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.
For those who may not know it, I was born and reared in the U.S., and for most of my life the Nazis have been a source of ridicule. The lion’s share of the ridicule has been serious with an occasional straying into the humorous ala “The Producers.”
I’ve gone right along with all of it, but now that I interact more regularly with German fans and especially now that Richard Armitage will be playing Heinz Kruger, a Nazi, I find myself being much more sensitive to what you all may find offensive. I was trying to figure this out on my own, but I know that many of you have no problem sharing, so I’m asking you to share your thoughts about this. How do you feel about the Nazis being continually held up as the bad guys? Do you dissociate yourself from them, or do you ever take any of the negative comments personally?
Another reason I ask is because I’m originally from the Southern part of the United States — the area formerly known as the Confederacy (aka Rebels) during our Civil War in the mid 1800s. Many derogatory comments are still made about the rebels and too often all Southerners are swabbed with the same brush that would lead others to believe we’re all racists and stupid. So I was wondering if sometimes you feel that all Germans are swabbed with having been Nazis. Oh, and just so you know, SO has a very strong German heritage. Momma and Papa are both of German descent and his grandparents spoke with a German accent.
Thanks for any input, and if this has already been adequately covered elsewhere, please let me know. I’m really interested in understanding your viewpoint.
Please feel free to send me an email if you would rather not comment. See “CONTACT ME” on the left sidebar.
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)
RAFrenzy 
