They Won’t Know What Hit ‘em

The recent news that Richard Armitage is cast in ‘The Hobbit’ has some speculating about his abilities, and for some he comes up wanting. As a former skeptic of Mr. Armitage, I don’t care what they think. Once they actually watch him in action, all that negative talk will be a thing of the past. Oh, I’m sure there will be a few naysayers. Aren’t there always? But those aside, most will be pleased with his performance. The guy can pull off just about anything. I have yet to see him in drag, but somehow I feel sure he could pull that off too. LOL!

Now where was I?

Oh, yeah, RA was cast in a big budget movie!!! Someone slap me ’cause I think I’m dreaming. But really it makes sense. He’s just that good. Am I biased? Damned right, but it’s my gut that dictates it, and rarely is it wrong. Sounds arrogant I know, but it’s true. You can ask SO, but then I’m keeping SO to myself, and he doesn’t get to read this blog and interact with any of you here. I just get to talk about him. Along with talking about Richard Armitage.

For anyone new who has landed here out of curiosity about Richard’s work, you can see several different clips on my “Who’s Richard Armitage?” page or at RichardArmitageNet.Com, aka the mother lode, or if you’re in a hurry, you can watch a showreel of his work:

Showreels courtesy of Elvira Sweeney and uploaded here with express permission.

October 29, 2010
Categories: Fandom, Fanvids, Movies, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 14 Comments

Oh Heck, One More Before I Go

My apologies in advance to Richard Armitage, but I can’t stop chuckling at RA playing a dwarf. No offense to anyone who is a dwarf, but I keep seeing RA as Tim Conway’s Dorf only with a deeper voice and a beard of course.

Again, my apologies, and I’m sure RA will do a wonderful job as he’s done with everything else. I look forward to seeing his Thorin. Man, all of a sudden a year feels like a long time.

October 22, 2010
Categories: Miscellaneous works, Movies, The Hobbit . Tags: , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 6 Comments

Our Guy and the Lucas Countdown

Unless you’re under a rock in the RA universe, you know by now that our guy Richard Armitage is going to be playing Thorin Oakenshield in “The Hobbit.” What I found interesting is the filming schedule. Begins in February. What else do we know begins filming in February? Oh, I understand if you’re a novice at this Richard Armitage watching. So let me instruct you as an act of public service. ;-) You may not be aware that the BBC show Spooks will start filming in February, and RA plays one of the main characters, Lucas North. No, he’s nothing like Guy of Gisborne in this one. At least that’s what I have been thinking, but on second thought, he might be a bad guy (pardon the pun).

I’m trying to process the speculation about Lucas, and now? Is it too early to say he’s toast? I mean RA is good at running from location to location, but no one’s that good. London to New Zealand is still quite a trek (assuming the squabbling over labor is settled and it will be in NZ). Or maybe Spooks is going on location again? No, they’ve got their Greek God replacement, so I think they’ll stay home.

Whatever the case with Lucas North, I hope he goes down in a blaze of glory. Does it have to be a peaceful death? No offense to RA’s wishes. Somehow that wouldn’t be nearly as much fun, and a peaceful death is harder to write, and well, do I need to explain why I don’t hold out hope for a well done peaceful death? Of course if it’s a violent death, then I suppose it will have to be a bomb. Maybe I can hold out for a death like Guy’s where he still gets to say a few words at the end. All I know at this point is that I’m on for the ride with Lucas, and I will enjoy it no matter what. But my most ardent wish is that he will come to his senses at the end and have a mad, passionate love affair with Beth. She can even be Alpha.

In the meantime, I’m salivating at the thought of SO, who is an LOTR fan, paying to watch Richard Armitage in a movie.

October 22, 2010
Categories: Miscellaneous works, Movies, SO, Spooks, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 9 Comments

I Feel Good!

But are you feeling funny like me? ‘Cause you actually want to dance with the announcement that Richard Armitage is going to have a sizable role in a big budget movie? Wait. What?!! RA is going to have more than a bit part in a major, major motion picture!!!

You’re among friends. Go for it!

If James Brown can’t loosen you up, maybe Richard can:

Avatar courtesy of I have no clue!! (see below) I normally am so anal about tagging everything, and I don’t know where I got this, but I really want to give credit. Please let me know who this belongs to so I can!

Update: The avatar is by Bluecabochon on C19.

October 21, 2010
Categories: Miscellaneous works, Movies, The Hobbit . Tags: , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 14 Comments

Ohmygosh!

It’s happened. Richard Armitage is in The Hobbit! Or did I just dream this piece (emphasis mine):

Peter Jackson and New Line Announce ‘Hobbit’ Casting
October 21

Warner Bros. just released the following press release, confirming Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins and revealing a slew of other actors:

Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Rob Kazinsky, Aidan Turner, Graham McTavish, John Callen, Stephen Hunter, Mark Hadlow and Peter Hambleton have joined the ensemble cast of the The Hobbit, it was jointly announced today by Toby Emmerich, President and Chief Operating Officer, New Line Cinema; Alan Horn, President and Chief Operating Officer, Warner Bros.; Steve Cooper, co-Chief Executive Officer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., and Peter Jackson.

