Richard Armitage cast as lead in film Now & Then, based on William Corlett's award-winning novel

The Hobbit actor Richard Armitage has been roped in as the lead in the film Now & Then, adapted from William Corlett’s award-winning novel of the same title. Richard Armitage is popularly known for playing Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit trilogy and was also seen recently in Netflix’s  The Stranger . [caption id=“attachment_8519691” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”]  Richard Armitage. Image from Twitter[/caption] The upcoming film will be from Mrs Lowry and Son director Adrian Noble and the script is penned by Matt Western. The story follows Christopher Metcalfe (Armitage), who returns to his childhood home after the death of his father, confronting memories of his time in school and an intense, passionate affair he shared with a fellow student, Stephen Walker. “This is a beautiful script. The character of Chris resonated with me powerfully. I look forward to inhabiting the role and bringing this script to life,” The Hollywood Reporter quoted Armitage as saying. While Western noted, “Although Now & Then is very much an LGBTQ+ project, it is, at its core, the heartfelt story of a mother and a son.” “Laura, in her 60s and Chris, her gay, middle-aged son, are forced to undertake an exploration of their past mistakes and regrets to try and make sense of their present condition and their relationship with each other. To find peace with now, it’s necessary for them to make peace with then,” the scriptwriter added. (With inputs from Asian News International)