A few screenshots from the movie. Admittedly I had to take these from a trailer as apple has disabled the option of taking screenshots from DVDs. Copyright?
Franco Nero as the Pope. (I remember him as Sir Lancelot in Camelot!) Showing my age...
Unfortunately these screenshots are not very good. They fail to capture the beauty of the filmography. The scenes in Sevilla and the interiors of the Churches are really lovely.
An entertaining movie - good viewing for a night at home.
Another year or so has passed and Typepad reminded me that this blog still exists. Despite my silence here, I do still keep up with news of Richard Armitage. "The Man From Rome" has been the first onscreen work of his I have seen for quite some time - I actually prefer his voice work. Is it terrible of me to admit that I prefer his narrations to actually physically seeing him in a TV series or movie? Probably .... but there it is. Moreover, I don't have a Netflix account, so will miss out on whatever is showing over there, and I also rely on Apple iTunes to purchase his audio work, so I've missed out on Geneva. I think Audible has been quite sneaky with this - normally an audiobook narrated by Richard Armitage is promptly available on iTunes - even those produced by Audible - Geneva however is exclusive to Audible members only. A bit silly imo as Richard has missed reaching a wider readership and I am also at the stage of refusing to give in to businesses like Audible who try to use fans to boost their membership figures.
I digress ... I bought "The Man From Rome" on DVD which was surprisingly made available in Australia prior to other parts of the world.
It was quite fun to watch although it took me a second viewing with headphones to follow the plot. Perhaps it is my age and a hitherto unnoticed hearing impairment, but I had quite a deal of difficulty understanding Richard Armitage in parts to the point where I had to ask Mr M what he had actually said! It was much better listening with headphones and I would recommend doing so if anyone reading this has a computer that plays DVDs. The Spanish actors were much easier to understand (for me personally). I don't understand how an actor who is such a great narrator, can have poor diction when filming. Perhaps it was the fault of the sound producers ... I don't know ... The film overall had beautiful scenery and sets - the music, particularly in the beginning, was great. I'm a bit unconvinced by a gun carrying priest, but hey, it was a story. Overall, I found the movie entertaining enough to attempt a second viewing.
If I can remember how to make screencaps, I'll post again when I get the chance.
I do believe that back in the dim, dark, pre-Hobbit, Richard Armitage fanbase days, a few of us joked around with roles we would like to see RA play. One was that of a priest. Now with 'The Seville Communion/Man from Rome', we have our wish, albeit about 12 or 13 years later.
I've been searching a little on the internet, primarily because I am still quite interested in keeping an eye on Richard Armitage's work, and also because, once I found out about this new production, I thought it would help with igniting a tad more interest in Spanish lessons for me. (I'm supposed to be walking 105kms of the Camino next year and need some 'survival' Spanish in my walking toolkit). I've managed to unearth the short film clip in Spanish (previous post), showing the location scouting for the film, and I've also found this old review written by Paul Baumann in the New York Times from 1998. "Holy Orders: In this thriller, the sexiest priest alive works for the Vatican". Richard Armitage's character, Rev. Lorenzo Quart is described in this excerpt from the article as follows ...
"The hero in question is the Rev. Lorenzo Quart, the ''sexiest priest'' alive, outside of the latest Andrew Greeley yarn. A ''weary, solitary Knight Templar,'' Quart works for the Vatican's very hush-hush Institute for External Affairs, from which he is discreetly dispatched to defuse threats to Holy Mother Church. He is emphatically not ''the kind of priest who turned the other cheek.'' He is a St. James Bond, an agent in a Roman collar and handmade leather shoes who wields a Mont Blanc pen instead of a snub-nosed Beretta."
.... and after Strike Back was finished and RA had been cast in The Hobbit he gave the impression he wanted to steer away from 'heart throb' type roles. So this, my fellow RA fans, may be the closest we get to seeing him cast as James Bond!!!! A St James Bond!! (Another fan "dream role" hypothesised back in the dim dark fanbase days pre 2010
).
