No Higher Praise

While trying to make sense out of my million and one bookmarks, I came across a Tumblr post from mezzmerized by richard from The Hobbit press conference in Tokyo. Martin says some nice words about Richard, as an actor and as a person:

“What Pete said about what he brings to Thorin, is partly what he brings just as a person, which is: he has a quiet determination. He respects himself and others, respects other’s way of working, but he holds on to that very strong core of himself.

He’s about the least arrogant person you could wish to meet. He’s very self-depreciating, and he’s always up for what you’re going to bring to the scene.

I went to the gym with him once and there were a few of us there. We had to do these circuits around the gym with this insane psychopath of a gym trainer. I was busy dying about halfway around, and I nearly did pass out, I genuinely nearly–it was only a sports drink that stopped me falling to the floor. I looked up, and Richard had sort of quietly completed the entire circuit, slightly breaking a sweat. He sort of admitted that he was–you know, he found it hard and he was tired. but what I really admired about that, was that he wasn’t being macho or butch, he just quietly got on with it.

And that’s kind of how he treated the 18 months of the job, really. All the trials and tribulations that inevitably come with just the day to day making of the film–it’s tiring, you miss home, etc. He was very stoical about it.

I think there was a good marriage of Richard and Thorin there; I enjoyed working with him very much. What I always think about Richard is that, essentially, he is a decent person and I can have no higher praises. I think he’s a good human being; I like being around him.”

(I condensed the run on sentences and tweaked the punctuation to suit me)