I’m talking to all of you budding geeks who have been recently schooled by bccmee. :D Here’s your chance to make some awesome screencaps and gifs. The short videos in HD from the Project Magazine shoot, which was previously available only on iPad, are up. Three so far.
One:
Two:
Three:
:D
Look forward to seeing what some of you have, and a hearty thanks to bccmee. She’s a great teacher.
Yeah, I think it is ’cause things are so hot:
If things get any hotter, we may not survive this drought. :D
A new interview with Richard Armitage is in Project Magazine (issue #8), but you can only get it on iPad. He talks about playing a Nazi. Makes me want to check out the biography he mentions and a whole lot more. :D Thankfully, for those us who haven’t bought an iPad yet, RichardArmitageNet.Com has just uploaded, and you can find it here.
A few of my favorite photos from the interview:
Last image courtesy of Iz4blue.
Spoilers for Robin Hood Series 3
I didn’t think it was possible, but there are people who read my blog who have seen little or no ‘Robin Hood’ hence the spoiler tag. If you do not know the full story of Guy of Gisborne, please don’t read this piece. Just watch the show.
Last chance to bail. :D
Two years ago today I was waiting anxiously for the resolution of Guy. I had been waiting well over a year to find out his ultimate fate after his killing Marian, and it was so much more than wanting to know the resolution of that situation. It had transcended the absurdity that was the show and had moved from Gisborne’s love and desperation for Marian to become about finding resolution for a damaged man and specifically about finding redemption of his life. Even writing this now, it sounds a bit melodramatic, and well, it was melodramatic, but oh, the way the media treated the show made it abundantly clear Guy’s story was THE story albeit the producers could not acknowledge that overtly. It was still done in ways too obvious to miss.
Just one example was Digital Spy doing interviews with the principals in the cast, and Richard Armitage was the last one interviewed — oh yeah, saving the best for last. Some of the questions asked are a bit hackneyed. As always Richard doesn’t give hackneyed answers. He does seem tired but is still able to reveal what it is we love so much about Guy and about him as an actor:
Revelation of the inner core. Even if he had not been redeemed in the last series, he captured something that most can relate to — the need to be loved and the hunger for redemption at times as part of fulfilling that need. This is the secret of Guy’s appeal and why two years later I can still get choked about his passing.
And if Richard Armitage can pull off this kind of examination of a character most would marginalize, what is he really capable of doing? It’s potentially mind boggling to contemplate, and sorry, my friends, but romantic comedies rarely enter my thinking about potential roles for Richard. I have nothing against them and like quite a few, but I hope someone, somewhere who has the means to supply him with damn fine writing will step up, and I doubt it’s going to be a romantic comedy.
However, on a completely shallow note and completely understanding the need to see him in a romance, phew! he is fine in that clip! Blindingly handsome, and to hear from some who have seen him in person, that is nothing by comparison. If that’s nothing, I’m not sure I could handle seeing him in the flesh.
By the way, I was absolutely sure Guy was history once I saw this interview, but then I had thought for a good while Guy was going to meet his end if for no other reason than Richard Armitage had long since outgrown the show. Please note when he touches his head. A long time ago it became abundantly clear this is an obfuscating gesture and interesting to examine in light of one of Servetus’ recent posts. I guess this comment proves I can still devolve into playing the idiot chick from the O’Reilly Factor :D, and now I feel compelled to ask a pardon:
Dear Rich,
I hope you don’t mind going under the magnifying glass so much, and frankly, that is the chief reason I hope you never read my blog. It would make me feel a little self-conscious to know you see the examination of your every move. By the way, I’m contemplating the movement of your eyelashes at some point in the future, and I can’t indulge my anal tendencies quite so much if well, you’re looking at me. So glad you don’t, but I’m sure my SO is glad I’m doing this blog since my need to examine every cussed thing is not so focused on him at present. :D
Sincerely,
One of your crazy fans, who feels a bit self-conscious right now even if you don’t read my blog.
note: I debated doing this post since I still need to do my follow-up to TDHCMO, but frankly, I don’t want to be on a schedule. I’m on a schedule or at someone’s beck and call so much of the time. That’s not really a complaint despite how it sounds, but I need a place I am not so worried about meeting deadlines or others’ expectations. I guess this is it, and tomorrow, I have to continue on with Guy. Too much to talk about to hit and run with one post.
