Maybe Richard Armitage as Matthew Clairmont Really is a Possibility

Oh, sure if you follow Richard Armitage’s Twitter account, you know he has followed Deborah Harkness. But I wanted to see a little more before I took that crumb and made a meal out of it. Well, there may be something coming to feast on with the news Deborah Harkness has given on her Facebook page:

10157201_10153128554436812_5337254098491390379_n
All Souls Trilogy News: I’m delighted to share that the All Souls Trilogy is now in development with the BBC, who hope to adapt it for television. I am confident that they will be careful custodians of the characters you love, and have every expectation that the BBC will produce something fantastic. That’s all that I can say about the project at the moment, but stay tuned for further details as they become available.

Source

Uh, yeah, I can see it:

Richard Armitage as Matthew Clairmont

RA photo edited by TeaTotally

February 4, 2015
Categories: Rumors . Tags: , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 16 Comments

Bracing Myself, But Not Quite Yet

Since I’m up again at 3am and bored out of my mind, I come with a revision to a theory. About two weeks ago, I said that we would get news of Richard Armitage’s next project by the end of this month and a good chance it would happen by the middle of the month. I may be erroneously second guessing myself, but I’m going to revise that prediction to the end of September.

I’m changing the timelines because I forgot something key in how Richard Armitage generally does things with his work. And as he’s a creature of habit like most of us, I think he’ll stick to this pattern with his next project. I think an announcement will be more likely in September because we won’t hear anything until it’s something he is already doing or very near doing by the time we hear about it. That means it has to be after The Crucible ends. Yep, that’s what I’m thinking. Any thoughts on what this could be? I’ve been leaning toward the Uhtred role, but I haven’t been paying as much attention to what’s out there as I used to, so I’m curious what y’all think.

Richard,

I’d be happy for you to make a liar out of me and announce something in the next two weeks. Whatever you end up doing, do you think in all your negotiations that you could have mercy on the North American bunch and have a run in The Crucible in New York sometime in the next year? I heard there wasn’t going to be a DVD, so I’m really smarting and need a fix with a live performance.

Signed,
Your Crazy Fan who would gladly make a trip to NYC to see you. :D

P.S. I don’t care when the performance is. I’m just anxious.

Note: I love the pensive photo of Richard, but I honestly don’t know whom to credit for it or the enhancement to it. Help me if you know. Thanks.

August 16, 2014
Categories: Rumors, Stage Productions . Tags: , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 18 Comments

And It Keeps Coming

Living through the last six weeks has been rough and today especially so. The Old Vic sent me an email. They do that from time to time when you join their cause. Oh, I appreciate the emails, and under normal circumstances I would be happy to read a notice or two they want to give me. But it’s really hard to witness all the goings on about The Crucible and not being able to fully join in and getting mail from The Old Vic is just a reminder of all that I’m missing. Frankly, I would almost give my eye teeth to go to a performance. Of course it wouldn’t matter if I did because SO would kill me when I got back home.

And those reviews!

The-Crucible-Reviews

And that’s just The Old Vic’s side of the pond! I seem to remember a few on my side that were pretty complimentary. Hear that, Old Vic? Come to New York and soon! I have a feeling you will, and I was pretty heartened by this and some other rhetoric I’ve heard from the New York theater community which indicates there is a pretty good chance of this happening. The only question is whether Richard will be involved.

If I know him, and yes, I do a bit after all this time of watching a lot of his cussed moves, he will not let any grass grow under his feet, and we may well be hearing any day now what he’s about to do next. No, seriously, I’m thinking before the end of August we’ll be hearing about it. *Looks at watch* Yep, end of August drop dead. Probably mid-August. Anyway, The Old Vic needs to jump on it and have him locked in for next year or whenever.

