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The One Ring Forums: Tolkien Topics: Movie Discussion: The Hobbit:
Brian Blessed as Thorin

Mr. Arkenstone (isaac)
Tol Eressea


May 17 2015, 1:07pm

Post #1 of 23 (1416 views)
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Brian Blessed as Thorin Can't Post

Would haave raised the level of badassery and wild looks of the party?

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Shagrat
Gondor

May 17 2015, 1:16pm

Post #2 of 23 (1361 views)
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I like Blessed [In reply to] Can't Post

But he would have hammed and shouted his way through the films. He'd be far more suited to a smaller role, like Thror, Thrain or Dain. He can be a magnificent actor when he reins it in - he's wonderful in I, Claudius.


(This post was edited by Shagrat on May 17 2015, 1:17pm)


Goldeneye
Lorien


May 17 2015, 3:26pm

Post #3 of 23 (1297 views)
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Sorry but I just had to... [In reply to] Can't Post




Bombadil
Half-elven


May 17 2015, 4:16pm

Post #4 of 23 (1264 views)
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VULTAN as THORIN..YES! [In reply to] Can't Post

"Blustering ...BOMBASTIC-NESS".. XTRAordinare...?

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dormouse
Half-elven


May 17 2015, 7:01pm

Post #5 of 23 (1192 views)
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No... [In reply to] Can't Post

He would have taken over but as Brian Blessed, not Thorin. I like him, but he's far more suitable for something like Blackadder where he's sending himself up.


Morthoron
Gondor


May 17 2015, 7:36pm

Post #6 of 23 (1174 views)
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Actually... [In reply to] Can't Post

Blessed would be appropriate, given how Thorin was portrayed in the book, rather than the non-dwarf, non-aged Thorin of the films who had no relationship to the book whatsoever.

Please visit my blog...The Dark Elf File...a slighty skewed journal of music and literary comment, fan-fiction and interminable essays.



dormouse
Half-elven


May 17 2015, 9:57pm

Post #7 of 23 (1115 views)
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Granted Richard Armitage is a younger Thorin ... [In reply to] Can't Post

.. but I don't think Brian Blessed would have been any closer to the character in the book. Where Thorin in the book is dour and taciturn, Brian Blessed is loud, expansive, overpowering. Maybe the Great Goblin??


MedwedtoBeorn
Rivendell

May 18 2015, 12:04am

Post #8 of 23 (1072 views)
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I awalys thoght he would make a good Beorn [In reply to] Can't Post

 


Morthoron
Gondor


May 18 2015, 1:05am

Post #9 of 23 (1056 views)
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Hmmm.... [In reply to] Can't Post

I can see Blessed as pompous and verbose (and capable of humor), and apt to the sort of long-winded "speechifying" that Thorin was known for. In addition, his age puts him more in line with the look of the actual character. Watching Armitage not age at all from Smaug's first attack on Erebor to the Battle of Five Armies was off-putting. Really, Armitage did not seem particularly dwarvish at all (and humorless as well). Neither did Kili for that matter. Brian Blessed, even without makeup, has a dwarvish aspect about him, the same as John Rhys-Davis did with Gimli, even with the silly Northumbrian accent.

Please visit my blog...The Dark Elf File...a slighty skewed journal of music and literary comment, fan-fiction and interminable essays.



Mr. Arkenstone (isaac)
Tol Eressea


May 18 2015, 7:58am

Post #10 of 23 (988 views)
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Yeah definetly he fits Beorn better, excellent! [In reply to] Can't Post

 

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dormouse
Half-elven


May 18 2015, 8:50am

Post #11 of 23 (977 views)
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Maybe we just see Brian Blessed differently... [In reply to] Can't Post

'Pompous' isn't a word I'd use of him. My strongest visual image is of him chairing or participating in panel shows like 'Have I Got News for You', where the sheer scale of him tends to derail the whole programme. He's loud - verbose, yes - and jovial with a scary edge. Maybe that's why I can't see Thorin in him.

I'm sure they did try to age Thorin. In the prologue of the first film he looks distinctly younger. Later on his hair is streaked with grey and his face more lined, though of course he is still a lot younger than Thorin in the book.


Radagast-Aiwendil
Gondor


May 18 2015, 2:52pm

Post #12 of 23 (899 views)
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I love Armitage in the role...but Brian Blessed would have been superb! [In reply to] Can't Post

People often dismiss Brian as being hammy, forgetting that he uses that persona because it is what many people employ him for, and that he is actually a Shakespearian actor of the highest quality, capable of portraying subtlety and genuine emotions with both ease and skill. This, above all other reasons, is why I would have loved to have seen Guillermo's vision over Jackson's (among other reasons also). I don't know whether Blessed's Thorin would have necessarily been closer to the book, but I do think he would have been better suited to playing the older Dwarf that Tolkien described. But hey, I am a huge fan of BB so my opinion is more than a little biased, even if it is also a justified one.

