Richard Armitage and Richard III fans please note - King Richard Armitage Week starts August 21. KRA will celebrate the birthday of dear Richard Armitage with articles, stories, history, games, and the contributions of fellow KRA and RA bloggers and participating websites.
To stay up to date with all events, make sure to check the KRA website daily starting on August 21.
I love historical drama but not all historical drama has lived up to my expectations. Though I've watched both The Tudors and The Borgias I must confess I'm not a huge fan of either show. I do like The Tudors much better, but I still find that both programs often have the look and feel of a glorified soap opera. The Eastenders with lavish costumes and locations. Richard Armitage has expressed his interest and commitment to a historically accurate portrayal of Richard III's life and time. I have no doubt that whatever project he's involved in will be the best. But television programs and films are a team effort involving many talented and dedicated people including writers, producers, actors, and directors.
A key element of any successful television program is the right director. Richard Armitage as producer of a future Richard III television series will need to find someone that shares his vision and will successfully bring his dream project to the screen. In a multi episode series he could select one director to put his stamp on the entire program, or he could use multiple directors for a set of episodes to make it more interesting for the actors and the audience. I propose the four directors below for his consideration.
Asif Kapadia
Kapadia is a film and documentary director who often looks to his Asian roots for inspiration, but he was born in London. He has a great eye for location and use of stunning scenery. The environment and location of the story becomes a character in his hands. His film The Warrior (trailer below) shows his ability to direct a historical epic.
Ashley Pearce
British director Ashley Pearce has a track record with period dramas having directed episodes of Downton Abbey, Poirot, and Garrow's Law. He's also directed two episodes of Jimmie McGovern's Accused, including the recent episode Tracie with Sean Bean. I've been watching Garrow's Law recently (thanks to great film watch friends) and it is the perfect blend of great acting and great directing. Season 2 has a very period feel to the look, but a contemporary pace in the story. I love the water imagery and the lighting of the first episode of Season 2 directed by Mr. Pearce (see video below). His style would translate perfectly to a story of triumph and tragedy like Richard III.
Brian Percival
Percival is another British director with much experience directing period drama. Among his best known work is Shakespeare Re-Told (Much Ado About Nothing), The Ruby in the Smoke and The Old Curiosity Shop. He won the BAFTA Award for Best Short Film for his nine-minute short About a Girl. He has an excellent connection with Richard Armitage having directed him in North & South. What can I say about the excellent North & South that hasn't already been said. Percival brought the best out of actor Richard Armitage for his unforgettable performance as John Thornton and there is no reason to doubt it would be a great partnership of actor and director for Richard III. Here is a clip of a scene all Armitage fans know well: Daniela Denby-Ashe and Richard Armitage directed by Brian Percival
Alan Taylor
Taylor is an American director who has directed many great television shows, many that may not be considered "period drama" but tell about a time gone by. I know Taylor's work from Game of Thrones, Mad Men and The West Wing. He also directed several episodes of Rome. But the film of his that made me think he would be an excellent match for Armitage's Richard III is The Emperor's New Clothes. The film stars Ian Holm (Bilbo!) playing a dual role as Napoleon Bonaparte and his double. The premise of the film is that Napoleon escapes St. Helena and lives incognito in Paris plotting to regain the throne while his double pretends to be the real Napoleon in St. Helena.
It is believed that Shakespeare wrote Richard III between 1592-1594. It was first printed as a quarto in 1597. It is believed that Shakespeare based the character of his Richard III on Sir Thomas More’s historical work about Richard III’s reign.. More was a small child during the Richard’s reign. His negative view of Richard III’s is believed to have been influenced by Cardinal Morton, in whose household he lived.
There’s quite a long and involved story of Morton’s roe in the War of the Roses. In very brief summary, he was a supporter of the Lancastrian faction during the war, but eventually after the final Lancastrian defeat, made his peace with Edward IV. When Edward died and his younger brother, Richard III, took the throne, he had Morton arrested and placed in the Tower of London. Morton later escaped and eventually joined the court of Henry Tudor (Henry VII) in Flanders, assisting the Tudors in their plan to usurp the throne from Richard. Henry VII (Tudor) just happened to be Elizabeth I’s (the monarch during Shakespeare’s life) grandfather. The rest , as they say, is history.
Morton (Bishop of Ely) appears in Shakespeare’s Richard III ( Duke of Gloucester) in a scene that is taken from Sir Thomas More’s biography. Here’s the brief scene as it appears in the play:
Duke of Gloucester. My lord of Ely!
John Morton. My lord
Duke of Gloucester. When I was last in Holborn,
I saw good strawberries in your garden there
I do beseech you send for some of them.
John Morton. Marry, and will, my lord, with all my heart.
(stage directions). [Re-enter BISHOP OF ELY]
John Morton. Where is my lord protector? I have sent for these
strawberries.
