Thread to talk about the actor...oh fuck it. You know what to do
>>796,799,801 The only thing worse than a Tayto inspired Hamlet is a Brexit inspired Hamlet. I can't imagine that was what KB was referring to with his very flowery language. But of course it was, allegedly, the reason TH decided to have some fun and blow off steam with his one true love TS. That was my favorite Tayto article...until Taffy's bestill my beating bolognese one.
>>790 My "tainted" was too strong a word - "colored by" is better.
>>796 Hi Anonon! I couldn't find the Times article, but the full interview with KB in the Stage is worth a read. Taken together, his quotes make it sound like a more political/power/communication take than "fake news": https://www.thestage.co.uk/features/interviews/2017/kenneth-branagh-directing-hamlet-tom-hiddleston-natural-shakespeare-genuine-rapport -- somehow I don't remember any references to journalism in Shakespeare's text....
>>797 Would the shirt read "I <heart> Ophelia" or "I <heart> Getrude"?
>>796, >>799, >>801, >>802 While I think that there will be a lot of emotion to mine between TH's reaction to Brexit and whatever the heck it is he currently feels about the disaster that was Tayto, I would hope for both his and KB's sake that they'll avoid anything that could be interpreted as being even remotely about Tom. If the underlying reason for doing this production now is to rehabilitate Tom's reputation, the last thing needed is any association with Tom the person rather than Tom the classical actor.
I also heard echoes of US politics in KB's description. Though I think Claudius did a much better job of running his court!
>>803 I vote for Ophelia, after she dies XD (I'm a terrible person)
TheStage article is why I mentioned Brexit, though like you I think it pretty much can refer to any country right now, we are not short of wanna be tyrants. This quote especially
"“Hamlet always speaks loudly to the world,” he says, eyes sparkling. “And at present, it roars. It is a play that talks of power grabs and demagogues.”"
I hope it's good.
>>802 Anon. I missed your sense of humour!
>>798 Couch - good point - I am 95% sure it was at TIFF2015, because that's around the time I read it. But it may very well have been that I was reading a old quote from the Hollow Crown era.
>>788 GQ seems to be the current confessional for male celebrities - e.g., Calvin Harris last summer, TH this winter, Brad Pitt recently.
>>789 You're right, there doesn't seem to be much record of him openly supporting RADA except for an occasional speaking appearance or video interview. So he's doing Sir Ken a favor as well as helping himself.
>>793 Ah, the ever-shifting GQ article - which of Taffy's tweets changed your view?
>>804 I think it will be good, but will it be great?
Well, the school play wheeze seems to have been very effective so far. A quick look at the #RADAHamlet hashtag on Twitter and on tumblr indicates that there are a lot of disappointed punters who have remembered why they were 😍 for the man in the first place.
>>808 As I recall, Taffy told TH and her friend "you're better than that," which I think could mean either "you deserve better than that" or "you're better than the bad person that your ex/the public is making you out to be." Or maybe both!
>>809 So far, there's been much less wailing, tearing of hair or clothing, or gnashing of teeth than I expected on either Twitter or Tumblr. Will be interesting to hear about the makeup of the audience; maybe some regular theatre-goers won some slots.
>>808 Taffy should not play favorites here. I know TS has a bad history, especially now with the Kanye tapes, but I bet the truth of the whole matter is in the middle. So no one should take TH side totally as well since he had his own ulterior motives and I believe that he did use TS's fame for his own advantage just like TS said. Taffy is proving herself too enthralled over TH to the point of looking like she has low self-esteem just because the Daily Mail thought she was TH new girlfriend and she's been riding on TH's train ever since.
I do agree that I bet TH did tell her stuff off the record what was the real deal between him and TS since TH seems to lack any close friends to rant to and just had to pick a GQ reporter to do it for some odd reason. That GQ interview was nothing but damage control and heavily calculated. Its funny thinking about it now since at that time TS was already with her new boyfriend at the time and it just makes TH look like an even bigger fool.
