Happy Birthday, Richard Armitage !
(Omitted picture of a cake. - Sorry, I still need to painstaikingly avoid anything with sugar. Fortunately RA is sweet in another way ;o)
A wonderful birthday-post with a donation of US$ 1,- for each commentator commenting on the post is on Servetus' blog.
I am reluctant to make someone else donate for me, so I hesitate to comment, but please feel free to comment there and raise Servetus' donation.
Due to work pressure and my limited access, I am neither well informed nore up to date on RA's projects, though I try to follow as much as I can.
But for the day, it rather seems more sensible for me to post what has rested on my blog unfinished for a long while, to join in on the birthday party:
That Richard Armitage gets the role of every hero I read about in a book, is no wonder, as I admire his work. But that other people I know, but are not in the fandom, begin to see him in books as well, is surprising, even for me.
The one book, I already told you about, where I pictured him as a hero, was the one written by a close contact of me:
Chris T. Delarmy's "Rescued Hostage"
But now, a publishing contact of mine, who also read the book - and enjoyed it - saw him in the male leading role of the book as well, though she and her partner are not part of his fandom.
That was a surprise to me, when I got that feedback.
Perhaps the description of the grumpy hero would somehow be a role for RA? Who knows.
I can't depict him in the book in one of his previous roles. He rather is much more distinguished and perhaps a bit self-assured, bordering on arrogant, in this book. A role he in my opinion has not played so far. Though perhaps, his role in the book could steal some aspects from "North and South"?
Now that also the German edition of the book is finished and published, I wanted to know even more details from the author Chris T. Delarmy, how the hero is depicted in his head.
The first answer I got was, that the author intentionally wanted to leave the description of the hero relatively vague in the book, to let each reader depict his/her own favourite guy and heroine in the main roles.
Consequently, I could not sit still or remain silent and of course wanted to know, how Chris T. Delarmy saw the hero in his mind. And what an answer I got then ;o)
Of course Richard Armitage. What better man could be the hero of a novel with an a bit grumpy hero. Not that RA would ever be as grumpy as my hero in the book. But RA would be an excellent actor, to do the multitude of facettes and layers of the hero justice, which I don't think many other actors could even try to attempt. So yes, in my mind, Richard Armitage played out my hero in the book. That was rather helpful to depict the actions and rather quick moving argumentations of the book and keep track with the hero's intentions, schemes and intrigues.
As the book from the way the story is told as well as from its setup would be ideal for filming, I naturally wanted to know, if Richard Armitage would be the ideal hero for a film in the author's mind:
Yes, Richard Armitage is exactly the man I depicted in the novel and I would see as ideal for a film. Though I would not see him following an exact role he has already played, but he would be able to show his acting talent in getting into a new environment and mindset.
As the hero of the book also has quite a journey to go through, I even think he might be an interesting character to get into and follow on his journey through the adventures of the book.
Prof. Lynford is not a static character. He went through a lot and needs a new perspective on life and what is really important for him. During the story, he needs to change his outlook on things around him.
As I am no screenwriter and my story is not written as a screenplay, it is an honour that you think the book would be ideal to be filmed. The one thing I certainly would like to see on a big screen, would be the explosion (no spoilers here!) and the hero's reaction to it on board of his sailing boat. That would be a thing I would love to see Richard Armitage to enact.Chris T. Delarmy told me much more than this, but I don't want to bore you with a long interview here.
Also his reaction during the questioning regarding this explosion and his argumentative ways would be a thing I would like to see and emotionally played to its full potential by Richard Armitage.
If you have more questions to the author, please let me know and I can ask them in follow up interviews later on.
Now I wish you lots of enjoyment with the books and with the birthday celebrations for Richard Armitage.
