Thread to talk about the actor...oh fuck it. You know what to do
>>650 Quite.
I think the other points to bear in mind are:
A) how long would doing a voiceover actually take? He has already surely done the majority of the work on EM last year when it was announced and he was photographed in the studio (and let us not forget that Eddie Redmayne was playing a larger role). This recent work must be pickups, and that surely cannot take more than a few days. It can't possibly account for months of absencd.
B) Likewise SDCC/other promotion. This takes days, not months, and if he had another work commitment he wouldn't do much promo. They don't make you not take on work to do promo. The only reason he did so much TTDW promo was because he again happened to be unemployed.
C) As regards IW: maybe for a while. But: beard. And also: if he had been filming for any length of time he would have been spotted at the airport, on set or elsewhere.
D) I think he did do the SS documentary because he was photographed out there last year, and there was I think confirmation of the project on the production company's website. Something odd has happened there. A friend of mine used to work in documentary films and believe me they do not take that long to make and edit. You can film in January and have broadcast by May/June - and that's the time frame for a series of 3 or 4 one hour shows. For a single show, you could film and do all your
post production in 12 weeks or less.
>>648, >>649, >>650, >>651 I deliberately left the documentary off the Tumblr theory list because I agree with Anon that something is odd there. There were screen caps of the doc being listed on the production co's site recently, then the listing was removed. And he hasn't done anything publicly for UNICEF/SS, not even a tweet about recent news, except for a short vid for UNICEF Canada. I think Anon. may well be right that the doc (and anything publicly associating him in the UK or US with SS work) has been put on hold until it's less likely that he'll draw mockery still for his GG speech.
>>650, >>651 Indeed. The beard did rather toss a spanner into the IW theory works. (Though I think Marvel might have managed to sneak him around long enough for a cameo, especially if it were shot in the UK.) But I don't follow Marvel's methodology - so are they more likely to want to get their money's worth out of his contract and use him for every movie possible? Or would they just let it run out without having had him in 6 films? The two Avengers movies are supposed to wrap up this phase, and CH will have made all his contracted films, so I don't know if they'd carry over Loki to the next phase.
And I agree that EM voice work cannot have taken up all his time these months, especially for a supporting role! Nor will promo really account for much of his calendar - he came back to the UK for several chunks of time even during the KSI tours, and he may have less of a role to play this time if Marvel wants to keep the focus on Taika and Thor.
The crazy intelligent one seems to be veering between hopelessness (after the "is his career over?" article that came out on the Snogging anniversary), and over-excitement (online KSI video = new gifs!).
Something did cause him to cancel the Cannes creativity thing and the Cambridge Union appearance. Maybe he's finally getting his kitchen redone? While reading every available script with a role he could possibly play?
>>653 I'd forgotten about the Cambridge Union gig. Easter term (i.e. summer term) finished about 10 days ago. So that is definitely not happening. Hum. That could have been fitted in around his existing commitments. He must have cancelled it. i suppose he didn't want to shave and put on a suit in order to take questions about new projects (bound to come up) which he doesn't have. Remember a few months ago he was a bit snappy about how his timetable was full this year, contrary to what he had previously said about taking a loooong break?
>>654 That's a good point about wanting to avoid questions about new projects. Also, I think he was supposed to speak there about his UNICEF work. So if something's happened and the doc has been put on hold, it makes sense that he'd cancel this.
I remember at the KSI London premiere, he did walk back his "taking a long break" statement - "things to finish up, and lots cooking that I can't tell you about." Whatever's cooking seems to be on very low heat, since that was in March!
>>655 He did - and he said it again at the awards ceremony at the Roundhouse (I forget which one this was, but it was the one he took all the UNICEF peeps to). There had been a newspaper article after his last comments, saying "TH says he will take a long period off" or some such - which was BTW a pretty accurate representation of what he had said - and he must have panicked. At the Roundhouse event he said that "my diary is full" or some such.
He feels like he has to lie when he just wants to take a long break. Why? Is there that much of a stigma against a several-month break in Hollywood? Looks to me like actors do it all the time and he well deserved it after working straight through since late 2013.
This was the article which caused him to freak out: http://entertainment.inquirer.net/216210/tom-hiddleston-takes-break
It was then picked up by the Daily Mail which implied he was taking much of 2017 off (no lies there by the looks of things!).
However something we have learned from the last year is that when TH ' slips are moving while he is talking to the press, he is lying. For example, about smoking, about what he previously said about TR being Loki's last outing, and many other examples both big and small.
As to why: I think it started as a mixture of things: him being super controlling about his image/career and wanting to say the "right" thing, having on occasion let slip things he shouldn't and having to row it back, and being a bit political about things we shouldn't necessarily expect him to tell the truth about, even though he appeared to be very open (whether he has a GF). What it has become (and I see this a lot as a lawyer) is lying as a habit, when it isn't necessary.
>>658 You're right. After TS, maybe it all caught up with him and rattled him. Cognitive dissonance is a hell of a thing.
>>659 I'll say.
If - as I personally have come to believe - the whole thing was a fake dreamed up for profile-raising purposes, then the pressure of living that cognitive dissonance in the spotlight would be more than the sanest person could endure.
And TH isn't the sanest person, not by a long chalk. I sense he has always been a fragile soul - quite vain, quite needy of approval from various sources, and deriving a lot of self-worth from externals such as work. The last year - and the reaction to it in the press, for whom he was formerly the golden boy - must have placed a tremendous strain on him.