I also agree that TH and TS broke up way earlier before the September announcement. Probably around that time of the rumored argument they had in early August.
I think TS broke up with him. You can tell my some pictures that she was not into him and he wasn't selling their relationship well. His body language with her was really suspect; hands in pockets at all times, even some pictures where he look downright miserable and the awkward answers he gave everytime a reporter asked him about this woman he so called loves but didn't want to acknowledge her. In some pictures when he looks at her she never looks at him she looked somewhere else. They also never really smiled. These two really didn't sell this "relationship" at all, yet he's the actor and she isn't but he couldn't sell it. That's why I don't consider him that talented, but whatever.
Both TH and TS are pathetic but I also feel that in some way they've learned, yes even TS, at least she's keeping a low profile...for now. And TH of course but he's changing persona's too abruptly that it just makes his past persona look more superficial and insincere.
Whatever the case may be it will be brought up again once TS album releases. Neither TH or TS are victims no matter how hard TH fans think he was duped. He's in the business, everyone knows TS reputation, he just didn't care and foolishly thought he could handle it and probably thought he could control her a bit.
Hopefully the Hamlet audience won't consist of mainly TH fangirls. I think TH has moved on from his heartthrob era something he should've been doing a long time ago, but now it just looks like a tryhard effort to get in the good graces of the public again.
>>796,803 This reminds me of the hi-larry TH soundbite where an actor = archaeologist, anthropologist, all the -ologists putting a character under glass (?)...for the camera.... He was digging/mining then as well.
>>799 Of course he's blaming everyone else, and their cameraphones, at least publicly. I suspect in his mind as well. We all have those mortifying, self-inflicted moments your sub-conscious holds on to and then throws up from time to time to make you cringe? I have a dozen spread out over 30 years. He has 20+ from three months in 2016. And those are just the ones we know about. Blaming someone else may be the only way he can sleep.
>>809 Do we think RADA has had a SOP briefing from the Donmar? I'm sure many non-TH fans submitted, mostly because of Sir Ken. But I have the suspicion that most ballot entries came from the ranks of the TH fan club. This may be the tip of the hot mess fan iceberg that will be Hamlet: The Attempted Redemption.
Did Miss Unrelated get a ticket? Will she interrupt a performance to ask her muy importante question (which TH totally wants her to ask)? Will hater Hugh Laurie need to be there every night to stop her? Inquiring minds want to know.
>>808 Here's something I don't think we talked aobut 6 months ago: Taffy said TH's dad taught him scrupulosity: "He learned the basics of scrupulosity, though, from his father, who taught him that there is right and wrong, fact and myth, and that sometimes you have to work hard to spot the difference."
Here's the definition of the word from Wikipedia, because I'd never heard the word (though I'd heard of scruples, and scrupulous):
"Scrupulosity is characterized by pathological guilt about moral or religious issues. It is personally distressing, objectively dysfunctional, and often accompanied by significant impairment in social functioning. Scrupulosity is characterized by pathological guilt about moral or religious issues. It is personally distressing, objectively dysfunctional, and often accompanied by significant impairment in social functioning. It is typically conceptualized as a moral or religious form of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), although this categorization is empirically disputable.
Was Taf saying he suffers from OCD? Could his downplayed demeanor at SDCC mean he's under treatment?
>>813 I wonder if Taffy was using that word in the philosophical or religious sense or if she was simply using it as a noun based off of the word scruple. In the Catholic world this is an issue I deal with. I don't think any parent would teach his child to feel guilt where there was no sin, which is what this is in Catholicism. Perhaps his father taught him the opposite of the concept, or how not to suffer from it??
>>814 Not being Catholic, this is the first I've encountered this religious/ethical concept. He's talked about 'not feeling guilty about pleasures' in interviews, when asked. I remember that TH said he's CoE but not religious.
I suspect she means that he learned to have scruples via his father (i.e. scrupulousness, which as Anon. says is a different thing). She probably thought scrupulousity sounded fancier.
>>812 She did not, and is now policing the interwebs for those selling their second ticket to the highest bidder (though fair enough in this case).