Yesterday was quite a day of fangirling of Richard Armitage, and it’s taken its toll on me this morning. All that rippling yesterday made me drunk, and I got up feeling a bit woozy. I was thinking I needed a little hair of the dog, and lo and behold I got it:
This is a teaser picture from Recognise Magazine, who, if you don’t know it already, did a photo shoot of RA which will be in their August issue. In the meantime, you can see it on their Facebook page and like their page and read their magazine and buy some copies of their magazine and maybe subscribe to it. Damn! It’s amazing what some teasing will make me do.
In the meantime, I’m glad the picture is a bit indistinct, ’cause that beard looks like a mind-blowing experience, and I’d like to be sober today.
edit:
Recognise Magazine has promised to provide another behind the scenes picture of the photoshoot if they get 3,000 FB likes. Well, they just did, so stay tuned for more.
New pic:
Okay, so we fans didn’t completely scare Jacob Kamara, who spent the last day in a photo shoot with Richard Armitage. He’s updated all of us and was very nice about it:
And here’s the best part:
Did anyone doubt this? Seriously? You must be a new fan. :D
Thank you, Jacob, and I like your hat as well as your jumper.
If you’re not sure exactly what is going on, more on this here.
Blogging is a blast!
See Diary Part 25 here, or to access all entries, hit “The Diary” tab above.
Entry — a day or so later in 2008:
So what is wrong with me? I have developed this aberration in my behavior which requires I look at the Armitage Army forum at least once a day. It’s been going on for weeks and makes me wonder about myself. Why am I looking at this thing every day? Maybe I’m this bored or maybe I have gone nuts? And of course I can’t help asking why. Am I needy? I’ve been needy at times, and this is definitely meeting some sort of need. Thankfully, I haven’t said much on the board since I really have nothing much to say. I said a few things when I first joined but certainly nothing of any value. I have said too many things in my life when I had nothing of any real value to say. I just want to read what these others are saying. It’s fascinating, and I’m a shit for putting everyone under the magnifying glass. Then again, that’s what I do, and I doubt I’m going to stop at this late date. I just wish I took more joy in it.
And dear Mr. Armitage is firmly under the glass. What is this guy about? I can’t figure it out, and I want to. I see all of these people talking about how he’s very private and all that, but then I read his interviews, and I don’t know what to think. He’s been very candid about his life, as if he has a clear conscience, and he’s actually talked quite a bit. Of course print interviews can be so misleading. I certainly ought to know that. SO has been interviewed countless times in our little part of the world, and if I only went by what I read in the papers, I would not come close to knowing what he’s really about. But one thing that is interesting about SO’s interviews is the writers are all impressed by the same thing about him — his honesty and humility, and not a fake kind of in your face honesty and humility that says look at me, but just something that’s so much a part of his being that the writers can’t help but notice it. That much definitely comes across. I find this is a common thread in the interviews of Richard Armitage as well. Or maybe he’s just really good at playing honest and humble. My gut says no, he’s for real.
But I did get tickled at the interview where he’s promoting ‘Cold Feet’. Humility was not so much the watchword as brutal honesty. He sounds like a big kid, and this just endeared him to me even more. There is no artifice and little or no spin. I loved it!
Click for full photo.
And it’s interesting the character he plays is all about spin. Yep, I bought the DVDs, so I’m in for a few more bucks investment in Mr. Armitage. I’m glad I bought that multi-region DVD player, or maybe not LOL!
Then toward the end of the interview he talked about Cleopatra being crap, and I about fell off my chair laughing. Oh, you are so right, Mr. Armitage. Crap indeed, and a comedy. SO and I watched it again the other day and howled with laughter, and SO still doesn’t realize squat about Richard Armitage being in this. We usually just watch Caesar’s death scene when we need a good laugh. Well, that and Cleopatra cruising down the Nile. ROFLOL!!