Since The Hobbit films received a green light on October 15, pre-production has been in full swing. Set for release in December, 2012 and December, 2013, we can confirm that Martin Freeman (The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Hot Fuzz) will play Bilbo Baggins, the hero of the story. Richard Armitage (UK TV’s MI-5 and soon to appear in Captain America: The First Avenger) is set to play Thorin Oakenshield, the leader of the Company of Dwarves which sets off to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from a thieving dragon.

“Despite the various rumours and speculation surrounding this role, there has only ever been one Bilbo Baggins for us,” says Peter Jackson. “There are a few times in your career when you come across an actor who you know was born to play a role, but that was the case as soon as I met Martin. He is intelligent, funny, surprising and brave – exactly like Bilbo and I feel incredibly proud to be able to announce that he is our Hobbit.”

He adds “Richard is one of the most exciting and dynamic actors working on screen today and we know he is going to make an amazing Thorin Oakensheild. We cannot wait to start this adventure with him and feel very lucky that one of the most beloved characters in Middle-earth is in such good hands.”

Rounding out the Company of Dwarves are Aidan Turner (TV’s Being Human) and Rob Kazinsky (TVs EastEnders) who play Kili and Fili, respectively. Jackson comments “Rob is an extremely talented young actor with a huge career in front of him, I’m thrilled that he has agreed to take on the role of Fili. Besides his talent as an actor, Rob is also a champion sword fighter; I’m looking forward to seeing the damage he can do to a horde of marauding Goblins!” He continues, “Adian is a wonderfully gifted young actor who hails from Ireland. I’m sure he will bring enormous heart and humor to the role of Kili.”

The remaining dwarves will be played by Graham McTavish (Secretariat and TV’s 24) as Dwalin; John Callen (TV’s Power Rangers Jungle Fury) as Oin; Stephen Hunter (TV’s All Saints) as Bombur; Mark Hadlow (King Kong) as Dori; and Peter Hambleton (TV’s The Strip) as Gloin.

Read the rest here.

If I’m dreaming, then I must really be dreaming big ’cause it’s over here too. LOL!

Note to self: need a new tag ‘movies.’

October 21, 2010
Categories: Miscellaneous works, Movies, The Hobbit . Tags: , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 22 Comments

Namor or Nazi?

I had a post ready to go about RA possibly being Namor in Captain America. But it seems after watching the recent footage of the filming of a gunfight in New York (aka Manchester), a man looking and running very much like RA appears to be a baddie, which means it can’t be Namor. I’m reasonably sure of this since reading up on the characters. Also, it doesn’t appear that he can be Namor if he’s just in a shootout (see clip below). I could be completely wrong about this, but after reading a few comic book sites, that’s what I understand.

However, it’s possible that RA is a Nazi henchman named Heinz Kruger. Deadgummit! That means he won’t be in the movie very long if he’s Kruger, and it also means I can’t go to town on the character. If I were more convinced he would play Namor, I would be prepared to go on and on about this character who comes from a fictitious race of people, is the first known comic book anti-hero and bi-polar to boot. Oh, great fodder for this blog! But it’s not to be. (I’m shaking my head as I write this. I hope RA knows he has some really rabid loyal fans out there who will even talk about comic book characters when they CAN’T STAND that stuff. Before now I’ve often imagined guys who were into comic books as the same ones who sat in rooms alone and did things to themselves that I can’t mention on this blog and still keep it “safe for work.”) Making light of a Nazi is not nearly so much fun. But if I had my clever hat on today, maybe I could have come up with a little ditty like “Springtime for Hitler” to describe Kruger. (Thoughts of an Argentine Tango dance in my head. Yeah, I know it doesn’t fit; I would have worked it in somehow.) But I’m not so clever today. Heck, I’m doing well to post this.

When the action starts, check out the man in the light gray suit who runs and jumps into car on the far right of the screen:

If you’re wondering if this is RA, then check out this screencap posted by kadamanja on yesterday’s blog piece:

Screencap courtesy of Cesta (C19)

September 23, 2010
Categories: Captain America, Miscellaneous works, Movies, Rumors . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 22 Comments

I May Get Serious

….eventually or maybe not. I toyed with again getting on my soapbox about the spoilers for Spooks, but I caved the day before it aired. Yes, I am weak. So very weak, but then I had an enormous temptation, or maybe I was just looking for an excuse to fall off the wagon.

Someone sent me the audio of RA’s interview with David Stephenson. I’m so glad! It was a pleasure to listen. Thank you, friend for sending me that file, and unless David is under a rock about now, he had to know that file would be passed around. It’s profitable life was no more than a day. I just happen to have a great scruple about these things, so I’ll hop over there sometime and buy it for a pound and happily help with overhead. But I hope my friend doesn’t let this talk of scruples keep her or anyone else from sending me things in the future. LOL!