>>816>>815 Yes, I think the same. If she meant the 'OCD of sin,' then she would have capitalized the S, one would hope. She's used a word thinking it's clever but actually it makes her writing uncertain - a no-no for non-fiction. But then that article was mostly fiction.
I won't pass judgment on how well TH took up the lesson on right and wrong. I suspect Mr. Hiddleston senior, like many of his generation, thinks of the subject in terms of black and white. Junior seems to have found shades, endless shades.
>>816 It was a silly question on my part, she's probably red-flagged on a list under the code name 'Hell No.' Policing...more like shopping. Girl would sell a kidney, maybe two - dialysis would be a small price to pay for 😍😍😍😍! (FYI A kidney emoji doesn't exist.)
>>817 Tumblr indicates that a surprisingly large number of nutters have scored tickets. I slightly smell a rat. Not, I think, that RADA has done anything to skew the ballot. I do rather think that some people have entered multiple times using new email addresses and fake phone numbers. You can nominate your tickets as a "gift" to be collected by someone else, who must turn up with ID in their name - so I suppose there is nothing to stop you signing up as M Mouse and nominating your real self to collect the tickets (for which identity you would have ID).
Here is the great man in rehearsal: https://instagram.com/p/BXlOYjZFU40/
>>818 That's a trick I hadn't thought of (and I have a fairly evil mind that way; fortunately my scruples prevent from acting on those ideas)! And I did see a person who had 15 family and friends enter the ballot, so (s)he probably is getting her ticket by gift.
>>819 That's also the photo being used for the official picture on the Branagh Theatre site and Facebook.
Speaking of Branagh's troupe, does anyone know anything about the future plans? I know they did a season at the Garrick, but haven't had a chance to research if they're planning another season.
>>820 Oops, meant to include the link to the Branagh co. page: http://www.branagh-theatre.com/
Another tactic fans/nutters are using is tweeting anyone who won the ballot who might be remotely in need of a +1. Though so far I haven't noticed anyone being obnoxious about it.
I keep telling myself that as much as I'd have liked to see this production, it likely will be full houses of swooning fangirls.
Dear God, if I could just get through ONE day on tumblr without the endless infantalizing of TH, I would stop feeling like deleting my account is the only option. But it's getting harder to.
I don't get how someone can talk about how sexy he is in one breath, and then nanny him so hard in the next.
>>822 I hate nannies so much, they're the worst and TH's fandom is full of them. Reminds me of that TH astrology tumblr who hates when negative gossip of TH is mentioned like if he's some angel and goes on the attack to whomever mentions it. They'll say anything to keep him on that high pedestal. He's a grown man yet they treat him like a child yet in the same breath say he's so intelligent.
>>816, >>817 Agree that she misused the word. She also made up one in this phrase about TS: "urgently needed a professional, tactical, romantical distraction." One of the many issues with the tone of her article, which detracted from its claim to credibility.
>>817 TH having found "endless shades" of right and wrong is another example of the likely cognitive dissonance we talked about a few months ago. I get the feeling (from the GQ quote about "when your values are under attack," from various clips of him confronting autograph hounds with their wrongdoing, etc.) that he was raised by his family and probably by his schools to know very clear distinctions between right and wrong. But for whatever reason he started down the slippery slope (or waterslide) of prevaricating, and now his values may be mush. He's said that he learns about himself from each role he plays - wonder what he will take from Hamlet's dithering and endless debates with himself!
>>822, >>823 But could some of that be caused by Tom himself in the way he presents himself to the world? Until last summer, he seemed to come off as half world's-tallest-six-year-old goof and half would-flirt-with-a-lamppost sexpot. So is it entirely surprising that the blog writers alternate between wanting to mother him and f**k him?
I read those blogs mostly for the internecine warfare these days (one pair of them keeps having love-hate tiffs).
>>824 The tone of that GQ article with Taffy was inconsistent. One minute she's gushing over him and in another making fun of him. It was also hard sometimes to differentiate what TH actually said then what Taffy shoehorned her own opinion, especially concerning the infamous tank top.
