Hey All!
As part of The Avengers event we had the amazing opportunity to sit down with Tom Hiddleston who plays Loki the brother of Thor gone mad who is determined to enslave the Human race in the film The Avengers! We sat down with him at the fabulous Trump Soho Hotel right before we all headed off the red carpet at Tribeca. I don’t usually get star struck but I for some reason was nervous to interview him. I think it’s because I truly respect Tom and think he’s a brilliant actor and person. He seriously was the perfect gentleman as he literally went around the whole room and shook all of our hands and introduced himself to us. I have interviewed many people in my day and not one has ever cared to do that which to me really says a lot about this amazing man.
To break the ice we encouraged him to check out the amazing bathroom in our hotel suite since it was ridiculously fabulous. He was happy to oblige with a cookie in his mouth. As you can see in my picture above I wasn’t kidding. Check out the view from the tub! Poor thing must have been hungry. I was really geeking out to say the least. If you can’t tell in the picture of the group of us and I got to stand right next to him. Swoon!
I know you’re all dying to hear what he had to say in the interview so here it is!
I will point out which questions were mine and the ones that weren’t I’ll just put the question.
So, tell us how much you like playing such an evil bad guy?
TOM HIDDLESTON:
Well, I don’t think I play the villians, I think I’ve played antagnists because I played them before, I kind of feel like I’ve got both my arms around him. And, uh, I understand underneath all of his like, evil and anger and madness and m — mania, there’s a sort of emotional heartbreak. But it was really fun to cut loose and just — [SOUNDS LIKE: let his hair down], literally and metaphorically.
Joss Whedon said that, y’know, we have to make him more dangerous. We had to make him more menacing because these superhero films, when they really work, and I think this one does, purely because of Joss’s immaculate writing and direction, the sort of fist-pumping redemption-drama is, uh, is earned by the heroes having to overcome an obstacle. And your fist is pumping for Iron Man, Hulk, and Thor and Captain America and all of those guys because I am that obstacle. So someone’s got to do it, basically, and it was really fun. And it was like being a kid, too. There were days where I had a harness underneath my costume, and wires, just underneath it, and attached to the sides, and I was just flying around, like a circus act, like a kid, basically.
(MY QUESTION FOR TOM) I read your article in the Guardian that touched upon your love of superheroes, which I loved! When you signed on to be in “Thor” and “The Avengers,” did you actively want to be part of a superhero movie that could potentially inspire children today to grow up with a love of Superheroes?
TOM HIDDLESTON:
Yeah. Absolutely. And I don’t think it was something that I really remembered until I had gone through a period of like, um, exploring other things, expanding my tastes in other directions. Like, as a kid, I loved superhero films. “Superman.” “Indiana Jones.” Tim Burton’s “Batman.” Um. You know. And then as a teenager, I sort of went off into more kind of, um, refined like, just sort of refined things, like I discovered foreign language cinema and Shakespeare. And your taste is just more refined. And then I kind of remembered actually why I signed up in the first place. It’s because of Christopher Reeve and I just thought, “Wouldn’t that be amazing?” Before I’d even conceived of acting as a job, before I knew you could make a living being an actor, I wanted to be Superman. And, I think, there’s so much you can do if you get this kind of a film right, you can enter a child’s imagination in the most extraordinary way.
In bringing this character to life, were there any particular details and nuances you tried to add to the character that the audience should really look for?
TOM HIDDLESTON:
I hope that anyone who has seen “Thor” can recognize him, and there is still this spiritual damage at the heart of him, underneath his anarchy and his chaos and his anger and destructiveness. That there is still a vulnerability there. Um and I hope that people kind of stylish. You know.
So, what would you say that Loki’s chasing in his efforts? We haven’t seen the film, but I know he’s trying to basically take down the human race?
TOM HIDDLESTON:
He’s chasing power. But the reason he’s chasing power is because, really, he’s chasing self-esteem. I think anyone who feels powerful has no need to reach for it. And those in the world who feel they aren’t powerful, they seem to have no self-love, no self-esteem, are constantly trying to get the power.
(MY QUESTION FOR TOM) So, in this film, he’s not going after the acceptance of his family or his father or brother anymore like he was in Thor?
TOM HIDDLESTON:
That’s probably part of it. I mean, the void that descends on him, the big, empty space, is a sort of wounded black hole, it’s caused by a sense that he doesn’t feel he was never loved by anyone.
Um, truly. And so that’s the case, then he has nowhere to belong. And if that’s the case, then he’ll find somewhere. Which he will fashion as a place to belong. So that’s that the earth is. He’s come down to earth to, um, to make himself a kingdom.
Thanks so much to Disney and Marvel for this opportunity and to Tom Hiddleston for taking the time to talk with us and for being so amazingly kind towards us. Follow Tom @twhiddleston on twitter.
Follow me @queenofswag4u and all my posts about The Avengers on Twitter with the hashtag #TheAvengersEvent!
Marvel’s The Avengers is in theaters May 4th! Assemble and get your tickets now!
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Photo’s of Tom courtesy of Disney and Mom Start. The bathroom photo was taken by me.
Disclosure: I was not compensated in any way for this post. I received an all expense paid trip as a guest of Disney/Marvel for The Avengers. All opinions are my own.
Comments
Awesome interview, Vanessa!
He made this totally fun!
sounds like it was amazing wish i was there
Great article!
Kas
He was totally cracking me up with the cookies. He just couldn’t seem to get enough of them 🙂