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April 14, 2014 at 11:40 am by greendragon -
greendragon: Congrats on The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’s win [for Best SciFi/Fantasy movie] at the Empire Awards!
Richard Armitage: I know! It was funny when they were saying ‘Scifi/Fantasy’. I think it was SciFi OR Fantasy – I was like, ‘Are we Science Fiction? I don’t remember any spaceships in The Hobbit…’ [laughs]GD: They just lump it all together! It was nice to see that some of you were gathered at the Awards, and it looked like everyone was having a great time. James Nesbitt did a great job of hosting.RA: Yeah it was really good to see everybody. I think Luke [Evans] came, but he had to disappear because he was doing some reshoots so I didn’t manage to catch up with him…GD: So we’re all excited for the Home Video release of The Desolation of Smaug; and then with convention season kicking off, everything’s gearing up for the final film. How does it feel to be moving in to the final leg of this epic journey you’ve all been on?RA: Well, I know for sure that we’re not going to be filming any more material for the third film. That was something which was a bit up in the air; but there is a bit of sound work to do – a bit of ADR post production voice stuff, which I’m really looking forward to doing, and to seeing the cut of the film. You know, it’s been a while since we were in New Zealand, so I’ve kind of forgotten what we did – so it will be nice to go back and see how that’s shaping up. But I think it will be quite a nostalgic event. It’s probably going to be the last time that Middle-earth is seen on the big screen. Peter’s intention to have six films which sit all along side each other will be contained in that one event at the end of the year – so it wouldn’t surprise me if we see some old faces back on the red carpet, in celebration of fifteen years of Peter’s work!GD: It certainly feels like a big deal for the fans – as you say, fifteen years of Middle-earth as Peter Jackson has envisaged it. People are going to be quite sad, I think, to feel that things are coming to an end.RA: Yes! I mean, what are you guys going to write about when there’s nothing Middle-earth to talk about?! [laughs]GD: You know, there’s always something! We might end up seeing a Hobbit symphony, like The Lord of the Rings symphony… There are always events popping up. Tolkien hasn’t been around for a while and we’re still talking about him!RA: Maybe there’ll be a Silmarillion as well, who knows?GD: Who knows what might happen? Is it going to be quite strange, though, to come back to doing Thorin’s voice again for the ADR work? As you say, it’s been a while; in some ways, presumably, you must have moved on from the role, with other projects in mind and other things going on in your life…
RA: Yeah. It’s interesting because I did a certain regime of voice work to try and find Thorin’s voice, which I’m really pleased that I did, because now I can go back to my tapes and repeat that work, and hope that Thorin’s voice comes out. It’s not so different from my own voice, but there’s a certain pitch and gravel to it that I’ll need. It takes a while to get back in to; but hopefully I’ll be able to do it!GD: When you do move on from this role, when it is all over with The Hobbit films, what do you think will stay with you from this, both in terms of your life experience, and in terms of aspects of the character? What do you think will be with you in twenty years?RA: I think the actual memory of filming it; going to the other side of the world for such a long time… I mean, I still wake up and think that I’m in the house that I stayed at in New Zealand, and that I can hear the sea… Everything about it – it was such a sensory experience. Walking through the studio gates at 4am when it was dark, and leaving when it was dark; seeing all the new sets; every time we walked on set… I just don’t think it will ever leave me. And you know, the process of getting into the character, and putting on the prosthetics; it’s deeply embedded in me, because we repeated it so many times. Putting on the boots and walking as Thorin… I kind of wish I had those boots, I wish I’d kept them!GD: Do you feel an ownership of the role? If you were reading The Hobbit, would you sort of feel, ‘Oh, that’s me I’m reading about’? RA: You know what, I feel like there is a sort of nod [in the films] to the character in Tolkien’s book… but my very first impression of The Hobbit [book] probably hasn’t changed. The version that we played of Thorin is very much about Philippa Boyens’ brilliant screenplay; so it sits somewhere between the two. I will probably pick up Tolkien and be reminded of what Philippa, Fran and Pete did with it; which I think is great, because their job is not just to put the book on screen, but to develop all of those ideas and take us into another world.GD: Talking of ownership of the role – what do you think about the fans who do such amazing cosplay, where they dress up as the characters? I know one lady who does an absolutely brilliant Thorin; I wondered what you think when you see these folks with incredible costumes on which they have lavished hours of work, and they come out as dead ringers for the characters.RA: I know! And a lot of them are women – and they’re growing their own beards and everything! It’s kind of amazing that they can do that… [laughs] No, I’ve seen a few bearded ladies… I think it’s brilliant. I’m always immensely impressed at the workmanship, and the way that they’ve looked at the costumes and copied them – I think it’s pretty amazing. And I’m sure it’s one of the reasons why the costume design is so detailed – because they know that people will look at it in that kind of detail, and study it.GD: With regard to what’s next: each time we’ve spoken, you’ve had various potential irons in the fire but nothing that’s grabbed you as being the next big project for you. Do you have anything coming up which you can tell us about?
