Translation of French piece

[ETA: RichardArmitageNet.com has posted a partial translation of this article from L’Ecran fantastique, here [News of 24 November], by lexie171170, with better sentences than these and not so many weird moments. I’m not correcting this as incentive for you to read that, and I am relieved I didn’t misunderstand anything important. Please check Lexie’s translation out. I’m leaving this post here in case anyone wants to continue commenting.]

This is kind of bad, parts of it are cut off, and my French extends to having passed an exam that says I am capable of reading and understanding scholarly articles on my subject in that language. Oh, and I can order in restaurants. But it’s a grapefruit day, I can’t go to shul because I can’t sit that long, and I’m trying to entertain myself.

Translated from April’s Violet’s scan here, [ETA: which had sections cu off, hence the many omissions.]

Page 1. More to follow.

Thorin, the head of the dwarves. Richard Armitage

On the conquest of a kingdom

Although he measures 1,88 m and XXX, Richard Armitage (Heinz Kruger in Captain America) has been engaged to play an aged dwarf leading his people against the orcs of Middle Earth.

What did you do during the casting process to impress Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro, and succeed in getting the role of Thorin Oakenshield?

I have to clarify that I met Peter Jackson, and that unfortunately I never had the occasion to make the acquaintance of Guillermo del Toro. Initially, I was taking part in the auditions for another character, that of Bard, which was finally played by Luke Evans, but they also offered me the chance to do an audition for the role of Thorin. The scene that I had to act was written just for the casting process. It was extremely well conceived, because it presented different aspects of the qualities of Thorin, all explaining how the story would be. I had at that point the chance to spend about two hours with Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens, [can’t read – afin?] to act the whole scene for a first time, then to act again after they had given me some new information. It happened that the day when we met, I had come from filming a series, and I had hurt my back very badly doing a stunt on the same morning. Because the bruises were very painful, I had been obliged to take a strong dose of pills in order to cope and be in shape to come to the audition. In retrospect, I told myself that the way in which I was forced to deal with these pains on that day brought me closer to Thorin, who had to internalize some terribly painful matters in his life. Things went really well with Peter, Frank, and Philippa in this little room, on that day. What I did pleased them, and they chose me, which was a huge surprise, because I’m 1,88 m tall, and I didn’t expect to be selected to play a warrior dwarf. [can’t read]

What are the weaknesses and strengths of Thorin and what sort of relationship does he have with his nephews Fili and Kili, the other dwarves, and Bilbo?

Thorin is a truly interesting character. When he appears in the film, one learns that he carrying an enormous burden on his shoulders. He is the prince of the kingdom of Durin, and he has to avenge the disappearance and the death of his grandfather and his father the king. His mission consists in retaking his kingdom. He has only very little time to accomplish this immense task, and this enormous responsibility rests solely on his head. If it fails and dies, the entire royal line of his family will dispossessed forever and disappear with him. The central importance of his mission and the tension that it creates in him has repercussions on his relationship with all the other characters. When Gandalf asks him to accept that Bilbo join the team that he has assembled, Thorin is furious, because he thinks that the Hobbit will be the weak link in the group, and risk compromising everything. If Bilbo is a source of anxiety, irritation, and animosity at the beginning of the journey, the relations between Thorin and him are developing positively for the entire three films, until mutual trust and respect exists between the two. In his personal history, Thorin became Thorin Oakenshield by fighting bravely at the side of his brother, who is dead. After the disappearance of their father, Thorin’s nephews Kili and Fili are enormously attached to him, because Thorin XXXX their paternal figure of reference. At the same time, Thorin is protective of Kili and Fili. He knows that they have never traveled in the mountains, that they have never fought a dragon, nor have they seen their native country since the people of Durin were exiled, but he is indulgent with them. The way in which his nephews see the event of the journey is very optimistic and innocent. Thorin tries to protect them during the quest, and watches so that their integration in the group of warriors occurs without a problem, and that they are able to contribute to recover this [cut off]: The kingdom of their family.

The prince of the dwarfs.

Given that your character also has a kingdom to reconquer, could one say that Thorin is a sort of “Aragon of the dwarf people” in The Hobbit?

There is actually this similarity between the two characters, [but?] Thorin is a great deal harder than Aragorn. He is bad-tempered and [cut off] of a sullen humor. I found this characteristic interesting and at the beginning, I had a little bit of a bad time to establish that [cut off]. I would say that this surly and aggressive side is one of the common points of dwarf warriors, but that Thorin, more than that, cannot stand the idea that someone has taken away his kingdom [cut off] so violent. He had an equally bad time seeing the loss of his rank in the society of the dwarfs, by the way very privileged status of [cut off] of the royal family and that of the knight errant. He is ashamed of his [cut off]… He believes that if he confides anything he holds to anyone he has to [cut off] that it will be taken away. It is for that reason he refuses to divulge the details of the quest to the othors, and never shows them the course of the journey that he has traced on his map. At the beginning, Thorin has [cut off] a slightly villainous comportment.

Was it easy to act while wearing all of the many prostheses of your costume[cut off]

~ by Servetus on November 24, 2012.