Tom Hiddleston's theatre journey to Hamlet

Before we knew him from The Night Manager or as Loki in the Marvel Universe, Tom Hiddleston had humble beginnings on the London stage. As tickets for his Hamlet go on sale, we track Hiddleston’s theatre career.

He made his first foray into theatre in 1999, when he appeared at Edinburgh Festival Fringe with his student drama group. He starred in a production of Journey’s End, RC Sherriff’s First World War drama in which Hiddleston appeared as Captain Stanhope. A review in the Independent highlighted his “magnificently ferocious” performance, which “provided the emotional core of the play”. A promising start for a young actor’s career.

However, Hiddleston would not appear on stage for another six years. He was cast in the starring role in Yorgjin Oxo: The Man at Latchmere pub venue Theatre503. The bizarre piece was about a group of marshlanders and saw the audience sat on hessian sacks stuffed with hay. Again, Hiddleston shone, with The Stage hailing his “outstanding” performance.

He went on to perform in two productions at the Barbican with Cheek By Jowl. He toured Europe playing Alsemero in The Challenging, and the world when he played Posthumus Leonatus and Cloten in Cymbeline. The year was 2008, and buzz was just beginning to build around the exciting RADA graduate. In a feature interview, the Telegraph labelled him a “name to watch”, and he won the Olivier Award for Most Promising Newcomer in Cymbeline, but was also nominated for playing Cassio on Othello at the Donmar Warehouse.

His next project (which was part of the Donmar’s season in the West End) saw him star alongside Kenneth Branagh, who will direct Hiddleston as Hamlet at RADA. He played Lvov alongside Branagh’s Ivanov in the Chekhov classic, garnering five-star reviews from the critics.

After runs in The Children’s Monologues at the Old Vic and The Kingdom of Earth at the Criterion, Hiddleston returned to the Donmar Warehouse to take on the title role in Coriolanus. Yet again, he impressed the critics and was nominated for an Olivier, this time for Best Actor.

His next role on stage will be Hamlet, in an exclusive run at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He will be reunited with Branagh who directs the piece for three weeks only. If you’re lucky enough to hold a ticket, it’s sure to be a performance to remember.

Source: London Theatre

Marvel exec: “MARK,  YOU WEREN’T SUPPOSED TO POST A PICTURE OF TOM. IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A SECRET THAT HE WAS HERE.”

Mark:

Tom Hiddleston to star in Hamlet at RADA in London

The ‘Kong: Skull Island’ actor will return to his theatre roots for a production of Hamlet, which will be directed by Kenneth Branagh with the aim of raising £20 million for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).

‘Hamlet presents almost limitless possibilities for interpretation. I can’t wait to explore them, with this great cast, at RADA. Kenneth Branagh and I have long talked about working on the play together, and now felt like the right time, at the right place,’ he said.

‘To be guided through it by him as a director, an expert and a friend, is our great good fortune. The performing arts exist to bring people together, not to break or keep them apart.’

Funds raised from the production, which will have a three-week run at RADA’s 160-seat Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre, London, from September 1-23 this year, will support the RADAttenborough Campaign, which is aiming to make money to regenerate the Academy’s Chenies Street premises.

Tom added: ‘I hope the funds raised by the production will help RADA continue to provide a wider field of equal opportunity to train actors, stage managers and technical theatre artists, from every background, to a standard of excellence and professionalism.

“The ‘Kong: Skull Island’ actor, not “the actor known as Loki”. This is important. Also, YAY!!!!!

Norse mythology in a nutshell:

Hi I’m loki and welcome to jackass

[Finally Loki gets his own figure!!!!]

Hasbro’s ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Figures Help You Build a Better Hulk

Casting Cate Blanchett in just about anything makes it worth watching, but when you put her in the helm of the baddest lady in Asgard, all bets are off. To make her casting even more exciting, Hasbro is releasing an action figure based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe incarnation of Hela to flesh out the Thor: Ragnarok action figure wave. Along with Thor, Vakyrie, Loki, and a few comic-inspired figures, you’ll be able to build your very own Gladiator Hulk. With this line, the hits just keep coming.

Joining the previously announced Marvel Comics’ Odinson, Jane Foster Thor and Ares, Hela, Gladiator Thor and Loki will make up the base action figure wave for Thor: Ragnarok. All six figures look tremendous, but Hasbro’s Marvel Legends team has been stepping up its game when it comes to the MCU as of late. These upcoming Chris Hemsworth, Cate Blanchett and Tom Hiddleston collectibles have the best likenesses for all the actors yet, and include some mighty fine costuming details.

Keep reading

it’s so disgusting that we as fans and consumers think that we’re entitled to every aspect of celebrities’ lives just because we watch their movies/listen to their music/etc. we’re literally not entitled to any information when it comes to their personal lives. they don’t owe us anything. the fact that people think otherwise is disrespectful.

We all know San Diego Comic-Con is more than just comics. Yet despite all the great panels and events that happen throughout the convention, nothing gets quite the attention of a big Hollywood reveal on the stage of the Convention Center’s Hall H. Tom Hiddleston as Loki?

