Well, apparently not in this episode, since Wolverine is only in it for about a minute. But so it was said in this week’s instalment of The Marvel After Show. More about that later. Despite the lack of Armitage, this episode of Wolverine: The Long Night is a bit more interesting. There’s a bit of a twist that I wasn’t expecting in terms of who might be behind some of the violence. Information about several of the key players is revealed. That being said, I could still very easily stop listening without caring about not knowing how it turned out. But I’ll stick with it for the last two episodes.
Back to the After Show… this week’s episode is not all that exciting but does have a few tidbits if you are interested in technique. The hosts interview David Call, who plays not only Hudson Langrock, but also Steven Washburn, the man who missed being on the fishing boat when the others were killed at the beginning of the series. He has a talent for voices, demonstrating the two different characters, as well as doing a fair Wolverine impression by dropping his voice down into his chest. To differentiate, he comes up with an image of a character in his head and then modifies his voice to go with it. He explains how for Hudson, he wanted the voice to be “soft and light” and so he pitched it up high in his throat with no use of his chest at all.
As for Richard Armitage, Call says, “I was so impressed with him, and I could tell by the end of the recording sessions that it was hard for him to maintain that. ‘Cause he was really.. you know he really had to drop it down and do whole scenes with it [there]. He was just… he was struggling. It took a lot out of him… and he has to do so much more like screaming and yelling and like all because of the fighting and growling. He put some work in on that. And I was really impressed.”
So, it seems that the other actors have seen and heard a lot more of Armitage as Logan/Wolverine than the audience has. Sounds like it was a lot of fun for them, but isn’t it supposed to be about the audience? I’m hoping that there is a lot more action and a lot more of the title character in the last two episodes. David Call does not give much away, but he does say that in Episode 9, “Stuff gets crazy!” In that episode, he admits that he himself “fully blew [his] voice out”, so it seems that there is some action with fighting and yelling to come.
Okay, now for me it’s back to working on our taxes… April 30 is the due date in Canada and of course I’ve left it to the last minute, as per usual. Wish me luck!
I'm Feeling This 
So it’s episode 9 that’s going to be the big reveal? Do tell.
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Sounds like it… fingers crossed!
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In a way I’m glad that someone pointed out that this lowering of his range is not good for Armitage’s voice. (Even if few fans are likely to read it.) He’s really a normal baritone, and he didn’t lower his speech until Thorin Oakenshield, when it seemed he was trying to make himself sound ragged (remembering uproar about him saying that he’d used cigarettes to help the effect along). And he’s not wrong that sounding typically “American” requires a lower pitch (which he said in that Men in Blazers interview). But so many post-Hobbit fans seem to think that’s his normal pitch. If he ever sings again, he won’t be able to sustain that; it’s not his tessitura.
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It would be hard on his voice — assuming there is more coming! I don’t think I ever heard that he’d used cigarettes for Thorin’s voice! I wonder if he is still a smoker (thinking of the North & South behind the scenes pic)… seems like something someone who works with his voice wouldn’t want to be doing. (Never heard tessitura before… had to look it up.)
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Here’s a citation; I don’t have time at the moment to look for the original reference but I do remember a longer discussion of this: http://blogs.post-gazette.com/arts-entertainment/popi/36388-wreck-it-richard-giving-voice-to-thorin-oakenshield
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Ah thanks.
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re: is he still smoking? I have no idea. The last thing that might have been a hint, if you’re inclined to extrapolate, is his weird hand position here: https://meandrichard.wordpress.com/2016/02/19/so-he-did-smile/attachment/00292492/ Some people thought maybe he was smoking and hiding a cigarette. He said in 2016 that he was looking forward to the end of LLL so he could stop smoking the herbal cigarettes and get his tastebuds back. And someone who got up close to him in Newcastle told me that he did not smell even a little bit like smoke / cigarettes.
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Just thinking how comfortable he looked with the cigarette on the bed in Berlin Station. Chop too, although that was longer ago. Maybe he can pick it up and put it down easily and for roles. (As a former smoker, there is no way I could do that.)
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This was the first time that I listened to the after show, and I was quite surprised to hear them *mention* his struggle with the low pitch of the voice. The fact that he is not much in the podcast may by a blessing in that respect… I agree that it looks as if there will be more Logan in the final two instalments – just because the story is now reaching its culmination/conclusion. Maybe that also means that in potential further series, there would be more Logan…
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By the way, I only listen to the interview portion of the After Show episodes. I find the hosts’ recap of the show too annoying.
That’s a good point. If there is more Logan in a second season, then it could actually be very hard on his voice.
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That’s a good idea. I kept listening to the hosts and thinking “what’s the point, listening to these two people gushing? Where is the extra information?”
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The interviews usually start around halfway through.
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Cheers – might catch up with the previous ones!
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Evidence of him smoking goes back to “Staged,” where he did it with complete aplomb, so it makes sense that he would do it convincingly on screen. (Aaah, I love to watch screen smoking!!) But most of the people I know who were really addicted and have quit are now completely abstinent because they think even one cigarette could be dangerous. I have other friends (including exSO) who have smoked intermittently and have no problem picking it up and putting it down. My personal guess is that he still does it very rarely but that it’s not a habit anymore (if it ever was).
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Way to build up the tax prep suspense :-)!
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Thanks for commenting, Shelley. Yes, and I finally got all three tax returns done on Sunday…. from my point of view, I count that as a win since I submitted them a whole day early!
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