And how interesting that Richard Armitage is going to co-star with Hermione Norris in ‘Spooks’, I cannot wait for that! Not sure how in the heck I’m going to watch it, but I’ll find a way. There is no chance I’m going to wait until it’s on Netflix. So far they only have up through Series 5.
I have so many other things I want to say, but I’m too tired to say it all today, and I’m glad I started journaling, so I can capture some of what I think even if some of it is stupid. I kept wondering what good was it to record all of those hideous things? I was wrong as I’ve been wrong about so many things. So today was one year of me writing all of this…. I’m not sure what to call it, and I’m afraid to go back and read all of it. I tried to read some of it a couple of weeks ago, and what I found was astonishing and humbling.
What was I saying about just enjoying something for what it is and not nitpicking? I’m the worst. I just can’t stop asking why. And is that so bad if it’s just me doing it in my head? I know dammit, it requires some wisdom. Oh, do I know it requires some wisdom. But I’ve been successful (at least by the world’s standards), and a lot of it had to do with asking why in my head about whatever was in front of me. It’s the why that made me successful! It’s the why that was the key! But it’s also the why that made me walk away from all of that. It’s the why that made me call bullshit on so many things. And that was wise. I have only to look at my children to know it was wise. They would not be who they are in part if I had not walked away from all those things which made me subject to such praise. A sacrifice? Maybe it seemed that way a little at first, but now? No, it was no great sacrifice. They are turning into people of great character who are inspiring me! But it could have been so different. I could have looked back at my life and been aware of how great it looked to the world but my children would have probably been at loose ends, and I certainly wouldn’t have known them. Not as I do now.
Present day:
I had such a good time reading Richard Armitage’s interviews, which were only up to a few Spooks 7 promotional pieces at this point in the journal. More on that later. But I have to comment on how friendly he sounds. When I saw him in the powhiri ceremony, it reminded me so much of him as the big goofy kid promoting ‘Cold Feet’, and I have it on good authority that he is immensely well liked on ‘The Hobbit’ set. Dare I say a favorite? Yes, I dare since I was also told that the group picks who will represent them at a powhiri ceremony, and they chose Richard. The crew and in particular the Kiwis were rooting for him:
“…as a Kiwi, it is important to see the reaction of the knowing crowd to Richard’s performance. See the guy at the last row, on the left, Mark Hadlow, Kiwi actor? He is so proud of Richard. This is a man who has seen many powhiri so knows what is cool…”
I think the New Zealanders might want to claim him as theirs. :D They see something I and many of you see — a keen mind and a self-deprecating yet not mean-spirited humor coupled with a great work ethic. A work ethic that says you’re important enough for me to learn Maori and represent you well. The Kiwis got the honor done to them, and if there is anything I’m learning, it’s that the general psyche of the Kiwi people is to adore those who don’t take themselves too seriously and who are team players:
We Kiwis are very laid back “she’ll be right, mate” attitude, and we all muck in (help out) when needed.
I think it’s apt to say he made the team proud. :D
And I don’t know exactly how Richard Armitage feels, but I’m falling in love with the Kiwi people. The more I read and listen to them, the more I want to go to New Zealand, and it has nothing to do with Richard Armitage. Seriously.
Last but not least, James Nesbitt is supposed to be one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. A real prince of a guy, so I’m not going to ever say anything catty about Jimmy.
Diary Part 27 here
Screencaps courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com; promotional still courtesy of Armitage-Online (Russian site).
See Diary Part 24 here, or to access all entries, hit “The Diary” tab above.
Entry — a day or so later, Fall 2008:
I’ve almost fully immersed myself in the Armitage Army forum, and I guess I didn’t realize until today that Richard Armitage communicated so intimately with his fans. Don’t know how I missed that, but I am loving his messages. This guy, if he’s for real, is a sweetheart. Then again, part of me wonders if he’s real. I wish I could just enjoy this without my bs detector getting in the way, but the cynic will not let me alone.
