An actor writes a thriller
The actor Richard Armitage was in Iceland recently and talked to mbl.is about his career and his new thriller. mbl.is/Ásdís
The great actor, and now author, Richard Armitage, welcomes the journalist with a broad smile and a big hug. Armitage is probably best known for his role as Thorin Oakenshield in the trilogy Hobbit, based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s books. Many people also know him from the British spy-show Spooks, the movie Ocean’s Eight, or the recently launched love-scandal show Obsession. But now the actor has tried his hand in the literary field, as the exciting thriller Geneva has been published. That is why the British actor was invited to Iceland for the bookfestival Iceland Noir, which took place in Reykjavík recently.
Geneva is about the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Sarah Collier, who receives an Alzheimer's diagnosis at a conference in Geneva, where she is presenting her work. The story doesn't end there, because the whole series of events starts in the aftermath, and the reader is kept in a state of excitement until the end.
A good actor needs an active imagination
Armitage is in Iceland for the first time and says he is overwhelmed.
“I’ve been here just a few days and I’m desperate to come back in summer. We went to Gullfoss and the weather has been so beautiful; an orange coloured yellow sky and nothing to disturb the view. We tried to look for the northern lights but couldn’t see them, but just to get out of the city and be in total darkness was very special,” says Armitage, who has decades of experience with acting and says it definitely helped him in the writing of Geneva.
Armitage liked Iceland and was planning on reading the book Reykjavik by Ragnar Jónasson and our Prime Minister, Katrín Jakobsdóttir. mbl.is/Ásdís
“Throughout my career, I’ve been through many brilliant scripts and I’ve met many brilliant writers. You pick up things that you can use in writing. I’ve learned both from the good and the bad things,” says Armitage, mentioning that he finds writing the dialogue and getting into the scenes most exciting.
When you create and develop characters, do you use yourself or people from your own life as role models?
“When I’m acting myself, I try to keep my character far from the characters I play. It’s maybe 2% of me and 98% of the character I create. The book might contain a little more from myself. But the lead actress, Sarah Collier, is based on Sarah Gilbert, who designed the AstraZeneca vaccine. In the coronavirus era, I watched a lot of documentary footage about her and I thought she was a credible person that could be noticed; in the whole information chaos that existed. So I used her as a role model for the lead character,” he says.
“There’s a six-part TV series that’s will be made based on the book. I have to play in it; it was part of my contract with Sony. I’ll play one of the main parts.”
Playing in The Hobbit would be enough
If you look back over your career, what role stands out?
“There are two; one was in The Hobbit, where I played Thorin Oakenshield. It was one big adventure to go to the other side of the world and stay there for a long time. There I got to play a storybook character, which had been a big part of in kindling my imagination when I was ten years old. To then be allowed to go as a man in my forties and play this part was like closing the circle. The films were so greatly received and all that experience was valuable. If I never played another part in my life, this would be enough.”
Has travelled the world for his work as a film actor
“One of the best gifts I get as an actor is to work abroad. I’m not good at being a tourist, but I find it so fun to work abroad because then I get to know local people and you find out what the place is like,” he says, and says he connected to Iceland right away, even though he’s visiting for the first time. He says he’s now looking forward to reading Reykjavik by Ragnar Jónasson and Katrín Jakobsdóttir, not the least because he’s been here now.
“I feel like I’m in a movie here; maybe I am seeing it through rose tinted glasses,” he says with a smile.
“Then there’s so much nature here with all these seismic energy. It’s rather funny how the rest of the world is spreading news about Iceland blowing up and then you come here and the locals are calm, as this is a part of your life style.”
