Choose Puppy Poll + Thorin Cover:Richard Armitage Interview Excerpt from UK's Empire Mag (thanks to RAnet)

Excerpt from Collider.com article about The Hobbit:An Unexpected Journey

Richard Armitage:

• Richard Armitage grew his own beard, rather than donning a fake one, in order to play Thorin.
• At 6’2”, Armitage never expected to be playing a dwarf; Thorin comes in at 5’2” which is very tall for a dwarf.
• Thorin’s father and grandfather were touched by the “dragon sickness,” a deadly obsession and attraction to gold.
• Dwarf kingdoms are designed in a way that overcompensates for their short statures.
• The first shot for all of the Dwarves was the scene at Bag End, including the song heard in the trailer.
• There is an antagonistic relationship and power struggle between Thorin and Gandalf throughout the films.
• Armitage used the devastation at Hiroshima as a reference for his Smaug’s destruction of his people’s homeland.
• Most of the script was edited or changed in some way to reflect the voice of the characters, as portrayed by their respective actors, over the course of filming.
• Armitage smashed his own shield into his mouth during one scene and continued onto a second take with a broken lip and bloody mouth.

   Sincere thanks to RAnet for following RA interview from Empire Magazine..
                                                               A) Harry

                                                           B) Lucas

                                                              C) Guy

                                                                 D) Porter

British actor Richard Armitage also makes his debut as Dwarf leader Thorin Oakenshield. Armitage, who is perhaps best known for his roles in British TV favourites including The Vicar of Dibley, Spooks and Robin Hood.

In an exclusive interview with the magazine, he spoke of his excitement at working with Jackson: “I’d read The Hobbit over and over as a kid. Then I got into the Lord Of The Rings as an adult, but sadly I was never in a position to even be considered for that trilogy.”

He added: “There’s nothing that could have stopped me from doing Thorin. If I never do another piece of work again after this, I think I’ll be happy, genuinely happy. It feels like an arrival.”

“It’s the fact that it’s Peter Jackson and he’s picking up Tolkien and doing what everybody wants to be done with it. It’s his vision, and it’s so so close, so close to my vision.”

                                                       *****

New audiobook:written by GRR Martin, narrated by Iain Glen (Jorah in GoT)

Listen to 5min excerpt: http://www.westeros.org/ASoWS/News/Entry/Three_New_GRRM_Audiobooks/