As Mr A is very diligent when it comes to studying for the roles he plays (at least, I think he still is ...), I was wondering what resources he might use in order to find out what a priest does. (Albeit a priest who is a 'spy'). Perhaps he could delve into his past and contact a priest he knows well - Geraldine, of course!!!
Lesson #1: "How to adopt a 'prayerful pose' ...
How could I resist!!!!
Many thanks to a poster over at C2020 who managed to find this article - "El cine se fija en Marchena para rodar la adaptación de 'La piel del tambor'"
For non Spanish speakers, 'La piel del tambor', is the book the "The Seville Communion/Man from Rome" is adapted from. It seems that some of the filming will take place in Marchena, located in the Province of Sevilla. Andalucía. I expect there will be other locations, but I thought this was interesting given the fact part of my spanish course took us 'virtually' to parts of Andalucía. Now my interest is piqued.
Following is a short news report (in Spanish) from RTV Marchena about the production and location:
"Una vez más, Marchena se acerca al mundo del cine y los rodajes"
I managed to take a very 'ordinary' screencap of some filming for an advertisement mentioned in this news article, but there is more to see in the video clip. (I think this possibly could be the Church Fthr Lorenzo Quart is sent to …)
Enjoy ...
I heard on the grapevine that Richard Armitage is working on a new project - "The Seville Communion/The Man from Rome".
From IMDb:
"A computer hacker penetrates Vatican security and sends an urgent anonymous plea to the pope. Handsome Father Quart, of the church's Institute of External Affairs, an arm of the Vatican intelligence, is dispatched to investigate. The message of the hacker concerns a crumbling 17th century Baroque church in the heart of Seville that apparently "kills to defend itself"."
I'm not familiar with any of the other cast members, but a "theological thriller" sounds right up my ally. Mr 'M' and I recently unearthed a 1987 thriller called "The Rosary Murders" - a little gruesome, but very suspenseful. ("Edge of the Chair" genre of film).
... but wait ... Variety reports what appears to be a different "The Man from Rome" movie set in Holland?? Curious .... then perhaps the film Richard Armitage is doing will have to be "The Seville Communion"? I will have to delve further into this mystery.
As we are still hopefully walking part of the Spanish Camino in 2022 (Ojalá!), I am continuing to plod along (at snail's pace) with my Spanish. ¿Quizás la película será en español? (¿Quizás la película sea en español? Subjunctive??). I've decided that a lot of things to do with Richard Armitage in terms of future projects/appearances can be referenced in the subjunctive
Aquí está la nueva foto de perfil de Richard en twitter:
Es interesante ¿No?
I wrote a post for the "RA Blog Re-Union" (was it last year? I'll have to check) related to my love of audiobooks and Richard Armitage's work as a narrator in particular. I don't do well with sitting still, and so audiobooks really suit me. I'm also continuing to walk approx. 10 kms four times a week, and in order to alleviate boredom, I generally listen to books or podcasts. It's been a while since I have listened to a book narrated by Richard, but I was given an iTunes gift card for my birthday recently and bought "The Night Thief", by Joy Ellis.
I think/hope that I have another two hours to go before the final conclusion - I'm finding it very suspensful and I don't want it to end! I have a little more credit in my iTunes account so I may move onto to "Rock, Paper, Scissors", or I may simply re-listen to one of the other books in my Joy Ellis collection.
I have to add that I'm a bit out of touch with RA's recent audio work - iTunes has done something to their search engines making it difficult to look for individual narrators (and also authors) - you actually have to type in the title and author of the book you are looking for. This is logical, I guess, but makes it difficult if you just wish to look for works by your favourite narrator or author. I guess I'll have to delve through RA's twitter account to see what he has been posting of late ...
I'm so behind with the times!!!