RA: I’m doing a British independent film at the moment, which is called Urban and the Shed Crew, which is based on a book written in 2005 about an ex social worker who is having trouble with his own life, and spiralling into drink and drugs, and he befriends a little eleven year old street kid, and they have this journey together. It’s a really beautiful story, and it ticks a few boxes for me: it’s based on a really interesting piece of literature, but also based on living people, who have been working with us on set. I don’t know what the movie will be – it may just end up at the festivals – but I’m having a great time making it, and I get to play opposite a really brilliant eleven year old kid, who is teaching me how to act!GD: Kids often have a natural instinct for it, don’t you find? They don’t overthink it…RA: Well sometimes they do; sometimes kids are highly coached. But this little boy is very, very natural and really instinctive, and it’s great – it’s like a little ‘back to school’ for me!GD: Are we likely to see you at any conventions this year? I’m hoping we can persuade you to come to DragonCon in Atlanta…RA: Well I have to find out when they are – I haven’t heard of anything in the imminent future. I think we’re definitely going to go to [San Diego] ComicCon; we’re definitely going to be there this year.GD: Thinking about going forward – having had this experience of being in a huge franchise with an enormous fan base, would you be reluctant to undertake a project again which has such a following already in place, or has it been an experience that you would enjoy repeating?RA: Oh yeah – I would do it again in a heartbeat! It’s so exciting to be part of something; especially when it’s one character playing – I mean, I think this is quite a unique experience, that it’s one character over three films, but playing through one journey. I think that’s quite remarkable. Yeah, I’d love to do another big franchise like this.GD: Good – I’m glad we haven’t scared you away!RA: No way! No way!GD: One of the fans asked me to say to you how proud they all are of the work that everybody has done. I certainly know that many of the fans feel a kind of ownership of what Peter Jackson and all of you have created in Tolkien’s realm; there’s a great deal of love for it, and many people have said to me, ‘I just want an opportunity to tell them how proud we are of what they’ve done!’RA: Oh good. I mean, that’s very heartwarming – because they’re the people that we know will be watching in so much more detail than everybody else. You’ve got to play and create your character in that much detail, because I know that people will be seeing it like that, and seeing it again and again… With the DVD release, they can watch it to their heart’s content! And I know they will; so it’s good to know that it’s being seen and appreciated.
