I keep hearing how Richard Armitage went to Los Angeles to pitch an idea for Richard III. That was certainly floated as a possibility when he was on the plane to LA and missed the BBC Leicester Radio interview. But now it seems to have become fact. When did that happen? I’m honestly asking that. Is there some intel that someone has that verifies this indeed happened?
If not, it’s still just a bunch of speculation, and frankly, Richard Armitage and “his people” would be utter fools to talk about him doing this. So again, I’m wondering what’s up?
Yeah, Rich, you’re not stupid, so I don’t think you let this out of the bag if indeed there was a bag. Love the smile:
I can’t help myself. This is such a fantastic photo. You all may get sick of it before I’m done. :D
edit:
It’s one thing for Philippa Langley to talk about Richard Armitage doing this, but it’s another to call that a fact. I do give her big time kudos for chuzpah, and I mean that in the very best way possible. Actually, I have a complimentary post on her which I wrote right after I watched the special and will post at some point soon, but it’s not for this blog. It’s a better fit elsewhere. At least how it’s written at the moment. Just know this: I like her!
But back to the subject at hand. Until Richard Armitage or someone who officially represents Richard Armitage or who is confirmed as working with him states that he went to LA to make a pitch, I can’t refer to that as a fact. Did it probably happen? Oh, I can certainly see that it may well have happened. No problem seeing that. It’s how I’m referring to it that’s a sticking point.
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RAFrenzy 
Langley stated that in her interview whatever Sunday afternoon that was (“he’s in Hollywood right now, pitching it”). Other than that, I’ve just been joking about it, if you’re referring to things I’ve written.
And that’s not been verified, so to me, it’s still a rumor.
My system is acting goofy. I wasn’t done. LOL!
No, I wasn’t referring to anything you’ve posted. I realized that was a joke. But some people are treating this as if it’s fact. I base that on not only comments i’ve read but email and messages I’ve received as well.
You asked what the basis for the remark was.
I asked if there was some intel that verified that it had happened, and so far there’s none. Doesn’t mean there won’t be, but to date, nothing yet.
I obviously misunderstood. Please delete all my comments in this strand.
To date I have never deleted a comment unless it was a duplicate, and I hope you don’t mind that I’m not going to start now. You’ve done absolutely nothing wrong. I thank you for helping me understand. And I think it’s fine to talk about this as a strong possibility. I just don’t want to refer to it as fact until it’s verified and was honestly wondering if I had missed the verification.
To all:
I’ve edited the post to reflect my feelings about Ms Langley so that there is absolutely no way it can be misconstrued.
My system has also been having problems this week. My comment isn’t here. It must be my mail system! I don’t think you missed anything, frenz. Only, I interpreted the Leicester broadcast as a coherent statement on two issues: the endorsement of Leicester for re-interment (how surprising :) ) and the anomaly between his statement and that of Ms Langley re: the active or not, role of Mr. A in promoting an RIII production. At the moment, it comes across as “he said” “she said”. But who knows how these things are media-mangled. (Don’t get me on the subject of twitter for verifiable information…)
I think when people are passionate, things can be said that I would not consider a misrepresentation but merely an expression of their wishful thinking. I don’t know that’s what happened with Ms. Langley, but I don’t rule it out. And obviously, Richard Armitage is saying nothing. That is smart. He needs to keep his cards close to his vest. I would say this about anyone trying to make a deal. It’s common sense: don’t SHOW your cards. If he did go to LA for that reason, and he’s as smart as I think he is, he was probably pissed that she said that. I don’t know he was pissed about it, but that would be a reasonable conclusion.
Just pointing out that statements about how Armitage feels about anything he hasn’t said explicitly is *also* pure speculation.
Totally agree with you, Servetus. And most of the time you and I and other bloggers know we’re speculating and having fun with that. In fact, I wrote a post where I mentioned my fondness for speculation. :D
Tu quoque is not really an argument; it’s ad hominem. But I don’t get why one would criticize other people for speculating when one was doing so oneself.
Considering this is mostly a tongue-in-cheek blog where I’ve stated repeatedly I’m not serious, don’t know Richard Armitage, and speculation is pastime, I’m wondering how you can say that. Or maybe I’ve sounded too convincing in my conclusions. LOL!
But let me get this straight. Because Ms.. Langley said he was in LA pitching for RIII, that’s a fact? :D
It may or may not be fact; we do not know; to state something as a fact that is not known to be a fact but also not known to be false is an equal speculation / representation to any other. Anyone who’s been in this fandom for ten minutes knows the way that people read / misread, represent / misrepresent.
I asked you politely before to delete my comments because I realized that I had misunderstood the question and the discursive situation, and hence I wanted out of this conversation. I’m unsubscribing from the comment strand now because I don’t wish to be alerted as to further updates to this conversation, which I am starting to find disturbing.
Yeah, you’re right, Servetus. If we don’t know it’s a fact, then it’s still speculation. That’s exactly my point LOL!