And my appetite has now been whet to read/listen to as many of his interviews as I can get my hands on. If I’m being manipulated by a publicist, I’m not sure I care. Yeah, I can ignore my bs detector ’cause this feels too good, and it helps that my gut is screaming Richard Armitage is genuine. Maybe I just really want to believe that. I honestly don’t know what to think, but maybe the cynic in me is being challenged, and I love that. I always love it when I’m met with someone who seems real, and ironically, Richard Armitage spends most of his time in public playing someone else. Yet there is something about him, the person, that makes me think he’s genuine. He’s got a kind of purity, and how I can think that after watching ‘Between the Sheets’ is beyond me. But his characters certainly have a thread of innocence, and he does too. I don’t think it’s immaturity. I’m not sure what it is, but he does effect a very intelligent but naive demeanor. If he’s having everyone on, man, he’s one of the greatest actors of all time.
I don’t know that I’ve ever run across a person who was both intelligent and naive so overtly except SO, and it was such a powerful combination in him that it fairly had a lot of the women on our college campus falling all over themselves for him. I remember cleaning out his car one time before we were really together, and he told me to get rid of all the junk, “Just toss all of it if you don’t mind.” Well, I did toss it, but I was so curious about a few of the envelopes with ornate script on them, that I opened some. I had never read anyone’s mail before that, and I felt so awful that I’ve never done it again. But I defend myself with the fact I was “a kid.” No, there really is no defense. I did it, and I wish I hadn’t. I read those notes from a few girls who were madly in love with SO, and not a one had he ever dated or really had much to do with them. But I resolved then never to be one of those gushy women even though we were already serious about each other, and I was already so far from gushy that I’m sure he would have laughed at that vow.
The net effect is that I was too aloof in our first days together because I had eavesdropped on something I never should have done and my self-consciousness kicked in. Wish I could take it all back. Wish I had never let my curiosity get the best of me, and mostly I wish I had not been focused on myself. It did some damage to my relationship with him, and for a long time he didn’t have a clue what was going on. Thankfully, I finally told him what I’d done, and as only he can do, he laughed and made a joke of it, and told me, “Don’t you know by now that I never cared for anyone but you?” He is so earnest that yes, I know it. I know he’s for real, and yet my early training with seeing how awful people can be still has me applying that jaundiced filter too much. I really do have to take my thoughts captive a lot when wondering where some people are coming from. I hate that I’m so distrustful, but the truth is that I am, and I wonder if the idea that to the pure all things are pure will ever describe me.
Later:
It seems Richard Armitage has already ceased his messages. I guess there was a problem. Damn! I don’t know what happened, but people are such a pain in the ass. No, women are such a pain in the ass. Yeah, men are too, but I can’t even get past all the shit women do to get to an indictment of the men. Why can’t people just enjoy something for what it is instead of nitpicking it to death. Damned selfishness! It causes so many of the world’s problems. Oh, well, that was fun while it lasted, and if I’m in denial about Richard Armitage and he’s not really a nice guy, I’d like to stay there. LOL!
Much Later:
Alright! Richard Armitage is going to be in the next season of Spooks. Yes!!
I really enjoyed that show when Matthew MacFadyen was in it, and then I hated how they wrote him out and haven’t watched it since. I guess I’ll have to break down and watch those episodes before this starts, and I don’t have much time! Maybe I should just skip it. Not sure, but I am really looking forward to Richard Armitage being in the show. He is so fantastic with character development that I can’t wait to see what happens. I just hope they keep him more than a season or a couple of shows. I know how they do these characters, and I hope he’s not a Lisa Faulkner. Oh, please don’t let him be a Lisa Faulkner. Surely, they won’t do that!
Present day:
When I read this comment by Richard Armitage, I was intrigued and wondered what it really meant:
I’m ten years behind, but I’m finally growing into myself now,’ he says.
Read the rest here. I think this is the fourth time I’ve linked to this interview, and I’ll probably link some more. Lots to chew on. :D
If there’s an audio of this interview, wouldn’t it be great to hear it! Wonder when Richard Armitage makes it really big if Allison Pearson would ever post such a thing — edited of course so that nothing uncomfortable is revealed. I’m a big fan of Allison’s and may have to actually write her a note about this. LOL! And no, I don’t agree with everything she’s ever said in an article, but I’ve agreed with a lot. I was so bummed when she left the Daily Mail and with such a downer of an exit, but then I realized she’s at the Telegraph. Yea!