Concerning your other post yeah TH has some blame for the perception his fans have about him. He did egg them on into putting him into this really high pedestal, his fans fell for his public persona really hard and probably think that's truly him 100% of the time when in reality he's probably not a lot of those things.
Ever since Crimson Peak he has been distancing himself from his fans and I think in some way getting with TS also played a hand in making his current at the time fanbase to go away since he was no longer single. That's why his fandom hated him so much, because they didn't deem TS worthy enough for TH not because of the antics he was playing with the press instead.
>>818 Well then RADA needs a COBRA meeting with the Donmar. Fangirl status: DEFCON 2, fangirl fuckery probable. If Miss Unrelated scores a ticket, they'll go to 1.
Something might be rotten in the state of Denmark - the first of many !! - but I wonder if it's just numbers. The hardcore segment would have all applied (the crazy a few times via their friends, relatives, psychiatrists, 15 cats) while 'normal' theatre-goers might have said, 'Fuck this for a game of soldiers, I'll spend my time and money on a sure thing.'
>>821 There will be sighing and swooning. I wouldn't think there will be a stage door so they'll need to 'connect' with him via their heart-eyes during the performance. There will undoubtedly be a lot of 'he looked right at me/we had a moment' tales on tumblr.
>>827 It probably is partly numbers/assisted applications, and partly that the true devotees have been working their social networks/blog followers to find someone to take them as their +1. Even the human behind Lego-Loki managed to score a ticket. Sigh (and not in a swooning way).
On a side note, one of the many special TV programs about Princess Diana started last night. While watching the footage of her courtship and honeymoon with Prince Charles, I was struck by how similar their body language was to most of what we saw from Tayto last summer! Charles/TS looked mostly tolerant/amused, while Diana/TH looked mostly shell shocked. Business arrangement on one side, not knowing what the hell you got yourself into on the other....
>>828 I've been chuckling at the idea of Tom as Princess Di - the big doe eyes, the love of the camera and the belief that there were 3 people in his relationship with TayTay - the third being the press, of course.
Happy weekend all!
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/aug/12/james-ivory-shakespeare-film-fails-to-find-funding
"...lined up...."
And Sir Ken refusing to play second fiddle to DDL. Taking bets that on opening night KB pushes TH off the stage and takes over the part while the paramedics stretcher TH away as he sobs, 'But this was my redemption... my redemption.'
Umm, how best to put this...a Richard II with TH and DL wouldn't make a ripple at the US box office...that's the truth, thanks for asking.
What the actual fuck is this?!
"Ivory’s screenplay is written by Chris Terrio, who won an Oscar for Argo, Ben Affleck’s 2012 thriller about the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis."
Ivory's RII screenplay surely written by W. Shakespeare!!
This article is comedy gold!
Epic funding fail with Branagh and DDL; second epic fail with TH and DL.
KB and DDL fighting for the limelight.
Project is box office poison even with DL attached (and even after Billions, Homeland etc)
The market is saying something and JI secretly knows what that is. Ishmael Merchant was a great producer and the hard headed money man who got the funding in place and made Merchant Ivory a success. I have long suspected that Hollywood was only ever interested in them as a pair, and now JI admits as much: "Merchant died in 2005, but Ivory said: “Had he been around, [Richard II] would have been made. We don’t have a really good producer like Ismail.” That I think is the key to why this is not giving the money men of Hollywood a stiffie.
>>831 I think all screenplays have to have an author. In this case he would be more like an editor, unless they 'treated' the original text.
>>832 Despite my use of TH's go to 'Insert Lie Here' fill in, this really wouldn't get a second look in Hollywood or at the US box office - DL, TH, Ivory, etc. I've always found RII one of the more difficult texts - it's not an easy read like TotS, MAaN or JC - and one of the more boring history plays (sorry, Will S).
I think DL is kinda in the same boat as TH. Fans of him and his shows think he's A list but B/B- is probably more accurate in Hollywood's eyes.
