wanted to be amused by that, but at the same time, Philippa and Fran really wrote a tone for Thorin which I just enjoyed – they gave me some great lines to say, great phrase structures.\u00a0 So you\u2019re right – the Shakespearean stuff was really useful.<\/p>\n

GD: With all that you bring to Thorin, people – especially those who don\u2019t know what\u2019s coming – will be devastated in Film 3!<\/strong><\/p>\n

RA: If they haven\u2019t read the book… I know.\u00a0 [with gleeful excitement]<\/em> Oh it\u2019s so good.\u00a0 I can\u2019t even begin to tell you – it\u2019s so good …\u00a0 The way that\u2019s structured – I know we\u2019re not supposed to talk about it, but it\u2019s \u2026 at every level it surpassed my expectation.\u00a0 You know, you think to yourself, \u2018It could be like this,\u2019 – and Pete makes it better.\u00a0 And you\u2019re surprised and excited by where he\u2019s taken you.\u00a0 And that moment at the end of [the first film] – that scene was originally somewhere else, and because they were crafting a new ending, he shifted it to that place, and I was slightly annoyed that we\u2019d already shot the scene and he wanted to shoot it again. But at the end of that day, everyone was in floods of tears.\u00a0 It was our last day of filming, and we all had a little whisper with each other that we were going to … that when I hugged Martin, that everyone was going to join in the hug – so that was the last shot.\u00a0\u00a0 Everyone was just so emotional – and Pete gets it, Pete understands that\u00a0 \u2026 He gets you to that place where you\u2019re just on the edge of emotion; you\u2019re not indulging it but you\u2019re \u2026 when they see the mountain in the distance, I could barely speak – I was so moved that they\u2019d got so far, yet the mountain was so far away.<\/p>\n

GD: That must make your job easier, to work with a director who helps you to find that emotional resonance.<\/strong><\/p>\n

RA: Without asking you, without telling you what\u2019s he\u2019s doing – so you find yourself there because he\u2019s drawn you there, but he doesn\u2019t tell you where he\u2019s taking you.\u00a0 Amazing – that\u2019s a true genius.<\/p>\n

GD: So what\u2019s next – apart from growing that beard back for pick ups?<\/strong><\/p>\n

RA: God I can\u2019t wait!\u00a0 I miss that beard!\u00a0 It was really weird.\u00a0 I hated it when I had it, and then when I shaved it off, I was like, \u2018Where\u2019s my chin?!\u2019<\/p>\n

GD: Do you think this film could bring beards back into fashion? <\/strong><\/p>\n

RA: It could – I actually think beards for women – coz when you see those dwarf women \u2026.I actually I think beards for women could be a thing.\u00a0 I think some serious footwear – this winter or next winter maybe, you know those big heavy dwarf boots with big, steel toe caps – that could really rock \u2026<\/p>\n

GD: Dwarf fashion for women?\u00a0 Pink beards?<\/strong><\/p>\n

RA:\u00a0 Big pink beard… Fake fur stole… So apart from fashion designing, what\u2019s next for me?!\u00a0 [much laughter]<\/em><\/p>\n

I just don\u2019t know; I really don\u2019t know.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been reading all sorts of really interesting things, but I sort of wanted to let people see the film, and \u2026 because I guess I am pretty new on the block, and people don\u2019t really know my work \u2026 and I just want them to know my work.<\/p>\n

GD: A whole new world of superstardom awaits you!<\/strong><\/p>\n

RA: Well I don\u2019t know about that…\u00a0 but I\u2019m not very good at telling people that I\u2019m a decent actor … I don\u2019t even know if I am … but I want people to react to it. I\u2019m not good at promoting myself through speech – I\u2019m better at showing them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And show them he certainly does, as the world will see when The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey<\/em>\u00a0opens next week.\u00a0 Armitage, Martin Freeman and Ian McKellen make an extraordinary triumvirate which gives the film its emotional core; whatever he may say, this interviewer for one is certain that superstardom is just around the corner for Richard Armitage!<\/p>\n

Later that afternoon, he sat down with a group of folks at a \u2018round table\u2019 interview; of course I couldn\u2019t resist sticking around to hear more of what he had to say.\u00a0 (Plus I had to be sure that my knees had recovered before I ventured out into the street…!)\u00a0 Stay tuned for a second post, with more of this thoughtful gentleman\u2019s insightful remarks!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Monday 3rd December, TORn staffer greendragon (\u2018tis I!) was lucky enough to have a sit down with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":66675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[22,1300,4,496,1292,148],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-hobbit-cast-news","category-hobbit-movie","category-production","category-richard-armitage","category-hobbit"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t