VOICES FROM KRYPTON: Tom Hiddleston Has Us All Fooled

Sure he does all sorts of bad stuff as Loki in Marvel’s AVENGERS and THOR films, and now in theaters he is even creepier in Guillermo del Toro’s new horror outing, CRIMSON PEAK. But why is it we still find him so damn charming?  In our exclusive talk with Tom, you find out just how deep the charm runs.

Transcript

This is Voices from Krypton, I'm Ed Gross, and Tom Hiddleston is charming. How else do you explain away the fact that as Loki he can threaten all of humanity yet remain likeable in the Avengers? For that of Sir Thomas Sharp and Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak, he can do all sorts of horrible things, yet with the barest of redemptive actions can sway the audience back

to his side. That's where my exclusive interview with the actor begins. As to Crimson Peak, Hiddleston's character marries young author Edith Cushing in the latter part of the 19th century. He brings her to his crumbling mansion to live with him and his sister, Lady Lucille

Sharp. Naturally, it isn't long before his true nature begins to be revealed, and sins of the past rise in ghostly form in search of justice, but beware of spoilers. What is it about you that you think you can do all these nasty things? You can be Loki and threaten the Earth and do all this horrible stuff, and you say I

think we'll have that drink at the end, and you're charming. What is it about you and even as Thomas in Crimson Peak? As soon as you give even a hint of being a nice guy or trying to do the right thing, it just changes. I don't.

Listen, I… I know that's a bizarre quote. You make me feel bashful. I don't know. I don't know.

I know with Loki there is… The thing about Loki that I think is I always found likeable is his mischief. That there's some self-awareness, but he knows he's the bad guy. And I think that that's… I find that very…

I find that in spite of his kind of crazed megalomaniacal ambition, I find that sort of likeable in some way. There's something about mischief and charm and his playfulness. There's a playfulness to him that's always… It's always been appealing to me in the playing of him.

And perhaps that's what makes him so defeatable. Yeah, we could do it. That's why he's never going to win. And his sharp. I think about sharp is I think Thomas Sharp has a…

He has initially a superficial charisma. As I said, behind which is revealed to be a darker guilt. And then behind that is a vulnerability. And then out of the vulnerability that he has a sort of capacity for decency, which I hope is a character arc that people can get behind.

In terms of what it is about me, I just honestly… I just try to play all the… I play to play every character honestly. And that's all I can do. Jessica pointed out that once that the truth was revealed and she's selling in the nightgown,

it was a moment from that point on where the character was finally free to be herself for the first time. Was there a moment like that for Thomas? Do you think that once the truth was out, did he go through some sort of change? Besides, we know he fell in love with her. Yes.

The change I think starts at the post office when they get snowed in. I think that's when he really falls for it. And I think there is a moment where I think Thomas and Lucille both feel there's a sense of relief when the truth is out in the open. But what's interesting is how they react differently to the truth. Lucille feels a sense of kind of…

I think Lucille steps into her power and it's also when Thomas steps away from Lucille and decides to act completely independently of her. Which is without spoiling anything, the way you see him engage with Charlie Hahnem's character, the way you see him engage with me as character, everything from that point on is a decision that is independent of Lucille. And that's when I think he redeems himself. Yeah. Because frankly, if I was with me and walking into that house, being carried into a house that has no ceiling,

first thing I do is say, can we? There's something about right here, can we leave? Yeah, yeah. You can't even put a roof over my head. Exactly. But you've worked with so many directors, but I'm curious, is there something different when you work with these guys who are really,

for lack of a better word, fanboys like a Guillermo or Joss Whedon? These guys, do they bring something extra to the table in a sense? I mean, every filmmaker is passionate, but… That's true. I mean, they each, Guillermo and Joss, each have their own distinct rigor. That's what I found. That's what I find in a story about both of them. It's not the same kind of rigor and it's not the same taste, but there is an integrity to their imagination.

They conceive of the worlds they build with precision and attention to detail. And I think that's a creative discipline, is to come up with an idea and then, rather than just slinging it into the film, they examine it from every angle and really shape it. That's just discipline in the end and curiosity, chasing that curiosity to its end point. Yeah, because I've watched some of these things. I mean, not to harp on Joss, but I've watched how scenes have so much going on in one frame.

And you're like, how? How is it possible that somebody could have coordinated all of this? In the end, it's all about imagination. It's all about having no limit on your imagination, seeing where it takes you. Now Guillermo is such a visual director. I mean, one of the things I want to talk to him about is just the fact that the sound effects even were so detailed and dripping and creaking. I think, is that a different experience to working with somebody who is so focused on, I'm not saying at expense of anything else, but has such a distinct vision of visual style? It's a relief actually, because we can all feel his authority. And it's a relief when you feel like you have a very steady guiding hand.

The man steering the boat knows exactly where he's going and it becomes very easy to follow orders in a way. Because you just want to be part of the experience, make the journey smooth. So it's actually a relief to have someone of his authority who's driving the thing. A double-sided question, and I know it's a cliched question, but what you look for in a script, but I'm also curious, what you think as an actor you bring? Obviously, you're going to act differently in a different script, but is there a quality about yourself that you feel you bring to scripts?

So it's what do you look for and is there something about you that you feel you're bringing? When I read scripts, I have a gut feeling about whether I want to be involved or not. It's so hard to explain. It's like trying to explain why you want to go for a burger or have fish and chips or roast a roast chicken. You just know what you're in the mood for. So when I choose roles, it's a gut feeling. It's usually to do with the complexity of the characterization or the courage of the themes in it, in a way.

But again, I'm generalizing, so it's so hard to say. All I can say about myself is that I'm a worker. I know I work really hard and I don't stop until it's done. I don't know how that manifests. You'd have to ask other directors what. I can never quite see what I bring. You have some phone numbers? I'm getting my good numbers. I understand why you're asking it.

It must be hard. It's always hard to see yourself from the perspective of other people. A director once said to me, you never know the answer to that question until 10 years later. You have some perspective at that point? Yeah, you look back and you go, I understand why I was drawn to that material or why those people were drawn to me in support of that material at that time. You can join the dots and work out why it was that you were the right guy for certain things.

I'm Ed Gross. Thanks for listening to Voices from Krypton. Thank you.