Promo stills | RAFrenzy

Revving Up for Battle of the Five Armies

[Click to enlarge]

Several new banners for the final Hobbit segement, Battle of the Five Armies, are out. Go here for more.

September 15, 2014
Categories: Movies, The Hobbit . Tags: Aidan Turner, Dean O'Gorman, Fili, Kili, Promo stills, Richard Armitage, Thorin Oakenshield . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: Leave a comment

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:

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: Peter Jackson, Promo stills, Richard Armitage, TheOneRing, Thorin Oakenshield, Warner Brothers . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 19 Comments

Richard Armitage Gets the Star Treatment Down Under

I think the Aussies like Richard Armitage.

Empire Magazine in Australia made Thorin the only cover available for their January issue.

Richard Armitage is Empire's new cover star @armitageblogger @RAFrenzy @RA_Central @RAteam2013 @RCAQuotes @RAnetdotcom #RichardArmitage

— Empire Magazine Aust (@EmpireAust) December 8, 2013

@RAFrenzy @RA_Central @RAteam2013 @RCAQuotes @RAnetdotcom It's the only cover for @EmpireAust

— Empire Magazine Aust (@EmpireAust) December 9, 2013

Yeah, I think they really like him in Australia. :D

December 8, 2013
Categories: Movies, The Hobbit . Tags: Aussie fans, badass dwarf, Empire Magazine, Empire Online, Promo stills, Richard Armitage, Thorin Oakenshield . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 8 Comments

And Now for Something Legal?

Hopefully an example of what is okay to copy and alter with respect to protected images. Proving that humor almost always works.

Richard Armitage with Cats:

John Thornton (I’m so glad you were willing to take Mother’s place in monitoring the mill; remember no cigarettes) with a cat.

Thorin (I’m usually a blowhard, but I’m really trying to be pleasant even though I’m wondering what in the hell you’re looking at, cat, ’cause you’re not looking at the same thing I’m looking at) with a cat.

Guy (I’m never going to tell you everything I’m thinking but I do dig that waitress in the corner and that’s why I have this shit eating grin on my face) with a cat.

Lucas North (Yes! I’m angsty even if you two don’t understand it! And then one cat says to the other, “He’s right I don’t get it. How can he look like that after eight years of torture in a Russian prison,” and the other cat replies, “I don’t know and I don’t care. I’m going to keep staring at him.”) with a cat, er, two cats.

Mr. Rogers (My mother did make the sweater. It’s 33 years old, in mint condition, and at least cats like it) with three cats.

My favorite. Paul (It was really a cat on my head, okay? It was a cat.) with a cat.

I would have had this piece done sooner, but every time I looked at this last one, I got sick laughing. Doesn’t matter that I’ve seen this thing about a 100 times.

Thank you, thank you whoever started Richard Armitage with Cats. I hope the latest scare about images in the RA fandom doesn’t have you bothered, and it certainly shouldn’t since you squarely fall into parody.

November 15, 2013
Categories: Fandom . Tags: all sorts of shit someone dreamed up, Cats, crazy people, creativity, fun, Promo stills, Richard Armitage, Richard Armitage with Cats, screencaps, Tumblr . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 6 Comments

The Hobbit on the Threshold of the Billion Dollar Club

The Hobbit’s box office receipts are recorded at $960,001,896 as of today, but this time next week, it’s likely to officially join the small number of other films which have reached a billion dollars in revenue. The film’s release in China this weekend is cause for such confidence. What happy timing considering the broadcast of Oscar presentations and the dearth of nominations for The Hobbit — excepting the wonderful Tami Lane and Weta Digital bunch.

I wasn’t always this optimistic it could reach the benchmark this quickly. After reading about the piracy which can ensue when there’s a considerable lag time between a film’s release in other countries and China, it was hard not to think The Hobbit would go the way of Skyfall. But I forgot something, and it wasn’t the love affair the Chinese seem to have with fantasy. They also love 3D. This was so easy to forget since it’s never been very popular in America. In fact it has been talked about for years as being dead. I will admit 48fps might resurrect it some, but people have to be willing to give it a try first. I’m not confident that enough in the U.S. did that with Jackson’s movie. But in China, 3D is the rage and will go a long way toward pulling the Chinese to the cinema.

At Comic-Con last year someone in the film industry told me Peter Jackson was more or less forced by Warner Brothers to make it in that format. I’m not sure I agree that Jackson had to be forced especially when I consider his business savvy. But now that I understand the piracy issue a little more, it makes sense Warners would be adamant about it. It’s a kind of insurance policy against piracy. And when considering the box office receipts of the top grossing movies, e.g., Avatar, it’s abundantly clear the format will survive well beyond The Hobbit. But even if the receipts hadn’t been so bent toward 3D, the fastest growing area of the film market is in China, so it more than the U.S. is dictating what we will be seeing. And all of it makes me wonder if indie films will suffer, but that’s for another post.