1. Thor: Ragnarok (Marvel Studios)

Marvel has already promised they’ll be in Hall H this summer – so the first few films are all about Marvel Studios. Of the many, many upcoming movies on their slate, Thor: Ragnarok is the most likely to attend, as it comes out the earliest (in November) – meaning there should be plenty of footage, news, reveals, and more to talk about. We fully expect stars Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo to make an appearance, as well as Tom Hiddleston. How are they possibly going to top Hiddleston dressed as Loki though? We’ll have to wait and see.

Shakespeare would seriously laugh so hard if he found out how seriously people take his works. Like, he would probably cry from laughing so hard if you told him that his plays were considered high-brow literature. “It’s all dick jokes and sword fights,” he’d say, “do they seriously tell my dick jokes to schoolchildren? And the kids aren’t allowed to laugh? Do the teachers know they’re telling dick jokes? Oh my god that’s fucking hilarious. Wait until I tell Anne.”

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

Damn, what an opening.

GQ Japan Interview - June 2017 Issue

Tom Hiddleston is a Man Who Keeps His Head

An exclusive interview with the hero of Kong: Skull Island!

Tom Hiddleston is calm, cool, and collected

He’s currently playing the lead role in the hit movie Kong: Skull Island now in theaters. GQ interviewed him personally on his first trip to Japan.

He plays a soldier with extraordinary physical abilities

Tom Hiddleston is a British actor being widely discussed as a prominent prospect for the next James Bond. He achieved instant Hollywood fame as the villain Loki in Thor and The Avengers, and in 2017 won the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his role in the TV drama The Night Manager. Now Hiddleston stars in Kong: Skull Island as a former British Special Air Service (SAS) soldier against King Kong, the “guardian” of the island. We asked him about how he prepared for this role.

“When they’re faced with something they have to confront, they have the proper strength to confront it. But they avoid confrontation and conflict as much as possible.”

The body is a machine, so you have to maintain it

He’s tall, at 188cm, with long, slender limbs. Hiddleston appears before me decked out in a Gucci suit; on the table is a copy of GQ U.S.’s March issue with himself on the cover, and the first thing he says, smiling, is, “I know that guy!”

In contrast to his friendly personality, he’s known for his stoicism when it comes to preparing for a role. He immediately set about preparing for Kong: Skull Island about a year and a half before filming began.

“What kind of person is James Conrad, and is he the type of man who, when setting out on an adventure where huge challenges await him, will act based on his own convictions? Building up the character piece by piece like this was a really exciting process for me.”

In order to portray the high-level physicality of a former SAS soldier, he says he performed grueling training and stunt work every day. So does he regularly keep himself fit, as an actor?

“I do a lot of things, but running comes first. It’s my therapy. It’s a time for me to think up ideas, so it’s important to keep myself moving every day. The body is a machine; you have to maintain it. At the same time, I think it’s also really important to come up with an exercise routine. Working hard and challenging yourself creates a positive impact on your spirit, and above all keeps you true to yourself. On a good day, exercise makes me more positive, and on a bad day, exercise saves me. It’s like a gift.”

“I am blessed”

The filming of Kong: Skull Island extended over three continents on location in Australia, Hawaii, and Vietnam. By seamlessly editing the footage together, the filmmakers created a world unlike anything seen before.

“I’ll never forget the challenges and blessings of filming in such amazing locations as long as I live. Another very fond memory is of riding in a real Huey [Bell UH-1 Iroquois military helicopter used during the Vietnam War] with the doors open, flying over the island of Oahu at 5 o’clock in the evening. And following behind us was a helicopter with a camera attached to it… That’s just one of the incredible experiences I had. In that moment, I felt how lucky, how blessed I am.”

He says he also enjoyed interacting with the locals on their first filming location. “I love Hawaii but I’d never spent such a long period of time there before. I learned how to surf! When all the American cast went home for Thanksgiving, I stayed in Hawaii and learned surfing. Learning it in Hawaii is the best. The waves were very gentle so I was able to really enjoy my time there.”

Rudyard Kipling’s poem If is his personal ideal

In this year alone, Hiddleston won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Limited Series and will be reprising his role as Thor’s longtime enemy, Loki in Thor: Ragnarok this November. We asked him, at the peak of his career, what his idea of the perfect gentleman is.

“Someone who has a sense of responsibility, kindness, and respect. I suppose they’re self-restrained, they look after their mother. When faced with something they have to confront, they have the proper strength to confront it. But they avoid confrontation and conflict as much as possible.”

That sounds like Hiddleston’s Kong: Skull Island character, James Conrad. But when faced with someone or something that must be confronted, does he personally fight back?

“It’s not about fighting back with violence, but simply facing those kinds of situations head-on. I don’t have enough time to say the whole thing, but I have a poem called If by Rudyard Kipling on my kitchen wall. It goes like this:

It goes on for a bit, but I’m always thinking about how I want to have these kinds of high ideals.”

Many, many, many thanks Japanese Translator Anon!! This is wonderful. (Especially the Kipling.)