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With the live stream of Coriolanus just a day ahead, Tom did an interview with The Guardian! You can read the full interview at the link provided below!
Coriolanus is a play that’s more respected than revered. Why does it have a rather difficult reputation?
Coriolanus is relentless, brutal, savage and serious, but that’s why I find it interesting. Shakespeare sets the play in ancient Rome: a far older place than the Rome more familiar to us – of Julius Caesar or Antony and Cleopatra or the later Empire. This Rome is wild. A city-state wrestling with its identity. An early Rome of famine, war and tyranny.
In the central character, Caius Martius Coriolanus, Shakespeare shows how the power of unchecked rage corrodes, dehumanises and ultimately destroys its subject. I’ve read that some find Martius a hard character to like, or to relate to – less effective at evoking an audience’s sympathy than Hamlet, Romeo, Juliet, Rosalind, Othello or Lear. Yet there is a perverse integrity and purity to be found in his obstinacy and honour, which sits alongside his arrogance and contempt.
The play’s poetry is raw and visceral, quite different from the elegance, beauty, clarity and charm found elsewhere in Shakespeare’s work. The warmth and delight to be found in his comedies are absent here. But the unstinting seriousness and intensity of the play is what makes it fascinating….
Director Taika Waititi has already shown us that Thor: Ragnarok won’t be your average Thor movie. Not only has the comedy been ramped up, but the filmmaker wanted to strip down the Thor franchise, essentially acting as if this were the first film in the series. But even so, it wouldn’t be a Thor movie without a certain mischievous character.
Tom Hiddleston plays Loki, the god of mischief and step-brother to the god of thunder, and at the end of Thor: The Dark World, the villain of The Avengers got everything he was hoping for. So what happens next? Tom Hiddleston revealed as much as he could about where Loki is heading next in Thor: Ragnarok in our interview with the actor on set last fall. During our chat, he talked about working with Cate Blanchett, being a rock star movie villain, and much more.
At the end of Thor: The Dark World, Loki got everything he wanted. How has it gone with him in the years since he became the secret king of Asgard?
Tom Hiddleston: You’ll have to wait and see. *laughter* That question is answered in this film. I’m so loath to tell you what it is, because I think it’s surprising and fun. But yeah, you’re right. He finished Dark World on the throne and, it’s taken a while for anyone to come home.
Are we finding that Loki has changed?
TH: Yes, but that’s in his nature. I think he’s a mercurial spirit, and the minute you try to define him, he changes shape. He is the shape shifter in the pantheon, although events in Ragnarok try and inspire to change him forever, I think. But they change for everyone. The goddess of death shows up, and the stakes are high for everybody, so Loki, perhaps more than ever, is challenged to define himself in the face of that threat.
*Before this interview, we had been watching a climactic scene with Thor, Hulk, Valkyrie and Loki confronting Hela on a bridge in Asgard. Cate Blanchett has been wearing a motion-capture suit for most of the filming process in this particular sequence*
“I always wear leather these days,” Tom Hiddleston quipped with a laugh as he strode in, tall and resplendent with long, flowing hair and Loki’s blue and black soft leather costume, complete with a cape.
He was on a break from filming “Thor: Ragnarok” at the Village Roadshow Studios in Oxenford, Gold Coast, Queensland in October last year. Earlier, we watched Tom and Jeff Goldblum (Grandmaster) shoot a scene in a colorful set.
“This is not my own hair, no,” he clarified with a grin. In contrast, Chris Hemsworth (Thor) surprised us with a short haircut in his return as Thor. “Chris doesn’t have to come in as early in the morning as I do,” Tom said. Is he jealous? “Chris just gets an hour more sleep than I do, but that’s OK,” he answered.
The London native sat down for a chat as he ate an orange and drank bottled sparkling water. There’s a playful mood in the studio which Tom credited to director Taika Waititi and costar Jeff Goldblum. The New Zealand filmmaker, noted for his small movies, is a refreshing choice to direct this third installment of the “Thor” franchise.
Tom and Chris are joined in the cast by Idris Elba, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tessa Thompson, Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Hopkins.
Excerpts from our conversation:
Since we are on the set, what has been this day like for you, so far? Do you thrive in a grueling shooting schedule? I love what I do. I’m lucky to call this a job. In the scheme of things, a day’s work as an actor can’t be called grueling. I do get up very early, but that’s just the nature of how things are run because with Taika on this particular film, we like to shoot between 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.
I’ve got contacted by Justin Hill (be sure to check his Facebook Page) about this old interview of Tom during Thor 2 Promotion, that he’s been doing for ScoopLA and he’s been kind enough to send me embed code to his piece interview video. Enjoy it below!