Somehow I’ve offended Servetus, which was not my intent, but she is reading in that I’m criticizing speculation. I honestly don’t know how she’s getting that from what I’ve said and especially when I’ve said on this blog more than once that speculation is fun.This blog wouldn’t exist without it! :D So I’ll chalk this up to a misunderstanding.
IMHO I’m not impressed with Ms Langley’s professionalism in stating these sorts of things in public, it’s just not done until everything is signed and sealed and either indicates lack of judgement or just plain naivety. To me that is the most disappointing aspect of these interviews, that she should state these things, and it is a reason why I am very doubtful this project will materialise. I also think RA was deliberately and rightly distancing himself from her in his remarks on the radio on Sunday/today.
Didn’t he go to LA to do some work on Black Sky? I thought he said that, or someone tweeted it or something. Maybe Ms Langley misunderstood, or just said what she hoped to be true.
PL said so and if it wasn’t true she would have lied, simple as that. I’m not saying we can categorically say she won’t do that, but to me it was more then a rumour based on him flying to LA. I also think, if this is his project and he is producing or co-producing it, he is not in the position to be approached by anyone else. That is how I always understood this project, that he is not just waiting to be cast by someone else.
Jane,
If this turns out not to be true, I don’t automatically assume this is a character issue for Philippa Langley, i.e., that she lied. People can say something they think may be true, and it turns out after the fact that it didn’t happen the way they thought. I can see that as a possibility, and of course her statement could be a completely accurate. I just didn’t want to refer to it as a fact if we don’t know for sure, and my post was to find out if I had indeed missed a verification of such.
As for RA being a producer, I don’t know that either and don’t assume that he is, but given the conviction of speech I’m hearing from others, I think there may be some information that some bloggers and readers have that I know nothing about, which is totally fine. But I did ask the question to see if someone could tell me. If they can’t, that’s fine too. It’s not that big a deal. I just wanted to know if I missed something. And so far, it seems I didn’t.
Kap, I’m not disappointed in her behavior because I’m not seeing her as a business professional. She is an individual who accomplished a major feat (more on that later), and I think she’s excited about what’s going on, and rightly so, and may have been speaking out of that emotion.
Obviously I have no evidence whatsoever and I don’t know how much influence RA would be allowed in the end, but he said several times that he wishes to produce respectively co-produce the project and I have every reason to believe that his and Ms Langley’s project are one and the same and have been since the beginning about seven or eight years ago.
There’s nothing wrong with you drawing those conclusions and it creating your convictions about the situation. I have not drawn as many conclusions about it. Jury is still out for me, so I simply don’t have the same convictions as you. Shouldn’t be any big deal that we don’t see it exactly the same way. It’s certainly not to me, and it would be dull if we all saw everything the same way.
IIRC his co-stars and the producer tweeted about working with him in LA on additional BS scenes. Do we treat that as a fact if it is not confirmed by him or his agent? To me it is the same situation.
Maybe I’m missing something? There seem to be a lot of feathers getting ruffled on this thread. Was it getting up at the crack of dawn to hear a not-so-new interview that has some people a bit thin skinned today?
Frenz, if I may, please let me share a bit of Hollywood insider info that will help back you up, and clarify how things work out here.
But first, Richard was officially in LA earlier this year to do Black Sky pick ups. We have confirmation of this from tweets from 2 actors, (and maybe Todd Garner if I’m remembering correctly – but I’m presently doped up on pain killers so I may be wrong about that), and from Richard himself on the Lorraine show interview last week.
As for pitching RIII, I suspect he was talking it up while he was here, but if he does not have the rights to the material, then he cannot “formally” pitch the project. A Hollywood producer/financer would only want to take meetings with the person who has the ability to negotiate the contracts (or their agents/managers), and if he couldn’t do that, I don’t see why they would want to listen to his “pitch”.
If he doesn’t have the rights, he could still show the script to his friends and acquaintances in the buisness (producers, agents, managers), with Phillipa’s permission. And I have no doubt he may have done this while he was here. But that is not the same as “pitching” with the intent to get financing and producers (which was what Phillipa suggested he was doing). Without the rights, he is not officially tied in anyway to the project. He can neither guarantee his ability to be cast in the movie, nor would he be a producer on the project. However, without those guarantees, it’s a waste of an actor’s time to do it.
How might he get the rights you ask? That can actually be pretty easy. He options them. An option is a rent to own contract agreement on a script (or book or blog or whatever written material you want to turn into a movie). The option is usually set up for one year (often with the ability to roll over into additional years for the same or increasing amounts of money). It can be had for as little as One Dollar/Pound (at least in the US). An option allows the option holder (an actor, producer, management company) to shop the script around for buyers (production companies, studios, financers, distributors – traditionally in that order). If the script is bought, the writer still gets to negotiate their own fee and terms, but the option holder also gets to negotiate a seperate producer’s fee and terms and it ties them to the project until the end (even if the writer gets replaced for rewrites). And in an actor’s case, being a producer on the project does enhance your chances of getting cast in the leading role. So I think you can see why it would be beneficial for Richard to have that option.