>>657, >>658 I don't think there's a stigma for a few months' break, but at least two of the articles said he'd be taking off most or all of 2017. And a year-long break would not help an ambitious actor at this point in his career, especially one who has such stiff competition as we discussed above.
In looking back at the articles about his break, they all seem to be based on the joint press conference in LA for KSI. There was never any video of that, so in fairness, we don't know his exact words. The Philipine paper describes him explaining "why he had not been working for the past few months," which the DM turned into "most of 2017" and an Aussie site into "taking a year off in 2017." But the latter two also attributed the break to the aftermath of the Tayto breakup, and that had to sting.
>>658, >>660 From the examples I've seen, it feels as though his relationship with the truth started out as a tendency to exaggerate. Then it moved to what he probably excused as fibs or little white lies, done for good reasons ("some things are sacred").
But even if you believe that last summer's relationship was real (questionable), it still would have caused massive cognitive dissonance for him. For someone who has always claimed to be honest and authentic in what he shares in public to be slammed as a fake from every side had to have been traumatic -- and the GQ article brought it all up again rather than laying it to rest. (And if he was lying through his teeth in that interview, all the worse for him psychologically.)
"Fragile soul" is a good description. (I want to come back to the vanity, but this is enough for tonight.)
>>660 Yes, definitely vain as I mentioned in >>635 and I think that plays a huge part in how he acts to position himself apart from his peers. The press grew tired of it last summer and they tore down the same person they built up for years.
>>662 the fandom is so divided over whether Taffy's interview hurt or helped. I winced over the vulnerability and went back and forth over it. Now that we know she was "dating" the new guy, I look at it somewhat pitifully. Ugh.
>>663 I stopped paying attention to Taffy after her 15 mins of fame. Was something going on with her that might have affected how she wrote the GQ article?
Yes to all above. I'd wager the cancellation of Cannes and the Camb. gig were all about avoidance. Not only to avoid questions about Unicef and future plans (or a lack thereof) but also just to stay out of the limelight as TS's new 'relationship' was blossoming into full contract. And he'd be wise to keep his head down waaaaay past July 4. I don't know if the new boyfriend will be at her party (she's playing a more subtle game) but even if he isn't, there will be comparisons to last year. As a reminder, last year TH made the common first-aid mistake of asking for a shirt instead of a band-aid to cover a scratch. We've all done it! The other day I wrapped an entire 'I heart Hubby' sweater around a paper cut.
>>660 Mental health: The good doctor always tells me not to diagnose over the internet, but it's safe to say that TH is Defcon 3 fucked up. Faking his way through three months and on three continents while losing fans, his dignity and golden boy status did nothing to shore up his fragile psyche (as Anon astutely called it). It's like he's in shock. He planned on Tayto bringing him more success. Instead, the opposite happened. I don't think he's doing a very good job processing that unfavorable turnout.
>>658 Lying: Them pants is on FIRE. I've always wanted to make a movie about a journey to an uncharted island. Of course you have. And he breaks my father's cardinal rule regarding lying: he does it in support of himself. If you have to lie, do it to protect someone else and their feelings. His seem to be mostly self-serving lies - big (Tayto) or small (taking a break).
>>663 Well, well, someone has finally benefited from Tayto-related fame. Taffy just landed a staff position with the NY Times Magazine (and will be writing culture features for the paper as well). At least this article restrained its TH/GQ reference to the bolognese recipe: http://wwd.com/business-news/media/new-york-times-adds-feature-writer-taffy-brodesser-akner-to-staff-10933696/
>>>666 Depending on when TS's album drops, he may have to keep his head down all the way to the end of the year and maybe beyond!
Doubt he'd do this, but this "break" would be a perfect time for a spot of therapy.... It will be fascinating to see how he presents himself in interviews once he resurfaces.
Almost any actor lies to cover an extended period between major gigs (usually called being "between engagements"); they only 'fess up well after they're back to work. I don't know if his pronouncements like "I've always wanted...to an uncharted island" are lies or his exaggerations getting a mite out of hand, or a weird disconnect between brain and mouth for such a (book-)smart man. As we've seen, he doesn't do well at speaking off the cuff! Where I think he has lied pretty consistently is about his relationships. And maybe that's how he justified the public presentation of the Tayto show to himself - it was just another kind of dissembling about a "GF."
>>668 Perfect time for hair implants, minor cosmetic procedures, body reshaping, and therapy to recenter.
>>669 It so would be, but if the most recent pap shots are anything to go by he is taking the alternative route of not shaving or having a haircut (those curls were way over the collar at the back), dressing even more like a homeless person than usual, and (probably) eating ice cream out of the tub while sitting on the sofa wailing.
As for the therapy: he's British, so sadly I doubt it. I really think it has its uses provided it doesn't become some weekly crutch for your whole life. Not many Brits share that view, sadly. I think he would most definitely benefit. Starting with mother issues and moving on!
>>669 If he suddenly reemerges with a thick, lustrous hairline I will DIE...from laughter. Nothing like having two 800lbs. gorillas in the room: a fauxmance and follicles risen from the dead like it's Easter!
>>667 Good for her. Anyone with the patience to encounter a narrative hard sell (broken hearts and bolognese) from TH and only return a barely detectable amount of sarcasm deserves a promotion. He used her and GQ, GQ and Taffy used TH. All's fair in fake love and PR.