Shakespeare of course was not writing history but a play. He needed to create a character that would grab an audience. What better way to reel them in than to create an ultimate villain, a man who oozed evil from every pore and every soliloquy:
“In Richard III, Shakespeare invites us on a moral holiday. The early part of the play draws its readers to identify with Richard and thereby to participate in a fantasy of total control of self and domination of others. We begin to be pulled into the fantasy in the play's opening speech, where Richard presents himself as an enterprising, self-made villain and offers an elaborate justification for this self-renovation.” (Folger Shakespeare Library Website)
The Early Players – Actors and Richard III
Richard Burbage (1568-1619) was the first actor to play Richard III in Shakespeare’s play . By the age of 20 he was already considered one of the greatest actors of his generation. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he was the mega star of the Elizabethan era. He was known for totally transforming himself into the roles he played on stage (reminds me of another Richard). Burbage played the lead role in the first performance of many of Shakespeare’s plays. He continued acting until his death in 1619.
David Garrick as Richard III
David Garrick (1716-1779) was an actor, playwright, and theatrical manager. He wrote his first play in 1740 and made his acting debut as Richard III in Shakespeare’s play. It was his portrayal of Richard III that made him a star. Contemporary anecdotes about Garrick mention his mobility and his ability to transform himself at will. But his most irresistible feature were his piercing eyes. (Piercing eyes, wonder what other actor fits that description?).
Edmund Kean as Richard III
Edmund Kean (1789-1833) was considered the most electrifying actor on the English stage. He was also known for his personal eccentricities, including having a tame lion he often played with in his living room. In 1820 Kean appeared in New York for the first time as Richard III to great success. Below is a video of Ben Kingsley in a one man play based on Kean’s life and career:
Shakespeare’s Richard III goes from Drama to Reality:
The image of Richard III from Shakespeare’s play, the “deformed” and evil monarch, became the public image of this man. There is no historical proof that Richard was a hunchback or had any physical impairment, yet that image from the stage survives today. Several references date this universal public perception of Richard as a tyrant from the 16th century on.
Below are two videos that I think illustrate how the theatrical King Richard has become the popular image.
In 1996 Al Pacino made a very interesting and fun documentary, “Looking for Richard”, about his preparation for playing Richard III on stage. He interviews several generation of actors that have played the part on stage, but he also goes out into the streets and talks to New Yorkers about the king. At one point in this clip he asks people on the street what they know about Richard III, and all answer they don’t know who he is (this is the US of course), until he uses a famous quote from the play, and of course, that they know!
For anyone born after 1955 the image of Richard III is the image of Laurence Olivier. Even for those that have never seen Olivier’s film of the play have seen a photo or a film clip sometime, somewhere. Here’s an example of how that image has been used for comic effect. In this video clip Peter Sellers performs a well known text as Olivier’s Richard III (and you might recognize a couple of other guys in the clip.)
William Shakespeare’s Histories, the ten plays he wrote dealing with English history, have gone from dramatic fiction to historical truth in the public mind. Shakespeare’s Richard III has provided actors for centuries with an opportunity to outshine each other in making the man more and more physically impaired and spiritually malevolent, but now, in our time, it is time to bring the real story and history of Richard to the screen.
Richard Armitage is turning 40!
What to get the man who insists he already has everything?
More work for our favorite workaholic.
Since watching his acting gives us so much delicious fantasy fulfillment, we thought we’d turn the tables with a fantasy present: the job that he’s most repeatedly expressed interest in doing — a retelling of the Richard III story.
We’re not agents or producers, and we can’t finance this project or cast him in it or write the scripts, so we’re doing the next best thing: a week of background, context, musings, and jokes about why we’re dying to see “our” Richard play “that” Richard.
Want to share the fantasy more actively? Sign the manifesto:
A historical drama series about the life and times of Richard III? The real story. Sounds like a wonderful idea doesn't it? All lovers of historical drama, or good television, would love this series. So why is it such a long and winding road from the idea, to the script, to the actual production?
In several interviews in the last few years Richard Armitage has talked about his desire to play Richard III and his interest and work in a television series or film that would explore all facets of the man and the king. The video below is an attempt to bring together some of what Armitage has said about Richard III through clips from some of his television and radio interviews.
Instead of another remake based on a remake of an old and not missed television series, why not a sweeping historical drama about the true story of the last Plantagenet King of England!
Please come back and visit again later this week for more about Richard III and Richard Armitage as part of
King Richard Week.
See more posts by my fellow contributors to King Richard Week 2011 by clicking on the link below:
What to get the man who insists he already has everything?
More work for our favorite workaholic.
Since watching his acting gives us so much delicious fantasy fulfillment, we thought we’d turn the tables with a fantasy present: the job that he’s most repeatedly expressed interest in doing — a retelling of the Richard III story.
We’re not agents or producers, and we can’t finance this project or cast him in it or write the scripts, so we’re doing the next best thing: a week of background, context, musings, and jokes about why we’re dying to see “our” Richard play “that” Richard.
Want to share the fantasy more actively? Sign the manifesto:
