Armitage Encounters

Rachel,

I just wanted to share this lovely story via twitter from Oak and Lilacs, she shared her story of how she had great fan encounter with Richard Armitage 8 years ago in Australia.

It’s such a sweet blog post and you can feel her emotions and excitement all the way via her retelling (click on the links below)

The Day I Met Richard Armitage Part 1

The Day I Met Richard Armitage Part 2

The Day I Met Richard Armitage Part 3

I guess it just got me thinking about how I’d like to hear more stories like this. Obviously Covid 19 has had an impact but the last couple of years RA seems to have become more difficult to access. And that is despite him doing the Hannibal con in 2019. I won’t go into that tbh as i wasn’t there, but he caused some disappointment that was on the #RDC5 hashtag. There were some highlights though, my favourite being the one below ( there is a whole story behind the ghost costumes!):

And this picture, that smile and twinkly eyes are pretty devastating.

Also, i feel his twitter feed lacks any real connection to his fans and serves mostly as an advertising platform. He sometimes asks questions but then never retweets or interacts any further.

My own encounter at stage door for Uncle Vanya play was odd, my photo looks adorable but it truly was a ‘blink and miss it’ moment.

Anyway, I’m trying to be positive and I’d love to hear if you, dear reader, have had any good encounter with La Armitage? please share your stories!

Published by Rachel

Crazy cat and Armitage lady

38 Comments

  1. Well my one and only RA encounter was with you and Jane, Squirrel and Esther last year but it was more memorable for the meetings and photo ops with Toby and Rosalind and hearing Squirrel speak her native tongue w Ciaran Hinds.

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    1. Yes that evening was lovely and maybe its how generous the other actors were that made me feel so sad about RA. And then you see how he used to be, where he seemed more generous with his fan encounters…

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      1. He lives in a bubble of his own creation. He needs to take a page from Toby or Ciaran ( who seemed amused and intrigued by all the SD people) and Rosalind who was gracious and appreciative which he should really be !

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  3. I wish I could say I have had an encounter with Richard but sadly not. I have been within a couple of metres of him though when he walked onto the stage at the Popcorn Taxi event, he literally took my breath away. Hard to believe that was eight years ago now. *sigh* such wonderful memories. Thank you for the links to Bec’s posts, I’ve enjoyed rereading them. That is a gorgeous photo of you and RA, even if it was a “blink and miss it moment”!

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    1. That Popcorn taxi event is a classic-he looked so handsome and seemed so lovely. More of that sort of thing! I’m glad you got to experience it!
      I am very grateful i saw Vanya early enough that he was willing to have photos taken, its a good memory ❤

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      1. He was wonderful, everything that had made me crush on him so completely – he was funny, charming, thoughtful, and best of all, very relaxed. Australia seemed to bring out that out in him, we were very lucky to see him at such a unique event. I thought at the time too that he couldn’t be any more gorgeous in the flesh than what I’d seen in photos, but that man just oozed sex appeal.😋

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  4. I gave as a definition for a bad fan on Esther blog: “Either he is almost blind, when he denies the obvious as what Richard Armitage undergoes as chores …”
    It began years ago, but now I can’t feel otherwise. It was why I took pictures at SD.
    It was heartbreaking to see the security man sending out an alert, on talkie walkie, I guess to tell him to exit through such rather than such door. just because I was observing a back door not far from my hotel. Shame on me, on my bad fan side, I made a fool of me. I REALLY was an idiot.

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    1. Listen Squirrel you are not an idiot at all. He’s a grown man spoiled now which is one problem I have with him. He didn’t seem to mind a gaggle of gift bearing women in South Korea welcoming him at the airport. He should be so lucky to have fans that bring him gifts and pay exorbitant prices for his performances.

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      1. Perhaps from his coming out, he was waiting fans “no more riding on his coattails”, laying off… lâcher les basques en français.

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    1. His MO each night was run to the end of the queue and he zoom down the queue looking downwards at stuff to sign and flew through it as quickly as he possibly could. The night I got my pic, he did the same and was confused when he reached me as I wasn’t holding out a program to be signed! I quickly asked if it was possible to get a selfie and he was sweet and said ‘OK sure’- 2 secs for the pic and he was off. Obviously he doesn’t have to do stage door ,but it felt like he saw it as an inconvenience. Whereas as ,say Ciaran Hinds, he really was adorable and would sign and look at you and say thank you at kind words and he even initiated conversations . It was my first experience with stage door, so I don’t have much to compare it to.

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      1. Oooh! that was a quick reply lol!! Thanks for the clarification. I guess he could’ve said ” sorry, no selfies tonight” so getting a photo with him was a positive outcome, but I can imagine the disillusionment of having him move down the line without any real engagement.

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      2. Yeah , I don’t want to sound ungrateful.. its just when we all hold him up so highly in regard that it made stage door felt a bit ‘meh’. Your popcorn taxi experience sounds so wonderful…I would love to see RA.

