THE MYSTERY OF HIDDLESTON
This is an interview published in the Finnish film magazine “Episodi” in February 2017. Interview by Marta Balaga. Translation by me @TomTheNextLevel
It’s great to be Tom Hiddleston. Ever since his breakthrough role as Marvel’s God Of Mischief Loki his fame has been on the up. The end result? A legion of dedicated Hiddlestoners and a Golden Globe for the TV series “The Night Manager”.
Now the old Etonian’s career has reached a new high as he gets to measure his worth as an action hero in the 190 million dollar adventure “Kong : Skull Island”.
Except …
It’s crap to be Tom Hiddleston. Crimson Peak flopped badly, and less said about his version of Hank Williams in the biopic “I Saw The Light”, the better. The short affair with Taylor Swift demoted him from one of the hottest new stars to tabloid fodder. Even the Golden Globe win didn’t help. His thank you speech was criticised as massively egotistical. One of the nicer comments on twitter was “No wonder Swift called it a day.”
Now that “Kong : Skull Island” finally hits the big screen it’s time to forget the famous words “it was beauty killed the beast”. This time the beast might save the beauty’s career.
Before the interview we had some time to recall some of Hiddleston’s most memorable appearances on various chat shows on TV.
You yodel and do some brilliant impersonations. Don’t you ever relax?
I try not to take myself too seriously on chat shows. The whole idea of them is to entertain. I tune in to the wavelength of the host and have fun. I think of it as mucking about rather than putting on a show. And it’s a relief – I tend to get lost in my own head.
Acting is like having an endless conversation about identity – how we explain our personalities … even to ourselves. I am Tom. I’m from London. This is my family, this is how I was schooled. This is how I dress, this is how I speak. But we go through it daily and identity is more fluid than most want to admit. It’s entertaining to play with it.
Is that why you choose the most contrasting roles that defy compartmentalization?
I look into my potential to change myself into a different person. I’ve set myself a challenge to find something in common in superficially similar people all across the mankind by taking on different roles. It has been very humane because at the end of the day we are all motivated by the same things: loss, love, grief.
Can you do that when you play the Marvel villain?
I don’t differentiate between roles like that. Maybe I think that being a villain and a hero are connected by what choices you make. Villains make bad choices. Heroes choose well. But in the end we are all part of the same human mass. People are genuinely multi-faceted and conflicting characters and so is Loki. That’s my approach to a role whether it’s Shakespeare or “Kong : Skull Island”.
You were a Kong fan before?
I’ve always liked Kong. Especially what is says about the awesome power of nature. It’s a very humbling story because it makes you think how small we really are. But nowadays it’s rare to get to act in a film like this. I mean damn, it’s a King Kong film! You can’t compare it to anything.
Am I right in saying this story is set in the 1970’s?
That is something (director) Jordan (Vogt-Roberts) wanted to stick to right from the beginning. Back then technology wasn’t as developed, it was easier to believe in mysteries. It’s nice that somebody wanted to make a film that feels like that. He wanted to have that rough around the edges atmosphere just after the end of the Vietnam war.
An actor has to react to what he sees and Jordan made that surprisingly easy. We travelled to Australia, Vietnam, Hawaii. We were constantly outside. We were filming in real environments which isn’t a given (in films any more) and that was an enormous help. When you are physically in a real place it’s easier to react. Vietnam especially was a fantastic place. In a way it’s a very retro movie. Even my dialogue with Brie Larson, who plays a war photographer, has hints of old Hollywood.
You got to travel when you were making The Night Manager as well …
We went to Switzerland, Morocco, Majorca. The most important place was London though as I did my own research at the Rosewood Hotel in Holborn. The night manager there has been on the job for 25 years and he was perfect. He told me how to treat people so they feel welcome. It was fascinating to watch what sort of discipline and forgetting about your own needs it requires. Running a hotel is like theatre. There’s the stage and the scenes behind. The whole thing is like a performance that depends upon planning the minute details and taking everything in consideration.
I was trying to think about Pine’s army career and the needed know-how he has. He enjoys the anonymity a uniform gives you. The guilt and the shame he feels because Roper (played by Hugh Laurie) benefits from death and killing drives him to be an agent. As an ex-solider he understands the ramification of arms dealing. I haven’t been a solider although I’ve played one many times. Even in Kong … My character is an ex British Air Force captain who is traumatised because he was in the war in Vietnam.
I appreciate what they do. Although I am a pacifist and would rather go through all other available options before the army needs to step in I find it incomprehensibly brave that some people are ready to die for their country or their ideology.
There’s another character with an army background: Bond.
Listen, if they ask it will a massive day for me. Nowadays we spy on ourselves, we live under constant surveillance but you get the feeling the talks about our safety are being held behind closed doors and we’ll never find out about them. The secrets behind the curtains are fascinating because today there people who hide amongst us. Maybe that’s why spy stories have a made a comeback.
Do you still believe art can change the world or has the commercial side of it made you more cynical?
Art can inspire, challenge, make you sad and give you joy. I really believe that because it’s happened to me. I felt a great connection to Mike Leigh’s films when I was younger. I saw “Secrets & Lies” (1996) when I was about 16 and the humanity in the film touched me. When I saw “The Constant Gardener” the world felt bigger than I had imagined. Art can be an emotional key.
I made friends with a doctor from Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) He does brave things, travels around war zones and operates on children’s brains to remove bullets. He told me got the inspiration to become a a surgeon after seeing “The Killing Fields”. Art has the power to change the world by guiding us in the right direction.
You can also read the article online (in Finnish) HERE