If you didn’t click on the Skyfall link, I hope you will at some point. It leads to the China Film Biz blog written by Rob Cain who has been been doing business in the industry in China since 1987. He is a wealth of knowledge.

And now a poster featuring our guy since we can’t get enough of looking at him. :D

[click to enlarge]

The facial features are very finely done and the entire poster seems to have an Asian quality. Whatever that is. Someone more articulate than I am may explain.

February 23, 2013
Categories: Geek, Movies, The Hobbit . Tags: 3D, Bilbo Baggins in China, China, film industry, Peter Jackson, piracy, Promo stills, Richard Armitage, Thorin Oakenshield, Warner Brothers . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 10 Comments

Imagine a Gushy Title

Yep, I absolutely loved reading this interview. I’m with family today and can’t really weigh in on this as I want. Just know that I kept grinning while I read and almost said, “Aw!” out loud. :D

Richard Armitage: the warrior dwarf
TOM CARDY

THORIN OAKENSHIELD: Richard Armitage couldn’t imagine watching another actor play this role.

With 13 dwarfs in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, audiences are expected by the film trilogy’s end to easily distinguish and recognise each one.

But if there’s one dwarf that will be easy to spot from the moment he appears on screen it will be Thorin Oakenshield, played by British actor Richard Armitage.

One reason is that Thorin is the leader and, going on a glimpse I got of the band of dwarfs on set during filming earlier this year, a heroic risk-taker. I couldn’t help but think that Thorin could be to The Hobbit what Aragorn – played by Viggo Mortensen – was in The Lord of the Rings.

Armitage, 41, laughs. It isn’t the first time he’s performed in The Hobbit. He was cast in a school production but the part wasn’t so heroic. “I was playing an elf. I was running around in circles being an elf in a forest and we had a papier mache dragon and a man off stage with a funny microphone for Gollum.

“So it was pretty much like the movie we’ve just made,” he jokes.

Armitage, who is doing the interview while in New York at the height of Hurricane Sandy – “I haven’t got any power or water but I’ve got a phone line” – is best known to Kiwis for his risk-taking heroic roles in television’s Spooks and Strike Back. He’s done a small number of movies, including a part in Captain America: The First Avenger.

But The Hobbit is likely to have Armitage exposed to the biggest audience of his career. As yet, he hasn’t dwelled much on what life will be like after the first film is released.

But he says he’s optimistic that he won’t be recognised often when out in public, due to the prosthetics and makeup used to transform him into Thorin. “Because 60 per cent of Thorin’s face belongs to Weta [Workshop], I might get away with it. People might recognise my chin.

“I haven’t really thought about it. At the moment I just want people to really enjoy the film and enjoy the character. If that means they want to come up and say, ‘Hi’ then that’s good. They might want to throw tomatoes at me in the street – but fair enough.”

Armitage first heard about The Hobbit after Sir Peter Jackson contacted the actor’s agent. Jackson asked if Armitage could read for the part of Thorin. “I thought, first of all, I’m six foot two [1.8 metres] and Thorin’s an old guy. Maybe they want me to read it for a general audition.

“But then when I read what they’d done with the audition speech I realised that they were looking for something quite different. They needed someone who could play a warrior, who could play a young Thorin and old Thorin and also to bring the idea of somebody who could return to his full potential to become a king. That’s when I sat down with Peter and we talked through the journey and the arc of the character – and then they offered it to me. I had to pick myself up off the floor.”

Due to the long shoot, Armitage says he had to then juggle other acting projects so he could spend a long time in New Zealand. He was determined to do it, even when there were several months when The Hobbit was in limbo due to the machinations involving the studios. “I just couldn’t watch somebody else playing this role that had nearly been mine. I had to play him. I had to do it– and at that point the film wasn’t green lit.

Read the rest here.

It’s Thanksgiving in the U.S., and despite all the bad news in the world, we are blessed and many of us want to share with others. My prayer is to find ways to do just that and in a manner that brings glory to the Almighty.

And thanks to TheQueen for the heads up. :D

November 22, 2012
Categories: Interviews, Movies, The Hobbit . Tags: Peter Jackson, Promo stills, Richard Armitage, Thorin Oakenshield . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 18 Comments

A Prelude to ‘The Hobbit’ Deluge or What to Immerse Yourself in First?

note: if all that we’ve been getting on Richard Armitage and The Hobbit this month is any indication, we’re going to drown in November, and what a lovely way to go.

Of course the Empire Magazine article is the first thing to bask in!

But after you’re done with that, where do you go?

Yeah, I have a suggestion. :D

I really enjoyed this interview:

Interview: Richard Armitage Talks “The Hobbit”
By Garth Franklin

With the release of the first “Hobbit” film, Hollywood is finally set to showcase a man that fans of British television have known about for years – Richard Armitage. In fact, the distinguished 41-year-old English thespian has already unwittingly assembled his own rabid fan base of swooning admirers affectionately nicknamed ‘The Armitage Army’.

