I tried to load this last night and a glitch prevented it from happening. *sigh* So after another four hours this afternoon, it’s finally done. Hooray! I incorporated a poem that I wrote a while back about our sensual big cat in black leather into the vid, so it’s something a little different.
Sort of like Thorin’s second breakfast. You can’t enjoy just one. The notion struck me and I’ve been working on some fun Halloween-themed fanart for next month. For some odd reason, Sir Guy seems to fit right in with what I want to do. 😉 I even has some Christmas things done–something for Harry and Gerri I just love. Meanwhile, more ChaRActer goodies.
What will it feel like for me to be in the same room as Richard Armitage, “good Lord willing and the Creek don’t rise?” Will I feel as if I am in the presence of greatness? Will I be transfixed? Stand there with my mouth foolishly gaping open like a fish?
Will I start crying? I certainly hope not, as I am multi-orifice crier. My nose runs, I drool, and the tears course down my cheeks. Not a pretty sight.
Will I be so excited I have to suppress a stream of high-pitched giggles threatening to pour out of me?
Heck, I wasn’t even a giggly schoolgirl back when I still sported pigtails and kneesocks. And now, here I am, 50-something, a “mature” woman, and I am as giddy as can be.
It’s not as if I haven’t covered events and talked to celebs and done interviews before. I am not a rank amateur, although Comic-Con will be on a grander scale than previous assignments. But–it’s RICHARD.
And Richard Armitage is a game changer. You all know what I mean. Tattoos, kohl liner, long hair, wife beaters (tank tops, not guys who beat their wives), dwarf disguises, dodgy squirrel-like beards and manky wigs, con men and those of dubious morals–physical traits and characters that perhaps made you turn your nose up in the past, somehow do not diminish his aura, his presence, his IT factor. He’s had it for a long time, it’s just taken the world a while to catch up.
From a slightly hazy snapshot that surfaced at RAFrenzy of a 20-something Richard during the time he was performing as Angus in Macbeth. I think you can really see the devastatingly handsome man he is becoming.
Not only do I wonder how I will react, I wonder how Richard will look. Well, gorgeous obviously, and the hair will still be pretty short unless he’s letting it start growing out as the wrap on TH filming approaches. But what about the facial hair?
Will he still sport his beard and mustache for Comic-Con?
Will he sport that sexy stubble?
Or will Richard be clean-shaven (the better to fly under the radar at Comic-Con)?
In a few weeks, I hope–I pray–I dream–to be able to tell you first-hand. *SQUEEEEEEEE*
Angie’s Comic-Con Trip Fund is now set up and you can donate through PayPal by clicking the button on the sidebar. For anyone who prefers to send a contribution, please let me know. I’m flexible and I am very, very appreciative. Your good wishes, prayers and messages of support also mean a lot, so don’t think you are not helping me even if you have no funds to spare. And thanks to RAFrenzy for setting up the donate button for me.
Comic-Con (Photo credit: Scott Beale)
The bad news is, I didn’t sleep. The good news is–I remembered to take my multivitamin with that healthy orange juice and my high-fiber cereal with the fresh-from-the-bushes blueberries (see, Lady Anne, I was a good girl) and I have more fanart completed.
Quite a bit of it is (shhhhhhh!) Thorin as he has been on my mind of late. But this being Guyday Friday, I will save those for later and bring you more of the delectable man in black, Sir Guy of Gisborne. Who is just a wee bit jealous of a certain kingly dwarf with longer locks and an even bigger sword than Sir Guy . . .
Fans of the 50 Shades trilogy are now speculating over who should play Christian in the upcoming film version. Some have even brought up Mr. A’s name. He’s at least 10 years too old to play the role (Christian is 27, I believe) and whilst I think Richard would make a fabulously sexy and spooky vampire, I have no desire to see him play a stalker and twisted serial sadist with a “Red Room of Pain.”
As a character, Christian’s emotions are so all over the map, he makes John Bateman look really well adjusted. If the character of Paul Andrews disturbed you, he is a complete innocent compared with the “f**ked up” Christian, who enjoys beating a long series of young women who remind him of his dead crackwhore mom. It’s consensual, but that doesn’t make it healthy.
Fantasy is one thing; fantasy grounded in reality is another. Let them cast the “beautiful unknowns” that the author is hoping for, for the film; Richard has much bigger and better things ahead for him.
I’d be happy to see him in some steamy scenes onscreen–we all know he can smoulder and scorch with the best of them– but I’d rather such scenes didn’t involve belts, whips, canes, handcuffs and spreader bars coupled with an overwhelming desire to cause pain.
I’m no snob, really I’m not; but I think Richard Armitage is just too classy, too talented and too good for this. He’s expressed a desire to make a film “all about love.” And this ain’t it.
I was reading through some reviews of the movie Something Borrowed earlier and this comment by it_director jumped out at me in reference to the loathsome character played by Kate Hudson, supposedly the best friend of the heroine of the piece, played by Ginnifer Godwin:
“Yes, you need a villain, it helps make a story, but the best villains are people we can relate to.”
And I was working on this piece of fanart with John Mulligan at the time–well, the words seemed perfect for the sort of bad guys Richard gives us. Forget Christian and his all-over-the-map emotions in 50 Shades–give me Richard Armitage‘s beautifully, subtly nuanced and carefully crafted characters. No two-dimensional cardboard cutout villains, or for that matter, no boring, bland one-note good guys.
Richard looks for the good in the bad guys, and the bad in the good guys. He recognizes we all have our light and dark side, our strengths and weaknesses, our heroic and shameful moments. He delivers humanity to us in his performances, and that is part of what makes them so very compelling.
He keeps us guessing, he makes us stop and think; he touches our hearts and fires our imaginations. Even when the script is dodgy, he makes it somehow believable. Honestly, if Richard hadn’t been playing the role of Lucas/Bateman I think the whole ninth series might have been laughed off the screen.
(Oh, and by the way. Something Borrowed is not on my recommended list. It seems to me Kate Hudson has ended up in a lot of mediocre movies. This was one more. There are some good performances, but too many wishy-washy and “morally fluid” characters for my tastes and the film seems to go on forever.)
the armitage effect 