May 31, 2011

New Heinz Kruger Pix + Finally Friday + Clarissa + Thorin Thurs..Action Figure Speculation + Twitpic of Ros's Coffin + GoT Tweet Recaps + Willy-nilly Wednesday + Lovely, Historic Shooting Locations for The Tudors



Thx to bccmee and http://www.richardarmitagenet.com/  we have 2 new Kruger pics...



Article explaining the background of a radio program 'Clarissa' which was narrated by Richard Armitage - followed by the link to a movie of the C18 Samuel Richardson novel, starring Sean Bean







                    Rather partial to the idea of an action figure that looks like this...

Thorin Oakenshield’s golden Hobbit moment arrives about 65% into the novel. It occurs after barrels filled with the 13 dwarves have had a hazardous ride down the river to Lake-town. The boatmen leave the barrels until morning in order to enjoy their evening meal. Tolkien describes the scene:

“They would have been surprised, if they could have seen what happened down by the shore, after they had gone and the shades of night had fallen. First of all a barrel was cut loose by Bilbo and pushed to the shore and opened. Groans came from inside, and out crept a most unhappy dwarf. Wet straw was in his draggled beard; he was so sore and still, so bruised and buffeted he could hardly stand or stumble through the shallow water to lie groaning on the shore. He had a famished and a savage look like a dog than has been chained and forgotten in a kennel for a week. It was Thorin, but you could only have told it by his golden chain, and by the colour of his now dirty and tattered sky-blue hood with its tarnished silver tassel. It was some time before he would be even polite to the hobbit.

“Well, are you alive or are you dead?” asked Bilbo quite crossly…”Are you still in prison, or are you free? If you want food, and if you want to go on with this silly adventure..you had better slap your arms and rub your legs and try and help me get the others out while there is a chance!”

Thorin of course saw the sense of this, so after a few more groans he got up and helped the hobbit as well as he could. [He and Bilbo release the others from the barrels] “Well! Here we are!” said Thorin. “And I suppose we ought to thank our stars and Mr. Baggins. I am sure he has a right to expect it, though I wish he could have arranged a more comfortable journey. Still--all very much at your service once more, Mr Baggins. No doubt we shall feel properly grateful when we are fed and recovered. In the meanwhile what next?”

“I suggest Lake-town,” said Bilbo. “What else is there?”….so leaving the others Thorin and Fili and Kili and the hobbit went along the shore to the great bridge. There were guards at the head of it….it is not surprising that the guards were drinking and laughing by a fire in their hut….Their astonishment was enormous when Thorin Oakenshield stepped in through the door.

“Who are you and what do you want?” they shouted leaping to their feet and groping for weapons.

“Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain!” said the dwarf in a loud voice, and he looked it, in spite of his torn clothes and draggled hood. The gold gleamed on his neck and waist; his eyes were dark and deep. “I have come back. I wish to see the Master of your town!”

Then there was tremendous excitement. Some of the more foolish ran out of the hut as if they expected the Mountain to go golden in the night and all the waters of the lake turn yellow right away. The captain of the guard came forward.

“And who are these?” he asked pointing to Fili and Kili and Bilbo.

“The sons of my father’s daughter,” answered Thorin, “Fili and Kili of the race of Durin, and Mr Baggins who has traveled with us out of the West.”

“If you come in peace lay down your arms!” said the captain.

“We have none,” said Thorin….”We have no need of weapons, who return at last to our own as spoken of old. Nor could we fight against so many. Take us to your master!”

…From one great hall shone many lights and there came the sound of many voices. They passed its doors and stood blinking in the light looking at long tables filled with folk.

“I am Thorin son of Thrain son of Thror King under the Mountain! I return!” cried Thorin in a loud voice from the door, before the captain could say anything.

Sue pointed out that Royal Doulton designed a collection of figurines for LOTR
http://www.tolkiencollector.com/pages/record0317.html

Katrina Blair, on twitter, offered this page of Norse mythology as evidence Tolkien was very familiar with it...



        




Creepy, or should I say spooky--following from recent Spooks prop sale..labelled Ros' coffin: 



THE TUDORS -- Are you now or have you watched the 4 series, or any part of,  The Tudors? (it's currently playing on bbcA..Wed evenings)  After becoming curious about the shooting locations, I realized we twice toured the area where most of it was filmed - County Wicklow, Ireland.  In fact, we had lunch one day at Powerscourt Estate in Enniskerry. Fondly remember our Irish tour coach driver squeezing the large vehicle through the centuries old stone archway within what looked like a couple inches to spare on either side.  All the Americans onboard vigorously applauded his expertise.  Pat took a bow and then reminded us to return to his coach by "tree-terty"...:)  Apparently the 'th' sound was not a feature of the Gaelic language. A sweet, knowledgeable man he was, as he steered his vehicle down narrow roadways - the entire time entertaining us with the charming details of local history.