GD: One last thing I’m interested to ask you about – I keep reading about your fascination with Richard III, and that you have interest in making a film about him. I just wondered what truth there is in any of that?RA: It was an idea that I had a while back. But my interest in it is really a hobby, of reading biographies, and I was once working with a script writer on something. I don’t know whether a documentary would be of interest… it’s difficult, finding something which is going to be commercially interesting, and for an audience – I don’t know how many people would be that excited about him… My interest in him doesn’t necessarily have to manifest itself in a piece of work. Even if it’s me going back on stage and playing him; it’s purely a hobby for me.GD: It’s a fascinating topic – particularly when you consider how Shakespeare has painted him into one particular corner…RA: Yeah, I mean Shakespeare really created a bit of a pantomime and put him at the centre of it. It’s a brilliant thriller, but I don’t know how biased Shakespeare was… Well, I do know how biased he was, because he was writing for a Tudor monarch! But I think there’s a tale to tell. I think the BBC maybe are investigating doing a project about Richard, but we’ll see. I think there’s always room for a new take on it; and there’s plenty of literature out there. The Daughter of Time [Josephine Tey] is such an interesting book, and that would be worth exploring.GD: Well, thanks Richard – it’s always good to chat. Hopefully we’ll talk again around the release of The Hobbit: There and Back Again.RA: I’m sure we will see each other sometime in November, on our vast press tour! Take care!Posted in Blu-Ray, ComicCon, Conventions, DVDs, Events, Hobbit Book, Hobbit Cast News, Hobbit Movie, Merchandise, Press Conferences, Richard Armitage, The Hobbit, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: There and Back Again on April 14, 2014 by greendragon 
TORn staffer greendragon says: Continuing my ‘Inside the Middle-earth Actor’s Studio’ series of interviews, I recently had the great pleasure of a phone conversation with Peter Hambleton, who plays Gloin in The Hobbit movies. What a charming, erudite, intelligent and modest chap he is! He has nothing but praise for his fellow cast members, and for director Peter Jackson; I’d wonder if he was perhaps being too generous in his kind words, were it not for the fact that ALL the cast talk about each other, and their experiences on set, in such glowing terms. It’s really no surprise that all the cast talk about having a great time making The Hobbit movies; they’re all such nice people!Hambleton and I talked for an hour, and covered topics such as what he’s working on now, how he prepares for a role, what he thinks of Middle-earth fandom, and just why Peter Jackson is a brilliant director of actors. He also gives a little hint of something we might see in the third Hobbit movie, and spills the beans about another movie he’d love to do with PJ…greendragon: Tell us what you’re working on at the moment, Peter - I know you’re busy up in Auckland.Peter Hambleton: Well it’s actually working with students – student actors, performing arts students at a place called Unitech, which is a university course. It’s a three year degree in performing arts, and I’m working with a group of a couple of dozen young actors. I’m working with a co-director – a young woman called Laurel Devenie, who is the daughter of one of New Zealand’s finest actors, Stuart Devenie. Laurel is an emerging force as a director, and we’re co-directing a sort of in-house showing for the students’ training, of a wonderful New Zealand play called Homeland, by Gary Henderson. I’m about three weeks through that – I’ve got a couple more weeks to go – and I’m loving it!GD: Is this a new venture for you, or have you worked at Unitech or with students a lot before?PH: I haven’t worked at Unitech. I’ve worked with students a bit; it’s a thing which has just developed for me in the last ten, fifteen years, with doing a little bit of work directing students in scenes, and maybe a production either at the National Drama School, or local summer Shakespeare in the outdoors… It’s something I’ve done from time to time, when I’ve been able to fit it in, and I’ve always found it really rewarding; and after three years on The Hobbit it’s – well, I’m missing The Hobbit terribly! – but it’s really refreshing for me. Very inspiring as well – these young people are amazing, and because I’ve got a directing job coming up soon after that, on a production here in Wellington, it’s kind of getting that part of my brain working again.GD: Can you tell us what the show is in Wellington?PH: This is something I’m very excited about. It’s an American play called Equivocation, which is written by a man called Bill Cain. It’s an amazing, modern play about Shakespeare. I’m a huge fan of Shakespeare – in fact, I’m a bit obsessed