>>668 I'd say exaggerations are lies. For him, they've become habit because he's dishonest with the insignificant and the significant.
OT: Is the slide up at Showmance Manor? Has the wife-beater of shame been freshly pressed for its next victim...occupant.
>>666>>668>>671 It is unusual how much he lies about things that don't need to be lied about. What is the point of him being so unnecessarily cloak and dagger about his girlfriends and relationships when he had already been public with Susannah? He encouraged the drama himself by playing the whole am I single or not game before Tayto and then going completely overboard with her, regardless of whether him and Swift were real or not. Just have a normal attitude about your private life, and go out with whoever you want. I've always found this approach of his to the PR aspect of his dating life really odd and unnecessary.
He says he wants to be an actor but I don't think he understands the difference between being an actor and being a celebrity. He seems to either prefer the celebrity element or think that being a celebrity will make him a better actor.
>>669 >>671 How could I forget the 4th of July at Showmance Manor? No wonder he's laying super low, the anniversorry of the infamous t-shirt is upon us.
Not only is the press talking about an upcoming party, the showed the equaly infamous Ryan Reynolds WTF look picture of the then-happy couple from last year:
http://time.com/4833926/taylor-swift-july-4th-2017-friends/
*they showed
I just watched Angels in America at the National Theatre (first revival in the U.K. since the original staging). I wondered more than once why TH isn't looking for something like the role of Prior Walter. Back to the stage for a splashy role in a high quality ensemble piece. The whole run (in the Lyttleton Theatre, which is huge) sold out within weeks of going on sale. Great reviews. Why isn't he doing stuff like this?
>>675 I can't wait to see that production of AIM. Sadly, I can't see Tom wanting to be in AIM b/c amazing actors like Garfield, Lane and Russell Tovey are not trying to be romantic matinee idol Hollywood leading men. They just love great material. But for better or worse, Tom seems focused on climbing the Hollywood totem pole, esp. after last summer, since there are some who would think that joining an ensemble theater piece would look like he couldn't get parts in LA. With his Loki and TNM visibility and his RADA training and his Olivier Award, Tom could probably lead the West End production of his choice, or guest for a show with the RSC, or for a one of the plays with Branagh's theater comapany. I think if Tom only did complex theater roles for a couple of years, he would win back the critics and clear the PR showmance out of our minds, kind of like how Gemma Artherton established herself as being a consistent thespian after all of those action movies that kind of flopped. But Tom wants his Last King of Scotland film, like James Mcavoy, or Imitation Game Oscar or Theory of Everything nod like Cumberbatch or Redmayne. Many of the young Hollywood actors are not that disciplined or versatile, so why shouldn't he beat them for parts? Maybe he could produce and star in another television movie, like Cumberbatch is doing for Showtime with the Patrick Melrose novels adaptation? I could see him in a period piece for HBO, like Parade's End. Maybe a Shakespearean adaptation for HBO? Hamlet at last? Or Much Ado for a blast?
Tom sighting in NYC drinking coffee? Meetings to discuss a new project? Fingers and toes crossed.
https://www.facebook.com/gabriel.noble.75/posts/10158910448310153
>>677 Maybe he is en route to RI for Taymerica.
Hahahahahahahahaha!
>>678 probably headed to the official ceremony to hand over the TS boyfriend uniform and paraphernalia to the next guy.
>>678, >>679 He probably has his fingers and toes crossed that the press won't re-run the t-shirt photos. Good luck with that if she does stage the shindig this year.
>>675, >>676 As much as he talks about doing more theatre, I just get the sense that he sees it as something to go back to after he's gotten the kinds of starring movie roles that he wants. And I agree that his going back to it right now could get some articles about the state of his film career after last summer, unless it were for a knockout role in a major production.
>>672 I suspect that the "actor? celebrity?" difference is one of the many things in his life about which he's confused.
>>676 The challenges for him may be that he's not having to beat other HW actors for the juicy roles in biopics and the like; there, he's competing with his versatile and disciplined British peers. Then for more HW-style starring roles, he doesn't really fit the current popular types. And when he does try to fit into a HW type a la KSI, he ends up in a role that really anyone could have played just as adequately.
>>670 Mother issues? Of course this is a diagnosis over the Internet, but I would have said father ones. How much do we think TH's drive to become a HW leading man has to do with proving that not only can he make a living at acting, he can become publicly very, very successful at it?
Also, I suspect the rest of Tom's background helps make him so set on achieving fame - anything less from an Eton/Cambridge grad might make him seem like a failure when compared with his schoolmates.
>>672 I wonder if the odd ways he's talked about relationships/ being single reflects some mental distinction on his part as to what constitutes a real girlfriend. He may have been public with Susannah because he considered that to be a real relationship. The oddness about JA and EO may have been because they were just friends with benefits, not proper GFs, so he might still have thought of himself as single.
Going so overboard with TS? Either he was being a major fool for love, or he was acting the role of the perfect BF.
>>681 His father strikes me as the only normal one in that family. Pulled himself up,from nothing, strong work ethic, not interested in the shallower side of what his son does (never papped, very rarely at premieres, definitely not on board with Tayto). He was sceptical about acting being a sensible career for his clever and educated son - sounds like sensible advice to me. But he has also been accepting for many years from what TH says. And NB if he is washed up at 36 then Daddy's advice sounds quite sensible in retrospect!
His mother, however.....I recall TH telling a story about how he would go home and they would sit together and talk about his career and how they would both cry for hours because he had achieved so much. That really does not sound normal to me.
As for her attitude to Tayto. I believe someone on here mentioned a small article in the local news about how she went to the local butchers some days before they arrived and bragged that she needed the best fillet steak for her son's new GF. And that first day they met, she had had her hair done specially (see the following day's pics for contrast - Anon. drew that to our attention). So she knew in advance and she was supportive of that whole shit show AND she thought it gave her bragging rights. Someone who gets a blow out and grins like a Cheshire cat and poses outside her home when there is no call to do so, wants to be photographed. At the very least she is living vicariously through his fame, which I wouldn't call wholly healthy. At worst: why didn't she tell him that this was mad? Why did she encourage it? Why, oh why oh why did she not say, let's leave my 7 year old granddaughter out of it?
So that's why I say mother issues.
>>681 I meant to comment on the OE thing. I know a lot of Old Etonians. There are I think 7 in my workplace, of about 60 barristers. They are to a man polished, elegant, well spoken, perfect English gentlemen. They exude empathy and have been taught to listen, to be polite and to respect the views of others (which makes them such good barristers - clients understandably love this) (and politicians - Cameron exuded empathy and convinced everyone he was somehow ordinary Dave chillaxing with a box set, which could not have been further from the truth).
But they are also by and large incredibly laid back. These men have been told from age 13 that they are the masters of the universe (and many of them are, societally, economically and intellectually). They know where they are, and it's at the top. As such they are rarely strivers. That feeling one gets with TH - that he absolutely busts a gut to do everything, from career advancement to being a great gentleman - is not a classic OE thing at all, in my experience. They make it look effortless.
>>683 I agree. Tom's father may be a bit stern and overly critical, but that's a lot better than supporting your adult child as they make a poorly calibrated decision to lie to the general public because you're enchanted by Hollywood lights. There is no reason why a family should participate in an actor's fake relationship unless maybe it's some kind of a Hail Mary play to stop him from being outed for his sexuality, right before he lands the part of a lifetime. I was truly confused and concerned as to why Tom's young niece was there. But since her mother is a professional journalist and she allowed it, and it's not as if the press have stalked any of Tom's family since last summer, maybe I was overreacting...but Tom looked seriously angry in those beach photos with his hands jammed into his pockets. He looked to be over the entire situation when he was making faces at his cell phone over lunch in Rome.
>>682 Yep, SF was a true gf. With JA he was FWB, so he was socially single to the public, but sexually monogamous-ish since he was doing Coriolanus in London. I think that EO was just a PR move to get press for ISTL. And Tom immediately assumed that partnering with TS would be equally simple. Just take a few pics, leak to the tabloids for a few months, and even though you and the girl are on different continents for half of a year, people assume it's a real relationship and gossip about you while you're off filming your movie due to only 3 pics. Oops. I kind of feel badly that people bought the EO articles, b/c it emboldened TH to continue his behavior.
>>683 Thank you, Anon, for saying a lot of what I was thinking last summer.
"definitely not on board with Tayto" - I suspected as much and wish I could have been a fly on the wall but the screaming would have scared the hell out of me.
"His mother, however..." - whoa, really? If so they are co-dependent, emotionally entangled. Unhealthy.
"As for her attitude to..." O_O wow.
>>686 By not on board with Tayto I just mean not willing to be photographed "meeting" her. Though I would also have liked to be a fly on the wall after the press coverage it generated.
I looked for that interview where TH talked about sitting with his mum and crying. Totally buried in google under pages and pages of "Tom's mum met Taylor" spam and now unfindable. I know I didn't dream it. It was so remarkable that I couldn't possibly forget!
"2016 was a dumpster fire, but that image is still one of the greatest moments in gossip history."
>>677 This is possible but not likely. Given that her party is happening, I'd put my money on him hunkering down (in the fetal position) in his house or at his mother's. He doesn't want to give the press any reason to >>680 rerun those pics by making an appearance. I'm out of the city for the holiday so I can't wander the streets looking for him to confirm but I have a feeling Mr. Barista maybe wanted to grab some attention for his coffeehouse. Bored at work?
>>676 Seconded. He does that overly enthusiastic thing (lying) about wanting to return to the stage, do more Shakespeare, yada, yada, yada. What he really wants is to be a star in Hollywood. In 2014/15 he could've walked into most theatre productions in London and some on Broadway. He decided to do a Kong film...without a script...having met JVR. That says he wants celebrity, not a thespian's life.
Yes to everything said about mummy. The other fact that makes me side eye that relationship: wasn't she at the High Rise premiere? Am I remembering that correctly? That is not the sort of film you want your mother to see. That's weird.
>>681 However I get what Heynon is saying. I can see early 20s TH thinking that his skeptical father was standing in the way of his big dream when he criticized his decision to act. I can see that causing strife in their relationship. That seems to have been ironed out. After Tayto they probably have all new issues!
I won't comment on his relationship issues. Now that is a dumpster fire.
Tom just spotted at RADA, so we might get Wimbledon after all? On twitter at /marcozall/status/881855689307680768
Good discussions!
>>683, >>689 Do you think that even though his father has accepted his career choice, TH could still feel a need to be as successful as possible in order to live up to some unspoken expectations? His father worked his way up from nothing to running a company (in the U.S., he'd be a CEO), so Tom might not feel that being a B-list actor is enough of an accomplishment.
