Friday, March 16th
Friday F3!
In the Hobbit chain, Mrs. E.B. Darcy projects what our hero may do in TH: There and Back Again
• Ana Cris discusses a Maori ceremony Mr. Armitage witnessed in New Zealand's mountains
• In King Richard Armitage, fitzg guestposts at judiang's on non-Richard roles for Armitage in a Richard III project
• In fanfic, Jas Rangoon continues her modern N&S fic
• Maria Grazia presents an interview with Cat Winchester and giveaway of her book, Northern Light
• In freeform, fedoralady asks about our dream Armitage-narrated audiobooks
• John Thornton wonders if anyone else could play him
• Agzy discusses Heinz Kruger's sartorial choices -- and what's underneath them!
• In fandom, jazzbaby1 maps Armitage in the Tommyverse
Links to all FanstRA 3 posts appear here at the end of each day.
Richard Armitage - Historical Hairstyle
In Search of a Hairstyle for King Richard III
In yesterday's post, we saw, that Mr. Armitage has the admirable ability to make all costumes and all time settings work for him. He looks fascinating as Roman Soldier, intriguing as a gangster from Chicago of the 1920th and admirably free-spirited as a road-gang leader of the mid 20th century.
That he can make a King Richard III work for us on screen, I have no doubt at all.
But, while engaging in activities for KingRichardArmitage, I met various opinions regarding Mr. Armitage playing a historical figure of the late 15th century.
Some complained, the 15th century had such awful hairstyles. Can't he play someone more attractive?
I only could shake my head and think: Really, how could you doubt that Mr. Armitage would make that work, that he would look attractive in whatever he wore or whatever hairstyle they put upon him. (Sidenote: He even makes a 'hairy dwarf' look good ;o)
How could one not like Richard Armitage with long hair after seeing such pictures?
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| "Robin Hood", ep. III.5 - Source: RichardArmitageNet.com |
So I think I need not prove that Mr. Armitage can indeed make the Renaissance hairstyle work for him, but rather must show you the comparison and similarity of the hairstyles:
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| Source: Cardiff Church window by Leo Reynolds | Source: RichardArmitageNet.com (edited) |
The hairstyle already looks very similar. Add the right cap or a crown, and King Richard is ready to go.
Though I like Mr. Armitage with beard:
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| Source: RichardArmitageNet.com (edited) |
I also find him quite adorable without one.
And I am quite sure that at least the anti-beard fraction of fans will agree, that Mr. Armitage without a beard is quite a sight.
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| Source: armitage-online.ucoz.ru | Source: RichardArmitageNet.com |
The sideburns (Koteletten) Mr. Armitage mostly wears, (visibly in the right picture and especially pronounced in his role in "North & South") in my continental view clearly declare him to be a British man ;o)
My grandfather called them something like 'hearing stoppers'. I think I already mentioned once here on the blog, that my grandfather could make fun of everything and brought a smile to every face ;o)
Beard Excursion:
King Richard III is said to have been clean shaven, so no Thorin-look possible or one like the late photo shoots with Mr. Armitage.
To be well groomed was the expression of a well versed man in society. To control one’s body was a sign to show that one could rule the surrounding world as well, when one was in control of oneself.
A very distant idea, when one considers our 'flower-power' era. Our more recent attention to well groom one’s body, first the womans body, legs, arms, eyebrows, etc, ;o) – I won’t go into any more detail – does result from an entirely different motivation:
Here the wish to appear younger is the leading motive, which is associated with less and more controlled growth of hair on the body.
So you see, by far not as honorable motives as in the late 15th century.
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| Source. Wikimedia.org |
Servetus just added a wish for him to play John Locke, which I would support, though here, he would be forced to wear wigs or at least powder his hair too.
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| Source: RichardArmitageNet.com |
And the natural style, if short or long or middle or ruffled or wet ...
just pleases him very well.
+Wikimedia.jpg) |
| Franz Liszt by Henri Lehmann (1839)- Source: Wikimedia.org |
But perhaps the artistic genius Franz Liszt, who had quite an effect on the women of his time, might be something for him? Here he would not need to change the hair colour, could bring in his musical talent, though Liszt did not play the cello, but the piano. But a similar effect on womankind is already in place.
Conclusion
So after adding different hairstyles to yesterday's different costumes, I would say, Mr. Armitage is well versed to make long, short, overflowing much, extremely short hair and different colours work. So no limit far and wide to see here, why any kind of role should be unavailable for him. (Though I would not want him to play just everything, only the roles he likes ;o)
Mr. Armitage can make every time, style and context work for him, so either historical or contemporary roles are open for him, as he makes everything a perfect experience for us viewers.
