“Grubby, grungy” feels better: RA’s thoughts on Thorin

I borrowed some quotes by Richard from dear Ali at Richard Armitage Net pertaining to his transformation into Thorin Oakenshield.

“I started to have Thorin’s dreams, I had dreams of entering Erebor for the first time because that’s what he dreams about — so I had dreams of that.”~~Richard Armitage

Once again, Richard became totally immersed in his character, to the point of dreaming Thorin’s dreams, just as he once dreamed John Porter’s.

Richard being transformed into Thorin, a process that took several hours each morning.

“The first time I was ever created into a dwarf, it was quite shocking. I remember they did like a time-lapse photography of the process and it took something in the region of 4 1/2 hours,” Armitage — who stands 6-foot-2-inches in real life, but was shrunken through movie magic for the film — told UPI at a recent New York news conference.

“I actually kept my eyes shut because I didn’t want to see how it worked and just opened my eyes at the end. It’s very strange when you don’t recognize yourself. And, actually, at that point, it was quite extreme. But they went through a process of sculpting many different kinds of face. I had an amazing sculptor …. who I used to visit at WETA, so he could look at my face and it would help him with his work. 

“They eventually found something, which was invisible, but it was still there, still dwarf. And that is down to how amazing WETA is  and also Tami Lane, who is an Oscar-winning prosthetics artist, her work is completely invisible. In terms of getting into character, it’s always brilliant when you look in the mirror and don’t really recognize yourself. So, I really enjoyed that side of the process,” said Armitage, who plays dwarf leader Thorin Oakenshield. 

Read more:  http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/Movies/2012/12/10/Richard-Armitage-Martin-Freeman-discuss-Hobbit-transformations/UPI-78851355162945/#ixzz2Eg6VMrRc

Richard had this to say about Thorin’s gritty character:

Whenever I play characters that are grubby and grungy it just feels better maybe because I’m a Northerner and always meant to have dirty hands. 

All I can say is, Richard, you manage to look so divine when you are grubby, dirty, and grungy. It’s amazing . . . sort of like the way you look in this photo.  This is only–what–the third or fourth time I’ve posted it, right?

 “Interestingly…the translation of Thráin (Thorin’s father) is ‘yearner’ and Thorin is ‘darer.’ Thráin is the one that yearned for it, but wouldn’t achieve it. Thorin is the one that would dare to do it.”

Let’s see . . . how many days now until we see The Hobbit?