Playing Thorin: Postscript [guestpost by KatharineD]
KatharineD suggests: Readers who enjoyed my posts and our discussion of TORn fans’ reactions to the casting of Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield and later, his portrayal of the character, may wish to follow the ongoing discussion of Thorin Oakenshield conducted by Tolkien fans at TORn, which can be found here and here.
Me + Richard Armitage 
[…] October, 2013, KatharineD wrote a postscript to this piece, published here. […]
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Playing Thorin, or: Pitfalls and rewards of taking on an iconic Tolkien character, part 2 [guest post by KatharineD] | Me + Richard Armitage said this on October 12, 2013 at 11:08 pm |
Interesting. I haven’t logged on to TORn forums for a while. I’m glad there is an appreciation of RA as Thorin. I myself was unsure about the casting before seeing the film. Of course, once I saw it I was….well, Armitaged. I hold by my opinion that Peter Jackson is a genius. He knew what he wanted and he got it.
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I hadn’t been over there for a while either, so I just happened on this thread about Thorin. It’s interesting to read people saying they now can’t imagine anyone else in the role.
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I love that a number of Ringers admit to North & South marathons! The Armitage empire is expanding. Not having been involved in another fandom, I find these cross over opportunities fascinating. Thanks KatharineD
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I’d be interested to see a graph charting the sales of N&S DVDs- there’s a lot of love for that miniseries floating around.
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I was completely out of the loop on this one and had no preconceived ideas for Thorin so I welcomed Richard’s portrayal. I too believe that PJ is a genius and one of the very few Directors who has managed to cast his movies perfectly. He is also one of the very few who has bonded with his viewers in a way that has changed how we see Directors.
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It’s been quite a turnaround from the initial reaction to PJ casting RA, that’s for sure.
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I was wondering what Ringers thought of RA’s Thorin.Glad to know they mostly approve. Thanks for sharing the info. I think Kili needs a little more love over there, though. Maybe we should blow him some kisses.
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It’s very pleasing that most Ringers on TORn now see RA as the rightful incumbent as Thorin, so from here on in its about character arc rather than winning over the audience in a general sense. I think as far as Kili goes, the sticking point is still mostly about his non-dwarvish look, as it was when the photos first appeared.
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Thank you for the links. I’ve enjoyed reading your “Playing Thorin” posts. Although I’m a fan of both Tolkien books and PJ film adaptations, I missed all the excitement leading up to the release of The Hobbit. After seeing the movie last December, I hotfooted it to the TORn site and read all the threads regarding RA’s casting. Your recap about the reactions and discussions there was accurate.
Btw, that one poster who was so er, expressive in his opinions about RA as Thorin has moved to the IMDb boards to continue his protestations there. I think many Ringers including those who were at first on the fence about RA, found his numerous, long-winded anti-RA posts quite wearying, as I did. Glad to know he’s very much in the minority now.
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Glad you’ve enjoyed following this interesting ‘story’ as I have. The recent posts on TORn show just how accepted RA has become as Thorin. As I said up thread, hopefully the doubters who were so concerned first time around can sit back and just enjoy RA’s performance in DOS.
Thanks for the update on that one particular nay-sayer- I tried to follow up on his opinion once the movie had been released, in the interests of fair reporting, and out of my own interest. He seemed to have left the TORn boards by then.
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Thank you , Katharine 🙂 . It’s fun to read Ringers comments especially those decorated with hearts 😉
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You’re welcome- I went back into the boards over at TORn for my own interest, to see if RA was still being discussed, so I’m happy to pass on the links.
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I have thought for a while that they were coming around, and I was very happy to see these threads. We should remember this for the future, in case he has a controversial casting again. Suppose he had been cast as Batman and got the reception that Ben Affleck has had? I would be a lot less concerned now – his ability to win people over is considerable!
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Yes, RA does seem to have magical acting powers of persuasion. The beauty of it being a Tolkien role is that there is one website which, while not representing all Tolkienite views, at least provides a recognised meeting place for people to voice their opinions. You can go back to TORn again and again to get the latest ideas. Not many roles out there, other than say, Doctor Who, have such organised rallying points.
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I wondered why he no longer posts there.
He has stated that he’s a sort of Tolkien scholar and seem to consider himself an authority on good acting.
Well, other film critics and Tolkien scholars were impressed with RA’s performance despite their criticisms of the movie, so contrary to what he believes, his is not *the* definitive nor the only informed and well-reasoned opinion out there.
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Oh, sorry! Clicked the wrong button.This is meant for Katharine @ 9:21.
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I would imagine the poster you mentioned might have felt he outstayed his welcome. Perhaps he was disappointed when other stalwarts started to turn in favour of RA.
It turns out he’s the same age as my older son who’s also a big Tolkien fan (24 y.o), and while it did get tedious reading the same complaint over and over, I sort of admired that he stuck to his convictions- he was clearly devoted to the source material, and wasn’t letting go for anything. If you have a link, I’d be interested to read his current views.
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Oh, 24 y.o. I had imagined him to be someone older. The thread you might find interesting are:
“Disappointing…Thorin Oakenshield a ‘dashing pretty boy’?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903624/board/flat/219465183?p=1
and “Thorin runners-up”
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903624/board/flat/218570109?p=1
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Thanks for the links, Sienna.
I think given the poster’s obvious preference for an older actor than RA, his review of his performance was reasonably even handed. He clearly enjoys discussing the subject at great length and really knows his Tolkien. RA stated that he knew ‘his’ Thorin wasn’t going to please everyone, and given the initial misgivings that many had, he’s done well to have such a vocal support base over on TORn now.
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You’re welcome.
“He’s done well to have such a vocal support base over on TORn now.”
Yes, and I really shouldn’t be bothered by one critic but to have someone say that RA’s not capable of outstanding performances just rankles. Oh well, you really can’t please everyone but for RA, I sure would’ve liked it to be unanimous. 🙂
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Obviously I need to go back and lurk on the TORn forums – obviously I’ve been away too long and missing out – I need to find my password 🙂 Maybe I need to delurk and put in a good word or two about Aidan Turner.
Like anyone that loves a character from a beloved book, a character they’ve pictured in their minds in a certain way, there will be some who will never come around to accepting RA as Thorin. But that happened with LOTR as well.
Thanks KatharineD
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I hadn’t been back over there since I researched ‘Playing Thorin’, so it was by chance that I found these very recent discussions at TORn. Go spread some Kili love, Faboamanto!
I’ve never read discussions specifically about the LOTR actors on TORn, but I can well imagine there were many differing opinions. One thing that struck me when I read extensively there about The Hobbit, there were many references to grievances dating back to the LOTR films- there’s definitely no ‘forgive and forget’ for some people.
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