And Allison, if you ever read this, I like your picture at the Telegraph, and I’m glad you’re there.
Diary Part 26 here.
Screencaps courtesy of RichardArmitageNet.Com and my stash.
Please click to see list of participating bloggers
So, Kap, have to ask you the requisite question. How did you become a fan?
I first saw Richard Armitage when he was revealed at the beginning of Spooks Series 7. ‘North and South’ completely passed me by, which is strange for me as I usually make an effort to watch new period dramas. It may have been something to do with having a six month old baby at the time! I had rather different priorities!
I watched the whole series and thought he was interesting and quite good looking. The series was a definite return to form, but other than that he made no particular impression on me. Roll on a year, and shortly before Spooks 8 started to air, I was searching YouTube for some clips of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘Persuasion’ and lo and behold, here was this ‘North and South’ thing popping up all the time. Eventually I watched one of the clips and was soon watching the whole thing on YouTube. I guess once I realised that the tall dark and handsome cotton mill owner John Thornton was the same actor as the mysterious Lucas North in Spooks, I decided I needed to investigate further…
It didn’t take me too long to find these strange things called “fanvids” on YouTube, and I also found references to something called the “Armitage Army” and from one of the fanvids, Sexy Back, a reference to something else called C19. So I joined that forum, but found it rather overwhelming, and I couldn’t seem to find the ‘North and South’ board (very strange!). It was several weeks before I went back to investigate properly. In the meantime I watched the rest of Spooks 8, and between that and ‘North and South’ (now bought on DVD), I was a goner!
Those fanvids really should come with a warning. LOL! I wonder how much the fan community has heightened your interest since then?
It’s definitely heightened my interest. I joined several forums, C19 is my favourite, perhaps because I joined it first. It’s a wonderful community of ladies that is simply one of the best places I have ever found on the internet. I’ve also ventured onto blogs and Twitter, and I still find it astounding that there is so much activity out there about this one actor…I mean how many blogs are there that post regularly about him – ten? fifteen?
It was about fifteen or so at last count, but I think it’s increased since FanstRAvaganza started. LOL! Sorry to keep laughing, but well, I really am laughing. I can’t help it as it’s always fun to hear how others bite the dust. :D But what do you think about Twitter’s part in all of this?
Twitter has also been an enormously rewarding experience for me, in terms of reaching out to other fans. But with all these social networking opportunities, you get out what you put in, and sometimes I find it very hard to find the time to do everything I want to do, and go everywhere I want to go, as often as I want to. That may not make much sense!
It makes perfect sense!
Changing the subject a bit. I understand you play the piano and the flute. Is that still a significant part of your life?
I am a pianist first and foremost, and I played regularly up until we had to give our piano back to the person it belonged to a couple of years ago! Sad day! But I am working on getting my daughter to learn, so we will have to get something in that case. I learned the flute at school, so that is more “in the past” but it enabled me to play in orchestras and ensembles which was a fun thing to do. I was never good enough to play either the piano or flute professionally though, or even consider going to music college. I won’t admit to exactly how many years I have been playing the piano, but it’s a few decades!! I think I read that Richard played the flute too!
Yep, he does! Or did. I’m not sure where he stands with that now. Would be lovely to know.
I have to ask what are your favorite kinds of music? I don’t even care if it’s RA related. It’s always something I want to know from everyone!
When I was a child I listened to classical music almost exclusively – I think that is just what we had on in our house. I also used to record myself playing the piano and listen to that. In fact I was just reminded that I also used to record myself reading poems when I was a child. When I went away to boarding school, I began to listen to pop and rock music, the popular bands of the 80s such as The Police, and Duran Duran, and Madness (showing my age there!) just what was in the charts, and I explored music past and present from there. I became a massive fan of Prince in the late 80s. I have also become a fan of the music from musicals e.g. Oklahoma and Singing in the Rain.
