I think I've developed a weird crush on Mark Rylance in Wolf Hall *

[KatParr]

As Thomas Cromwell. Those tortured brown eyes! He's the embodiment of suppressed emotion. But. The weird skull cap and hat combo. Would love to be enveloped in his fur-trimmed cloak however.

Hilary Mantel has done a blinder with the character of Cromwell and Mark Rylance plays him so beautifully.

• Disclaimer, I'm probably ovulating, which accounts for weird crush.

No.

You cannot have a crush on Flop. He is the ultimate ick.

Haha I think I understand this. I can imagine him being extremely "I'm an actorrrrr" I've not seen him in much else but what I have, he's very quietly charismatic.

What's this rabbit/Flop thing people keep mentioning!?

Yup me too.

Wow yes, very pretty. I think I still prefer him now, crinkly eyes, balding and all, though.

He looks like one of the young actors in Industry here actually.

Gosh he was so pretty

Yes he definitely has a look of Rob(Harry Lawtrey) as a young man.
I've found his performance in Wolf Hall absolutely mesmerising. Physically he isn't at all Cromwell-esque, but his casual way of warning people not to cross him and his grief at his daughter's dying and then when Henry is proposing to Jane. He really can show you emotions with very little facial movement.

I have driven my family mad all week but keep saying "executing your wife...It's a king thing" "It's no big thing Henry Bunny, we can just get a new one"

It's the voice - but also the ability to say so much without uttering a single word.
I think, in real life, I would disagree with Sir Mark on a number of things, and he is a tad "eccentric".
But he is a superb actor - I highly recommend that you watch him on stage, if you can.

It’s a Bing thing

I’m so with you! Saw him in Jerusalem years ago, and again when they revived it; I now watch anything and everything he’s in both on TV and stage. He’s such a wonderful actor.

And Dunkirk, perfect understated performance in that too

I love him in Wolf Hall. He voices the character of Flop in Bing which I've recently discovered with DGS 18 months and I'm finding that a bit distracting!

Not at all weird. The whole physical strength leased under a measured intelligence is… something.

Rylance actually annoys me on stage - I find him a selfish actor who can't bear the audience turning their attention elsewhere so is always doing metaphorical pirouettes so you have to look at him.

But as Cromwell he's fantastic.

Seem to remember him saying that he didn't speak until he was around 3?

"executing your wife...It's a king thing" "It's no big thing Henry Bunny, we can just get a new one"🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Me too. Absolutely fell for him as a character. Bit obsessed. (Not watched the series.) I always think Mantel had a thing for him too - she must have, to write him like this! I thought he had a bit of a Tony Soprano vibe, and always thought Mark Rylance was too pretty to be convincing. Must watch it!

I’m with you all. I think it’s the observing and listening to everything which is sexy too.

Are you me OP?? I’m so happy to have read this tonight, I honestly thought I was just a bit of an oddball 😂😂😂 I could have written this post word for word.

Ultimate saddo disclaimer: I’ve just re-watched the bit in Ep 2 where he proposes marriage to Dorothea. Imagining I am her. Silly girl should have thrown herself into his cosy fur clad arms and accepted him on the spot. It should have been me. Or clearly, you…!

Im the same and dont have an excuse

I nearly started talking about him at work today and had to shut myself up for fear of embarrassment!

Peri menopause, is that a reason?

😂 We need to make Rylance love a thing. I will take him over Brad Pitt any day.

It is also that he was written by Mantel who has a massive massive obviously historical crush on Cromwell , it comes across in the books too 😁

same how Jane Austen got a bit carried away when creating mr Darcy

here we are, centuries later, still swooning 💕😊

Yes that’s exactly it. Plus he’s an Oxfordian (re: Shakespeare) and they’re all dicks. 😂

Annoyingly though he was rather like Henry in that when his attention was on you it was like the sun coming out. I can see how it could become addictive.

Glad it's not just me. He is weirdly attractive.

Ryland is exceptional as Cromwell and lends him a vulnerability and pathos. He seems to have an air of sadness to him in some scenes and yet in others he's utterly self assured as the King's chief minister and attack dog. He brings a sentimentality to the man that I've never found when reading the Mantel trilogy or indeed some of the books from Eric Ives to David Starkey.