Richard Armitage Bids Farewell To The Hobbit
On goat-riding, keepsakes and Thorin's finest moments



After five years, a vast number of airmiles and about 67,000 dead orcs, Richard Armitage's Hobbit journey is finally at an end. Back in the London for a brief stopover, the actor's final press stint talking Thorin Oakenshield and all things Middle-earth has afforded him an eagle's eye view back over his time on the epic trilogy. Empire caught up with him to ask for his one word for the experience. "Insanity," he laughs.

Warning: this interview contains Hobbit spoilers from the off, so if you haven't watched the whole trilogy yet, please step away now.

It's finally the end of the road for you for The Hobbit.
I thought the end of the road had come, but there's always something more to do (laughs).

The final film is a war film. Do you have a favourite Thorin moment from the battle?
I do. There's so much about the third film that I love in terms of Thorin's journey: a lovely scene with Bilbo and Thorin and his acorn, and obviously the death scene, but the thing I was most looking forward to seeing on the big screen was Thorin versus Azog. It had taken place over about three weeks during the filming process and we'd shot in many different areas, and I was fascinated to see how much of it would remain in the movie. I was really pleased that most of it is in there; there's only one or two shots that got cut. Each piece was three or four days' work and you lose track of how long the fight's going to play for.


It must have been a thrill to see that on the big screen for the first time.
It was amazing. Because you work so much on green sets, I was really excited to see how the sequence on the moving gimbal - the ice shoot - was going to look.

What was your favourite Thorin moment across the entire trilogy?
One of my favourite moments is when Thorin gives Bilbo the Mithril vest. It's one of those pieces of information in the film that's referenced in Lord Of The Rings, when you see Frodo with it, and I love that it plays across the other films. And I love that you see Thorin's paranoia in that scene and how he becomes the dragon for a second. I loved that whole sequence, and it just was fascinating to play those mental shifts.

Thorin undergoes a journey into madness. Did you have any other film touchpoints for it? One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest?
I'm sure I've absorbed things just watching films but I didn't sit down and specificially watch any movie to find the madness, but I did look at some documentation about Alzheimer's and drug addiction, and how people fluctuate in personality when they're suffering from these things. I feel like the dragon sickness was a combination of a mental illness and a physical illness, so I was trying to find both of those things. Also, having played Thorin before he goes mad, it was tricky because he was always volatile anyway. I was trying to push that a little bit further, to make him feel disorientated and out of character. Writing insanity is incredibly difficult, so I took it from the writing.

On a different note, Billy Connolly gets to ride a war pig in this movie. Jealous?
(Laughs) Listen, Thorin gets on a goat, which was good enough for me. But when Billy Connelly arrives on the battlefield on a giant hog, it's one of the highpoints of the film for me. Billy's such an anarchic person anyway and to have him arrive like that was hilarious.

So on a Hobbit sportsday, who wins between Dain on his pig and Thorin on the goat?
I think Thorin would definitely win on the goat. The pig is heavy and laboured, and the goat has a little bit of speed. As you will see in the extended edition, because there's a big chariot chase where they're pulled by goats. When we realised that sequence wasn't going to be in the movie, I know Graham McTavish was extremely disappointed, because it's such a great sequence. It's Ken Stott as Balin driving and Graham and Kili and Fili firing what's effectively a Gatling gun off the back.

Did you spend much time with Billy Connolly on set?
A little bit, yeah. Billy was around for a while waiting to shoot - as we all were - and we had some good scenes to shoot together. I really enjoyed his company. He's a great storyteller.

Do you think the 13 dwarves will ever reunite?
Apparently they have been reuniting in Hobbitcon in Germany. I heard Mark Hadlow (Dori) will pull out a microphone and sing. One year he got up on stage at Hobbitcon in Berlin and started singing a song from Cabaret. I know Luke Evans sang at Hobbitcon. Do I feel under pressure to sing? I know I'd run a mile from any microphone. I did sing Misty Mountains in Brazil during the press tour, although I forgot the last line.



What's been the most surreal moment promoting the film?
I got to go to Beijing to promote the film and the fans met me at the airport and sang the Misty Mountain song. I was, like, "Oh, okay. That's how committed and excited these fans are." I have no idea how they knew I was coming. I have a feeling it was a publicity stunt but either way, it was flattering.

Can you now board Air New Zealand free of charge?
I haven't tried but I should just turn up and say, "That's my face on the plane. Can I get on?" I think they're painting over those planes pretty soon, so I better move pretty fast.

[b]Do you remember any Dwarfish? [/b]
"Ishkh khakfe andu null." It means "I wipe faeces in the face of your ancestors". That's dwarves for you.

What keepsakes do you have from the films?
I was given (Thorin's weapon) Orcrist as a gift, which is a treasured posession. I think it's got little bloody fingerprints on the hilt and it's resting by my fireplace so that people can have pick it up and have a feel how heavy it is.

Have you been in touch with Peter Jackson recently?
We're still on email and, of course, we had an adventure in China together and went on a lot of sightseeing: Pete, Fran [Walsh, co-writer and producer, and Jackson's partner], Pippa [Boyens, co-writer and producer] and the kids. I'm sure we'll reconnect in the future.

Finally, what word would you use to describe the Hobbit experience?
In one word, insanity. That was lingering memory of Thorin and the whole experience. Insanity.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies and The Hobbit: The Motion Picture Trilogy Box Set are available now on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray and DVD

Interview by Phil de Semlyen