Taller than you might think: Richard Armitage Goes `Into the Storm'

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CINDY PEARLMAN

NYT Syndicate

"It's challenging to convince the industry that I'm not Thorin from The Hobbit,'' says Richard Armitage, the British actor who is best known as the combative dwarf king in the Hobbit' movies."I walk into a room and people say, 'Oh, you're tall. And so much less hairy than we expected!'''

The 43-year-old actor laughs. He's speaking by telephone from London, to which he's returned after filming The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, the upcoming final instalment in Peter Jackson's trilogy, to talk about another project he squeezed in between trips to New Zealand: Into the Storm,'' a disaster movie that's set to open nationwide on August 8.

"I play a school teacher from the Midwest,'' says Armitage, most of whose scenes were filmed in Detroit."My character has lost his wife, and he's busy being the father of two boys. The film opens at a point in their lives where the boys are putting together a time-capsule video to document their existence and where they hope to be in 20 years.''

Given that this is a disaster movie, it's no surprise that Mother Nature decides to liven up their video.

"A giant tornado hits town and one of my sons goes missing,'' Armitage says."I have to go in search of the boy among all this weather, tornadoes and wreckage. It turns into a terrifying chase.''

The actor, who shot the movie more than a year ago, recently saw the finished film. He was pleasantly surprised, he reports.

"This film grew into something even more substantial than I expected,'' Armitage says."The effects are spectacular. Plus there is a human element to this story that's really well crafted. It's not just devastation and destruction. You really do care about these people.''

Coming into the film, he admits, he was afraid that his character would turn from a cerebral teacher into a macho action hero.

"I was a little nervous,'' Armitage says,"because I wanted to play him as a very ordinary guy. I didn't want him to start off as the town hero, but that doesn't mean that he would avoid being heroic.''

To prepare for the role, he turned to television and video coverage of real-life disasters.

"I watched footage of ordinary people in the aftermath of an earthquake,'' he recalls."I saw these amazing people racing back into an office building that had fallen to pull out their mates. These weren't action heroes, either, but by the end of the day they were heroes.

"It's inspiring to watch people do things when they don't even know how or why they're doing it.''

The biggest challenge of a disaster movie is of course, to convincingly depict the disaster itself.

"The tornados were all CGI special effects,'' he says,"but we really did have 100-mile-an-hour wind machines on the set. There was a real 18-wheeler tossed off a crane. The production did rip a roof off a school.

"Half of the film consisted of the actors doing practical stunts, so it really did feel like we were in the middle of everything.'' he says.

That was fine with Armitage, a classically trained actor who isn't above getting his hair mussed on the set.

"I love doing stunts,'' he says."I think you can always see when they put the stunt guy in. Plus I like to know that I've been through what the character has been through and that I've done everything that he has had to do in the movie. I want to survive what my characters survives.''

Born and raised in Leicester, England, Armitage spent his youth with his nose buried in a book.

"I was a big reader,'' he recalls,"and always fascinated with great literature. My childhood was spent reading classic novels, when I wasn't pretending to have a sword fight.''

At 14 he convinced his parents to send him to a vocational school in Coventry to study music. He went on to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, made his screen debut in the British film This Year's Love (1999) and was seen momentarily in an uncredited role as a Naboo fighter pilot in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999).

His breakout came on the BBC's North & South (2004), in which he played the stern but sexy mill owner John Thornton. He went on to play Sgt. John Porter on the British series Strike Back (2010-2011) and Lucas North on MI-5 (2002-2010).

Meanwhile he's been forging a Hollywood career with roles in such films as the thriller Frozen (2005), the blockbuster Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013).

On December 17 he'll return to play Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Playing the dwarf king has been a treat for Armitage, a lifelong fan of author JRR Tolkien.

"My interest in acting came from reading Tolkien,'' he says."In fact, my first experience on stage was in a play of The Hobbit. I had an experience with that book."

"So, when I got the role in the movies, it was a heavy responsibility,'' Armitage continues."I knew that I had to re-ignite my childhood memory of being so excited about the book. I wanted to put that enthusiasm into the work.''

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies brings Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), Thorin and his band of dwarves to the end of their quest to regain the dwarves' long-lost treasure from the dragon Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch).

"When you last saw all of us, we were in trouble,'' Armitage says."We had just captured the mountain and the dragon had left. As far as we're concerned, we had achieved everything. The truth is, all hell is about to break loose.''

The first two films, especially An Unexpected Journey, left fans divided, with some finding Jackson's work an apt prequel to The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) and some finding it slow and overblown.

As far as he's concerned, Armitage says, Jackson has saved the best for last.

"I've seen rough edits,'' he says,"and all I can say is that the film is fast and the action doesn't let up. I feel these battle scenes are the best of anything Peter has done. We also see Smaug coming into his full creature.''

As Thorin, Armitage is in the thick of the action.

"I did all of my own sword fighting and even got to ride a few goats,'' he says."A lot of my work is on wires. Pretty much everything you see on screen is me, apart from a scale double that was used.

"It was a dangerous and exhausting movie.''

Beyond the challenges of the physical action, however, Armitage was determined to make Thorin into a rich and relatable character.

"Despite all of his faults, flaws and bad choices,'' the actor says,"you do want Thorin to be redeemed. You come to understand why he has done what he has done. He is a king and in close contact with history. History is important to him.

"I thought about a king who didn't have a crown or his own land,'' he continues."His entire life he had been brought up and trained to be the next king. When all of it is taken away from him, he begins to live in this vacuum, but never loses his true mission-He must re-find his throne. There is no choice.''

With the final instalment of The Hobbit in the can, Armitage himself is something of a displaced king, looking for his next job.

"It's all done, and that's a little sad,'' he says."Of course there is still production work and voice work. The most important thing is that it's the end of an era for Peter Jackson, who can now put all of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films together as six movies.

"What I can tell you about The Battle of the Five Armies is that Peter will go out with a bang,'' the actor concludes."He put everything he'd got into it.''

Now Armitage is focusing on his own post-Hobbit career. It's not the greatest thing to be typecast as a hairy guy who's four feet tall, but it doesn't hurt to have won something of an international fan base.

"A little recognition in the streets isn't bad,'' he says."I do get letters from all over the world. And I'm in a play in London, and just found out that someone flew from her home in Korea to see me in a play in England.

"I find that astonishing,'' the actor marvels."It's the power of a movie like The Hobbit.''

Yes, Armitage arranged to meet with his world-spanning fan.

Her first reaction was predictable, he says with a laugh:"She said, 'Richard Armitage, you're not a dwarf and you're not so hairy!'''

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