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      3. To me I felt like he was timing himself how fast he could speed through the line. We did get a heads up from people who had seen him the week before that he refused selfie’s with them and I stupidly thought oh he will stop for our group when I give him our presents 😳🤔😜
        But I admit I was a blubbering mess once he appeared at the door

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  6. That is such a lovely fan experience by Lady Oakenshields, it must have been so exciting, and did I read it right that her friend stroked his beard??? I’ve been lucky enough to meet RA briefly three times and sometimes wondered what it would be like to chat informally with him for longer but the truth is I’d just gibber and drool. Missed opportunities with RA can be crushingly disappointing but I find it hard to criticise his SD behaviour. It might be a chore for him but he came out night after night, after his Crucible marathons. He needn’t have done.

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    1. yes she had a fabulous experience. II definitely don’t want to criticise or sound ungrateful but it’s also hard when you have expecvtations or even have good experiences wit other actors at stage door. I guess the same could be said for those at RDC? many had such interactive experiences with the likes of Mads Mikklesen, to then find out that Armitage had a poster saying ‘no props /crowns or touching’ must have been quite a let down

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      1. And ‘No lifting’ I seem to remember – as if! But you’re right. It was hard seeing Mads etc giving bear hugs across the room and then having to stand like a bad smell next to RA. It was then crushing for those who missed out on the hug the next day, plus there was the near certainty that it wasn’t given enthusiastically. He did seem to hug fans more in earlier days too.

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      2. yes he totally read the room wrong! but i’m also surprised no one suggested at the time that it was a bit off (also he’s such an obsessive planner, he must have known what a con would involve?)

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      9. Ahh you a shrinking violet? Nahh I choked up when he approach us and flung the bag of books at him 😁🤗😜
        See the con was a job and MAds snd the other guys had the right approach
        I like RIchard reserve nature but not in a professional environment
        If I’d been taking a pic with him my hands would have rover round his hips 😜😁

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      10. And why in earlier SD he took selfies unless as February came COVID concerns grew but still he should be grateful so many came out to say hi to him

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  7. I remember reading those accounts at the time. : ) I’ve been lucky enough to ‘meet’ Richard 3 times (all accounts also up on my blog). First time was at the stage door for ‘The Crucible’ in 2014 where he was quick but did take the time to exchange a few very brief words, sign things and patiently pose for a picture. Saw him again at the Newcastle International Film Festival in 2018 which was my fave encounter as he was relaxed and took his time with everyone. Then last year with you guys at the ‘Uncle Vanya’ stage door which admittedly was a blink and you’ll miss it moment.

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      1. I think the stage door just isn’t an ideal way of meeting him. He was already quick and efficient during The Crucible and even then didn’t engage in longer conversations like some of the other Uncle Vanya actors did. I just think he finds the whole stage door thing weird and so tries to get it over with as soon as possible. At the Uncle Vanya stage door I guess he had ‘perfected’ his efficiency to get out of there even quicker. I heard he was similar with Love, Love, Love in NYC. He doesn’t have to do the stage doors, especially as he doesn’t seem too comfortable with them, so I can appreciate that he came out at all. He just isn’t a Tom Hiddleston or David Tennant who seem to relish these kinds of encounters more. A pity for the fans, though, but I guess that’s the price to pay for liking an anti-socialite.

        NIFF was a more informal setting with no barriers or anything set up. I’m not sure why he was so much more relaxed with fans there but I am forever grateful that he was and that we could even go in for seconds for a group picture.

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  8. Hi, no RA SD experience for me tho I went 3 times to UV! First time I was with elder family that couldn’t wait out in the cold, 2nd time we were told he was v tired (I think that happened more after a double performance?) and 3rd was the Int Women’s Day with the women doing a post-show Q&A, so I stayed inside for that. Thought I’d have later chances as had a couple more tix but show got cancelled. I had SD experiences with Ciaran – quick-witted when I complimented him about how much more grumpier he was (I meant his character but I did say he) when I saw the show the 2nd time. He immediately fired back ‘Well you should see me at home!’ Ha ha! He was surprisingly nervous for a selfie – I wondered if CH had issues with how his smile / teeth look like, but may be I’m over interpreting? Had SD with the rest of the cast too except Dearbhla and RA.

    RA is very shy and also doesn’t like the hawkers who wait at SD without watching a show to get sigs so they can sell stuff. I heard he was no longer signing items unrelated with that theatre performance at SD coz of that – hawkers had a lot of Hobbit merch etc. RA has said he finds the SD and fame but hard. He’s had it since TH for several years now. Emotionally draining. At some point self-care had to kick in. He has a right not to do SD if he doesn’t want to? For the others, they don’t have the level of ardent fandom that RA has had, so it’s all a nice new/rare experience to have SD fans. Do they can enjoy it more. I think RA’s reluctance could be due to some frequent micro bad experiences – which can accumulate and be triggering? We’ve no idea what that level of scrutiny is like, so I will trust him to know what’s best for his own well-being first and foremost, even if that lessens an experience for me.

    I recall doing a photo & signing with another (retired) actor at a con and noticed he was shaking a bit for the photo stand meets, Only noticeable when standing v close to him and a bit of a pervy vibe? Had a conversation with a couple of fans who said that he was often like that coz of nerves, so I was reassured! Ha!

    So such meets are draining for introverts, which many actors, like RA, appear to be?

    Re Mads – was amused to see an interview with him asking if he had read any fanfic about himself, and that some of it was a bit explicit. He said he especially read those! Ha, ha!

    Regards

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