So to me the million dollar questions are as follows: Does Richard have the option on Phillipa’s script? (And, is Phillipa’s script The Sunne in Splendor adaptation that Richard was talking about in years past, where his comments also made me think he had the option for a script based on The Sunne?)
This latest interview makes it sound like he’s not officially involved (doesn’t own the option). And if that is the case, WHY THE HELL NOT RICH?!?! haha And if he does have the option, he’s being a little less than honest and keeping his cards very close to his chest (as he should, because frankly, in Hollywood it’s bad luck to talk about a project/sale before the contract is signed).
So, though I have no dispresepct for PL, I think it is fair to say she made a newbie writer mistake and jumped the gun when she told everyone that Richard was attached to the project (he just denied having been approached), that he was “pitching” the project (if he was officially or unofficially it wasn’t her place really to say so), or that they had found a distributor (that comment is highly questionable as it puts the cart before the horse – e.g. a production company to make the film, because you can’t distribute a movie until it is bought and made by a prod. co.).
I will say this, even if she was talking out of turn, PL wasn’t stupid to strike up interest while the iron was hot, and I suspect and hope she caught the interest of a few producers with her interviews. I also want to say I have nothing but respect for her in terms of the actual finding of RIII. She heard God’s whisper to take on an impossible task, and she didn’t run from it as others would have. So three cheers for her.
Sorry Frenz, this got a bit long. I blame the percocet. tee hee xoxo
PS I don’t know if the script is good or not, but if anyone in Hollywood who is thinking about buying this projects, and is reading this blog, is looking for a writer to do rewrites…*raises hand in annoying Hermione Granger-like way* :-D
I have no problem with someone not agreeing with me on a viewpoint and have said innumerable times on my blog that I welcome discussion and rarely take things personally. I’m simply not bugged by this, but I am surprised that this post and my following comments have been offensive to some. I’ll reiterate something else I’ve said on blog more than once as well. Some of us are not going to agree, and when that happens, I try never to make that a character issue, but I get the feeling that others do make it a character issue too quickly. It’s hard to have a discussion when that goes on.
Jane, Obviously, I think there’s distinction. :D
NorthernGal, I really don’t think most are that upset, but I am mystified that anyone got upset. Oh well.
Mrs. ED, thanks for the input. It will be interesting to see what happens. As for Philippa Langley, I’m fascinated with her situation for reasons that have nothing to do with Richard Armitage, and I need to figure out where to post my observations.
I don’t think PL is a cautious, wait for confirmation kind of person! For example, in the RIII documentary, she wanted to parade the body out of the carpark draped in a royal standard, and the archaeologists weren’t at all happy about it because they wanted a much higher standard of proof that it was him. Also she may not understand Hollywood terms in the technical way so well described by Mrs. E. Darcy above. If Richard had said something like “I’ll talk to some people” or “I’ll show the script to some producers” she may have interpreted that as “pitching”, and misrepresented the situation without intending to tell a lie.
Also, things have changed a lot for Richard since this project first came up. He had to pull out of stuff when The Hobbit came up and being the sort of person he is I don’t expect he felt good about that. There must be many new possibilities opening up for him and he is now probably reluctant to talk about anything till the ink is dry on the contract. He may have seen it as an opportunity to move his career in the direction of producing, but does he still want that now that his acting career has had such a big boost? We don’t know, and maybe he doesn’t either until he sees what sort of roles now come up for him. He is keeping his options open, which is probably the right move.
I don’t know PL or RA, so this is speculation, but I could see how this situation could have arisen when everyone involved has nothing but good intentions.
Philippa has emotion, passion and drive, and having seen her success on the archaeological project I really wouldn’t bet against her getting this film made, whether or not RA can now be involved. I wish her good luck, and I for one would love to see it with or without RA, because I’ve become interested in the RIII story.
Lostinagoodbook, My first impression of Philippa Langley was that she was self-serving, but I changed my mind after the special, and now I think your description is very apt about her being impetuous in her statements. To me this is simply a sign she’s not an old hand at dealing with the press as Richard Armitage has become. But I imagine after her treatment lately, she’s learned a lot. I hope so for her sake because it would be a shame if her accomplishment were marred by the press.
I have no idea what’s going on with all of this but my gut tells me that something is in the works that may just surprise us all. I have nothing to base this on. Nothing. There’s a sense of a build up with a huge lid on it and patience is required. Of which I have none. Tapping foot…and fingers.
I like and appreciate Philipa Langley ,too…as to Richard.. yes, he is an old hand with dealing with the press…and it is very good,for sure…but not very attractive for me;)..in fact this is strangely repellent (repulsive?)
Joanna, I’m sorry I never responded to this, but I have been thinking about it, and ended up writing such a long comment that it should be a post. LOL!