>>833 When I said "even with DL attached" what I meant was that he is a long way up the pecking order from TH.
I agree he isn't A list - how many truly are these days, in the sense that they can get a movie made purely from their involvement, and can pretty much guarantee box office or great reviews or both? I can't think of many. The only name that currently springs to mind is Tom Hanks (of the men). I think it is a corollary of these big franchise movies. Iron Man is bigger than RDJ, Deadpool is bigger than Ryan Reynolds. I look back to the 70s and 80s and I wonder what happened. I remember watching the Oscars as a little kid in the late 80s and the front row was Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Robert de Niro, Harrison Ford, Ton Cruise. Huge stars who transcended their movies. On the red carpet this year it was a bunch of insta models and franchise tarts.
>>829 It was her flirting with the cameras that particularly reminded me of him!
>>830, >>832, >>833 Agree that RII, not just with this cast but probably any actors, doesn't have the making of an indie breakout in the US. It probably would do fine at the art houses.
Another challenge for JI may be his age. He's 89, and given that even if he got funding today, it might take a year or two to make the movie, investors also wouldn't want to risk him not being around to finish it.
>>833 But the character of Richard is a great role for an actor. The histories are a challenge, though, because it really helps to understand the issues with the succession to Edward III! (I've always suspected that the roses were a way for the sides to tell all those Plantagenets apart.)
>>830 Wonder if KB will do to Tom what Derek Jacobi supposedly did to him during rehearsals - push him aside with "no, no, dear boy - do it like this!"
>>837 I bet that for that fan the experience of meeting him was even better than getting a RadaHamlet ticket!
Leaving this here in return - Tom in a KSI interview on his psychological age (via torrilla): on twitter, /daisy_104/status/896805108712824832
Could explain a few things...
>>838 I have to say I felt very sorry for him after reading this. It's so incredibly intrusive. I'll set aside for a moment the coincidence of commuting from the same platform (is living near him a thing again for the fandom?). Maybe it is the fact that I am British, but the whole encounter to me read like someone who hated every moment of it but was far too polite to make a break for it (and not at all that he stayed willingly because he is such a great guy and loved the chat). I know it is a stereotype but many Brits would I think find it difficult to walk off after the initial hello and sit in a different carriage or behave in any way that signalled that they wanted to end the encounter. My workplace once held a fancy client party at the Gherkin and before we went a "mingling tips" list was handed out which said among other things how to escape from a conversation with a client that went on too long. These were mostly Oxbridge educated lawyers and they had to be taught how to walk off because they were terrified of appearing rude. Says a lot about the British mentality I think. "He didn't seem overly cheerful" - that's the clue, right there.
The other thing that made me sad for him was that on the same day another fan said in an anon on tumblr that they had spotted him on the tube and been too shy to approach him. All the nannies were saying "way to go, at least the other fan got her encounter." There seemed to be no sense at all that if they had each approached him he would have had all this twice in one day.
>>839 Really good points, especially for those of us who aren't British. And I realized after I'd read the posting that he probably was on his way home after rehearsal or something else to do with the show, and was likely very tired and needing to recharge.
I wonder if he feels obligated to talk to fans (as long as they're being polite). Or maybe he's just resigned to it and half tunes out during their chats.
It's lucky for him that some fans are too shy, and the Brits around him mostly too reserved, to approach him - otherwise he would get this all day every day that he steps outside his house. Perhaps it's still too important to him to have a semblance of a normal life, rather than hide in a limo with blackout windows as he could.
On a lighter note, I can't imagine an establishment here in the US being named the "Gherkin"!
I imagine the fangirls living by him/hanging out in the cafe thing hasn't really stopped. Maybe Tayto brought a few to their senses, but plenty wouldn't have been put off.
I don't understand what the nannies were saying. Were they being supportive of her decision not to approach or saying way to go, someone else got your conversation ?
I guess he's not driving because of congestion charges or parking?? He's not taking a limo because he can't afford it! And because, as you say, it probably makes him feel normal.