I wanted to send (an extremely) belated message of congratulations to Guylty over at Guylty Pleasure who organises a birthday auction for RA every year. This year was a magnificent effort, and the amount raised for LORUS was terrific!!
Now, one of the items up for auction this year was donated by the man himself, Mr Armitage!! It was indeed .... Guy of Gisborne's jacket!!. Yes, GoG parted with that jacket!!
(Quick aside: Message to the new owner, (the mystery bidder), I loved your guest post, and I too had an elderly Mum in end of life care. )
Some years ago I wrote a number of blog posts about Sir Guy of Gisborne. Many fans back in the days of BBC Robin Hood simply adored him .... I was personally a Harry Kennedy kind of girl at the time, so I couldn't quite relate to the Guy gushing that went on back in the day. In an effort of pure altruism, you understand, I began an 'in depth' study of Sir Guy and the Search for the "Good Guy" (or GoG, as he was known to some of us), and quite frankly I had quite a lot of fun with the screen caps I made of him complete with the occasional speech bubble ... I sense he was a bit offended at my ... er.... apparent lack of admiration for him! Anyway, he was quite delighted at the result of the auction of his beloved jacket as you can see from the message he sent me ..
.... Anything you say, Sir Guy!!
BTW: Now you've given your best jacket away, what are you wearing??? Your trench coat?
Revisiting this blog:
This is Week 8 of lockdown for our region of NSW. Residents of Sydney/Greater Sydney have been in lockdown since July. Apart from being unable to see family and friends, we're lucky to live in a house with a bit of a garden and in a location not too far from a park and the sea, so my regular walking has not been curtailed. Mr 'M' and I have been fully vaccinated since the beginning of September, but vaccination rates (owing to poor supply) have been low in parts of this State (Regional/country areas) and in the rest of the Australia - hence the need for strict lockdown. Today's figures ...
All of NSW for last 24 hours:
Breakdown of the Covid stats for last 24 hours for our region of NSW:
We're told by the State government that some lockdown restrictions will ease once the State reaches 70% 16 years + double vaccinated, but, while the well off Sydney areas might have good rates, many areas outside Sydney have a long way to go. (NSW is three times the size of the UK, so there are logistical issues with vaccine delivery).
If NSW opens up still with Covid cases in the community, the rest of the Australian States (most of whom have Zero Covid cases) will keep their borders firmly shut on us, as they don't want any virus spreading to them, and they do not wish to give up the Covid free lifestyles they currently enjoy. The implications for NSW residents wanting to see family, visit sick and dying loved ones residing in the other States however are immense. Thanks to Covid, Australia is now divided into eight separate little political "entities" - the "(dis)United States of Australia". I need to add here that before British colonisation, there were over 500 Indigenous nations around the continent, all with distinctive culture, beliefs and language, and they all got along pretty well as far as I am aware.
Enough of the politics!
Many thanks to my old blogging buddy, Nat, from Richard Armitage Fanblog who came up with the idea of this Armitage Blogger Re-union. By way of introduction, I started blogging about Richard and his work in 2009 after needing a break from the three fan forums and IMDb which I had previously posted on. I thought that I would be on my own out here in the Armitage blogosphere, but Nat contacted me after only a month, and we were soon joined by many others.
For the Blog Re-union, Nat suggested we describe a little about life after blogging. I'm going to try to make this relevant to Richard Armitage and his work, but mea culpa, I'm not very up to date with what he has been doing lately....
Summary of my life up to now - retired from work as a paediatric physiotherapist (a while ago); filled in my time by starting a music based playgroup for children and parents/carers/grandparents under five at our local cathedral; and cared for Mum who died last year at a very respectable 94 years of age. Our three adult children are no longer at home - our eldest (a medical physicist) lives on the Gold Coast, QLD: our middle daughter (a writer and poet) lives in Adelaide, SA; and our younger daughter (medical receptionist and actress) lives a few suburbs away. We now have a beautiful baby granddaughter in Adelaide, so pre-Covid, we were travelling over there to help our daughter with her, and we are looking forward to being able to get back as soon as the State borders are open again.