None of that is to say this next announcement will be about a production in New York. No, it will probably be something different. Uhtred perhaps? Or is Richard past all that and now onto more intellectually stimulating fare? I do wonder these things when I have time to wonder, which I don’t as often these days, and that’s a good thing, ’cause if I did have time to really ponder with any depth all that’s going on with Richard, this email from The Old Vic would send my frustration through the roof:

Richard Armitage Conversations

Damn, I wish I had been to see the play, but I’m glad some of you have been able to see it and thoroughly enjoy it. That warms my heart because well, I’m proud of our guy and any adulation he gets which celebrates his talent is a thrill. No snark there. It really does warm my heart that he’s doing so well. I’m not sure I feel motherly about it but maybe.

Dear Rich,

May I say I always knew you had it in you. Or at least after I watched John Standring. I suspected before Standring. John Thornton was breathtaking, but I chalked that up to being enthralled by a great love story. Harry Kennedy was another thrill, but there wasn’t enough to convince that the depths of your talent were so great. Then came Guy. You didn’t stint even on that silly piece. But it was John Standring that made me a fan for life. I knew then you were made of something far more than a heartthrob. And I’d like to think I would never be this enthusiastic over a mere heartthrob. So your success is my vindication. Thanks for that. And hell, I haven’t even seen the play.

All the best,
A Crazy Fan who looks forward to more of your stellar work; see, see, you’ve set the bar damn high, my friend

More info here about Richard Armitage in Conversation. Maybe you’ll break down and join The Old Vic? Hmm.

July 31, 2014
Categories: Rumors, Stage Productions . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 22 Comments

Dreaming about Uhtred

Truly, it would be a dream to see Richard Armitage in this:

BBC AMERICA Announces New Drama Series The Last Kingdom
Published: July 9, 2014

An adaptation of Bernard Cornwell’s best-selling book series by BAFTA nominated and Royal Television Society award-winning writer Stephen Butchard

New York – July 9, 2014 – BBC AMERICA, Carnival Films – the Golden Globe® and Emmy® Award-winning producers of Downton Abbey – and BBC Two announced today that production will begin this fall on The Last Kingdom, a new historical 8 x 60 drama series.

BAFTA nominated and RTS award-winning writer Stephen Butchard, (Good Cop, Five Daughters, House of Saddam), will adapt Bernard Cornwell’s best-selling franchise “The Saxon Stories” for the screen. Cornwell is also known for his much-loved “Sharpe” novels that became the long-running TV series of the same name starring Sean Bean and aired on BBC AMERICA.

Set in the year 872, when many of the separate kingdoms of what we now know as England have fallen to the invading Vikings, the great kingdom of Wessex has been left standing alone and defiant under the command of King Alfred the Great.

Against this turbulent backdrop lives our hero, Uhtred. Born the son of a Saxon nobleman, he is orphaned by the Vikings and then kidnapped and raised as one of their own. Forced to choose between the country of his birth and the people of his upbringing, his loyalties are ever tested. What is he – Saxon or Viking? On a quest to claim his birthright, Uhtred must tread a dangerous path between both sides if he is to play his part in the birth of a new nation and, ultimately, seek to recapture his ancestral lands.

The rest here

Those of you who are so adept at PhotoShop need to make us a cool graphic to swoon over. :D I’m serious despite my grin. It would be an even bigger grin if there was a graphic.

Wait a minute. Google yields all sorts of goodies. Here we go:

uthredviv1

and another one:

uthredviv2

These are both by Vivayn and can be found at RichardArmitageNet.com

Yes, my grin just got much bigger, and for anyone wanting to make their own, some inspiration:

Thorin cum Uhtred

Before you ask, no, I have not forgotten I promised to have a giveaway of Lords of the North audio book.

July 9, 2014
Categories: Rumors, Voice Work . Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 10 Comments

Really? — SPOILERS

The spoiler tag is for the three of you who don’t know how The Hobbit ends.

Also, my bullshit detector is turned on high lately, so forgive me if my tone sounds snippy. I’m actually smiling.

I just read this below at TheOneRing and certainly have two cents to contribute.

Debunking that Hobbit movie rumour about Thorin Oakenshield

May 30, 2014 at 11:23 pm by Demosthenes

Many people have written to us over the last five or so days about a story that has begun circulating around the internet concerning Thorin Oakenshield and the final Hobbit film, The Battle of the Five Armies.

