What a show today

The countdown to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is on

It hits theatres on December 14

and today we get a chance to talk with one of the film's stars

Please welcome, it's our honour to say hello to

Richard Armitage!

Welcome

Hi I've got to dip you

Who told you to dip me?

Apparently it's the Canadian way

I love it

You'll have to dip all Canadian talk show hosts

Welcome

Thank you so much

Have you been to Canada before?

This is my first time

Really? What do you think of it so far?

The guy at immigration gave me a smile and

said hello like I was a human being so I'm very happy

Let's talk about your character

First of all, how do you play a dwarf at 6'2"?

That was my question when I went in to meet Peter

Peter Jackson

Yeah, Peter Jackson

I couldn't quite work out why I was there

But they'd written a scene for the character

which really encompassed everything he was

And I looked at a lot of the paintings by Alan Lee and John Howe

I realized what they were doing with this character

In terms of getting smaller we actually

get bigger to get smaller

We have massive boots and a big muscle suit, prosthetics

And then Peter works his magic on the computer

Wow, he's pretty amazing

He really is a genius

I don't use that word lightly but he really is

Right, he thinks the world of you too

I hear a lot of comments he has about you

that this is breakthrough for you

This is big time

And you're on this show and you're going to forget

all about us when you become a superstar

I just know it

I actually forgot it was Christmas

I saw Christmas trees and I was like, "Yes, of course"

Of course because you've been so busy

Into The Hobbit

Tell me about your character

How do you say the proper name?

Thorin Oakenshield

Okay and what about this character?

He's got kind of questionable parents

Kind of a questionable background

He is bequeathed a revenge quest

by his grandfather and his father

So he comes into this story with a bit of

a burden on his shoulders

And there was a danger of him being a cantankerous bad-tempered dwarf

so we looked for humor in the character

But in terms of his leadership

I actually became inspired by Peter Jackson himself

because he leads his team with such dignity

and a quiet authority and people come back and work with him

again and again

so I really took that as something I'd like to bring to Thorin

I didn't want to command respect but I wanted to earn loyalty

That's really who he is

Let's see you in action, Richard

Here we go, as Thorin

Was that a wolf? Are there wolves out there?

Wolves? No that is not a wolf

Warg scouts!

An Orc pack is not far behind

Orc pack?

Who did you tell about your quest beyond your kin?

No one

Who did you tell?

No one, I swear

What in Dorin's name is going on?

You are being hunted

So big, this is so big

Shot in New Zealand?

That was all in New Zealand

And that was my own beard as well which I'm very proud of

You were the only cast member that grew your own beard, right?

I started with a fake beard and then we had a break

because Pete wasn't well for awhile

so I actually realized I had time to grow something very similar

What was strange is that my own beard came through with exactly

the same grey of the beard that they created

It was serendipitous

It was meant to be

So you're walking the streets of wherever you live with this beard

People are going, "Whatever happened to him?"

He's an actor

There's something not right with him, right?

How long till you got back into filming?

Was it a couple months you had to wait?

It was only 6 weeks

And we stayed in New Zealand and continued our dwarf training

What is that? What's dwarf training?

We worked with Terry Notary who's a Canadian

I think he trained with Cirque du Soleil

It was called Boot Camp where we wore these enormous boots

and Martin Freeman suggests it was occasionally quite camp

We learned how to run and fight and Terry got us to

wear these weight belts so our centre of gravity was lower

because Peter wanted us to feel like warriors

rather than diminutive people

It was a lot of fun

There was a lot of bonding with the dwarves

and we'd go out and drink afterwards

How about the premiere you attended in New Zealand?

The whole country showed up, am I right?

I don't know if you saw this footage

There's Peter right there

Look at this, this is huge stuff

So many of the stars there

How did you feel?

Was it magical for you?

On the day, from my hotel room, I could see them

rolling out that red carpet

and I stood there feeling really emotional because

after 278 film days

so many of the local people had been involved

in making the film

and they turned up on the day and they were ...

Some of them were driving, some of them were security

these guys that were our camera team

because they just wanted to be part of the celebration

and the party

Neil Finn played a set at the Embassy Theatre

and a Boeing 747 flew over the red carpet

It was like a huge party and I suppose it was

Peter's gift to Wellington to say, "You're having the premiere"

And they earned it

There you are looking very very handsome

I know you've got followers, they call themselves the Armitage Army

Yes they do

What kind of fan mail do you get?

They are the most lovely, supportive fanbase I could possibly wish for

and they've been there for 8 years and I can't thank them enough

because they really do follow my work

and I often don't know what my schedule is

and I just go on the website and they tell me where I'm supposed to be

That's so good

I'll tell you, we're very happy and congratulations on such great success

Everyone's been waiting for this movie

and we've got some great news because

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opens in theatres December 14

and we got to talk to one of the major stars from the movie

Richard, a pleasure to meet you

All the best, happy holidays

We have to say goodbye everybody

See you tomorrow, thanks so much for watching

Go see The Hobbit December 14