Richard Armitage’s Hannibal Experience: A Conversation in Three Acts – Act III

Originally posted in All Film website as
Richard Armitage di Serial Hannibal: Perbincangan Tiga Babak – Babak III.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Hannibal S3.

Actor Richard Armitage speaks to All Film magazine about his character, Francis Dolarhyde, in Hannibal TV series. Continued from Act II. This is the third and final part.

Act III: Fans and Fullerverse

Bryan Fuller is said to be a collaborative showrunner. Is that what you experienced?

Yeah, I mean, it was one of the highlights of the experience for me. Any ideas I was sharing with him, he absolutely took on board and absorbed into creating of the episodes. But also a lot of the time, we’d email more or less at the same moment, and I would be asking for something at the same time that he was offering exactly the same thing, so we were very in tune with each other. There were very few occasions – I can’t even think of one occasion – where I disagreed with a choice that he was making and everything that I was given to say, everything that I was given to do, or where, just felt completely appropriate. And you know, when  those things were all in place, you can work in a way where you think, “Well, what about if we go here?” and I can jump a little bit higher, I can go further, and so that was exactly what happened.

You joined social media last year. How are you enjoying it? Meanwhile Hannibal has a very huge, loyal and active fanbase in social media. Have you heard from them?

Yeah. I mean, one of the reasons why I think I’m enjoying it is because I know at some point, for me, it will all come to an end. When I’m not an actor anymore,  I will no longer be on social media. So it does have a finite kind of time limit…

But in terms of engaging with fans and talking to fans and, you know, rolling out a television show, I love what the Hannibal writers do and the way that the DeLaurentiis Company works… And the way that Bryan works is that he engages with the fans all the way through the series and you can feel the rise in excitement for the episodes. I feel that it’s really important because television is such a changing medium in the way that people consume it. And the networks are fighting so hard to get the people to sit down at certain time on a certain day and watch, so social media’s the way of doing that. Even though I still feel like it’s failing because, uh, you know, the show is  no longer to be on NBC unfortunately.

Now you’ve done both television shows and films. Hannibal looks like a movie at times. How does it feel to work on a TV show that has a film quality?

It’s one of the reasons why I picked up the phone and just said yes to Bryan. No matter how good an actor is, if they’re placed in a playground that’s poorly made, the actor is reduced to the level of the show. I’ve been in ALL kinds of places like that. You know, I’ve worked on daytime television at times …

(A loud musical noise – like the beginning a song – suddenly starts blaring in the background.)

And I’ve watched that stuff back and I think, “Well, I’m not a very good actor, am I?” And then you get to play in all of the…

(Armitage pauses for a beat due to the sound and then chuckles in confusion, which causes the interviewer to also laugh.)

Uh. What happened?

(He laughs again for a little bit more at the interruption and then jumps straight back into his answer, with great emphasis on some of his next few words.)

Then you get to play in Bryan Fuller’s universe, which is incredibly beautiful to look at, it’s sumptuous, it’s cinematic, it’s lit beautifully, the soundscape is incredible and you just think, “If I could get to work in that world, then my work is elevated.” So I was very excited about that.

END.

* Francis Dolarhyde’s will continue on Hannibal episode 9 on Sunday, 2 August 2015 and will last until the end of season 3. In Asia, Hannibal is on every Sunday, 9 PM (JKT/BKK) on AXN Asia.

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I posted the English version of this unabridged interview with Richard Armitage for the sake of international readers who don’t read Indonesian. You may post this interview and its subsequent parts in your website, but it is necessary to credit me as “Amanda Aayusya/All Film Magazine” and link to All Film’s version (Act 1 in Indonesian | Act 2 in Indonesian | Act 3 in Indonesian) when you post the interview. Otherwise, you can simply link back here (Act 1 in English | Act 2 in English | Act 3 in English).

Apologies in advance; I do not want any translation into another language without permission. Please ask for permission first. Linking back is not enough in a translated article.