The beautiful, historic locations where The Tudors was filmed...
http://tudorswiki.sho.com/page/SET+Locations+of+the+Tudors
Our very own Musa(faboamanto) was again quoted in WiC's recap of tweets for ep7..




16 comments:

Musa said...

Thorin Thursday already? Really like the two Thorin versions with the long hair, but not sure about the barrel one? LOL

Ricrar said...

Yes, Musa, I know Thorin Thurs arrived unusually early - that's because The Tudors is playing on bbcA. Anne Boleyn is about to lose her head - kings must have their jollies, you know;) Henry is ready to move on to Jane Seymour, who no doubt lost her head as well. Wasn't it a hazardous profession in those days - being merrie olde Henry's wife;)

I think Thorin looks kinda cute wearing his barrel:) Can't wait to see the scene when he declares who he is in a 'loud' voice to the Laketown gathering.

Musa said...

That will be a great scene in Laketown, the regal Thorin!

I just saw your poll. Wonder if there will be a Thorin action figure? I'm sure there will be. Our own 4 foot tall RA :)

Sue said...

I bet filming that scene was a barrel of laughts (not!) I feel bruised all over just thinking about it - wouldn't mind being squashed in there with him mind!

He arrives at the Hobbit's home of course before then, along with the other dwarfs invited by Gandalf.

I was interested to hear Ian McKellan saying that we will get to see where Gandalf kept disappearing to in the book. Apparently Tolkien did write about this and that's why the Hobbit is in two parts because this has been added to the storyline. Is there a Mrs. Gandalf do you think? Wonder what he got up to on his exploits? The mind boggles!

Not long before Captain America is released. As there will be a prequel to it I'm wondering whether Richard will be called in to do that German accent again!

Ricrar said...

Yes, Sue, the scene where all 13 dwarves arrive at bilbo's home should be a blast. The wee hobbit is such a conscentious host and they eat him out of house and home:) Didn't Tolkien state that Thorin was too important to help with kitchen duties, so he instead talked to Gandalf the entire time.

Whenever anyone mentions Thorin as regal, as Musa did above, it always reminds me of Richard during the bbcA interview. He was asked when Guy is most difficult to play and he replied after a pensive moment "yes, it's whenever Guy is being ridiculed by the sheriff - he things of himself as quite majestic and that's why those moments make him squirm. Definitely the most difficult Guy scenes to play."

hmmm..yes, what might Gandalf have been up to whenever he told the dwarves he was leaving them on their journey? Didn't he visit the evil Sauron at least once? Wonder if they'll include the strange scene where dwarves are wound into the spiders webs.

Did anyone else have the impression the director of Capt America was very impressed w/Richard's Kruger moments? Perhaps he will want that character included in the prequel...who wouldn't? If we had our way, they'd find a way to include RA in almost every future production possible:) Other than things like Alice in Wonderland or as a vampire...then again it's probably the only way those two would become palatable for me. *winks*

Didn't someone recently say that Richard has spoiled other shows for them because they don't enjoy those productions nearly as much as his projects. Ha! that's so true, isn't it.

Sue said...

RiCrAr,

I wouldn't be surprised if Richard didn't turn up in the prequel to CA. Didn't someone glimpse Richard/Kruger watching the original experiment of CA? I remember seeing him in a trailer for it, but you had to be quick to spot him.

RE: Clarissa - ME's "I was a little daunted by the size" comment had me chuckling a little -can't say I've ever had that particular problem, but I live in hope!

Musa said...

Finally a new Kruger pic! He looks mean in both of them! Can't wait to see him on the big screen, even if it's just for 10 minutes! Hope he does turn up in the prequel :) There's always hope...

Ricrar said...

I remember reading comments about Heinz Kruger in the original comics series..it seems he was devoted to his wife - don't know if the prequel would feature that aspect of the spy.

As for Clarissa and the "RA as Lovelace quote" in the above article: Lovelace says the fact his first love betrayed him was the basic reason why he'd lost any trust in females in general, and made the heartless decision to test Clarissa.

It reminded me of one of RA's earliest interviews. Read it in the archive at one of the two RA website forums. I can't remember the exact context of the query presented to Richard that prompted his description of his first time w/a female(biblical sense).

His school class was on an overnight excursion..sleeping in tents. An older girl visited him in his tent and had the honor of introducing one of the (future) sexiest men on earth to the potential joys of sex. Unfortunately, she must've been an insensitive flake, because she gloated over her conquest the next morning to the entire group of his peers. He said he was terribly embarrassed. With his usual self-deprecatory humor, he added that she didn't approve or disapprove:) Don't you think that type of experience could leave a permanent negative impression on a sincere male teen?

