Sex symbol? No, the truth is I'm just a DIY geek, says Richard Armitage
By Tim Oglethorpe, Daily Mail, 7th May 2010
Richard Armitage has brooding good looks, a voice like velvet and a string of TV roles behind him as a clean-cut hero.
He was stern mill-owner John Thornton in the BBC's North And South, handsome Harry Kennedy in The Vicar Of Dibley, Guy Of Gisborne in Robin Hood and, most recently, spy Lucas North in Spooks.
Now he is rebel SAS soldier John Porter in Sky One's new six-part drama Strike Back.
Soldier of fortune: Richard Armitage as John Porter and Orla Brady as Katie Dartmouth in Strike Back
There's lots of derring-do, and the chance to tear off his shirt at every opportunity. No wonder he's built up a fan base of adoring women.
But he's bewildered at his attraction. 'I'm just a geek,' he protests.
'My idea of a passionate weekend is doing DIY. I'm pretty handy with a screwdriver. But is that sexy? I don't think so!'
His character in Strike Back, which is based on the best-selling book by former SAS soldier Chris Ryan, doesn't quite win wars singlehandedly - but has a good stab at it. In next week's episode, we see John Porter travel to Zimbabwe to spring an assassin from a high-security jail and smuggle him across the border into South Africa.
Richard says: 'Porter has guts and he is prepared to make judgements based on a moral code - and to put his life on the line if he thinks he needs to. I don't want him to be perceived as this one-dimensional killing machine with no humanity.'
So does he think his hunky SAS hero will set hearts fluttering? Looking baffled, Richard says: 'I cannot think how someone willing to die for their country would be a person who you would want to put a picture of on your bedroom wall.
'You admire someone like that for their bravery, but not for their attractiveness. Strike Back is about war, and I don't think war is something to glamorise.'
Richard found stardom with his 2004 North And South performance. Within hours of his first appearance, the programme's website crashed. When the BBC was forced to shut the board down, fans set up their own website, with the resultant 20 million hits - and climbing. 'It's flattering, but scary,' says Richard. 'I don't know how to cope with it.
One woman sent me a pink blanket. And someone made a model of me as Guy of Gisborne.'
He's currently filming the ninth series of Spooks and Hollywood is also on his agenda.
His first film role was as an unnamed fighter pilot in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace - during which he chatted up who he thought was the star, Natalie Portman, only to discover that the girl was actually her stand-in, a then unknown actress called Keira Knightley. It was a sticky situation.
But Richard bravely talked his way out of the embarrassment. 'Although when you compare it to the courage shown by real soldiers, I'm not sure the word bravery should come into it,' he laughs.
Strike Back is on Sky 1 on Wednesdays at 9pm http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1274130/Sex-symbol-No-truth-Im-just-DIY-geek-says-Richard-Armitage.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
6 comments:
Obviously Richard is somewhat in the dark as to what makes women tick. How can he not realise how extremely appealing he is? Starting from the outside working in, height, looks, personality, brains, heart and then to top it all,good mates with a screwdriver. It doesn't get better than that!
Tackling the John Porter/soldier aspect; it's not so much Chris Ryan's soldier as RA in the role that's attractive.
OK, sending him a pink blanket's rather puzzling (that wasn't me, honest!)
RA, I'm going to spell it out. You. Are. No. Longer. A. Geek. (if you ever were, except in your own head!)
Now enjoy your well-deserved attention!
Well put enrich2. When he refers to himself as a 'geek' does he mean it in the original computer sense of the term? Wonder if RA relaxes on set by surfing the internet w/the rest of us cyberspace addicts;) There are certainly plenty of 'details' available for him to mine on new characters.
In particular, many websites currently have first hand news reports from 'a few' brave journalists currently embedded w/the military in Iraq/Afghanistan.
Geek now means anyone who is intensely interested in something (in this case DIY) and can be socially inept, perhaps as a result of their all-consuming interest. I find it extremely hard to believe that this might apply to RA (the socially inept part), as said previously!
I must admit I'm a bit puzzled about the pink blanket myself. Wonder what the idea was about that? (I don't think I want to ponder that one!)
I do think that in a way as fans we are likely to confuse the screen character with Richard himself. I mean every hair is gelled in place and make-up touched up for every scene and designer jeans, the lot basically, probably really isn't really Richard. To be honest I get the sneaky suspicion that if we were to get the chance to get to know the real Richard we may well be bored rigid. He is lovely to look at and a lovely guy at that, but I think we must be careful not to try and make him out to be some kind of "perfect" human being, because let's face it there is no such thing. We all get moody and grouchy and I don't doubt for a moment that Richard is any different in the main. It's nice to dream though isn't it? In a way I find the fact that he doesn't take the idea of him being some kind of sex symbol too seriously rather endearing and hope it remains that way. I find his shyness the most gorgeous quality about the man, very rare these days. A pacifist too according to one interview. I can't say I'm really surprised at that either. Now handy with a screwdriver, now you're talking!! My dream man does exist after all!!!!I love a man who's good with his hands don't you girls?
Richard is human, but, in his persona as a lovely-looking, talented actor, he really is perfect because he doesn't spoil the illusion by being incoherent, boring, obnoxious or big-headed in interviews. An actor's job is to get us to suspend disbelief and to create a magical sphere. However, I have read many articles with him in which I feel that we really are being presented with a thoughful, intelligent person who is putting across his own views and not some polished PA number.
I do agree, Sue, that much of what we imagine Richard to be are our dreams and projections, which is probably why he finds this intense female adoration baffling and hard to take. That said, of course we all present a sanitised view of ourselves to the public. How would the world function if everyone was always "warts and all" honest with each other?
Richard likes to read and as a former bookworm (hard to find the time much these days), I'm hard put to think that he'd bore me in RL.
Well said, Sue and Erich.
Re: DIY Guy. Depends on the "guy". In this (large and coldish!) corner of the world, there is a TV chappie, who has garnered much female interest. I can see why, though he's not my cup of English-Irish Breakfast tea. My countrywomen will know of whom I speak, I think....
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