But from the time I left university and started work, I lost touch with new music and tended to listen to my old stuff. It’s only recently (and completely down to my interest in Richard and the fan videos I have watched I may say) that I have started to listen to new(ish) music again, and I am finding it as interesting as exploring the music of the 60s and 70s in my youth. Muse is one example, but I am really still exploring.
I also understand that you take acting classes. I would love to hear about that! And of course how it may have changed your views of or helped you appreciate more the work that’s done by Richard Armitage.
I started taking the class about a year ago. It’s just a local acting workshop with about 10–15 regular participants. I joined because I wanted to develop my inter-personal and communication skills more for the sake of my work than anything else, and I have found business communications courses either not very useful or not able to meet my needs. But I think I may have missed my calling, because I find it just the most interesting and fun thing to do! It’s also really hard! Everything that you say or do during a scene has to be thought about beforehand. And there are so many things to think about – from basic stuff like making sure that you are facing the audience, and that they can see your face, to harder things like thinking about your character and what they are thinking about and wanting in a particular scene, say.
What is particularly interesting and surprising to me is the amount of improvisation involved in acting (or developing as an actor), and how it starts off being terrifying but then, after you get used to it, it becomes something that is really enjoyable and something that you just have to throw yourself into. Also it’s often what you are doing when you have no lines at all to say that reveals most about your character. It feels like teetering on the precipice of something – you feel like you are going to go over the edge but you just manage to stay on. I also think it’s important to keep trying different ways of doing the same thing and not be afraid to do something where you feel foolish – in fact you have to commit – because faking it just doesn’t work.
This is making me appreciate RA’s work slightly differently (and similarly the work of other actors), in that I am becoming more aware of the work that must have gone into any given scene and that there are usually several ways in which to play a scene, and the choices that the actors and the director made have a big impact on the final result. But it’s early days for me still, and I am learning all the time, I am just beginning to really appreciate how powerful it can be to slow down, and pause and find special moments when you connect with another character.
In that vein, has being a fan had an effect on your general creativity?
Well, I don’t do graphics or fanvids or write fanfiction or anything like that…so I can’t lay claim to being more creative in those respects. But being a fan has led to a reigniting of my love of reading, something that I haven’t been unable to indulge myself in so much since starting a family. Reading North and South, Heyer, Bernard Cornwell and also fanfic has made me remember all those feelings I had when I found good books for the first time. I was not a Heyer fan before listening to the audio books, I tried a couple as a teenager, but they always seemed to be very lightweight reads, and I gave up quickly. I think I should have stuck with it, because I realise now how some of them are gems in their own right, though the language is quite…interesting at times…and they are essentially light reads. But since listening to Sylvester and Venetia, more particularly, I have picked up a few others and am working my way through – but there are lots of them I have to say! Will take me quite a while.
Ah yes, the audio books. LOL! As you know, I’m covering RA’s voice work, so I’m really curious what is your favorite?
For audio work as a whole I would have to say the ‘Words and Music’ poems, particularly Preludes by T. S. Eliot.
I have listened to them hundreds of times, literally. They are like spoken songs to me. Aside from the lovely, earthy, gravelly voice, I suppose I like them so much because of the pacing and rhythm of his reading and because of the beautiful expression and meaning that he uses in every word like when he says “flickered” you can just imagine the light flickering on the ceiling. And when he says “short, square fingers stuffing pipes” I see it happening, in my mind.
But for audio books, my favourite would be The Lords of the North.
Oh my! It’s definitely my favorite too, and I defy anyone to listen to even a few minutes of it and not come away wanting to listen to the whole thing and in spite of it being about a very violent period of history. Listening to it turned me into an audio book lover. There is only one problem. I’m spoiled to his narration. He has set a high standard for me, and now I want to hear him reading countless books. Is there anything in particular you would love to hear him read?
Well of course I would love Richard to read North and South. Wouldn’t we all? But I have more or less accepted that this will never happen. So I would personally love to hear Richard read The Hobbit, and I have not given up hope that this might happen. Of course the obvious person to read that audiobook would be Martin Freeman, and he has done audio books before (e.g. he read a version of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, another movie he starred in), but…you never know…I live in hope.
