![\"RichardArmitageDigitalSpyInterview01\"](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/RichardArmitageDigitalSpyInterview01-300x264.jpg\")
Richard Armitage is really doing the rounds pressing the flesh lately and chatting with journos. Here’s another interview, this time with Joe.ie.<\/p>\n Richard Armitage is really doing the rounds pressing the flesh lately and chatting with journos. Here’s another interview, this time with Joe.ie.<\/p>\n
A couple of interesting quotes:<\/p>\n
If you look at the detail on the Lake-town set (in The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug) some of the glasses have specific carvings into the glass and the cutlery \u2013- it\u2019s astonishing and the camera sees it all.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\n…even the title, the Battle Of The Five Armies, suggests something that is going to be pretty epic. When I saw the model of the battle ground, which was in a little secret room that you could sneak into and take a look at, something made me realise that Tolkien\u2019s description of that battle is quite limited to where Peter has expanded it to.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n
\nJOE:<\/b> Morning Richard, how are you today?<\/p>\n
RA:<\/b>I\u2019m good thanks, very good.<\/p>\n
JOE:<\/b> How\u2019s the head anyway? You were at the Empire Awards last night, yeah?<\/p>\n
RA:<\/b>I was but I didn\u2019t hammer it too badly on the Jamesons, but it was good. We won Best Sci-Fi Fantasy and Aidan (Aidan Turner, Armitage\u2019s co-star in The Hobbit films and Dublin native) walked away with Best Male Newcomer so yeah, it was a good night.<\/p>\n
JOE:<\/b> Yeah, it was brilliant news for the film and for Aidan as well. You obviously spotted his incredible talent up close when you were working on The Hobbit films with him\u2026<\/p>\n
RA:<\/b> Yeah, he was such a great guy to work with. He was playing my nephew which was a little bit disconcerting considering that we\u2019re not that far away in age, but he\u2019s a great guy and he\u2019s made something really exciting with that character. We\u2019ve got some nice moments coming up in the third movie together.<\/p>\n
JOE:<\/b> How did you actually first get involved with The Hobbit? I imagine that getting a phone call to say that Peter Jackson wants to work with you has got to be pretty special?<\/p>\n
RA:<\/b> It is, and the fact that you even get to go into the room and audition for it is something that you think \u201cGod, I never would have thought that would happen\u201d and then, when they turn around and say they\u2019d like to cast you, it\u2019s all a bit of a blur.
\nYou move on and you have to take stock and think that actually really happened to me, and then on another level I was quite surprised that they wanted me to come and play a dwarf. I never thought that I would play a dwarf. I\u2019m usually too tall for everything but yeah it was great and it was a bit of a no-brainer really.<\/p>\nJOE:<\/b> And how is it working with a filmmaker and visionary like Peter Jackson?<\/p>\n
RA:<\/b> It\u2019s pretty amazing. He leads from the top and he works in such detail, I know that he expects nothing less from the people that work around him. He hires people that are uncompromising and he asks the things that nobody thinks are possible and they all go away and they make it happen.<\/p>\n
When you see that happening with his crew, his designers, the innovators and his digital technicians, it makes me work in a more detailed way and that was the most exciting part of it, down to every single buckle and button on the shoes and coats. I think he realised that, because he was going to be shooting on 48-frames per second, that so much detail was required in the final image, but also in the layers of the character; the writing is incredibly detailed and specific and it\u2019s exciting to work like that.<\/p>\n
JOE:<\/b> Speaking of the buckles and buttons, here at JOE we\u2019re huge fans of The Lord Of The Rings books and film adaptations and it\u2019s clear to see the detail that goes into the design of the costumes and weapons. Do you actually get to keep any of the really cool souvenirs from the set for yourselves though?<\/p>\n
RA:<\/b> At the end of the shoot they gave me my sword, which is now one of my prized treasures. Again it\u2019s the detail of the sword and the workmanship and craftsmanship that goes into it. It\u2019s not a fake sword, it\u2019s a real crafted sword that is useable, not that I would\u2026<\/p>\n