>>683, >>685, >>687, >>689 I did not know those stories about his mum (especially the crying one - wow). Some of the pre-Tayto anecdotes, one could interpret as a normal reaction of a mom who's just delighted that her 35-year old son finally has a GF he can bring home to mother. But the family pap stroll was "off" in a major way -- there's such a thing as being too supportive (enabling, really) of a family member.
I suspect those pap strolls were what started to clue in the clueless Tom that the relationship might not be quite what he signed up for (figuratively or literally). There are pictures from before the first one in which he has his niece on his back but he looks furious.
>>684 Thanks for the insight into Old Etonians. I wonder if the difference we see with Tom busting his gut could be because he feels he isn't truly a master of his universe yet -- he still has a way to go to be at the top of his profession. Also, he may want us to see his efforts due to the current backlash against actors with privileged backgrounds. And acting really is a tough profession in which to succeed.
>>689 Yes Anon. , his mum was at the London High Rise premiere, along with his younger sister. On one hand, wasn't he a little shy around them? On the other hand I guess he's not embarrassed about having (simulated) sex on screen, or showing his near-naked body. It is his mother after all, plus he was running around the set of 'Unrelated' naked in the pool scene while his sister sat on the patio nearby.
Gosh. The DM printed so many pics of last year's July 4th bash with Tom in the tank, b/c TS didn't hold the party on the date, this year. Ridiculous. I really hope that Tom struts into the Men's Wimbledon semi final and final matches like he owns the world, just like the way Jonathan Pine strolled back into his former place of employment in TNM.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4665390/Taylor-Swift-skips-annual-Fourth-July-party-RI.html
Is TH in Atlanta for Thor 3 reshoots?
Twitter.com
atlantafilming/status/882332718381625344
>>694 Just when you thought TS couldn't find a new way to rub Tom's nose in it:....
>>695 That seems to be the general interpretation of that tweet. If so, that's good. Anything that will keep him busy for this week and the next few Tay-niversaries
>>694 As fine as TH/Pine looked on that stroll, that was one of my suspend-belief moment with TNM. Yes, it's been five years since he worked there - but no one remembers a 6'2" strawberry blonde??
Twitter is saying that Loki is in the Infinity War trailer...(shown at D23 today)
>>700 Lots of online articles confirming that. Is a shot of Loki standing in some ruins holding up the Tessaract to someone.
TH, however, was not at D23.
>>700 This isn't a surprise, right? We've always said that he would be in it. The question has been about the size of his part. Maybe his presence in the trailer suggests that it will be larger than we've opined (fancy verb).
Yesterday was the Kimiversary of Snapchat Gate, aka the Death of Tayto (although that seems to have been predetermined), or at least the end of Tayto's Overexposure Period. The internet coughed up the strange story of TS maybe exiting her apartment in NY in a large suitcase. All OT except for this brilliant tweet.
https://twitter. com/itslaurenyap/status/887003356815929345
I for one will never look at TH and luggage the same way again. ;)
Just leaving this here (taken in Atlanta): https://www.instagram.com/p/BWyZXbtBko5/
I am guessing that this means no appearance at SDCC this weekend.
Marvel has also got a large stand at SDCC with many costumes including Loki. That suggests to me for some reason that the owners of the costumes are less likely to show - I feel like Marvel wouldn't be showing off the costumes so early in the con if it had something better.
>>704 They could fly out first thing tomorrow AM and make it in time - the Marvel panel isn't until 5:30 pm Pacific/8:30 pm Eastern.
>>705 I shall be waiting with bated breath. Will TH break his self-imposed purdah?
It's alive: https://www.instagram.com/p/BW3PGVOF6-o/
And it's wearing the same clothes as when last spotted in the wild....
>>707 But not at the TR signing table at the con (just CH, MR, and TW) - Marvel Live on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qO4E23FvSRY
Interesting....
Per Twitter, he's at the panel in Hall H. No live stream available, alas. But he's aliiiive.
Captcha: exwume
Looks tired. But good hair: https://gitsie007.tumblr.com/post/163314674978/omninocte-cheers-mrhiddleston-tom-hiddleston
>>710 Yes! His hair looks so much better when it is longer on the sides, and on the top. He didn't even get Urbanati to style a new fashion options for him! Back navy sweaters and j brand jeans! People are debating whether Tom is sick, or tired, or bored since he has bags under his eyes. Maybe Marvel wanted Tom do do fewer press photos b/c they want to realize the audience's expectations about the plot and focus more on Thor as the humorous hero, and Cate as the villain of this chapter of the saga, rather than allowing Loki madness to ensue. I am so thrilled that there was a TS sighting article in the DM w/o a single mention of Tom at all! Hooray! If Tom announces a Shakespearean project for HBO (either Much Ado or Hamlet), to seize an Emmy award, my personal entertainment world will be utopic!
>>710, >>712 He does seem low energy when compared with his pre-Tayto self (especially if you look at some of the close-up gifs posted on various Tumblrs, you can see him drop his smiles or laughs pretty quickly). But in fairness, the lighting wasn't flattering to someone like him with deep-set eyes. And any bromancing was between CH and TW or CH and MR.
Tom seems a bit more his old perky self in the "intervention" to get Kevin Feige to show the IW footage they played at D23: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y41krxa1CCs (just the lead-in, not the IW vid itself).