Frankly, we hoped this story would die a quiet death because it is simply not credible. However, a couple of web media outlets have picked it up so somewhat reluctantly here we are quashing a rumour that simply has no credence at all.

Seeing as this is obviously leading us into spoiler territory, if you are avoiding them or have not read the book (I know there are a few of you out there), then look away now.

The original source of this rumour is a website called Ecumenical News (I know it has subsequently popped up on The Examiner too), which posted the following:

…a few details have surfaced regarding the story line of The Battle of Five Armies. It has been reported that the film will follow Tolkien’s book, though one character who died in the book, Thorin Oakenshield, will remain alive.

This rumour is patently untrue.

The rest here

(emphasis mine)

“Patently” is a strong word. I know TORn is uptight with Peter Jackson, but this idea that the death scene has been filmed, so it precludes Thorin living does not take into account that Peter Jackson and Warner Bros. can change their minds. Oh yeah, they can change their minds. Did we get three movies instead of two? Or did I dream that?

And speaking of rocks, didn’t the initial idea of two movies comprising The Hobbit series stretch the limits of common sense, and the idea of three movies was lunacy? I guess it’s all in how you look at it and when. We’re now staring down the likely advent of a third Hobbit movie into the billion dollar club. Somehow it doesn’t look so nutty anymore.

Anyway, I have a feeling this may not be just a bunch of swoony Thorin fans driving a rumor, and I could be so ridiculously wrong, but it’s hard to swallow this opinion from TORn that it’s just not possible Thorin could live. It’s the movies! Anything can happen.

Plus, who’s it going to hurt if the masses have more opportunities to spend more money on drool over photos like this:

thorinoakenshield

For the record, I would prefer that PJ follow the book with respect to Thorin’s story, so I am not part of the petition — either in reality or in spirit.

Also, Stephen Goodwin is my favorite writer at TORn despite his opinion in this piece. :)

Photo snaffled from ThorinOakenshield.net

June 2, 2014
Categories: Movies, Rumors, Spoilers, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 19 Comments

Prequel? Are You Insane?!

One more post before I breakout additional WonderCon photos, which you may be sick of looking at, but I’m not yet.

I’m chuckling at the wealth of commentary I could and probably will make on the last few blog pieces of Servetus. She raises very interesting points as per usual and one in particular I cannot pass up! But for now, this post is in response to the video clip of one of Richard Armitage’s interviews at WonderCon:

I hope you watched that video. There doesn’t seem to be anything snarky in it. He seems serious.

And before I could even form a reaction to that realization, YouTube did it for me:

FireShot Screen Capture #326 - 'Are Hobbit Spin-Offs Possible - Richard Armitage Interview - Won - YouTube' - www.youtube.comwatchv=e-jPH48jUwA

These are actual suggestions on the sidebar of that video. Okay, yeah, so it doesn’t say much for my YouTube watching, but I thought “Kicked in the head by a train” was apropos as a reaction to the idea of a prequel. Or are you so in the bag for Thorin that you don’t see it that way? More Thorin is good huh? No, let me rephrase that. Even more Thorin is good huh?

If Richard Armitage or someone who really gets him writes a prequel, then yeah, I’d love it. Otherwise, I’m afraid it would be more of the fare primarily geared for fanboys.

So I guess those additional Hobbit titles floated over at TORn may have been serious as well. ;-)

In light of this latest development, I’ve got a title for the prequels — The Hobbit: Land Before Smaug Part (insert #).

April 22, 2014
Categories: Interviews, Movies, Rumors, The Hobbit . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 9 Comments

Living the Horror? Matusita House or Bust? Or what rumors can do

Excuse me I should have said Casa Matusita o busto.

house of matusitaIs Richard Armitage going to be in a film about a notorious haunted house in Peru? We’ll see. And yes, this post is in part for the three of you who haven’t heard that rumor, but I’m not really going to talk much about it today (at least that’s the plan right now). Rather I’m going to wax on about navigating Richard Armitage rumors of work.

