Thursday, December 1, 2011

Patience and Hobbits

The making of The Hobbit proves just as perilous as the quest itself.  It  made sense to make the prequel to round out The Lord of the Rings movies and it looked like the movie would never get made after MGM's collapse.  (That sound you hear is Bond fans letting out a sign of relief as another delayed project goes into production.)

While I admit to not casting my lot with the Tolkien purists, or the the ringers, I do have one 6'2, blue-eyed reason to follow this project.  Martin Freeman's announcement as Bilbo required no thought, as if he was born to play the part in much the same way Stephen Fry was born to play Oscar Wilde.  Once Richard Armitage won the part of Thorin Oakenshield, without Peter Jackson seeing any of his previous work, people scratched their head and wondered if he's 'too good looking' for the part.  Really?  Let me tell you nothing makes an actor more smoking hot as talent.  There's one other thing making him smoking hot in my books other than his talent.

Richard Armitage keeps his head down and does his work.

Other than a few words in the production video, and some of it in Maori, he has said nothing for months.  Mr. Armitage displays a talent for disappearing is on par with Bilbo putting on this ring. (Ever see the first group photo of the cast?  It's amazing how a self-described '6'2, gangly bloke' can hide in the back .)  He has gone on record saying he does want to Twitter or blog to prevent jinxing a project.  Good for him.  While I do follow some actor's Twitter pages for progress reports on their projects, I yearn for some to simply lay low and work.  It's part of cultivating delay of gratification, the skill most associated with the story of kids either eating the marshmallow right now, or waiting five minutes to eat two.  Right now I stare at the marshmallow known as Richard Armitage dot net for my pay off.

What is the pay off?  A Hobbit trailer would be nice and can giev a sense about his take on Thorin Oakenshield. At this point I will take him poking his head up to say hi.  (May be via Sir Ian's blog if he would be so kind.)  I can't fault Mr. Armitage for the radio silence since I pretty much did the same thing juggling two, sometimes three, jobs after graduating from my Library Tech program.  The commute to the set has some great scenery, but it has to take a lot out of him and the other actors.  I myself remember sitting on the bus on the way home from a looong day waiting for a neuron to fire to suggest supper ideas for the evening, much less remember to eat.  I hope he has a few neurons left for the press junket he will have to do for the film(s).

So patience is the rule.  Mr. Armitage is just wandering, not lost.




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