Sweet to the fans

I just came across this little Q&A video of Richard but I’m not sure he’s actually answering questions from the Armitage Army. I know a little of what happens in (my corner of) the fandom and I never saw a request to send in questions. But hey, that’s just semantics, I guess. He does answer a question about the Armitage Army in a sweet way…

…which is why I figured I’d share this particular video here….

The questions and answers aren’t too surprising and the man and his stance towards his own nudity remains baffling to me. He doesn’t want to take his kit off after 50 but then does so in this series where apparently we will see more of him than we ever have before and he even tries to sell the series with his nudity. A man of contradiction. Anyway, it still is a nice little interview.

I haven’t had the patience and head space to dive into Obsession yet. I am curious about Richard’s performance but am also finding that I need to talk myself into watching this. From experience I can tell you that it could take a while before I do so. For example, it was not until earlier this week that I finally watched Space Sweepers which I enjoyed far more than I ever thought I would!

Anyway, has anyone watched Obsession yet? Without spoiling too much, was it good?

The publicity machine for ‘Obsession’

Only have a little time to pop in here and there in the Richard Armitage fandom, but the publicity machine is in full-on mode for Obsession, which comes out next week. There’s an ITV interview with Charlie Murphy…

Richard wrote a piece in The Telegraph on working with an intimacy coordinator, which I quite enjoyed. Text is here, thanks to Ketvelin August on Twitter:

He’s been to the BFI in London for a Q&A, although I admit I have only seen pictures and have not yet read anywhere what may or may not have been discussed…

I was out to dinner with friends yesterday evening, so missed him on The One Show but have just seen a clip of it up on YouTube. Not sure if it will stay up but for now it’s viewable here…

The nicest tidbit I read was this morning. I hate The Daily Mail but apparently Richard did give a bonafide interview to the newspaper which was quite interesing. One of the things that stuck out for me was the confirmation that he’s in a relationship and has been for five years already!

Richard came out as gay to his family when he was 19 but not publicly until a few years ago, saying he was worried ‘if I said the wrong thing or revealed too much, it could all come crashing down and my parents wouldn’t be proud of me any more’.
He’s still uncomfortable discussing his private life, but says he and his partner of five years have become friendly with Charlie and her husband.

I’ve got to say I’m so happy for him! I’m assuming it’s with Jim Gibb, who he was photographed with in 2019 at a charity dinner (and I take it he was also seen on the Obsession set). When I saw those photographs three and a half years ago, it left me in no doubt…

Richard is a very private person and he should keep his life as private as he wants to but after having been so invested in him for so many years, I do like knowing this little tidbit about him. I hope they keep going strong. Congratulations on finding your person, Richard!

Anway, back to Obsession: I assume the publicity machine will wane after it starts airing next week on the 13th (unless it becomes a big hit, then I assume we’ll see more). Not sure if I will watch the show right away (I have some trepidations), but I will watch in time. I wonder how the reception of it will be and if it will only be about the sex or if there is something more-dimensional to discuss.

Richard and Harlan

Earlier this week, Richard Armitage interviewed Harlan Coben about his new book I Will Find You. I had briefly considered actually travelling to London to be at this event (admittedly for Richard and less so for Harlan) but in the end it just wasn’t feasible with work and such to travel there on a Thursday. I couldn’t make the livestream, so I hoped for a video of the talk to be released and there is one now! ZedEffEye over on Twitter graciously shared a link for the video.

I see that the YouTube video is an unlisted video, so it will not show up in searches, but is only available through the direct link that I’m also embedding here:

I have just watched it and found it interesting to hear Harlan speak about his writing process. It was also lovely to hear Richard give his insights and I think I may have recognized Opera is Magic‘s voice asking a question (the one about thinking about other plots while writing the current one). She always has great questions at these things.

I took a buttload of screenshots, thought I’d share them here, as a little fan service, to do with as you please (click on images to enlarge)…

Some better pictures were posted on Twitter. Armidreamer, were you in the first row? You got some really good shots.

There are more nice pictures…

It looks like it was a nice event! Next time, if it’s on a weekend, I’ll try getting myself to London again as well.

New interview

I’m only seeing this now, but apparently Richard has done a new interview about writing his audiobook Geneva. I don’t care much for Valentine’s Day and we never do anything to celebrate but as I’m seeing this today, I’ll consider it a V-day gift.

I haven’t watched this yet as it’s over an hour long and I’m at work but I’m looking forward to hearing and seeing the man speak again! I did take a little peek at the video to take a screenshot…

… and it looks like he is surrounded by chocolate! Yumm! I know it’s sound proofing but is this also in reference to what his voice sounds like? I like to think so. In any case, it looks like I will have a date with Richard Armitage on YouTube and some chocolate this evening after work.

Throwback!

There’s a new article on Richard Armitage in the Wall Street Journal, where he talks about growing up and finding what he wanted to do in life…

It was nice getting a few glimpses into the young Richard even though I knew a lot of it already. What’s even more exciting are the pictures that were shared. Richard and his mum visiting the Royal Shakespeare Company, in a picture taken by his father in 2001.

I was 31 and either pregnant or had just had my son when this picture was taken. Wow.

Cutest of all was this following picture of Richard with his older brother Chris, taken in 1976 when Richard would have been 5 years old (and I’m guessing his brother maybe 7?). They look so smart in their ties! They also look like boys I could have played with in primary school. In fact, big brother Chris on the right reminds me of John, an English boy I used to have a crush on in fourth grade. I only have one class picture with John in it (boy on the left, the blond girl diagonally behind him is me). His smile in this picture isn’t as wide as Chris’s is and his hair is darker but still that Chris picture instantly made me think of John! His smile is exactly how I remember John’s to be.

The boys look so familiar, it has me wondering whether they didn’t also spend a year or so in Jerusalem at my school… Ah, man, I love such adorable throwback images!