..... and now to relate the title of this post to Richard Armitage - "Walking with Richard" (Over on C19 there is a fun thread called "RA ChaRActer Trails of Sorts" where posters describe their travels and link locations with his characters. I'm going to try to do this today as much as I can as well as linking my training with the audiobooks he reads).
Our walks and my training "companion" - Richard's narrations.
In 2012, Mr M and I decided that we would like to attempt a multi-day walk. Now, I'm not at all athletic and never have been, but the thought of meandering through the countryside was and still is very alluring. I very quickly discovered however, that the grades of Australian walks are as follows: "Easy" = moderately hard; "Moderate" = Strenuous; "Hard" = Impossible for anyone other than a mountain climber or bush ranger!! I'm joking of course, but it is very difficult to find a long distance walk that is "easy to moderate" here. Then, there are the snakes and insects that bite .... With all this in mind I decided to look for a relatively easy distance walk in the UK, for starters - you know, one that employs a courier to take your bags so that you don't have to carry a heavy pack. Basically, a long distance pub crawl!
What has this got to do with Richard Armitage you might ask? Well ... despite the gradings of the walks we do, they are still long ... all, to date, have been 100kms or more. This means training. For me, two gym sessions a week and a walking schedule increasing distance and time each week starting at least 16 weeks prior to the starting date. To keep myself entertained on these training walks, I listen to audiobooks. Enter Richard Armitage and his narrations - he has kept me company up and down hills, up and down stairs, along roads and footpaths by the beach as follows.
Walk One: St Cuthbert's Way from Melrose Abbey (Scottish Borders) to Holy Island
Distance: 100km over seven days
Training Companion: "Lords of the North" - Bernard Cornwell.
St Cuthbert is mentioned in Lords of the North as anointing Guthred. Walkers pass by St Cuthbert's Cave (also mentioned in the book) on Day 6 and through to Holy Island which is not far from Bamburg Castle (Bebbanberg), Uhtred's home. The audio narration is nice and long, perfect for long training walks.
Walk Two: The Thames Path West from the Source of the Thames (Kemble) to Pangbourne
Distance: 139km over eight days with a rest day in Oxford.
Training Companions: "Venetia" and "Sylvester" narrated by Richard Armitage, and "The Crucible" from LA Theatreworks featuring Richard Dreyfuss as Rev Hale and Stacy Keach as John Proctor.
The Heyer narrations are (for me) not as satisfactory as the unabridged narrations read by Nicholas Rowe (Sylvester) and Venetia (Phyllida Nash). I had the impression Heyer was not really to Richard's taste, but he did a very credible job. I listened to The Crucible because the actual play was opening in the June of that year in London. I missed it by three weeks which was a disappointment but Mr M and I actually caught a glimpse of Richard in a bar in London on our final evening in the UK. (Needless to say, we kept our heads down and pretended not to notice him). A quick mention about Oxford, where Tolkien studied and where Mr Hale (of North & South) spent his final days, so a good chaRActer 'related' trail including this ....
Somewhere upstream from Oxford
Walk Three: The Ridgeway from Avebury to Ivinghoe Beacon.
Distance: 140km (with hills!) Nine Days.
Training Companions: David Copperfield (Charles Dickens); Hamlet (A.J. Hartley & David Hewson) and Heads You Win (Jeffrey Archer)
Of the three of these, David Copperfield was the most satisfying companion given its length and the amount of time I had to spend out on training walks. Outstanding narration by Richard Armitage!
The Ridgeway is pretty tough - I found it was, anyway. In terms of any relevance to Richard, I can't link it with any of his characters, but we walked through Tring Park mentioned in a tweet I caught sight of a few months ago.
