Richard Armitage, your fans are the best!

My goodness, I have not been here since Richard's 42nd birthday in August. I had no idea that it had been that long! *hangs head in shame*

For the last few months, I have been forced to take a step away from my blog. I'm sure we've all been there: real life tends to take over now and then, taking our attention away from what's fun and exciting, and making us focus on what's really important for a while. My time, my mind (and my sleep) have been monopolised by other things and that has not done my inspiration any favours.

So, for a while now, I've had to watch Mr. Armitage and my fellow fans from afar and the distance has given me great insights. The most important one is this: Richard Armitage has got the absolute greatest fans. If I were in his shoes (or should I say 'boots'?), I would thank my lucky stars every single day for their unrelenting love and support. honestly, we're the best! :-)

Allow me to illustrate that point with 2 examples.

We love you when you're ugly
In these digital times, you can't always control which pictures of yourself appear online. A friend might snap a shot of you at a party and post it on Facebook and you 'll be horrified to discover it the next day because your hair, clothes or face didn't look great in the picture. That's how I think RA must have felt when this picture was released onto the world.

Picture taken from the Richard Armitage France page on Facebook

Personally, I think it's not the best shot of him. But, great fans that we are, we loved it! The beard, the boots, the long legs, the thighs, the glimpse of chest hair (which I don't like, by the way), the iPad (don't pretend you're not on the internet, dear Richard, even you couldn't resist a peek at what people are saying about you and about your version of Thorin forever), the jacket, the jeans... they were all discussed in the most meticulous detail and it was quickly proclaimed to be the new favourite picture of the fandom. You do ugly well, Richard, you do tired and dishevelled well, Richard. And the fans love it!

Our loyalty is as fierce as Thorin's majesty
Let's be honest, dearest Richard, you haven't exactly done much work lately (that we know of). We haven't exactly been spoiled with new examples of your excellent acting talents for about a year or so. Yes, we love Thorin and we can't wait to see more of him very soon. And it looks like Into The Storm will finally be released next August, which will be almost 2 years after you worked on it. I look forward to finally meeting your Gary Morris. But we are still here.

Beautiful new poster for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,
starring Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield

In the meantime, Aneurin Barnard got to play the dream role of Richard III and Batman went to Ben Affleck (I'm sure you were in the running for that role at some point, although I think you're capable of so much more than a rehash of a vintage superhero) and there's competition everywhere. Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hiddleston, just to name a few other excellent actors who have been churning out the films and the stunning performances like a well-oiled machine.

It would have been so easy to forget all about Richard Crispin Armitage and be mesmerised by one of your enchanting colleagues. But I don't think you've lost a single fan to any of them. On the contrary! I personally have never even been tempted by them. Fassbender amazed me with his portrayal of Bobby Sands, I love Benedict's brilliant Sherlock Holmes and Tom gave us an excellent Loki, but none of that has made me want to join the Cumberbitches or make this blog about Tom Hiddleston instead.  

Our loyalty is as fierce as Thorin's majesty. And that is not about to change. 

Nice to meet you...

... Gary!

For weeks now, we have been wondering whether Richard Armitage’s character in the new film ‘Black Sky’ would be another ‘John’, a name that so many of his most memorable characters have shared: John Thornton in North and South, John Standring in Sparkhouse, John Bateman in Spooks, John Porter in Strike Back, John Mulligan in Moving On…

Todd Garner, producer of the film, has been tweeting pictures of RA on set, in character, making us fans extremely happy. Thank you, Mr. Garner!

Richard Armitage as 'Gary' on the set of Black Sky
Picture shared on Twitter by the film's producer, Todd Garner

Today, Mr. Garner also solved the mystery of the character’s name, in answer to a question from fellow blogger Gratiana Lovelace on Twitter. To my extremely great pleasure, it’s not another John. RA’s character in Black Sky is named ‘Gary’. It sounds very American to me, for some reason, but that’s OK as RA will also be rocking an American accent in this film.

But does the name fit the character? Well, let’s have a look at the meaning of the name ‘Gary’:

The masculine given name Gary is derived from the word 'spear' in Germanic (gar = spear), meaning a 'spear bearer' and the name (also spelled Garry) is an "acceptable" Anglicised spelling of the Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic personal name Garaidh which, like Gary, is also pronounced gæri.

In German the meaning of the name Gary is: Gentle. Modest and brave Sir Gareth was a legendary knight of King Arthur's Round Table.

People with this name have a deep inner desire to use their abilities in leadership, and to have personal independence. They would rather focus on large, important issues, and delegate the details.

Well, now you know what to expect! ;-)

I, for one, am very much looking forward to this film (we will have to wait until 2013, unfortunately). It may be ‘just another tornado movie’, but Richard Armitage’s talent will take any old disaster movie to a completely different level (in my own humble opinion, that is). And it’s another chance to see my second favourite man (after my own sweety, of course!) on the silver screen. I’m sure Mr. Armitage is also enjoying the chance to play a ‘normal’ character after going through life as Thorin Oakenshield for The Hobbit for almost 2 years!

Thank you Todd Garner – and please keep sharing those pictures!
You can follow Mr. Garner on Twitter @Todd_Garner