The Gherkin is the nickname for the conehead shaped building in the City. It doesn't really look like a gherkin but they couldn't call it the suppository or the vibrator. But I remember a bar in Boston being called The Pickle...I barely remember it!
Cringe...Apparently TH went to a wedding and after the speeches, got up, grabbed the mic and recited a monologue from Hamlet as a sort of wedding present.
I.have.no.words. If he'd done that at my wedding, I would have calmly left the bridal party table, grabbed the cake knife and sunk it into his skull while shouting, 'Now the day's all about TOM! Happy?' Is his need for attention so great? Even if the bride and groom were English professors, specializing in Shakespeare and had written a joint dissertation on Hamlet, this still is all sorts of wrong.
Episode 19, it's at the very end, 40:00 mark.
http://www.thedebrief.co.uk/things-to-do/tv-and-film/debrief-podcast-20170366916
PS If we could figure out the timing of this wedding, we could guess more accurately, though not pinpoint, when he started to memorize Hamlet.
>>841 And unfortunately the fangirls he lost from Tayto he probably regained thanks to KSI and all the "Tom Hiddleston is HAWT" tweets from viewers.
I'd guess the nannies were saying the latter, since most would give various body parts for a 10-minute chat with him.
Plus not driving because a Jag doesn't exactly project "regular guy." I bet he could afford a limo, but is too sensible with his money to go that route. Witness his favorite jogging bottoms.
Too funny about how the Gherkin got its name! The Pickle is a great name for a bar - double pun on drinking and getting into trouble....
>>842 Not to mention that none of Hamlet's speeches are exactly romantic! Wonder just how many champers cocktails he'd had by that point in the proceedings?
I'd bet he started memorizing it oh, about the time of Branagh's Hamlet ('96). Sounds about right for a 15-year-old aspiring thespian. (More seriously, I could see him using some speeches for scene study work at RADA.)
For those of you who (wisely) passed on seeing KSI, this Movie Sins vid will tell you everything you need to know about it in about 20 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNniLJGd1ts
>>842 Omg...is he really that obnoxious or he really can't read a room? Was he trying to show off to charm a bridesmaid into bed? I think it'd be hilarious if this Hamlet story ties into the shagging in an Airbnb story LOL! I find him reciting Hamlet at the wedding so obnoxious...whatever happened to giving a juicer or blender?
>>845 Am I being petty if I say that I don't even want to waste 20 min. on it? Did anyone end up seeing it? I'll watch when it makes its way to Netflix or cable, but I learned my lesson after ISTL.
>>846 He shagged a bridesmaid in an airbnb? Is this from NW3 or the Town Bicycle?
>>844 Not so sure about the limo. If he's 'gifting' speeches instead of blenders >>846, we're talking serious austerity measures! ;)
>>847 There was a Guilty Feminist podcast with Sara Pascoe who claimed she knew someone who had shagged Tom Hiddleston in an Airbnb. The host had asked something like you think he only shags models and Sara had apparently said that she thinks shaggers shag anyone willing. Sara never said this all directly, the host recapped their pre-podcast convo. It was episode 47. Right at the beginning. So I jokingly thought it'd be funny if this Hamlet wedding story was connected to that Airbnb one.
The Airbnb story had caused some ruckus where some fans joked about Tom renting out Airbnb for his one nights stands and other fans took them too seriously as an assault on Hiddles' pristine character.
>>845 I saw JVR having a conniption over that. He's acting like he made Schindler's List and ppl are making fun of it. Calm down douchebro, you made a pulpy pop flick, not some pensive piece of art. Wasn't he high off his rocker during the entire shoot anyways? At least he looked it in vids the cast would post.
>>841 The nannies were saying "way to go, at least one of you got her conversation." With no sense that if they had both "got" their conversation the poor guy would have had this twice in one day (and maybe one journey).
Read all the rest and I am speechless at the Hamlet anecdote. I too would have killed him. Was it his younger sister's wedding? That was late 15 during the filming of KSI.
