Bard and Thorin (interview with Richard Armitage and Luke Evans)

In The Hobbit 2 – Desolation of Smaug Richard Armitage (RA) once again plays Thorin Oakenshield, the leader of the dwarves who march towards the dragon Smaug. Luke Evans (LE) embodies Bard the Bowman who lives in Laketown Esgaroth and who dreams of revenge on the beast that burned down his home city Dale. NAUTILUS writer Alexander Huiskes got some gripping answers on the new Tolkien-film out of the two actors:

What was your most significant role prior to The Hobbit?

RA: My role in North and South, John Thornton, because that topic was very near to me, especially because of my family story. Also I love historical material, for example The Lion in Winter is one of my favourite films.

LE: In each role I came in contact with different people and that is exactly what I find interesting and thrilling: With what and how I play I try to open the eyes of all sorts of people to my abilities. And so depending on the film there came different offers. I am looking forward to how it will continue after The Hobbit and Dracula.

What was your first thought when Peter Jackson chose you?

RA: When my agent told me I got the role of Thorin my first thought was: “They must be completely crazy.” Afterwards I thought how wonderful it was to shoot in New Zealand, especially with Peter Jackson, and to become part of an epic tale.

LE: My first thought was: surprise. I had just been on a long car journey to the shooting of another film and just checked my mails as a matter of routine. It was already so long ago that I had auditioned that The Hobbit had already disappeared from my agenda, I saw myself as out of chance. Then I thought it was a joke and called my agent. And then – then I was just happy.

How familiar were you with the story?

RA: I read the book as a child and liked it back then, I didn’t have more than nebulous memories however. My role as a dwarf meant a lot of physical change. I enjoyed this experience and was pretty excited to finally see the film. When I prepared for Thorin, not only The Hobbit but also the appendices of The Lord of the Rings helped me, especially the scene between Gandalf and Thorin. And let’s not forget Fran and Peter (Jackson) and Philippa (Boyens) who really live for these films and who are so deeply connected to the material to have an answer to every question, or at least they know where to look it up. Those three are marvelous.

LE: That’s true. The Hobbit is a wonderful book to read, but in the end that’s just a starting point for the role. Already the first time I talked to Fran and Peter about Bard I knew: Tolkien’s characters are like parts of them. You can ask them everything but still have enough space for your personal ideas so you can really make a role your own. That is a great gift for an actor: instructions and personal responsibility.

RA: Peter Jackson completely lives for his work, he is interested in every aspect of the films, controls every detail, is in permanent contact with us actors and is a great leader – and he has this almost spooky fondness for technical stuff.

Speaking of technical things: The Hobbit wouldn’t have been possible without modern CGI. How does it feel to play epic scenes in front of green screen?

LE: Peter tells us exactly what it is all about and what we will get to see. He always finds the right comparisons and prepares us for what is going on.

RA: To play in front of green screen is still a challenge for me. I am sure The Hobbit has taught me a lot when it comes to that, especially in cooperation with such great actors as Ian McKellen and Martin Freeman.

LE: It is totally crazy to be around these people on a daily basis and see how Ian really changes into Gandalf in an instant – the Gandalf we all have seen on screen so often. And you can see how skilled he works with the green screen. That encourages and shows how it has to be done.

As future king of the Men of the north and as exiled king of the dwarves you both stand in line with Aragorn, played by Viggo Mortensen in Lord of the Rings and who is also the heir of a fallen dynasty.

RA: The burden or the heritage of kingship connects Aragorn and Thorin. They are both driven by the awareness of their determination as well as the wish to give their lost people their home back and lead them into a better future. Ego – and with that I mainly mean their own claim and the claim as seen by others – and responsibility are the two sides to their characters. Just empathize with Thorin: He was born and raised to be king one day, he grew up with this awareness – and then the dragon shows up and everything is lost. The flashbacks to Thorin’s biography made it a lot easier for me to find myself in him – and will hopefully also make it easy for the audience to understand him.

LE: It is a great honour to be put in line with Viggo’s portrayal. Bard is similar to Aragorn in many aspects, but he begins from a different starting point, he is aware of his burden at every given moment, of his life in this gloomy, oppressive, controlling surrounding of Laketown. Bard functions as crystallization point: He is one of the few Men in the story, between dwarves, hobbits, elves and so on. He has to prove human greatness and overcome all hostilities to prevail in the Battle of Five Armies.

Do you have a favourite moment of your character?

RA: My favourite moment for Thorin in part 2 is the scene with Thranduil where he accuses the elf king of his earlier behaviour. That is a very dramatic and heavy scene.

LE: For me it is Smaug’s death although I still don’t know what the dragon will finally look like in the film. All I had were descriptions from Peter – and they were really detailed and stunning – and my own emotions: I bundled up all my anger by imagining how the dragon really killed all of my family and ancestors and I only had this one chance to kill him.

Are you prepared for the reactions of fans and cinema audience? The power of fanbases grows ever stronger as can be seen with the Twilight or City of Bones films.

RA: The opinion of the fans is extremely important, after all it’s them who carry a film. So far however I have always been treated well and fair.

LE: Exactly – from whom can we expect more honest answers than from those who really carry the material in their hearts? I hope I can meet their expectations.

What are your next projects?

LE: Right now I am working on a Dracula adaptation with Universal. The role of Dracula is a challenge – we approach the myth from its historical core, so by Vlad Tepes Dracul. We try to bring forth the man behind the legend. The approach is actually quite similar to Bard the Bowman. Those 700 years that lie between Dracul and us make the material just as fictional-speculative to us as Middle-earth, however in a different way.

RA: I have just started with Into the Storm, a film on tornadoes which will come to cinemas in the middle of 2014.

Do you have career goals?

RA: I wish to always have work, fulfilling and enjoyable roles and finally to work with great actor colleagues and directors, for example Alexander Payne, P.T. Anderson, Zack Snyder or J.J. Abrams.

LE: I couldn’t have said it better.

Thank you very much.

(interview by Alexander Huiskes)