After I was done listening, I read the print article. Wow. What a difference. I realize Mr. Stephenson has only so much space to write, and he must capture what he feels is salient for readers, and I really appreciate the way he writes. Please keep it up! But the casual reader does not get to really appreciate RA’s wonderful sense of humor. You must listen to the audio for that.

Once I got done listening and reading that interview, my appetite was pretty whet, so it was easy to just gorge myself on the rest of the interviews. Some were a rehash with a few extra comments. In particular RA mentions in one of having performed astral projection, and my first thought was he might need some pants that don’t ride up for that. I was going to make hay out of this until I had my second thought — wondering which Avengers fly. Yes, yes, I admit I’m not up on my Avenger characters! But I may have to bone up in light of today’s developments. Look at the last few lines of this interview from a couple of days ago. That tease!

September 22, 2010
Categories: Captain America, Fandom, Interviews, Miscellaneous works, Movies, Rumors, Spoilers, Spooks . Tags: , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 16 Comments

Maybe It’s True?

If you have been keeping up, then you may already know that some footage was taken on the Captain America set in Manchester yesterday, and it seems someone who looks like RA was on set. Here are a couple of screencaps from that footage.

If that’s not him, it’s someone who looks just like him.

And if you watch this footage you can see this person moves just like him:

Starts about 29 seconds

Footage courtesy of Hobbsy.com.

edit:

Here’s another shot from Hobbsy:

And a big thank you to RichardArmitageNet.Com and a nice woman named Antonella for the heads up!

September 22, 2010
Categories: Captain America, Miscellaneous works, Movies, Rumors . Tags: , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 62 Comments

Who the Hell is Richard Armitage?

[NOTE: I now have a permanent page (“Who is Richard Armitage?”), and it has more video clips.]

This post is for all of you who have recently been introduced to Richard Armitage, the actor, via some poll or celebrity site where he popped up as perhaps the number two or even the number one contender in a contest. But you have never seen him animated and are completely perplexed by his fans’ love. Somewhere, sometime, some of you have uttered that question. I used to ask it myself! Hopefully when you are done with this post, you will begin to understand what his fans see. I’m not going to waste time trotting out his bio. You can read that on IMDb.

I want to gush and draw you the perfect picture of him with my words. To somehow convince you that he deserves the respect his fans give him. But I know it is probably wasted because I’ve been where you are, and no words were going to do it for me. I had seen stills of Richard Armitage before I saw him act, and I was profoundly unmoved and even put off. He just can’t be appreciated from a few pictures. The chameleon quality he brings to his acting helps to make him one of the finest actors, but it sometimes puts him at odds with stills. Seeing him moving and speaking is the key to understanding. If you have never done that, then you don't get it. But you’re in for a treat if you watch him. Not only is he extremely masculine, he is sensitive as well, and the superb mingling of these makes him an utterly beautiful man to behold. As gushy as I am, this post has been very difficult to write. I want to gush a lot more, but I’ll refrain and let him speak for himself.

John Thornton:

Guy of Gisborne:

Harry Kennedy:

Claude Monet:

John Standring, one of my favorite characters:

Lucas North:

Ricky Deeming:

John Porter:

edit:

Thorin Oakenshield, his latest portrayal:

August 4, 2010
Categories: Fandom, Miscellaneous works, Movies, North and South, Robin Hood, Sparkhouse, Spooks, Strike Back, The Hobbit, Vicar of Dibley . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 23 Comments

The King May Have Been Dethroned

Or maybe a serious coup attempted.

I love this picture:

and I think it is the best picture of RA. King in my mind. I mean who could look at that and not have some reaction to it even if they have never seen him in any roles? Oh, someone dead? Yeah, that’s about it.

But I may have seen the one that can give it serious competition, and I wish someone who has something to do with the “Captain America” movie read my piddly blog. They could see how good RA looks in the picture below. Since the movie is being made by Hollywood, of course looks are the primary consideration. We know RA can act in anything, but does he have the look for a part in that movie? Oh, baby, yes!

A big thanks to Kaprekar for this photo. I was going to just add it to another post, but it deserves its own:

I need a new tag: PHWOAR!2

second edit: and I forgot to mark the jawline tag for this entry! Yes, you can click on that tag and look at all of the lovely profile shots in this blog, or most of them anyway. That’s my public service gene at work, so I just can’t help but think of these things for the edification of all of us. ;-) Thanks, fitzg for reminding me.

By the way, that second picture is an edit of a Robin Hood promo picture found on RichardArmitageNet.Com

July 23, 2010
Categories: Captain America, Miscellaneous works, Movies, PHWOAR!, Robin Hood, Rumors . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 14 Comments

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