I had never heard the Airbnb anecdote!! Never even saw it mentioned. I think Sara Pascoe is right though - I bet he is a shagger, and as such I bet he has a healthy appreciation of women generally. In bed, at least.
I downloaded KSI for a long journey recently. I didn't manage to finish it. Maybe it was better on the big screen. In fairness it does strike me as a big screen movie. TH was gorgeous and beautifully muscled, not to mentioned oiled, in every shot. He delivered crappy dialogue in a completely wooden way. He sounded honkingly posh in about 50% of them, lending support to my theory that in real life he has 2 voices: real one (very posh indeed) and interview one (still not a regional accent, but distinctly toned down and slightly Lunnon accent).
Limos: I don't think London really is a limo city. Everyone takes the tube or cabs. Partly because the traffic is bad, partly because the cab drivers actually know where they going, and largely I suspect because there is nowhere for the limo to wait once you reach your destination. I have come across some seriously wealthy people through work and I have never met anyone who took a limo anywhere for day to day life (things like weddings or RC events are a separate category).
>>851 Anon here's the link, it's episode 47 "Female Archetypes with David Baddiel" at 2:41
http://guiltyfeminist.com/episodes/
I forgot to post it last time, since I wanted to ask you native language speakers, and especially you being British, something.
Given the title of the podcast and the program, I can't understand if they are just providing made up examples - as in I'm a feminist, I shouldn't give in to a professional shagger but I would because it's TH - or if it's believable that someone in Sara's position in the UK would publicly reveal something so private in a program. It's funny either way but I was curious.
I think it's the wedding he went to this spring where he sang at the karaoke, since the host in the podcast says he got up announced. I doubt it'd be a surprise for his presence would have been a surprise for his sister's guests.
>>852 I have never listened to this podcast before.
Having listened to the first 3 minutes I think that the examples are partly made up for the jokes but that that one may well be true. Sara Pascoe is not wildly discreet - she is currently doing a show in Edinburgh about the breakup of her relationship which is apparently toe-curlingly frank.
Now I listened to the other podcast with the wedding anecdote. Oh nooooooo. He said "yes I am actually here" like he was a really famous Tom Cruise type person. He said "they didn't think I got them a present but...."
I would have leapt up screaming "stick to the registry tightwad! Where are my steak knives?!!!!"
>>852 "I doubt it'd be a surprise for his presence would have been a surprise for his sister's guests." This will teach me that posting and walking do not go together.
>>853 If she had said the same with some other hot guy's name I would have taken it as a joke for sure, so I wondered if it was my disposition toward him making a difference. Besides, as you said Sara is not wildly discreet, I remember her at Norton's, but she is also well known, I think something like this would have made a splash on the internet if the audience had taken it for real - these podcasts are recorded at Kings Place and dates May 7th.
I can't decided, I can't see him register to AirBNB and book places, what if the owner has a hidden camera? ;)
>>855 I imagine that the shag-ee had booked the airbnb. She invites Tom back for some fun. It does sound like it happened after a wedding - exactly the time for a one night stand, and also when one of the parties to the shag might be staying somewhere other than home.
Daniel Craig confirmed he's back as Bond on last night's Colbert -/http://www.thedailybeast.com/daniel-craig-confirms-james-bond-return-to-colbert-i-couldnt-be-happier
But looks like only for one (as of now) so speculation will resume at some point as to his replacement.
>>854 Ugh so much cringing...yep, definitely obnoxious. I wonder if he has an inflated sense of his own star power. Probably still riding on the fumes of TNM's success.
>>855>>856 Yeah, I had assumed it was the other person's Airbnb, not Tom's. Though I did wonder if he wasn't paranoid about the other person taping them or selling the story then I figured that stuff usually happens when you sleep with total strangers or a fan or groupie. The Airbnb person must have been someone Tom knew personally and trusted to an extent.
Tbh, we have no idea of a timeline. We're assuming it all happened recently because we heard about it now. The Airbnb situation could have happened a couple of years ago and now that Pascoe is famous and TH is more well known now than he might have been when the shagging took place, she can use that anecdote in her joke's now instead of ppl going "eh? who? who's tom hiddleston?"