I’m with you, and maybe he should read the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy! We may have to start a campaign. :D
You know I’ve shared others’ recordings of what they think of RA and how he’s affected them. I’m happy you agreed to share yours as well:
Kap is married with two young children and obviously hails from the UK where she still lives.
For those who listened to the excerpt of Lords of the North and are now curious to listen to the entire book, or if you already love it and would just like to have your own audio book or an additional book, I have two to give away. The books are courtesy of AudioGo (BBC Audio Books) and rules for the giveaway are found here. Good luck! :)
Please click to see list of participating bloggers
Richard Armitage is the epitome of tall, dark and handsome. Probably most reading this heartily agree, and some who have no clue about him would agree if they watched him. What did the interview referenced in my last FanstRA piece say?
He is tall (tick), dark (tick) and handsome (tick), with piercing blue eyes (double tick). Ladies, your swoons have not been wasted.
Oh, I know they’re well placed, but not for the obvious reasons. There are so many good looking actors to swoon over. Legions whose looks are worthy of the description above. Take a trip to Hollywood and you will literally see them everywhere you go. But they’re visual cotton candy. There is nothing that inspires beyond a few moments because beautiful as they are, they never get beyond the viscera of your thinking. Even many of the thoughtful actors rarely get much beyond it. Or maybe that’s just me. Maybe it’s just me who seldom repeatedly examines even an actor’s great performances beyond the event in order to mine something more profound. Sometimes I might examine the lighting or the body language or any number of practical aspects to determine what it was that was effective in conveying the message, and I might relive the performance repeatedly in my imagination in order to feel the thrill of it again. But to find the message enigmatic and compelling because of the actor’s portrayal and forcing me to go beyond the obvious to try to root out what is deeply embedded in my brain? To make me examine something about myself and why I was really so struck by it? No, that seldom happens with performances. Maybe with books, but usually with performances I know why I’m affected. I know immediately and can often verbalize it.
And then there’s the actor himself. Very few when interviewed or when speaking for any length of time really hold my interest. It’s almost always a let down. But enter Richard Armitage, who has made me question countless things with his portrayals, and I can’t stop doing it. The fact I’ve done this has puzzled me to no end. Yes, I’m still puzzled, but I love this. I love being puzzled, being in a continual state of curiosity, and the irony of him is that the more he speaks, the more I’m curious. Wow. I think of the artists who are generally considered enigmatic, and much of it was effected by the fact they weren’t talking. They only let their art do the talking, and probably wisely kept their mouths shut to maintain the mystique. But let this guy talk, and he becomes more interesting and makes me wonder what I’ve been missing. Case in point:
I have not been a fan of fantasy although I’ve read some science fiction and some classical fantasy novels. Mostly done to ensure my education was not lacking. But I am rethinking that interest and was rethinking it long before I knew Richard Armitage would be in ‘The Hobbit.’ It’s been coming to me for a long time now that I almost killed my imagination in the pursuit of control. I’m so sorry about that, but I’m not dead, so it’s not too late for me to regain what was such a rich part of my childhood. Richard Amitage has definitely been inspirational. I’ve also always loved words but was never encouraged to really play with them or learn how to shape things with them. My talents so obviously lay in another area, and that is where I was continually directed, but it never satisfied. Armitage gets credit for rekindling my interest in words to the degree that I’m now doing something about it! I mean how can I listen to something like this on the heels of listening to his audio books and not be inspired?
I said in one of my diary entries that a beautiful voice is not enough. The person must have something interesting to say. That’s where writers come in. But with Richard Armitage, he brings something to it I’ve rarely witnessed. He has a rich mind, keeps it well nourished and applies it to his craft. That is a great part of his ability to hold us all in thrall even if only using his voice. Much more than a pretty boy. He’s a thinker and we benefit from it.
And one of my favorite thinkers shares her reactions to his performances:
Servetus and I have had many discussions offline that have been such an enjoyment and encouragement to me. Although we bring our own observations and don’t always agree, we do have some things in common and have a mutual respect.
Photo courtesy of the Russian Richard Armitage Fan site. You can check out the rest by clicking on the photo.
RAFrenzy 