Overall, it gave me the impression of his KSI appearances in Japan - on his best behavior and looking a little anxious about it.
But it's nice that TS got herself papped yesterday and he wasn't mentioned!
>>713 Agree with all this. I felt like he is rather "over" SDCC and publicity tours (at least for the present) and as such was dialling it in.
As you say, on this occasion the smile left his face pretty quickly - most of the time I think he does honestly enjoy himself and he has a very genuine smile. When he really is having a great time he never stops laughing.
Other signs: no haircut, no facial. Last year he was rarely seen without the blow dry (straightened, probably chemically, and pulled back from his forehead), and I think we discussed how he has some kind of non surgical facial before some events so he looks less lined. This time: no cut, no blowout and seemingly no straightening or other beauty treatments for a while.
Also: no Yours Truly. And not even a self-purchase. Remember SDCC 2015 when he had been on a shopping trip to his local Reiss and bought some nice new things? That blue/grey jacket and the grey jeans?
Here's a video of the panel taken from fairly close up so you can see his expressions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSJsUiTcwWQ . The TR section starts about 5:30.
Good point about the haircut (though we could hope he's growing it out for a role).
Nor does he seem to be into it in these cast pictures:
Oh well, he'll probably be off the radar again until the TR promo tour in the fall.
>>716 I guess he has done more SDCC appearances than anyone else in those pics bar Hemsworth (who looked totally over it last year - remember his "poses" with fans at philly?!!!). This appearance can't be a patch on having thousands of people scream their love at you in Hall H while you play Loki, I guess.
Wow, the two Thor 3 articles about Comic Con don't headline Tom. He's even completely excluded from the 2nd article, it's just about Cate as Hela and Chris as Thor. Doesn't Luke use the DM for Tom's catch up articles? And doesn't the DM use Tom in general just to get more clicks? Will there be no more scheduled coffee/running articles following the convention when Tom returns to London? I'm intrigued. Maybe not only does Marvel wantthe focus on Chris and Cate, and doesn't want a Loki distraction. But also, Tom is doing his part by being on best behavior and not reminding anyone of last summer's or disaster with she who will not be named, and he is also hesitant to do more PR since he doesn't have any other projects to announce? Hmm...I prefer quiet Tom to loud Tom. Just wish there was career news. Maybe he has some meetings set up in LA before the return home? Just hoping.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4721932/Chris-Hemsworth-Cate-Blanchett-attend-Comic-Con.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4723636/Cate-Blanchett-unrecognisable-Thor-villain.html
"Tom Hiddleston got a typically wild reaction from the audience "
http://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/comic-con-2017-latest-trailer-thor-ragnarok/
Tom sighting in London already - see tumblr account for fennecfox12 who said they met him and shook his hand twice.
>>718, 719 No meetings in LA before he returned - he was spotted at the airport shortly after the panel ended (why he missed the press line). If he was sick, he must really have wanted to get home.
>>718 The first DM link took me to their Australian edition, which could explain the focus on CH and CB. Also, Tom apparently didn't do any interviews, so there wasn't really anything to write about besides what little he said during the panel.
Of course, there had to be a cycle of CDL claiming he looked off at SDCC because he was pining for Taytay, then Gossip Cop refuting that (and trying, less successfully, to deny that he didn't look unhappy at all at the con and that last summer hasn't damaged his career): https://www.gossipcop.com/tom-hiddleston-embarrassed-taylor-swift-relationship/ . Then other rags picked up those stories, plus TayJoe made a ridiculous super-hidey pap appearance and Tom's name was of course pulled in. Which led to the odd moment of a Celebitchy writer calling out TS for throwing Tom under the bus: http://www.celebitchy.com/544051/taylor_swift_is_in_a_happy_place_even_though_she_seems_like_she_is_hiding/ !
Tom sighting at a play with a female RADA friend who's in it:
twitter(.)com/wonderkid_100/status/890338583235764224
The RADA friend is probably Sian Clifford, I'm guessing since she's in it. Guess things are all good between the two if they're hanging out again (they probably never stopped maybe even though the public facing aspect made it seem like things soured).
Thought I'd drop by to leave this gem. Poor Ryan Reynolds.
http://elitedaily.com/entertainment/celebrity/taylor-swift-blake-lively-ryan-reynolds/2030351/
Yeah, don't know who probably hates that couples picture more - Ryan Renolds or TH! I'm starting to think that Tom will be clickbait for TS articles until she moves on to yet another man-of-the-moment.
Also, he's been spotted out and about a lot in London this week, including on his first day back (>>720). If he was sick at SDCC, it was a short-lived bug....
Well, here is the project: https://radahamlet.com/#booking-info
I am not sure what to think about this. It is Hamlet and it is directed by Kenneth Branagh. But it is being staged in RADA's theatre to raise money for the school and it is running for rather less than a month. It is not exactly Benedict Cumberbatch at the Barbican. Strikes me as all very odd.
>>726 And it's not been publicized much yet, apparently, since Tumblr hasn't melted down (though it's early here in the States). My initial reaction was Branagh helping out his underemployed friend while doing some good for RADA, and TH getting a high-brow project with a crack at a role that BC has already done.
The casting is cool - mostly women. I didn't recognize any of the other actors; how well known are they in UK theatre?
