The Desolation Fast Approaches

My countdown widget say two days until the movie, but this year I put my delay-of-gratification skills to the test by taking in an early show on Saturday the fourteenth.  It’s a bit like the one marshmallow/two marshmallow test given to preschoolers, but instead of ‘preschooler’ it’s me, and instead of ‘marshmallow’ it’s Richard Armitage.  Along with Armitage, the movie does boast an impressive range of male eye candy in fantasy form:

• Benedict Cumberbatch (as a dragon no less!)
• Lee Pace
• Orlando Bloom
• Luke Evans
• Dean O’Gorman
• Aidan Turner
• Martin Free (for those so inclined)

No wonder some people on Tumblr nicknamed this movie ‘The Desolation of Ovaries’.

I did see an extended edition of The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey.  While most drooled over the dwarf boot camp (yes, Mr. Armitage looks mighty fine in Addias) I couldn’t help thinking Gosh, when can I ease back into my work outs.  In a funny irony Richard Armitage’s Thorin audition tape made me realize how badly I must have looked to people during my back injury.

I can’t find the clip to show here, it looks like Warner Brothers took them down anywhere, but he auditioned despite injuring his back during a stunt on Spooks (MI-5).  Despite taking pain killers, he still knew he had a bit of pain and joked about channeling it into his performance.  Most fans would coo ‘poor baby’.  Me?  I know how that feels.  A new job has come up and every single cell in the body works overtime to suppress the pain despite the treatment. He looked pale and visibly in pain.  (In the beginning of my new job, I hung grabbed a pillar, waiting for a spasm to pass.) Ah, actors, using whatever they can to authenticate a performance.

The upcoming film has treated viewers to the press junket.  On one hand for fans it’s nice to see your favourite performers.  On the other it’s wincing at the stupid questions.  I tried to my hand at submitting a question to Richard Armitage.  My problem?  It’s a typical question for someone working in libraries.  It’s not light and fluffy like most fan questions.

Want to know what it is?

Here we go…

I just wanted to know what resources he used while researching his role.  Not very fangirl of me isn’t it?  In the extras he talked about reading published early drafts of The Hobbit, and noticing the change in character’s name.  Apparently, Thorin was originally called ‘Gandalf’, but it didn’t make sense given its meaning.  It’s one of those rare times I looked at my TV and psychically thought That’s very thorough research.  Did you use a database?  Interlibrary loans for those published early drafts?   Do you have a library card?

See even those questions are too nerdy for the newly nerd-friendly entertainment media.  Some of us fangirls want to know.  This fangirl would like to know over a glass of wine at the Peasant Cookery.  That would happen in an alternate universe, where I am the next Dorothy Parker of the blog world.  For now I will confine my fantasy to films with hobbits, dwarves, elves, wizards, and Sherlock-sounding dragons of course.