Before I get started, no, I’m not concerned about his casting in House of Matusita conflicting with Comic-Con. He would be much closer to San Diego, and his schedule will be much more flexible if he’s not doing live theater.

If this is your first time to live through a rumor of a potential movie lead for Richard or rumor of any kind of work, a little something to remember. In over six years of keeping tabs on our guy’s career, I have not seen one rumor of work pan out if it went beyond several days without being confirmed. Yep, you read that right. Everything that fans have gotten wind of him possibly doing, was already a done deal or he was in the middle of doing it, and it was confirmed quickly. Certainly, there were no trial balloons that went on and on and perpetrated by the parties involved. And if I’m wrong in how I’m remembering this, generally, legitimate work has been confirmed quickly. So yeah, if this rumor and the one about The Crucible is not confirmed before the end of this week and certainly by next week, I’m consigning them to the trash heap.

While I’m at it, I’ll tell you about my first experience with RA’s possible casting as a lead in a movie. It has been almost five years ago. I had joined Twitter and not because of Richard Armitage at all. But lo and behold, a couple of week later, I read a tweet about him being cast in a movie and from the director, Mike Ogden. Obviously, it didn’t become a job for Richard, but that announcement did a lot to get me acclimated to Twitter, and for that I’m thankful.

There was something else I became accustomed to from this experience, and an event I consider more significant — an up close and personal introduction to online crowd funding for something other than a charity. Mike made an appeal to fans to fund the movie. At first, I was put off by this and thought it was not well done when Richard Armitage wasn’t confirmed, and maybe the timing wasn’t great. Mostly I thought it was trying to engage people who many didn’t seem to be accustomed to investing in vehicles like this and were being asked to give money without a real prospectus, if you will, being provided.

But I’m no longer offended and haven’t been in a long time. A lot has changed in five years, and lots of people tap online crowd funding these days and for lots of reasons and such things as a prospectus are laughable to bring up, because non-charitable crowd funding projects are designed to appeal to vanity — name on the credits, paraphernalia from the movie that no one else but funders can claim — and not to someone’s potential to get a monetary return on investment. Anyway, it’s pretty much mainstream now as a possible source of cash and not a faux pas as it seemed in 2009.

Something else came out of that experience, but I’ll talk about that tomorrow or maybe Tuesday since that is the day for ‘M’ and I’m jumping ahead today to post about ‘L’. Yeah, I’m still with this A to Z Challenge. Can you believe it? Neither can I.

April 13, 2014
Categories: Fandom, Movies, Rumors . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 7 Comments

Know Surprises

Richard Armitage with bedroom eyesNow that we’re reasonably sure Richard Armitage will be starring in The Old Vic’s version of The Crucible, this probably means no RA at Comic-Con in San Diego. Yep, I’m thinking that may be what it means. Unless he got two days off to make a jaunt across the pond. If he does come to the Con, he probably won’t be there on Saturday but rather Thursday, since Saturdays are big days in the theater. Or am I wrong about this?

Yeah, I think the group in London will try to accommodate a trip to Cali — at least mid-week so he can promote Into the Storm. Unless his last minute appearance at Cinema-Con in Las Vegas was a trade-off for not appearing in San Diego.

Then again, I could be so out in left field, because last time I checked, Peter Jackson is no pushover, and he’s not going to have a skeleton crew at Comic-Con and certainly not doing his thing on Thursday. It will be Saturday for PJ and company, and not to mention that Richard Armitage seems to be the point man for pushing The Hobbit. But maybe that was also a trade-off, so that Richard is getting it out of the way and will be free all summer. I kind of doubt that.

Or maybe it’s either/or. He gets to be there on Thursday or Saturday but not both. Or maybe both PJ and Todd have their promotions running on Saturday. I’m so confused.

My gut: if he made an agreement with Peter Jackson to be there for The Hobbit, he will be. How can I say that? Hmm, Peter Jackson, the West End, Peter Jackson, the West End. Uh yeah, it’s Peter Jackson. Whether fair or not, that’s probably reality.

Whatever happens, it’s probably not a good idea for fans to buy tickets to The Crucible from July 23-28.* Can you imagine how pissed off you would be if you did and he was an ocean away? Yeah, consider this post a public service.

