Stephen Hunter''s Actors Talk About Themselves - Jed Brophy Interview

What a great idea from Stephen Hunter!  Don't miss this informative interview, conversation really, between two friends.  

Stephen interviews Jed Brophy and they both discuss life, work, and family as working actors, and a few memories of working on The Hobbit. If you love acting and actors, watch this video. 

Looking forward to future videos of "Actors Talk About Themselves" from Stephen Hunter. 

Jed Brophy Facebook Q and A Today - Is San Diego in Their Future?

Thanks to Middle-earth News:

http://middleearthnews.com/2014/02/19/new-jed-brophy-live-fan-qa/

https://www.facebook.com/JedBrophyFans

New Jed Brophy Interview with Critics Associated - Armitage, Brophy, and Mortensen in a Western?

I may have mentioned before that one of my favorite dwarves (yes, I have them also Sir Ian) is Nori, especially Nori's human, Jed Brophy. 

He always gives very thoughtful and interesting interviews, and he did again recently for Critics Associated.

One very important thing that Jed and I share is our admiration for this guy called Richard Armitage!!

A few wonderful quotes about RA from JB:

...is there anything you have not tried yet that you would like to have a go at? Perhaps a specific role, or project (filmic or not)?

…make a great Western with Richard Armitage, Bernard Hill and Viggo. That would be fantastic.

What scene in The Hobbit: There and Back Again you most look forward to see on the big screen?

I think the Battle of the five armies and in particular our charge out of the fortress. We had been waiting two years to do that scene and on the morning we filmed Richard Armitage  turned to me and the gleam in his eye said it all. He said to me , “We have been waiting two years to do this and I can see you are ready”. He was so much our king in that single moment. It was like the charge of the Rohirrim in the Return of the King which I was also lucky to be a part of. Just …..well hard to describe, but very emotional.

******

To read the rest of the wonderful interview, including some very interesting information about Nori's weapons, click on the link below:

http://critics-associated.com/features/interview-with-jed-brophy/

New Jed Brophy Interview from TORN - Working with Richard Armitage

Very late last night I read a wonderful interview with Jed Brophy from our friends at TheOneRing.net:  http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/10/06/80021-getting-to-know-jed-brophy/2/ 

He had this to say about working with Richard Armitage:

 "I was lucky enough to train alongside Richard Armitage a lot during the early part of the shoot and again on location, and he inspired me to train the hardest I ever have for anything. He is so strong mentally and physically and like his character I felt compelled to follow him."

and this when asked if he could choose three actors to work with:

One more, Richard Armitage! Anytime, any place, any part, I would be there.

***********



You all know that Richard is one of my favorite actors, and people, in this world, and it's always lovely to read wonderful comments about him from his colleagues. 

Thank you Jed Brophy!

Nori

More about Jed from a 2011 post:

http://whiterosewritings.blogspot.com/2011/08/voices-vii-more-middle-earth-dwarves.html

LOTR 30 Day Challenge - Day 6: Ugliest Orc

Welcome back citizens of Middle-earth to the LOTR

Ugliest Orc Pageant

Once again, here is our host, Gandalf the White

Gandalf:

Dear viewers, we've enjoyed the Orc evening gown competition, and all our finalists have answered the special question "Why I'm interested in Middle-earth domination?" 

and now the judges have turned in their final votes 

But, before we announce our lucky winner, lets introduce once more our illustrious panel of judges:

Thranduil

Elven King of the Woodland Realm

and Tiara Connoisseur

Arwen

Fashion Icon and Royal Personage

Tim Gunn

Fashion Guru 

Gollum

Riddle Master and Jewelry Collector

Thank you Judges!

I've been handed the judges final decision

The Ugliest Orc is

SHARKU

thanks to lotr.wikia.com

Voices VII - More Middle-Earth Dwarves: Jed Brophy (Nori), Mark Hadlow (Dori) and John Callen (Oin)...and Thorin (Richard Armitage) of Course

Continuing my series on actor's Voices and also my hope of finding examples of work by The Hobbit cast, especially those that I don't know well, in this post I'm featuring three Kiwi's:  Jed Brophy, Mark Hadlow, and John Callen.


Jed Brophy:

I had read that Jed Brophy had been in the Lord of the Rings films, and I wondered who he had played since I didn't remember his face.  But doing a bit more research, now I know why:

Jed Brophy as Sharku in The Lord of The Rings 

He played two roles in The Lord of the Rings movies, Sharku and Snaga.  In case you are wondering, Snaga is just as "lovely" as Sharku.   He is one of a group of  New Zealand actors that seem to be part of Peter Jackson's regular "repertory acting company", having also worked on King Kong and District 9 and now as Nori in The Hobbit. 

I found many video clips of Brophy in what seems to be a cult horror film, Dead Alive (1992), but the film is not quite one I want to see, though I could tell from the clips there is some black humor and not just horror involved.  

I did find this interesting interview of Brophy talking about his roles in the LOTR films and about the LOTR fan conventions:

Mark Hadlow:

We've seen Mark Hadlow now in The Hobbit video blogs and in interviews about the films, and he comes across as a very good natured man.  He's also one of Peter Jackson's "acting repertory company"  of  New Zealand actors having played the role of Harry in King Kong.  His bio describes him as an actor and comedian and in addition to his many movie and television roles, he has a distinguished career in the theater.  He's been actor, producer, director, for many plays in Christchurch's Court Theatre  (founded 1971).  

In The Hobbit, Mark Hadlow plays the dwarf Dori (brother of  Nori).  The question I couldn't find an answer for is why does he wear a naval uniform in many of the interviews for The Hobbit? 

Below is a dramatic turn for Hadlow performing the famous soliloquy from Macbeth, "Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow".  He has quite a commanding voice, though not particularly deep, and his interpretation is a quite energetic Macbeth. 

John Callen:

An award winning actor and director, New Zealand's John Callen has performed in over 100 theater plays. He's also acted in and directed many television shows in New Zealand.  In addition he's a noted voiceover artist.  His Shakespearean repertoire includes Macbeth, Claudius, Shylock and Polonius.  In The Hobbit he plays Oin. 


Below is a voiceover narration he did for the World Petroleum Congress in Madrid (2008),  Resources of the Past: Dutch Contribution in the Petroleum Industry. He has the deep voice with the resonance of  a stage and Shakespearean actor. I'm looking forward to his creation of Oin:


  

WPC2008 part 1: Resources of the past from Asteroids on Vimeo.


A bonus video of John Callen and Mark Hadlow talking about the Auckland Theatre Company's production,  "Who Needs Sleep Anyway?"

King Under the Mountain:

I couldn't feature Dori, Nori, and Oin without their leader Thorin now, could I?  


Richard Armitage reading another poem as only he can, "Memories of the Mine" by Roger Woddis (1917-1993) from BBC Radio's A War Less Ordinary (2007):

Go to The Hollywood Spy to vote for your favorite 

The Hobbit film star:

http://hollywood-spy.blogspot.com/

Thanks to comunigate.co.uk, bioeddie.co.uk, RichardArmitageNet.com, RichardArmitageCentral.com, Google Images, Wikipedia