Playing Thorin, or: Pitfalls and rewards of taking on an iconic Tolkien character, part 1 [guest post by KatharineD]

[KatharineD is a regular commentator and occasional guest author on “me + richard armitage”. Her previous guest posts treated her visit to Sydney Supanova 2013 and her musings on the prospective extended edition DVD release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Longtime readers here know that this topic — how some Tolkien fans reacted to Armitage’s casting as Thorin Oakenshield — is a sore spot with me, so many thanks to KatharineD for researching and composing a contribution that fills in an important gap in my reception of Armitage’s career and provided some necessary perspective on the issue for me.]

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If you appreciate the work of TORn — an all-volunteer group that has brought us several pieces of intriguing Richard Armitage material, including interviews — why not support their fundraiser? They have auctions for LOTR / Hobbit memorabilia running at eBay, OR you can donate (they have bling to share).

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As a newer fan of Richard Armitage, I was curious about the phase of his career from the time of his casting as Thorin to the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in December, 2012. These posts reflect my attempts to learn more.

I first came across RA when Spooks 7 aired in Australia. As a longtime fan of the series, I very much enjoyed his portrayal of Lucas North. I remember searching for basic biographical information at the time, as well as looking over his IMDb entry and searching out North And South, but nothing more. Similarly to experiences described in many blog accounts I’ve read, my RA fandom needed time to percolate.

[Right: Richard Armitage, Wellington, November 28. 2012. Source.]

My family are big Lord Of The Rings fans, mainly of the movies, but in my older son’s case, of the books as well, so when it came time for the casting announcements for The Hobbit, we were all interested to see who had been cast in the major roles. We knew a great deal of Martin Freeman’s work, as well as James Nesbitt’s and Ken Stott’s, and RA was our familiar MI-5 agent. However, other than watching Peter Jackson’s video blogs and the trailer release, we really didn’t follow the day to day news updates on the production. Perhaps somewhat oddly, my desire to follow up on RA more closely came about on the day of the world premiere of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in Wellington. Watching the live stream, I got caught up in the euphoria of the moment and was bowled over by our lovely man.

As I became more aware of fan sites about RA, at some point I discovered Servetus’ blog, and eventually delved into the archives to read fan reactions to the significant events pertaining to TH. There was the absolute joy surrounding the casting announcement, the excitement of the very first video blog with Richard’s part in the powhiri ceremony, and then the stunned reaction to the first trailer for TH: AUJ, with RA leading the singing of the “Misty Mountains” song. As far as I can see, other than some disquiet about how the RA fandom might change after the movie was released, Richard’s fans were generally thrilled that he had scored such a significant role, one that would likely give him world-wide recognition.

I learned about another side to this story only more recently, however: The reaction of some hardcore Tolkien fans to learning who was to play the dwarf king in their beloved Hobbit. I’m talking about the members of TheOneRing.net forums, or “Ringers,” who met the announcement with a mixture of bemusement, anxiety, and in some cases, downright hostility. I decided it would be interesting to explore the TORn boards and take a close look at how this story unfolded. A bit of work’s involved — a search for “Richard Armitage” on TORn currently reveals 61 pages of topic threads, or hundreds of discussions where his name is mentioned in some way.

[Left: Brian Blessed. Source.]

With all the delays to the start of filming TH, mostly due to financial troubles at MGM, Ringers kept themselves amused by creating fantasy casting lists, not unlike the ones we’ve been making recently to conjure up new roles for RA, only in reverse. Richard got quite a few mentions from mid-2008 onwards. Ringers felt he could be a good match for the role of Bard the Bowman, but he certainly was never mentioned as a possible Thorin.

[Serv interjects: Our friend mulubinba was one of the proponents of the Bard role for Armitage.]

[Right: Ian McShane. Source.]

During the time that Guillermo del Toro was signed on as director, he made several overtures to Brian Blessed with a view to taking on the role of Thorin. I must say, having just watched a video of Brian talking about TH as well as some of the iconic roles he’s played, he looked the epitome of an elderly, robust dwarf, complete with bushy beard and that wonderful deep voice. He’s now 76 –34 years older than RA. Del Toro was also quoted in an article (October, 2010) as saying that Ian McShane (70) “would make the most perfect dwarf.” He was clearly looking to cast “old,” before he left the project and Peter Jackson took over.

The first cast announcement came on October 22, 2010, and was immediately scrutinized closely on the TORn boards. Martin Freeman had been an almost unanimous fan choice for Bilbo and was met with great applause and relief — their main character was judged to be in good hands. The casting of Richard Armitage as Thorin was another matter entirely. Ringers who had come to expect the casting of an actor in his 60s or 70s were aghast at the news. Who was he, and why on earth was he considered right for the part?

[Left: Richard Armitage, date unknown but before Fall 2006. Source.]

Unfortunately, someone seeking to let people know what Richard looked like unearthed the photo at left and posted it on the forum. Shame they didn’t choose one of his more moody-looking pics. One person’s reaction to the photo: “Seems too young with not enough meat on his bones and what about his voice? Kinda doubt it’s baritone.” Some were inclined to be generous, taking the “blind faith” approach, shrugging their shoulders and intoning a phrase that cropped up rather a lot — “in PJ we trust.” Those with prior knowledge of RA’s work implored doubters to check out his performances in North And South and Spooks to gain insight into not only his general acting ability, but also his skill at portraying conflicted, multi-layered characters.

The age factor turned into a major stumbling block for fans who had always pictured Thorin in their imagination as a wizened, old dwarf. How could a 39-year-old man (who was also deemed by many to be far too good-looking for the part) portray the world-weary, burdened qualities the role called for? A photoshop visual of how RA might be made to look old was put forward to appease those who couldn’t see past his smooth features. Richard was judged by some to be a good likeness for John Howe’s drawing of Thorin (it’s all in the nose!).

[Left: John Howe’s drawing. See Armitage’s remarks about that drwaing here.]

Those familiar with the change of cast that occurred on The Lord Of The Rings were quick to offer a solution. Stuart Townsend, originally cast as Aragorn, left that production to make way for Viggo Mortensen. Armitage would not suit, and would do the same. Such comments make one wonder whether RA’s remark that he didn’t unpack for three weeks when he first arrived in New Zealand stemmed from his own doubts about his ability to pull off the role, or responded to adverse comments that had filtered through to him from the fan forums. Probably a little of both.

While many fans adopted a “wait and see” attitude, some nonetheless decried the casting decision long and hard, refusing to let go of their own (in their opinion) far superior choices. They seemed to think that if only they could get a sit down with Peter Jackson, they’d be able to make him see reason, for he was surely sadly deluded. Such stances show just how much Tolkien and his characters mean to many people, to an extent that their visions of how the story plays out are so steadfastly fixed in their heads. One of RA’s most ardent naysayers argued vociferously for a much older actor to take over, but then sheepishly reported back that a re-read of the book revealed no particular mention of Thorin as “old.” Yet, most had certainly gained that impression along the way.

Finally, the question of acting credentials was raised. Surely a more experienced “film actor” would be better for a movie franchise of this magnitude? Perhaps Richard should have been offered one of the lesser dwarf roles, moving on to a major part in a movie at a later date (presumably in a film the Ringers wouldn’t care if he botched or not)!

Armitage did not indicate at the time that he was aware of these fan discussions. Even if he were, however, there was no way for RA to answer his critics ahead of the movie release. The interactions on TORn revealed that doubters would continue to doubt.

[For the rest of the story, picking up the narrative in February 2011, see part 2.]

~ by Servetus on August 29, 2013.