Richard Armitage tangentially related
Ok, so still a ton of O8 stuff.
Ocean’s 8:
- [plot spoilers]: The role of the art world in the film.
- The opening weekend take is revised up yet again, now to near what was the ceiling of the initial predictions. This was after a $4M early opening. I always wonder why that’s relevant — the tickets for the early and premiere showings here were twice the normal ticket price.
- How they got Anna Wintour to agree, and so many celebs to participate.
- More reviews: the New Yorker doesn’t like the tech or, apparently, the non-politicism of the film; Black Girl Nerds made me wonder if they’d seen the film (this is just bizarre); and I swear, the next time a random Brit says something to me about humorless Americans I’m going to cite this review in the BBC. Catholic News Service objects to a crucial scene (spoiler!); THR wants more Armitage; National Review likes the film because it finds it mostly absent of feminism (!). (I’m not entirely sure I believe the cast on this topic, either.) Tom + Lorenzo don’t like the film, paradoxically, because they think they were the target audience.
- Vanity Fair likes the slap.
- Apparently the tech is a great deal more plausible than the reviewer for the New Yorker realized.
- I’d forgotten all about this (I think I read about it in VF at the time): Anne Hathaway’s relationship with a notorious con-man.
- How gay is the film?
- A history of female-led heist films.
- Long profile in the LA Times with Helena Bonham Carter, commenting inter alia on the Irish accent.
- IndieWire compares the film to Solo. Okay … honestly, neither of these films was quite that bad, from what I’m reading.
- There was some fear that the chaos from the filming would allow an actual robbery at the Met.
And here’s a rumor, reported in at least four places:
Me + Richard Armitage 
Saw it yesterday (June 8) and liked it very much. But one of the main reasons I went on opening weekend was to support a summer blockbuster film that didn’t involve superheroes or animation. Bonus points for the cast being predominantly female adults.
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I couldn’t agree more — more adult films for adult audiences would be such a great thing. Obviously when one goes to the theater one is put in the way of a lot of theater trailers and so I’ve seen quite a few the last few days and with one or two exceptions, they’re all violent, horror, heavy action — all things I don’t really care to pay money for. The “women’s films” of this summer have not really appealed to me much, either. I would have enjoyed Ocean’s 8 even w/o Armitage and I would love to see more like this.
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that was kind of the test for me, too. Would I have enjoyed this film even without RA? Definitely yes.
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If RA is Emperor Penguin that would be so cool because a) Batman has been my favourite since I was 4 and tying my bath towel around my neck jumping off the porch to make it ‘fly’ while chanting ‘Na na Na na Na na Batmaaan!’ with my little friends (who were all boys and who always tried to make me be Robin because they had to Batman (but I would have none of it, I was Batman too) and b) I would finally get my oldest daughter to see RA in something because she is a huge Batman fan. She knows all the lore I have no idea about – I had to look up who Emperor Penguin is – he seems a different character than The Penguin I was used. And from the picture I have seen of Emperor Penguin – RA would be a good match.
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Not sure why this went to trash, but what a great comment!
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Thank you Catholic News Service for that handcuff verification! And if it is true RA is to be Emperor Penguin I will finally get my oldest daughter to see something with RA in it? (She’s a Batman superfan since she was a little girl – she didn’t play with dolls, she had Batman action figures)
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There’s an upside to everything, lol 🙂
Honestly, this all seems a bit flimsy to me (without seeing the concept art myself), but a villain in one of these films would be just fine. Then the whole responsibility for the project isn’t hanging on his shoulders, and when he gets tired of it, he can do something else rather than being committed for sequel after sequel, assuming it’s successful.
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Yes, usually the villain role is a one shot so he wouldn’t have to commit to more than one movie – like Heinz Kruger. Although there is always the option for more – I’m sure RA would give a fantastic and memorable performance. Although I’m not dying to see RA in a Marvel Universe type movie I would love to see him as Emperor Penguin (since he didn’t get Dr. Strange). I do like (most) of the Batman movies.
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I’m feeling a weird ambivalence about his roles — probably I should write a separate post. So much news coverage lately.
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You absolutely should!!
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Going from “tall for a dwarf” to “tall for a penguin”.
I would love for him to be in such a big film, and he looks very dapper in tails, so why not. I’m sure he would nail it as the villain. It would be another film I’d watch (I’ve seen almost all the Batman films, and liked the first the most – perhaps because I was in my mid-twenties). I like fantasy/action, and we could go the entire family.
Just like with O8.
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The last point of which is really decisive for me. There’s a really stupid discussion going on on Twitter at the moment because the Entertainment Weekly reporter called Armitage a “no name actor” and said she didn’t believe he could outsmart or seduce the ladies in the film. She preferred Chris Pine (which I find mystifying), but so many people agreed with her that it seems they only want to see people they already know in films (something else I find mystifying — one of the things I hate about the omnipresence of Chris Pine in contemporary film is the constant interference of his not very good portrayal of Captain Kirk). So — yeah. I would love to go into a theater to see him as opposed to constantly finagling with different platforms or obscure venues, and if that would get him more mainstream work, I would be up for that too.
My only concern would be that once again we wouldn’t see his face, there’d be a mask or prosthetics or something.
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I don’t even know who Chris Pine is – I had to look him up – LOL. We should block the Entertainment Weekly when they publish such crap.
Now, if this film (Batman) were done with any kind of delicacy, we would get to appreciate Richard’s handsome features. A villain (even a man) can be sexy, no?
He shouldn’t be made a characature like the riddler, the (other) penguin or the joker. Just like the female villains, Ivy and Catwoman, who were masked to enhance their female features, the penguin’s face could be recognizable in spite of being masked. If Richard is recognizable, he would no longer be “a no name actor”. (Okay, I’ll crawl back into my little den now).
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It was one of those comments that reveals more about the commentator — “I live in my little bubble where there are five recognizable actors and of course my little bubble is the entire world.” I used to laugh about stuff like this but it’s more disturbing these days, as that seems to be our leadership’s attitude toward the world, too. Just hugely embarrassing.
re: Penguin, I have no opinions and I don’t think I’ve seen any of them (maybe the one with Michael Keeton) but I do think that if he were in a halfway serviceable Batman movie, that would widen awareness of his work.
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The first Michael Keaton Batman movie is the one I prefer, because it was so groundbreaking at the time in terms of special effects, particularly the Batmobile, which practically outdid Bond’s Aston Martins.
Any limits to a broader outlook, incl. various bubbles, are disgraceful. I feel for you, and sadly most of the world has to live with the consequences.
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Keaton was fantastic in the first Batman movie although his love interest Kim Basinger was terrible. That Batman movie was stylistically right on track!
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I cannot ‘like’, but I do. She did a good job at screaming though:-)
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yesterday was a disaster. The news leaves me with nothing but despair.
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Like a bully in a school yard.
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ugh. Quite embarrassing for the US, IMHO.
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So hard to build up good will and yet it can be destroyed very quickly. And the people who are cheering loudest are those who will suffer most if what DJT wishes for economically comes to pass.
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I was on a news blackout yesterday bec I went to see O8 as a pre birthday gift plus dinner with the brother and nieces so today I plugged back in and just was stunned at the level of ineptitude and ignorance of Trump toward Canada and our G7 compatriots or maybe ex compatriots. Good for Trudeau to stand up against him. Depressing indeed.
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[…] That Batman production that spread rumors earlier this year is going to cast soon, apparently. […]
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Richard Armitage tangentially related | Me + Richard Armitage said this on January 12, 2019 at 4:17 am |