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!!!!