with him, I’m very passionate about anything to do with Shakespeare! This is a very clever, modern play which explores the possibility of Shakespeare getting tangled up in the aftermath of the Gunpowder Plot. Shall I give you the quick version of the story?GD: Please do! It rings a bell with me…PH: Well, Bill Cain some years ago he was a real figure in Boston theatre, as an actor/director/writer, and he’s now becoming a real force as a writer. In fact, he wrote one of the episodes of House of Cards recently! Equivocation is basically Shakespeare and his friends at the Globe Theatre, and his daughter Judith is there as well, and Shakespeare is told he has to write a play giving the government version of the Gunpowder Plot – and he struggles with that. It’s a really fascinating piece; they’ve just done King Lear, and he’s working away on Macbeth, so all these things get tangled up together. It’s a fantastic play.GD: How do you compare directing a show versus being in it yourself? They’re obviously quite different experiences, but both enriching…PH: Oh yes. I’ve done a lot of theatre – thirty years of theatre as an actor – and the directing thing, as I say, has just developed over the last ten to fifteen years. I love it; I love both. One feels a great sense of responsibility in pulling a project together, and holding it together, and that responsibility can be quite hard; overwhelming at times… But equally the satisfaction of when a show goes well, and you get a sense that all the people involved are performing at their best – or getting near it – that’s really rewarding. I’m more and more fascinated by the process, also; and I love team building, putting together really strong groups of people and letting them fly. There’s nothing better to me! I’m just really itching to get into it; it’s been a while since I’ve been in a theatre rehearsal room, which is a very familiar environment for me, and I’m working with some really wonderful local actors, some people that I know and have worked with, and a couple of younger, emerging talents, so it’s all very exciting in every way!GD: It sounds fabulous! You talk about team building and bringing together strong groups of people – I think that is often overlooked as one of Peter Jackson’s great skills. We think of him as this technical wizard, pushing the envelope of cinematography, using all the latest equipment, but he also brings together an amazing team of people, and enables those people to act at the highest level. I think we tend to forget what a great actor’s director PJ is.PH: This is very true. That’s been fascinating to watch – to get a glimpse of that – because I hadn’t had any experience of any of his other films, but I knew people in them, like Jed Brophy. Jed was able to describe to me what a great director Peter is, but to see it first hand was really thrilling. Of course Pete’s got it going on in every department! [laughs] You know, he’s able to put people at ease in the middle of the vast machinery of all the technology, and all the resources put in place, and the huge number of people on the creative team; there’s a real calmness which comes from him, and a real sense of fun and challenge when you’re working with him.
One thing that I picked up really early on was that he tells you exactly what you need to know, about what he needs from the shot; he’s very articulate, he’ll put it in terms you can understand, and he’s inspiring. Often the technical demands, or the physical and emotional demands, of a shot will be really challenging for people; and he will – well, I was going to say push, but it’s more lead. He really, at times, asks a lot of people, but they’re prepared to go there. It’s a lot to do with trust, and you can see it on-screen. I mean, I’m saying this a lot, when I get to talk about this: I think Martin Freeman’s performance will stand up over time as one of the great screen performances. It’s been a privilege to watch it close up; the way, emotionally, he’s taking us through the story and holding the high stakes of the story – it’s just enchanting. So to confirm what you’re saying – Peter Jackson is a great, great director of actors, for sure.GD: That’s my impression from what I see on the screen, and it’s my impression from talking to others in the cast. Everyone has said, ‘It was hard, but we would do it ten times over for Peter, because we trust what he’s asking us to do.’PH: I mean, there’s a lot of time of lots of fun and kooky jokes – which helps you get through the very long days! It’s a very positive working environment on set – grindingly hard, but something keeps you going, and having an inspirational leader is a really big part of it.Posted in Hobbit Cast News, Hobbit Movie, John Rhys-Davies, Lord of the Rings, LotR Movies, Peter Hambleton, Peter Jackson, The Hobbit, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: There and Back Again on April 18, 2014 by greendragon