Nicholas Farrell is probably the best known. He was in Chariots of Fire and he has done a lot since then, mostly TV. Lolita Chakraborti is a tv regular on a very long running soap called Casualty (like ER - without George Clooney!). The actress playing Ophelia has been cast by Branagh in his Murder on the Orient Express, but is pretty much straight out of RADA (I had to look her up).
That tumblr Hiddlestonanons has been talking about a RADA connection for a long old time now. Which is.....interesting.
>>727 Yeah, I thought Branagh was helping TH out in what is basically a school play for charity.
Apparently I am wrong: they have been thinking about it for ages and "now felt like the right time and the right place" (as opposed to, say, the Donmar or the RSC, National etc) https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/aug/01/tom-hiddleston-to-star-in-branaghs-hamlet-for-three-weeks-only
It is a smart move in one sense. The tickets are gong to be very hard to get hold of and the run is extremely short. So it is bound by default to be th "hottest ticket" of the year.
>>729 I think it is Branagh helping TH out. The "thinking about it for years" like just sounds like a PR shill so people don't think it's nepotism. At least it does to me. They might have been thinking about working on something Shakespeare together but probably in a bigger venue. Anyways, it's interesting that it's a ballot system. So no critic or journalist reviews then. Just a big pool of Hiddleston fans?
>>730 They may well have been thinking about it for years, but it only came to fruition when/because the Hiddleston diary is empty!! (i.e. It totally is Branagh helping TH out of a tight spot)
As to reviews: I don't think I have ever seen a RADA production in that theatre reviewed in the mainstream press, which says it all about the venue. I am sure they will hand out a few tickets to the press to get some free positive publicity, though. What's the point for TH otherwise? If you perform Hamlet to 160 people for 23 days and it only gets "reviewed" on tumblr, why bother? NB google has exploded with news stories in mainstream outlets with nary a mention of t shirts or Taylor. It's the most positive press he's had since Tayto, without a doubt. That's what's in it for him.
>>731 The Guardian article says that there won't be tix set aside for press and they'll have to take their chances with the lottery like everyone else. Not sure what frame of mind that would create for any critics who do manage to get a ticket.
>> (multiple above) I'd seen that they'd be talking for a long time about doing Much Ado. Not surprising that they avoided a "fool for love" comedy for TH now.
>>732 I didn't see that - my eyes glazed over before I got that far!
Long time lurker here, first time posting. From what i've seen from CB and other forums that has TH threads, basically all of his crazy fans are flooding up the lottery for the tickets.
So this is going to be Coriolanus all over again, with just the audience being flooded by his fans with nothing else to do with their money than to see a barely relevant actor play a role that's played before by way better actors before him and probably after him and during him.
TH is really lucky that he has Kenneth Branagh to fix his career reputation. Those RADA students won't ever be that lucky.
>>726 I'm sure tumblr and the folks over at CB think that it's up there with sliced bread. Both Andrew Scott and Cumberbumber have recently done major productions of Hamlet, both critical and commercial successes but no doubt this will be the best EVAH (co-signed tumblr and CB). Looking at the article's comment section, Guardian readers aren't so sure.
>>730 Yes. Shill but still obvious nepotism or favoritism. One hand is washing the other and both are washing RADA's back. Will no one think of Unicef and S. Sudan? Won't they get a cut? Maybe TH will pass the bucket like Cumbeebat did.
You all have nailed this on the head. It's paddling pool level and he's probably happy about that. Some are probably thinking that this will get a West End to Broadway to the planet Mars transfer. My money's on three weeks in a tiny theatre and o-u-t. As Anon said, this is a cleanser. It's a sorbet meant to make our palates forget about the previous Tayto course.
Does this do anything for the drought? He's still got nada on the horizon, tv or movie. Is he being too picky or does he not have offers?
>>728 I've got an eye on that tumblr as well. She mentioned that he had a new RADA project a few months ago and put the word in quotes. Some seemed to think this was code for a new relationship but this is indeed a 'project.' Like tofutti is 'ice cream.'
>>732 He wants tumblr reviewing this. I can imagine the majority of reviews will consist of 😍😍😍😍😍😍. With no mention of Tayto!
>>736 Hello!
I don't see this as a Broadway transfer, partly because Branagh's company hasn't done any transfers so far, even with big hits like his Winter's Tale. I think 3 weeks and out is exactly what will happen.
Also on reflection I think I was wrong about him wanting the odd review. He is playing a cleverer game: positive press for doing charity work, fandom interest, respectable theatregoer interest (Ken!), but no reviews.
Question: when do you think Ken and Tom cooked up this bright idea? (forgetting for a moment the nonsense KB spouted in the Stage yesterday about it being 7 years in the planning).
>>738 Weren't they spotted having a meal earlier this year shortly before one of the awards shows (when KB got an award but TH didn't attend)? I'm betting that was when they concocted this.
Tom hasn't always shown that he's keen on Hamlet- see this gif set: http://the-haven-of-fiction.tumblr.com/post/140761269222/this-is-what-happens-when-you-drink-thomas-you
>>738 A risk of no professional reviews is that it will be "reviewed" on twitter and FB, not just Tumblr. If it's not good, social media will be a lot harsher on him than any pro critic. But I agree on your thinking about his strategy. Alas, as we've seen, there's no one on his team who seems to think through "what could possibly go wrong?"