It’s not hard to see why – with sharp features, a great head of hair, icy blue eyes and other impressive assets, he looks very much a star. He first came to attention with his leading role in the BBC’s 2004 version of “North and South”. He also played Macduff to James McAvoy’s Macbeth in the “ShakespeaRe-Told” limited series, and showed off a warmer side romancing Dawn French in the final episodes of beloved sitcom “The Vicar of Dibley”.

I became aware of Armitage for his leather-clad role of Guy of Gisborne in the BBC’s “Robin Hood,” from which he segued into the role of Lucas North on one of my favorite shows “Spooks” (aka. “MI-5”). Decked out in tattoos (as pictured below) to showcase his character’s seven years imprisoned in a Russian gulag, Armitage was a major cast member from the seventh to the ninth season of the long-running spy thriller. Demonstrating his best James Bond/Jack Bauer style skills before departing in dramatic fashion, he also slipped in a quick cameo on last year’s “Captain America: The First Avenger”.

*snip*

His early apprehension stuck with him during the first month of filming, the actor claiming “I didn’t really unpack my bag for about three weeks, ’cause I thought that I was going to be on the plane going home. But yeah, it’s worked out all right.” He also channeled that nervousness into his performance – “Bag End was the first week of shooting for this character, for me and for the other dwarves as well, and it feels so different. But it was good that it felt awkward. It felt like they were out of place because they are in that environment. Dwarves don’t belong in a cozy, domestic situation. They belong in giant halls and on a battlefield.”

Read the rest here

The comments in this interview are what I absolutely love about Richard Armitage.

When you’re done with that, look at Ali’s list of articles for today (October 25). Wow. Wow. Wow. I am so diggin’ this.

October 25, 2012
Categories: Interviews, Movies, The Hobbit . Tags: Being a ripple, Promo stills, RA Monsoon, Richard Armitage, Thorin Oakenshield . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 14 Comments

It’s All Good

What a pleasure to speak with Todd Garner, Producer on Black Sky, about his new movie and about Richard Armitage, whom he says is “thoughtful and smart.” This should come as little surprise to fans since Richard has received praise from quite a few professionals during his career. Mostly due to his zeal to ensure the story is paramount and his character a perfect complement. His habit of writing character biographies has become almost legendary among fans and has prompted some to ask if he is a writer in the making. Garner thinks he is already there, “He’s an amazing actor but also a terrific writer even though he wouldn’t say that. He has come up with great moments not only for himself and others but for the movie. In fact we just finished shooting a moment he came up with that might be in the trailer.”

Black Sky is the story of a group of people in the midst of the worst tornado in recorded U.S. history. Richard plays a teacher caught up in finding his teenage son in the storm, and his preparation for the role could not be more perfect:

The moment when [the character biography] comes alive is when that research turns into the character, and that character goes out into the big wide world and collides with other characters (often the facets created in the biography are designed to cause chaos when this happens, like planting a few explosions inside the character).
Richard Armitage, Vulpes Libris interview.

Although Garner could not reveal much about the plot, it will be fascinating to see with which characters Richard collides whether people or the elements. And his reaction to Richard’s work on set seems to confirm that whatever the collisions, they are impressive, “He brings a great realism and weight to the movie that we wanted when we were casting. There is so much going on technically and with the story. It’s chaotic as it’s supposed to be since it’s a disaster movie. But it’s great to have an actor who in the midst of all of the chaos has complete control and still makes incredibly smart and surprising choices in his acting.” As for Richard’s speech, he will play an American from Oklahoma, and according to Todd, “He’s nailing the accent.”

Garner has also been impressed with Richard’s fans, “They seem very thoughtful, great and just cool. And it’s been fun. It’s a new experience for me since most of the people I’ve interacted with are comedians and fans of comedians.” He certainly didn’t seem to be the least bothered by fans coming to the set and explained, “Every movie with a star who’s beloved and with the internet making location shooting so well known, whether a Nicholas Cage movie, or a Tom Cruise movie, or a Kevin James movie, has fans who come to the set, and actors are for the most part grateful. Richard certainly feels that way and is happy to oblige. He’s a wonderful person who is very real and very giving and charming and hasn’t been put off by this at all. And everyone has been very respectful.” With the cast and crew working very hard on this movie, the only thing expected of the fans is to continue that respect, and I feel confident we will.

Regarding new pictures, Todd asks that we be patient with him and those working on the publicity for the movie who are trying to be thoughtful and intelligent about it. But it will probably be about two weeks when we get another photo. Considering how engaged he’s been so far, there should be no worries.

Todd Garner has served as producer on several well known movies such as Anger Management and Thirteen Going on 30. His next movie Here Comes the Boom starring Kevin James is due for release early October.

Photos courtesy of Todd Garner

August 31, 2012
Categories: Black Sky (Into the Storm), Interviews, Movies . Tags: behind the scenes, Being a ripple, disaster movie, Oklahoma Teacher Dude, Promo stills, Richard Armitage, serendipity, Todd Garner, Tornadoes, Vulpes Libris, writing . Author: RAFrenzy . Comments: 68 Comments