Other than that, the photo above is an interesting pick for The Mail. Is he a deer caught in the glare of the paparazzi or are those the bedroom eyes that get John Proctor and the rest of Salem in trouble? ;-)
‘

And a thank you to Baz Bamigboye for the latest ripple effect. Now if he could just put his ear to the ground and answer my musing…

edit: it just occurred to me I may have made an error in this piece because The Old Vic is not technically in the West End. It’s not even in the area known as Theatreland. I’m doing this entirely from memory, so if anyone knows, educate me please. I don’t have time to look it up! :)

* those blackout dates are subject to change based on the confirmed news we hear; however, it’s good to keep in mind that the Into the Storm premiere will be coming up not long after Comic-con. The world premiere will be less than two weeks after Comic-Con ends.

April 13, 2014
Categories: Movies, Rumors, Stage Productions . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 35 Comments

Zombie Apocalypse Overcomes Regional Restrictions, Or I Want My TV Now!

A pivotal event is about to happen, and it comes none too soon. In fact, it’s several years late, but I’ll take it and hopefully it will lead to some relief of the frustration I vented earlier about the slow distribution of shows to other countries than their origin, and how this facilitated piracy, but it didn’t have to be that way. The Walking Dead wil be making global distribution of the new season within 24 hours of its release in the U.S.

“The Walking Dead” wakes up and fights piracy by releasing global versions earlier

jason-profileBy Jason Lynch

Jason Lynch is the former television editor at People magazine.

In the coming days, zombies are going to take over the world. Again.

On Sunday, the horror series The Walking Dead kicks off its fourth season on AMC, and its premiere episode is packed with stomach-churning gore, nail-biting suspense and of course, zombies galore. It’s a brutal, bloody show that is seemingly not for everyone—except that everyone seems to be watching. In March, the third season finale drew its largest audience ever, with 12.4 million viewers tuning in, and if the show’s viewing trends continue, Sunday’s ratings should be even higher.

But US audiences won’t be the only ones getting their zombie fix. Within 24 hours of its US premiere, international viewers in more than 125 different countries will be able to watch as well... read the rest here

Yippee! No, I’m not a watcher of The Walking Dead, but this is huge! May other producers be so overcome that they follow suit like lemmings. Are you hearing this, BBC?

Some of you may be thinking, “What’s the big deal? For years we’ve been watching shows from other countries shortly after their release.” Yeah, I know, but you weren’t accessing them through legal means, and if you were, it was usually with quite a delay in watching, and many shows were not dubbed into other languages. So this is new, and more important a sign that the networks are waking up to the fact that not only do viewers not want to wait for their tv, but they won’t!*

*Last year a new show called Touch had a simultaneous global release, so The Walking Dead is not breaking entirely new ground but rather will receive more attention for this phenomenon, and that’s a good thing!

Note: I’m debating about putting the Richard Armitage tag on this one. I’m not entirely sure that he’s going back to tv, but he’s the one who got me interested in watching tv again, and I have wondered why HBO Game of Thrones is following me when I have never written about that show. Interesting. Yeah, this is getting the tag. :D

On a related note: if you’re smart, and I assume all of you who read this blog are smart :D, and you like to invest in the stock market, I hope you are doing research on the revolution about to happen with Google TV and Apple TV. Many of you folks in Kansas City know what I’m talkin’ about.

Okay, I feel another tangent coming on, so I’ll stop that line of thought.

October 11, 2013
Categories: Geek, Rumors, Tangents . Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 15 Comments

Spooks, The Movie

According to Peter Firth, a movie version of Spooks is in the works. As much as I’ve ranted about my frustration with Spooks Series 9, I’m totally up for a film version of the series and of course one that includes the erstwhile Lucas North.

o-SPOOKS-570

Richard Armitage is so cagey, it wouldn’t surprise me if he already knew about this. He talked about it so enthusiastically in the past, I’ve always wondered myself.

March 26, 2013
Categories: Rumors, Spooks . Tags: , , , , , . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 29 Comments

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