Popping up with Richard

I’m a bad Armitage fan right now. Still haven’t gotten up the courage to see My Zoe yet and I admit to not minding so much that Richard is relatively quiet on social media. So much happening on social media these days that it gets exhausting to follow and him not being around so much is almost bliss – one less thing to occupy my mind with. Now Richard has popped up again and this time it’s not someting I want to ignore, so here I am, popping up as well with a blog post.

So, Richard Armitage is now promoting again, this time the audiobook of selected Chekhov tales he is reading. Yeah, really not interested in another audio book, but I do like seeing a new picture of our Richie again…

The image was used in a recent NME interview called “The Soundtrack of my Life” which was published yesterday. Not too revealing an article but a fun enough read.

He really is of my generation with his Abba and Eurythmics and Queen memories/choices. Imogen Heap I have heard of by name, listening to that song he shared I don’t think I need to hear more, it’s not for me. His Tina Turner story intrigued me as I remember wanting to go and see her as well during that tour but although I liked Tina Turner I was never a real fan and in the end felt it was too expensive. I thought I’d check the tour dates to see when Armitage would have been in Amsterdam to see her but according to Wikipedia she did her Dutch concerts in Arnhem not Amsterdam! Memory is a tricky thing, even for Richards. Maybe he stayed in Amsterdam, which is about an hour and a half away (or a little less) from Arnhem. That last video he shared of that Icelandic band’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest was awesome. I had seen part of it before, never the whole thing, and it just cracked me up.

Then yesterday evening another item appeared about Richard being in an Empire podcast. My brother had come by unexpectedly, so I chose him and a nice cheese evening instead of the podcast…

Richard still wasn’t a priority during the day today when I decided to spend it finally finishing my Audrey Hepburn in World War II book (post on that will be forthcoming). This evening after dinner I finally did make some time and listened to the podcast. I skipped ahead till I got to the Richard bit at 1 hour and 10 minutes.

So, the man is in New York. Lots of audiobook and Chekhov talk that were mildly interesting to me (I’m sorry, I just can not get hyped up about audiobooks!). I liked the latter part of the interview better when chat turned to other things. I really liked that little stage door story of when he realized that Toby Jones had played Dobby the house elf. Until this evening I too hadn’t realized that Toby had played Dobby.

I could identify with the getting fat and grey at 50 comment, because that’s what’s going on with me, but I somehow don’t think that will happen with him just yet. He commented on being semi-introverted and slightly anti-social, so that going into lockdown was alright for him (alone I wonder?) and with that too I can identify. He mentioned about staying off social media (yeah, noticed that) but that it was maybe time to come out of hiding now. The tombstone epitaph that he thinks would be fitting for him saying, “He was fully committed” – yeah, I can see that too. There wasn’t that much new in this interview but it was nice hearing him speak again.

A nice little Armitage distraction, but now it’s back to other things again for the rest of the evening, here in our garden with a little outside fire burning and a glass of white wine. The son is out, the daughter is watching a movie in her room, the husband is reading and I am tryping this…

… while I listen to the two little hedgehogs that live in our garden waking up and moving around in the undergrowth. Mr Esther was able to take a picture of them 3 days ago…

I think I may go back to Anthony Andrews land again when I sign off here. Been in that land for a little while now, ever since I posted about him in that fictional crush challenge I did…

… or I may pick up another book again. Needs to be a good one because I had quite some frustration with the Audrey Hepburn one and I don’t want to be frustrated again. Enough chat for now. Over and out

Richard loves to be alone

Lovely interview with Richard Armitage at the BBC yesterday. Not that much new for an old fan but somehow lovely.