I was hoping to see Blessed appear as Dain as it was rumoured that he would play the role before Billy Connolly was cast-although I was incredibly happy with that choice as well!

On a side note, if Brian had played Thorin he could have incorporated a lot of method acting, using his own numerous attempts on Everest as a way of channeling Thorin's desperate desire to reclaim Erebor, a task which is also considered to be fairly impossible.

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."-Gandalf


Mr. Arkenstone (isaac)
Tol Eressea


May 18 2015, 3:02pm

Post #13 of 23 (891 views)
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Did he tried Everest? [In reply to] Can't Post

That´s great :)

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Radagast-Aiwendil
Gondor


May 18 2015, 3:14pm

Post #14 of 23 (886 views)
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Yes, three times! [In reply to] Can't Post

And-here is the amazing part-and I kid you not-is that on one of his attempts he would have made it to the summit if he had not turned back in order to save the life of another, which is incredibly sad for him given that it was always a lifelong ambition of his.

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."-Gandalf


Mr. Arkenstone (isaac)
Tol Eressea


May 18 2015, 3:15pm

Post #15 of 23 (883 views)
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not at all [In reply to] Can't Post

not achieving that kind of goal by saving a life I think makes you greater

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Radagast-Aiwendil
Gondor


May 18 2015, 3:18pm

Post #16 of 23 (879 views)
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So very, very true!// [In reply to] Can't Post

 

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."-Gandalf


GrimMorwen
The Shire


May 18 2015, 6:03pm

Post #17 of 23 (828 views)
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Yes, but... [In reply to] Can't Post

Brian Blessed is an awesome actor, but I had no preconceived idea of Richard Armitage (never seen Robin Hood, no Armitage Army etc) and yet, when I saw the first images of him as Thorin, it was exactly the Thorin I had imagined in high school when I first read The Hobbit. Credit it to raging hormones, if you will - though my heartthrob Hobbit character was Bard - but I had always imagined Thorin that way, long beard and old age notwithstanding.

I imagined a warrior. It may even be that I gave no real thought to his appearance and age. I believe I could have accepted a version of Thorin in his old age, à la Bernard Hill as Théoden. What I got with Armitage was not so much looks, as was the IDEA of this "great dwarf" as Tolkien says of him.

Which is not to say that a great warrior has to look young. That would be ageist. As I said, I love Théoden, the way I love several older warriors, male and female, in Game of Thrones, both books and TV series (sorry for the OT).

If Blessed had managed to pull off my high school vision of Thorin, a warrior rich in age, experience and charisma, I think I would have liked him as much as I like Armitage now.

"It seemed to them that they beheld a great queen whose dignity neither age nor beggary nor all the woe of the world had taken from her."

Known as BlackfishBlues in other universes.

(This post was edited by GrimMorwen on May 18 2015, 6:06pm)


Elizabeth
Half-elven


May 18 2015, 6:28pm

Post #18 of 23 (811 views)
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Yes, a perfect fit. [In reply to] Can't Post

Blessed is already a great bear of a man!








sycorax82
Rohan

May 18 2015, 8:55pm

Post #19 of 23 (782 views)
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Years ago he would have made the perfect Dain [In reply to] Can't Post

Coming in as the ultimate Dwarf to kick some serious butt! I can definitely see Blessed in that role. Though Peter messed up Dain anyway so I guess it matters not...;) Billy was perfectly serviceable in the role with what he had to do.


Mr. Arkenstone (isaac)
Tol Eressea


May 18 2015, 9:07pm

Post #20 of 23 (776 views)
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I think PJ took Dain design greatly satisfying [In reply to] Can't Post

With Billy and his looks :)

The flagon with the dragon has the brew that is true

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Glorfindela
Valinor


May 19 2015, 10:34am

Post #21 of 23 (715 views)
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No [In reply to] Can't Post

In my view Brian Blessed would have been totally wrong for the part of Thorin. He is connected to loud, jovial, larger than life roles – quite different from how I imagined Thorin.

In actual fact, the brooding Thorin we got reminded me a lot of my impression of Thorin from the book – albeit it is sketchy given Tolkien's frequently faintly drawn characters. Richard Armitage's Thorin reminds me of the book character even in the way he looks. I always imagined him as dark haired and in the prime of life (not as an old individual as many, primarily men, would have it), dressed in the type of clothing that I saw in the film.

This is one thing PJ did get absolutely right as far as I'm concerned.


Loresilme
Valinor


May 19 2015, 3:07pm

Post #22 of 23 (679 views)
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Not as Thorin [In reply to] Can't Post

Oh I'm so glad he was not Thorin. Maybe as Dain he would have worked. But oh nooo I'm so happy with the Thorin we got Smile.


dormouse
Half-elven


May 19 2015, 3:27pm

Post #23 of 23 (673 views)
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Me too! // [In reply to] Can't Post

 

 
 

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