Someone really needs to ask Richard Armitage about Blake in an interview sometime
Blake obviously played some kind of role (although we never figured out exactly what) in Spooks, and then of course there was the Blake connection as an impetus for his comfort with playing Thorin Oakenshield, and the significance of Blake for the narrative in Hannibal, and now this.
I’m so excited about #WolverinePodcast. And Benjamin Pearcy really sounds like he is in the same groove as Richard. Excerpt about #RichardArmitage from the Vulture interview at: https://t.co/Uqht3Gijkm pic.twitter.com/dTOK61lKlg
— moose turds (@mooseturds) February 6, 2018
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here’s the image in question:
William Black, Nebuchadnezzar, after 1795. This one’s at the Tate.
Me + Richard Armitage 
I looked up the painting on Wikipedia – really interesting. Very interesting how RA keeps using Blake in his roles – as you say, it would be fascinating to hear what he has to say about that in an interview
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Yeah. I would really like to know if this was something he encountered in school at some point (like, apparenty, The French Lieutenant’s Woman) or at some other point and what about Blake continues to draw him in.
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Thanks for the link. I recall he said in one interview, way before Hannibal -when asked what books he was reading, that he was reading a book about William Blake – I assumed the one by Peter Ackroyd. If he is using Blake, he seems more drawn to the art than the lit.
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I think it’s Vulpes Libris and I think he actually says it’s the Peter Ackroyd one. I also bought it, and also couldn’t figure out the connection. I remember being really annoyed in Spooks 9 when they find the Blake stuff in his apartment and just kind of shrug.
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Me too. All an excuse for the tattoo. My post still holds up.
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The caption under the picture say William Black.
There are many etchings by Blake in the Tate kept in a dimly lit room.
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Thanks, I’ll fix it when I get a chance.
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I had to have a quiet chuckle reading Benjamin Percy’s remarks praising RA’s “scholarly” emails on the Wolverine character. Can’t help thinking he’s probably never read RA’s recent Christmas messages or the pieces written for Cyber-Smile!! 😜
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Or, I guess, the Berlin Station middle of the night emails.
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Is it a British actor thing to develop such detailed back stories for their characters just prior to filming? I’m currently obsessed with Francis Lee’s God’s Own Country and both of his leads say that the best part was being allowed to develop their own canon about the character from the birth to the moment the scripts start. I haven’t noticed American actors really talk about this process.
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I think it’s a drama school thing. Comparatively few American actors have a formal education in their craft. (This, along with lower salary expectations, is supposedly why the American screen is being taken over by Brits, not that I mind.)
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