For those of you missed my interview with @RCArmitage on #AfternoonLive yesterday here it is in full. pic.twitter.com/t7ftfNh1Nn

— Simon McCoy (@BBCSimonMcCoy) February 5, 2020

10 minutes wasn’t enough, I felt it would have gone deeper had there been more time, but some nice little tidbits gleaned anyhow. Simon McCoy seemed to be truly curious about getting to know more about Richard and challenged him a bit as well. I loved the critical questions about how planting trees would make a difference in Richard’s performance on stage and whether he is a selfish actor. That little North & South bit made me smile so widely and Richard seemed to enjoy the memory.

I hope they do get that beer together. And I’m totally with Richard on loving being alone, I love that too, as did Greta Garbo…

In fact, Mr Esther and I are really good at being alone together, like here back in 2008 on holiday at the family cottage my parents used to own.

I think we can fit a third person in for alone time who loves being alone as well…

More, more, more! How d’you like it?

More Richard goodies today and this old disco song springs to mind…

There really is a song for everything, isn’t there?

Anyway, the morning in Richard-news started out nicely with fellow fan Young Veloce translating a Korean article where the South-Korean director Jo Sung-hee speaks about Richard who filmed with him last year.

.@RCArmitage I want to let you know what Jo Sung-hee said about working with you in a Korean movie magazine. so here is my translation. I'm really looking forward to your Korean movie, Spaceship Victory "승리호". 🚀 #RichardArmitage pic.twitter.com/jo1thDEQJn

— Young (@Young_Ox_Libra) January 8, 2020

Yes, this very much sounds like the Richard we have come to know. And best thing yet? Young-Veloce got a shout out from The Armitage himself for this! I bet she’s really excited about that. 😊

Thank you for the translation. What a privilege for me to work with Jo Sung-hee https://t.co/HThIqACHU6

— Richard Armitage (@RCArmitage) January 8, 2020

Next up, Servetus referenced an interview with Ciaran Hinds about Uncle Vanya here. I took screenshots of the section where he speaks about the play. It does pique my curiosity and I’m really excited that Hinds and Toby Jones are in this play as well.

Servetus also dug up an interview with Conor McPherson, the paywright who has adapted Uncle Vanya. Again, I made screenshots of where Vanya is referenced:

I suppose the adaptation won’t stray too much from the original but I have never seen the original (and can barely remember reading it), so I have nothing to compare it to.

And last, but not least, Amazing Grace on Twitter unearted another interview, this time in a publication called “Psychologies Magazine”.

New #RichardArmitage interview from @PsychologiesMag #thestranger @RCArmitage pic.twitter.com/Rk2i9Au88s

— Amazing Grace (@dukevalentinois) January 8, 2020

Richard lives on a monthly cycle? Is that why so many women feel an affinitity with him? 😉 Sorry to relate this to Anne with an E again, but it makes me think of when Anne gets her first period and her freaking out over her cycle (the funniest bit and the part I thought of starts at 1 minute 30 seconds into this video)…

Guess cycles are not just a female thing anymore. Or maybe he’s secretly a werewolf? Hmm, now that is an intriguing thought… Ties back nicely to his Wolverine audioplays (which I still haven’t listened to).

I also get that Richard is all about peace and love and ‘let’s just get along’. So am I, I totally am a peacemaker type and a see-all-sides-to-everything kind of person, but goodness, does he come off a bit wishy-washy and preachy here, or is it just me? Maybe that has something to do with the type of magazine (it’s a mindfulness magazine, after all) and the kind of interview this was?  Oh well, at least we learned about the cycle thing and what he thinks about damaging truths. Knowing that makes me curious about what he’d think of the movie The Farewell, which I thought was really good when I saw it a while back. It’s all about not telling someone a damaging truth…

Is Richard Armitage secretly Chinese? I wonder…

Richard on a Monday morning…

I’m working from home today but it’s not that busy and I came across this article published today in The Telegraph that I just had to link to here. If you register you can read one article per week for free, so I registered and read the article. I liked it far more than the one from yesterday because it gave me quite some new information. Yay! I took screenshots, so I’ll just copy and paste the article here:

Of course, there is the mandatory beefcake reference but there’s much more too, like how he uses his body to fit his roles (contradicting being ‘way past taking his shirt off’ with examples of how he still does take his shirt off – LOL!), talking about Uncle Vanya coming at the right time when he too is in a mid-life crisis, referencing a relationship he’s in and that’s it’s a good one which makes me very happy for him (I suspected as much after seeing this photo, although he doesn’t mention who he’s in a relationship with), and I was surprised that he’s been ‘based’ in a hotel for the past 5 years when I thought he had bought an apartment in New York. Also, he mentions optioning the Joy Ellis novels and working on a pilot for The Taking of Annie Thorne. I don’t know in what capacity he’s working on the projects but it’s interesting nonetheless. And reading his description of what The Stranger is about makes me more curious to watch it than I was before, it sounds quite good! Yes, this article is a nice mix of not so new and new information and I like it.

I just now saw a tweet from Richard referencing the article and finding the title misleading…

Thanks for the interview Jane. To clarify, we spoke extensively about The Stranger @NetflixUK @netflix and Uncle Vanya @unclevanyaplay so the headline is a little misleading… https://t.co/bB3SD1b4zq

— Richard Armitage (@RCArmitage) January 6, 2020

I think he may regret talking private life now, and creep back into his shell, but I kinda like getting that little glimpse in. This new year is starting well with all the Richard-content we are getting. 🙂

Richard on a Sunday morning

Richard Armitage in today’s Sunday Times:

Is it me or is something off with this image? Richard looks a bit uncomfortable to me and something is off with his face, a little too smooth or too light or something? In any case, I do reallly dig the long hair and beard. 🙂

The article is behind a paywall, but if you have an account you can read an article for free every once in a while, which is what I did. I was going to screenshot it, but Servetus has already done that so nicely here.

Gotta say, I get a bit tired of reporters leading off with or emphasizing the “male totty, heartthrob” thing so much. Says more about the reporter than the actor, I feel. I’d never deny that Richard’s a heartthrob, I wouldn’t have been a fan for close to 14 years if I didn’t think he was a bit of a heartthrob, but I couldn’t love someone for so long just because he has a nice face. There are so many other tall, dark and handsome actors out there to love and yet he is the one I fangirl over. The man brings other qualities to his “male totty” moniker, qualities I still fail to understand completely myself, which is what keeps him interesting to me even when he does projects I don’t much enjoy. I wish that were more of a focus in articles, trying to understand what is beneath the surface that makes him so appealing. I guess this article is not that.

Other than that little gripe, I did enjoy reading this. There was a lot of not so new content, I felt, as we all know how he loves finding darkness in light and light in darkness and inhabiting flawed characters. I identify with the outsider-feeling and him enjoying his me-time, even though I already knew that about him. It was interesting to read that his grief informed his acting in My Zoe, and that apparently he has no designs anymore on Hollywood? For a little while there I felt like he did but his work seems to be taking him elsewhere and I really like that. Oh, and it’s sweet to read that he still seems to fanboy over Cate Blanchett.

My favourite part of the article is when he talks about playing Astrov in Uncle Vanya and doing theatre work, especially this part:

“Now I understand that people aren’t here to see their favourite actor doing something, showing off. That isn’t the point of it. The point is, I am there to help them feel something, so it’s all about them, not me. That makes it so much easier.”

I agree and disagree with that. I am, after all, solely traveling to London to see my favourite actor doing something! However, it is indeed not about the showing off for me, it is because he really is able to touch my soul and make me feel something. So, yes, fair point that he thinks it’s all about the audience but maybe he also needs to acknowledge that it is also about what he as a person brings to a performance. It’d be so interesting to delve into this more deeply with him.

Anyway, this Sunday is getting away from me and I have stuff to do! So, let me just end by saying I’m so glad to see some real Armitage content as that has been sparse of late. Here’s hoping Uncle Vanya will spark more!