>>740 Don't know how to quote people here, sorry. But I think SM won't be as harsh as critics. At least critics are a bit more objective with the POV about his performance without rose-colored glasses on and an unhealthy obsession with him. His stans on the other hand tend to flood every thread or website with a comment section that so much as criticize him and go on the attack for their idol.
Someone on Lainey Gossip had a good article on what TH intentions for this out-of-left-field play and I think they hit the nail on the head
http://www.laineygossip.com/tom-hiddleston-to-star-in-kenneth-branaghs-hamlet/47578
This isn't Lainey herself but another person on the staff. Lainey tends to excuse Swift's antics a lot but what I like about her nowadays is that she's calls out TH's BS.
recesnap and giveusaclue are doing the most in the comment section of that Guardian article. They always defend TH like the loons they are.
Giveusaclue even had the nerve to judge someone who wasn't keen on TH being Hamlet and ask them what works of TH they saw and when they answered she turned herself into a pretzel to say that the person didn't see the best of TH work and those works that were faulty were the directors fault and/or trying to push her interpretation of TH performance as Pine into her interpretation.
This is why I can't stand his fandom at all. It makes the Cumberbitches and Beliebers look sane in comparison.
>>741 You do 2 arrows and then the number and it hyperlinks back to the post you are replying to - so you did it right!
We don't tend to quote chunks of text like commenters do on (e.g.) the Guardian, which I find a relief because you don't have to scroll through it all to get to the actual reply.
>>742 I hope you don't mean us(!). We are a backwater of his fandom here - speaking personally, I wouldn't be here if I weren't still on some level interested in him and his work. But I like to think we are constructively critical when the need arises (quite frequently over the last year, ahem!). Also that we didn't come down in the last shower and don't believe every self justification that falls from his lips. Also that we tolerate differing views. There are many places on the internet where the stans chase you with flaming torches for doing any of those things, I agree.
Your comment made me think back to when TH did something that we all felt positive about. There have been so many imperfect works and truly terrible publicity decisions over the last 18 months or so. It might be easier to get behind Hamlet if we had a cat in hell's chance of seeing it, or objectively being able to say if it is good.
>>743 No I don't mean this thread. Actually this thread is quite refreshing compared to the sychophants in other forums. In other forums, even one I've been a long time member in without naming it, the thread is inundated with Nannies currently which are the worst that I'm considering of abandoning it together.
I don't consider myself a fan of TH but his constant fail of climbing up the Hollywood ladder of success and recognition is not only much more interesting then any movie he's done but funny as well.
I've always thought he was a fame whore once the first Avengers became a big hit and every time I brought that up his fans would attack me denying he wasn't one until...well the Swift era. But their are still a lot of vocal stans of his that insist he isn't a famewhore.
TBH I don't even think him dating Swift herself was that bad, you like who you like, but its how he blamed everyone else but himself on the stunts he allowed to join in and then when the jig was up he wanted the adoration he had at the height of his popularity during the Avengers era like if nothing happened.
Concerning Swift, I think more fans were angry at him dating her instead of the stunts and constant blaming of others then himself. He threw his fans under the bus and there was this misogynistic undertone from his fans of Swift holding him hostage when he's a 35 year old man at the time. This is a constant theme with his fans when he dates a woman; hate her and proclaim he can do better even tho he hasn't been in a LTR in the longest, so he might not be a catch as his fans proclaim.
I just feel his fanbase is only loyal to him because he tells them what they want to hear and that he panders to them, thats why you get constant reviews from them saying he's great in this or that when his performances haven't been riveting or that great imo. And his stans monopolize every review site out there so objectivity is low.
There's a huge double-edge sword with his fandom. They love him as long as he's single and panders to them but yet they don't actually spend money on the movies he's in with the exception of Loki.
CP being a movie which was practically aimed at the Tumblr demographic but failed at the Box Office. An movie actor's Box Office revenue is extremely important for his career, money talks and studios see that which means he gets more quality work, but his fans don't support him that far. Its either play Loki, do cutesy online vids with fans or do stage theater in which the stan treats the theater as a fan convention or pop star concert.
And when they do see his movies they just talk about how hot he is or the gratuitous semi-nude scenes he's in. Yes he's good-looking...at times he can look kinda odd looking, but these amateur film connoisseurs don't call him out when his acting is lackluster and when he's miscast coughskullislandcough
Sorry for the long post just had to rant there.
>>744 This Swift thing really needs to stop...until her inevitable song about him releases then they can make fun of him again. That headline is SMDH and LOL at once.
>>738 I didn't read it. Good thing. Seven years! Seems Sir Ken maybe was a mentor to TH in prevarication as well as acting. I'm assuming they've been taking about doing something together for 7 years. Sure both wanted it to be bigger, more ambitious and not a band-aid for a bad PR decision.
>>739 What month? Not knowing anything about the The-atre, I would think it would take a good while to arrange everything. I wonder if this was from last year when TH presented KB with that theatre award. What else are they going to talk about over dinner, TH's love life?
>>746 DM Caption: 'Mr Slippery: Terrified Tom was pictured careering down an inflatable moistened chute with Taylor....' Freudian slip?
>>747 Welcome! Yeah, but it won't. The comments are very pro-TH but comments won't keep journalists from mentioning Tayto. I mentioned here that Gyllenhaal still gets asked about TS and connected to her some 7 years after their 3 months. And JG never gave a 'heart and bolognese on sleeve' interview about TS.