Richard Armitage tangentially related
Current projects:
- I was amused that the London Theatre Direct blurb for Uncle Vanya somehow missed Armitage’s Olivier nom for The Crucible. More on his choice of that quote.
- Lots more buzz for The Lodge in the wake of its U.S. release date: Punch Drunk Critics and Nightmarish Conjurings and Bloody Disgusting and Dead Entertainment. And here’s a very accurate review of The Lodge, imo. Spoilers, natch. The film got one mention in this poll. It got a mention in this article about arthouse horror (which the author doesn’t like) and also made a list of strong films directed by women this year. You can also see the film in Karlsbad / Karlovy Vary this week — and I recommend the city for an interesting visit (baths and wafers).
- (The Stranger): More pictures of filming (no Armitage) at the Daily Mail. Scenes from filming in Picton and in Edgeley and Stockport and here is more from Stockport.
- (Castlevania): Adi Shankar gets into the Emmy nomination pitch game. Also, win a signed poster.
- (A Nearly Normal Family): If you want a taste of it, the publisher made an excerpt available this week.
Past projects:
- (Berlin Station): Changing local opinions on the Russian occupation of the Crimea.
- (David Copperfield): Dickens was a true crime fan.
- (The Taking of Annie Thorne / The Hiding Place): Vote for it to win a reader award here. Here’s a new review of it.
Collateral attractions:
- Tom Holland (Pilgrimage) saved a fan from some autograph merchants this week. Sweet story.
- Trailer for Ian McKellen (The Hobbit)’s new film.
Things Armitage has said:
- Another commentary on Years and Years.
- George Orwell’s birthday was this week — there’s been a lot of discussion of 1984 throughout the press. What the book means today. And why we should reread it.
Other Richard Armitages:
- This is a nice story about the transportation guy, who apparently has some overlap with our Armitage on the biking issue.
Things we’ve talked about:
- The radical ideal of the public library.
- Amusing if you read those clunker Jean Auel novels back in the day.
- Should social media tell us when we’re being mean? (I vote no.) And: first only special people got social media verification. Now anyone can get it. Which means of course some people are selling it as a scam.
- “That” vs. “which.”
- Interesting piece on loving John Wayne’s movies while being horrified by John Wayne.
Me + Richard Armitage 
in regards to 1984 and why we should re-read it…..actually, I have started re-reading it very recently (haven’t had time to get far into yet though). I haven’t read the details of your post yet, just skimmed the topics for now and will read further tomorrow as I’m pretty tired and going to bed now after just finishing watching a movie called Posse….not a great movie by any means (starring and directed by Kirk Douglas – I only watched it because I have a recent fascination with James Stacy – let’s not go there) – at any rate, I think it kind of ties in with 1984/current politics/Trumpism….the movie was interesting – about how a US Marshall preys upon fear/threat to America by ‘lawlessness’/manipulates citizens/uses people, corrupts others to save himself/etc. etc. to campaign for an election and how he is actually just as corrupt, maybe more so, as those he vilifies for his own purposes. Had a good twist ending – it was a bad movie that had a good theme.
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I had planned to reread it last summer and then. Yeah. Had not heard of that film, though.
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I grew up loving John Wayne. My parents loved John Wayne, my sister loved John Wayne, I loved John Wayne. We loved his persona on screen. In adulthood, I’ve often thought he wouldn’t fare too well in modern society. He was about thirty years older than my dad, though they ran neck and neck in their ideals. When I heard the flurry about his old Playboy article, my first thought was, “What do you expect from someone born at the turn of the century?”
Now, with our access to current events worldwide, I believe we are expected to be more tolerant, more accepting of people who live a world away, it’s a gift and a responsibility granted by the internet’s connecting all of us. Back then, we were what we were raised to be. Even movie stars living in California, traveling the world. Perhaps it was even intensified by the microcosm (I hope I’m using that word right) of his work.
I still love John Wayne. He was what he was. Always, John Wayne.
The article was beautifully written, so enjoyable to read! Thanks for the link.
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Admittedly I have no investment in John Wayne, and what I would say about the larger issue here probably needs its own post (it’s complicated), as I deal a lot with problematic historical figures who need to be read and studied no matter their transgressions, indeed precisely because of them. I linked the article because I thought it was a really sensitive read, and if I had to summarize my view in the abstract, I’d say we have to think about it on a case by case basis.
That said: the thing is, while I agree that one’s raising is influential on one’s adult views, there were people who were born around the turn of the century who grew up, looked at the world, and changed their minds. In a world that was changing for the better, he chose to be a reactionary and use his cultural power to reinforce damaging social views. Many actors did not support the Black List in the 1950s, but Wayne actively sought to exclude artists from work. It’s not like everyone just stood behind HUAC, even then. The views Wayne expressed in 1971 were already out of date by 1955 or so at the latest. Many people were changing their standpoint by then, and he chose not to be one of them. So whether the quality of his work is good or not (as I said I have no opinion; I don’t even remember seeing one John Wayne film) he doesn’t get a pass from me on his political views just because he was born when things were different. I mean, neither you nor I simply accepts everything we were taught growing up (thank heavens!). Why should different rules apply to him?
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For better or worse I learned from my dad that some men have no interest in anything but their own opinion. I have a habit of shrugging and lumping them together. Perhaps because it cost me so much of my childhood learning that, I’m unwilling to give up my little joys because he wasn’t a man like he was in the movies. I will always love the John Wayne that rides in my memories, that made me laugh and cry, his personal injustices I’ll leave to others more educated and well spoken.
🙈🙉🙊
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ps my comparable “problem film” is probably Gone with the Wind (as I mentioned earlier this spring)
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I know what you mean – I loved that book when I was a teenager,(ruined all Romance novels ever after – nothing could compare). I read it at least 5 times and cried for Scarlet every time Melanie died.
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I loved that movie, it was the spanking I got when I finally read the book that was disconcerting 😯
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pps: should I try to see the BTS movie when it comes here in August?
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Yes!! Everyone should! 😬😉🥰
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I’ve been thinking about my frivolous reply to this.
Normally I don’t tell people what to see because who am I to know what they want to watch? However, with BTS, so much of their appeal, for me, is them behind the scenes. Tired grumpy men with no makeup who are always starving but always in for a game. I love their carefree, in some cases almost childlike interest in the world and in mundane things we do every day like going to the grocery store, getting lost, not speaking the local language, losing their tempers with each other. The genius of BTS is their willingness, even insistance to let their fans see them imperfectly.
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I will try to see it 🙂 It’s coming to a cinema about 40 mi away.
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We just got in from Phoenix today. It was torture seeing the poster at the theaters down there and realizing we’re missing it by a mere week. Boo!
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Yes, I read the Auel books (back in the 1990s, I think, after high school), that piece you shared cracked me up!
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Me too!
https://www.hominides.com/html/ancetres/ancetres-cro-magnon.php
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Cro-Magnon and Trop mignon are true words!
I named my children “Cro- mignon” and “Cro- mignonne” It was just a bad word game that I used to play with, a few years ago, after summer holidays in Eyzies de Tayac .
To note Cro-Magnon 1 was probably aged 40 years old at the time of his death … which was a considerable age at the time …
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I’ve started leaving that piece of world civ I out — it feels like it’s all being rewritten just now.
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