Have an enjoyable rest of the FanstRAvaganza-Week !
<< Tomorrow follows my contribution to the KingRichardArmitage tagged blog chain about why I admire Richard Armitage for wanting to do the film about "King Richard III" >>
I don't need to mention who made this wonderful banner and you will know anyway ;o)
No contest - Mr. A can make every era work for him. Though I rather think he would be as funny as a von Schiller, as he was, sort of, as Claude,with the hairstyle...The allusions to grooming and power are intriguing. Even during the Middle Ages, the upper classes and nobles occasionally sat in baths. :D Favourite though, CDoart, must be long-haired Gis as Richard III.
ReplyDeletefitzg
I fully agree with you, fitzg, RA can just play anything ;o)
DeleteI must admit, I am quite partial to men with white wigs, so would not really mind, if RA played someone in the 18th century wearing one, but I also know from own experience that those wigs are horribly uncomfortable.
Guy of Gisborne as King Richard III - what a thought ;o)
The hair definitely helps define his roles! He has half-jokingly complained about being in a bad mood for the duration of his stint as Guy with the long hair. :) I notice that the hair in season one of Robin Hood was probably his own because it's quite similar to Harry Kennedy's.
ReplyDeleteFacial hair too must help him get in character. I've often said that RA can grow a beard at a moment's notice!
Hello bccmee,
DeleteI am quite certain Mr. Armitage will see every role with less hair and prosthetics than Thorin Oakenshield as a relief and I see this role as a good training for periwigs ;o)
Perhaps as an in between to get accustomed to less hair, he could play a Spanish Grande with overflowing long wig ;o)
If we can still love him with that terrible Monet feather wig, we can accept him in any hairstyle. By the way, I just had a though. I wonder what he would look like with a shaved head. I wonder if his skull is as shapely as the rest of him?
ReplyDeleteOh, I found him quite cute and sweet as Monet. You don't like him that way, iwanttobeapinup? ;o)
DeleteI wondered the exact same thing, when I first saw the new pictures of RA with the extremely short hair, but was not sure if I wanted to find out.
I wondered, if he had to do it to make the prosthetics for Thorin Oakenshield work better and just had re-grown his hair to appear in the photo-shoot to address his audience.
I really can't cope with the beard...lol! Long haired Giz I admit, is pretty nice. I don't mind any hair style (not sure about the shaved head, Iwanttobeapinup), but I prefer clean shaven :)
ReplyDeleteHello mulubinba,
DeleteRA is the only one who can make a beard work. I normally do not like beard at all, so that I like his beard-pictures, already says quite much what RA can make work for me ;o)
I am not sure as well if I want to see him with shaved head. I like his hair (with different coulour tones) all too much and would dearly miss it.
CDoart,
ReplyDeleteI loved the thought of Mr.A to play the brilliant and charming Franz Liszt. Period drama, RA with long hair, charismatic character - what a treat. :)
So continental Europeans don't ever wear sideburns? I'm intrigued.
Fabi
Hello and welcome, Fabi!
DeleteWhen I think about all the affairs Franz Liszt had, it would make quite a long-going TV series ;o)
The sideburns on the continent, especially in Germany, look different. They are shorter, not going so far into the stubbly beard-hair area. This is more becoming for 'normal' men, as not all have such a good looking beard growth in that area ;o)
Often I find myself on the fact that I can't take my eyes off his beard although I'm not a fan of bearded men :)
ReplyDeleteHello Ania and welcome here!
DeleteI do the same and look at his beard. He looks so 'comfortable' and 'regal' with it that I just had to put a crown on his head ;o)
Hi CD,
ReplyDeleteRichard Armitage uses his hair--on his head or on his face--to great effect for his various character portrayals. He is quite the chameleon in that regard. Though his clean long haired rock star locks and clean shaven Sir Guy a la RH3 epi 5 is very nice.
And his hairy/not hairy incarnations are quite arresting for his portraiture as well. Sighhhh! I love his Project Magazine portraits.
Cheers! Grati ;->
Hello Grati,
DeleteI absolutely agree with you that RA is an actor 'chameleon'. I would have never made the connection myself, that Guy of Gisborne and John Thornton were the same actor. I soon made the connection between John Thornton and Lucas North, because I saw him in an interview commenting about it, but Guy of Gisborne, never ;o) - Thanks to the fan-community, I did get the hint and extended my fandom ;o)