I thought there was a photograph of him planting a tree, but I must have imagined it. Anyway, below is a photo of the walk through Tring Park. It was getting late in the day and we were keen to get to our accommodation, so photos of the Park are a bit sparse.
Walk Four: The Romantische Strasse from Rothenberg ob der Tauber to Nördlingen, Bavaria.
Distance: 90kms in Five days
Training Companions: The Man from St Petersburg - Ken Follett; The Chimes - Dickens
I don't think Richard has filmed anything in Bavaria, so I'm not able to link this walk with any of his characters. It was however much gentler compared to the Ridgeway. Pic spam follows:
Guy of Gisborne might have liked to have owned this place!
Walk Five: The South Downs Way. Winchester to Eastbourne.
Distance: 160kms (Add another 20kms to reach accommodation every night). Eight days.
Training Companions: I had to do a lot of training for this walk - so I needed "the voice" entertaining me as I plodded along. The Other Queen (Philippa Gregory); Their Lost Daughters (Joy Ellis; The Murderers Son (Joy Ellis); Tattooist of Auschwitz (Heather Morris).
I'm really impressed with Richard's performance of the Joy Ellis' books. Extremely believable characters, although the subject matter may not appeal to everyone. Still, they help while away the sometimes tedious training kilometres.
Winchester has a few connections with Richard's work for those who enjoy finding chaRActer trails:
a) King Alfred's (Lords of the North) royal palace was at Winchester.
b) Jane Austen is buried in Winchester cathedral. I believe Richard is narrating "The Jane Austen Society" by Natalie Jenner.
Walk Six: The Great Ocean Walk - Apollo Bay to The Twelve Apostles.
Distance: 105kms over seven days. Cliff paths, beach walking, steps.
Training Companions: The Stolen Boys; The Guilty Ones; The Fourth Friend all by Joy Ellis
I did listen to a selection of other audiobooks as I trained for this walk - a feast of Joy Ellis, irrespective of how well Richard Armitage performs the narration is a little too macabre, even for me.
In terms of chaRActer trails - this is an Australian walk (in Victoria), so I couldn't relate any of the places we walked to with any of Richard's screen characters. Off topic, I actually saw my first koala in the wild (about three, actually) - they are quite hard to spot in tall trees. Wallabies as well, lizards, amazing birdlife, and of course ....
It is Oz after all!
Walk Seven: The Camino Espiritual + Santiago de Compostela to Finisterre
Distance: 221km
Postponed until next year - so I will look forward to more walking training with Richard over the next 12 months!
So, thanks Nat for coming up with the idea of a blog re-union!! I have to say that I struggled with Typepad, so I hope it all works. Looking forward to catching up. Mxx
As everyone would know by now, Richard Armitage posted his usual Christmas letter .... a few days early.
This is it....
I'd like to write about my own experience of Mrs Armitage's act of kindness. In 2008, I wrote to Richard to say how much his CBeebies narrations were enjoyed by the children I worked with in the hospital. Most of them had been traumatised by their illness and the procedures they had to undergo. Some of the procedures I was responsible for ... splinting being one of them. I used to play CBeebies to the children to calm them. (Admittedly not an entirely 'legal' copy). I sent a letter explaining how Richard's work helped with my own work, to the fan mail address provided on Annette's RichardArmitageOnline.
Within a couple of weeks, a letter arrived in my "in" tray at the hospital.
Envelope ... (sorry, I had to erase my name and name of hospital). Note lovely font (if you can make it out). Also note that despite me not sending a stamped self addressed envelope, Mrs A (I'm sure it was her doing) paid for postage.
Inside envelope ...
I'm almost 98% certain Richard was not responsible for this .... it was his "fan secretary" ... Mrs Armitage. I sense that she was incredibly supportive of his early career, and played a key role in terms of communication with the fans. I'm sure she watched all of his work. She was just .... there!!
Thankyou Mrs Armitage ..... May she rest in peace. Let light perpetual shine on her forever.