Sue said...

RiCrAr,

I vaguely remember all the speculation of this rather ill-advised comment Richard made whilst being interviewed about the series Robin Hood, on the subject of losing his cherry. Don't remember it being an older girl, but it would make sense. I remember him saying something like "she didn't complain, but she didn't congratulate me either! I probably wasn't very good". Ah poor little mite! (the image of John Standring in the back of that landrover comes to mind)I wonder if the sleeping bag was a single or double! (Can you get a double sleeping bag?

Ricrar said...

If you're doing it right, Sue, a single sleeping bag works just fine..with room to spare;) *wkend is here!*

Actually, considering Richard's decision to reveal almost all physically as an actor, wasn't his openness in regard to his first time w/a female right in sync with that attitude? Maybe if it'd meant more personally to him he might've hesitated to be so frank with the reporter. As a people pleaser, he's had in the past a couple times when fans voiced annoyance with an answer prodded out of him by the interviewer. Remember the description he once gave that most fans of his were middle aged women...haha...that one definitely went over like a lead balloon.

He's made it perfectly clear that he knows where he wants the line drawn between private & public and the strategy has certainly been successful so far. Perhaps he'll meet an actress one day who wants to pursue the limelight as a couple...wonder if that would be a possibility:)

Musa said...

Maybe I'm one of the few fans out there that actually enjoys all of his very early interviews when he was less guarded and more frank and open about his life and thoughts. I also think he's often ambushed by the press on questions about his fans. Being middle-aged myself and if I lived in the UK, possibly a Radio4 listener (I've actually listened on occasion from my PC) I wouldn't dispute that particular statement about at least one of his fans - LOL. I would have given the guy a break also because he was, and to some extent, still is, involved with his fans in a very open and affectionate way, and really he doesn't have to be. I've noticed recently he always points out we're a very diverse group, and that's really a more accurate description.

Thanks for the Clarissa article Ricrar, of course, no news that I've watched SB in Clarissa, I own the DVD, and I've actually read an abridged version of the novel. I managed to download not long ago of all RA's version, had only heard a few snippets, and hope to have some extended time soon to listen to all of it!

Sue said...

RiCrAr,

I think in the earlier interviews (as with later ones, I'm sure) Richard was very nervous and often you blurt things out you wish you hadn't under such circumstances, i.e. that certain intimate situation. Actually I remember being directed to the original article/interview and there wasn't really that much revealed (as the actress said to the vicar!)it's like with most things fact and fiction becomes blurred once the media jumps on the band wagon.

I think Richard when he said "most of his fans were middle-aged Radio 4 listeners" probably meant it to be a compliment (as opposed to empty-headed dolly birds) but didn't realised that nobody wants to be described as middle-aged even if they are. But then he called some fans "girls" at one point, (whice I found rather nice and not derogatory in any way) although there were some comments about that too. Poor guy he can't win can he? The best attitude is not to give a bugger and behave as you normally would do, not to try and be something you aren't and beat yourself up about it.

Ricrar said...

True, Sue. He must be so relieved while working on The Hobbit - no interviews with reporters ready to pounce on his every word. Although, during his break I'd not be at all surprised if he's expected to provide some Strike Back 2 interviews. Alright! We are more than ready to hear anything he has to say.

Sue said...

RiCrAr,

Depending how long Richard's break is for, he may even attend the premiere of Captain America, wouldn't that be great. I believe it's going to take place in London in July. He's playing with the big boys now!

Not sure about the SB2 interviews, I think the new kids on the block (that aussie actor for one) may give some interviews.

One drawback on filming the Hobbit for two years is that he risks people forgetting his existence, so it's best he keeps popping up now and again just to remind us.

Ricrar said...

Sue, that does seem like a strong probability for an RA appearance at the Capt America premier if, as you say, it's planned for London.

Philip Winchester, one of the new stars of SB2 is half Brit/half American. Read an interview today in which he said his mother was on holiday in Montana and met his cowboy father. The actor added "then I came along." His parents insisted he attend one of your acting academies if that was his goal. He was accepted at LAMDA..isn't that Richard's alma mater as well? Winchester is currently playing Leontes in Camelot--he's Guinevere's husband. Young King Arthur 'liaisoned' with Guinevere the morning of her marriage to Leontes. They really know how to spice up ancient tales, don't they;)

Sue said...

RiCrAr,

Yes our Mr. Armitage attended LAMDA.

Sean Bean got into RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) which is really the cat's whiskers, they only take the best.

I must admit Camelot looks rather good and I think I might watch it when it starts over here in England.