IS RICHARD ARMITAGE PULLING OUR LEG ABOUT BATMAN?

Give it Up, Mr. Armitage.

This is the countenance of a man who just ain’t telling. Sure, the pic was taken a while ago while Richard Armitage was spotted in New York, but I’ll bet dollars to chocolate doughnuts that he wore the same expression when he was asked in an interview Sunday, ( if he were asked Sunday -note my choice of the past subjunctive), whether he would want to play Batman. His reported answer was that he would love to play Batman and that he doesn’t know how all the rumors started.

So, what do we think? How much credence should we give to these statements? And if he said it, what does it tell us about the likelihood that he’s in consideration for the role?

Here, I’m loosely referencing the exercise on source critique put forward by Servetus on Me + Richard Armitage. So, to start with, I’m definitely not considering his statement under option A. I’m not taking what he said at face value. Richard Armitage need not take offense, since I rarely, take anything anybody says at face value.

Next up, can we trust what Mr. Armitage said based on how he said it and referencing the context as well as other factors we may know?The problem here is that we couldn’t observe him or hear him – if he indeed wore that “cat got the canary” expression, we can’t confirm it. If he grimaced, smiled, looked up,down or straight at the interviewer – we don’t know. We know enough about him to presume that he wouldn’t  want to tell a bald-faced lie in an interview. If he said that he didn’t know how the rumor started, that could be true. He may know it’s not a rumor at all that he was considered seriously or for minute- but he may not know who actually leaked it to the press; therefore, he doesn’t know how the rumor started.  If he is in consideration for the role, he could hardly say he wasn’t interested. If he’s not in consideration for the role, why disparage it anyway? As to his statement that he would love to play Batman, who knows whether he would? There’s been plenty of discussion here, on other blogs and forums for us to say that Batman is a mixed bag and how he feels about it may be directly correlated to what other projects he is considering – none of which we know about.

(Did you get that Mr. Armitage? None of which we know about. Come on – we’re dying here).

Option C , for my purposes relies on the same analysis as B, but factors in that he may be making the statements for some publicity purpose which we can only guess at. Does he want us to think he is or is not in contention?His motivation for making the statement can only be guessed at, but it seems like he doesn’t want to close the door on either the actual possibility or the publicity buzz he’s getting from the rumors.In this instance there are too many extrinsic factors at play to believe that if he were in consideration for the role, Richard Armitage would have the freedom to say what he thinks or to disclose that fact. The same is true about the rumors: if he knows how they started, I don’t think he could reveal the source at this point.

We never choose option D for Richard Armitage because we cannot believe that nothing he says is true.

In this instance I’m going with B with leanings towards C. I don’t think Richard Armitage is completely ignorant of what’s going on with the Batman casting or how his name got into the mix I think based on “B” analysis, that he might have been dreading the question, but he was ready for it. What he didn’t say, but could have, is as telling to me as what he did say.He didn’t say that no one had contacted him about the role. He didn’t say he was not in contention. He didn’t say he wouldn’t take it if offered. So, did he craft his words as carefully as he did because he wants to leave the door open or because he wants people to believe the door is open when, in fact, it’s closed?

I guess we’ll have to wait and see until September- or sooner if some different announcement of a new role for Richard Armitage is released.( Did you get that Mr. Armitage- an announcement ?). In the meantime, the speculation continues, along with a heightened level of anxiety fans are expressing over the silence about Mr. Armitage’s next project.