>>858 Ehm, I was joking about the Airbnb registration.
Anyway, mine is a linguistic curiosity, I've very little interest in his sex life. Sara doesn't just say "hey, a friend of mine shagged TH I'd do it too" that would be an anecdote.
The way I understood, after listening to it a few times, she tells it to demonstrate that you can be a feminist, know someone is a professional shagger (which as a term is as bad if not worse than womanizer?) i.e. that he would fuck anyone, and still want to shag him because he is hot.
If this was told as true but it is false, it'd be slander.
If it is true, given the limelight he had after tayto, someone would have run to SM and posted "Sara Pascoe just said TH is a shagger that would fuck anyone!". It's not the same as saying funny anecdotes about her exes.
Since neither happened, clearly to the audience present in that hall and to anyone that listened to this podcast - and isn't a TH's former fan - it was a joke.
Either that or my English comprehension needs some working 😟
Anon.'s podcast was posted at 1.30am GMT. This appeared at 3am GMT. Hello lurkers, seemingly: https://zerofucksclub.tumblr.com/post/164236644446/the-debrief-podcast-by-bauer-media-on-apple
>>859 The intro seems like actual thoughts/conversations they've had, perhaps embellished for comic effect, but actual ones, so that the TH story rings true.
It doesn't need to be related to the wedding. Before we sold our apartments to buy the marital abode, we put one up on Airbnb while living in and preping the other for sale. It was a two bed, so we had two students doing courses at NYU and an actor with a traveling off-off Broadway show (yes, we rented out the sleeper couch!). They stayed for several months, not just a few days. I can imagine London being filled with actors/entertainment types who are there for a few months and using an airbnb. Industry types would also be less likely to blab about such an encounter, except to other industry types, e.g., her comedian friend Sara.
>>860 We will always have our lurkers. Coach and her links probably first drew them here. When I found that 'new' pic of Tayto on one of my, now infrequent, twitter raids, it didn't take long before it showed up in the usual places. This one I found by chance through my twitter follows - completely non-TH related. I'm happy for them to take and claim as their own rather than link to this board directly.
>>854 It is bags full of awful. I've said this before, we all have, he needs someone sitting next to him to put a hand on his arm and say, 'No, don't.' PR, assistant, his father, his childhood nanny brought out of retirement, significant other.
Given recent information, I'm assuming TH doesn't belong to the Zero Fucks Club but to the Airbnb Fucks Club. It's just like Boodle's, but not.
>>861 Ok I've decided: it was EO, she told Sara about her weekend in Hawaii and the mega villa became an airbnb for privacy reasons.
Twitter is full of Bond >>857 and more Hamlet ticket celebrants. Is this delayed reaction? I thought it was sold out a week ago. Did they add more shows to appease the fans?
>>857 People are rather desperately clinging to Craig's 'just one more' statement. They are hoping TH will be next in line but by then he will be very close to 40 and memories of TNM will have faded. This was a now or never moment it seems. My personal regret is that we now won't see Idris Elba as 007. What a panty dropper!
>>859 oops! Sorry haha lol but as you can tell I clearly did entertain the logistics of celebs shagging in Airbnbs. They tape the guilty feminist in front of an audience? I thought it was one of those in a small room or in a garage type podcasts. Well goes to show how much I researched when I heard about Airbnb. I pretty much thought what I wrote in my last post and moved on. I figured you all threw it in the "single adults have sex" pile and that's why it was never brought up on this forum.
>>863 TH never struck me as Bond material. Perhaps a character in the Bond universe but Bond himself? Nah. Even after TNM, I can't see him as Bond. Idris, yes. Tom, no. But to some fans I guess Tom was born to play Bond eyeroll
>>864>>865 If kitchen doors could talk. He probably has it fitted with a sex swing hence why all the ladies get propped up against it. Better for the back too.
A swing? Imagine the Hiddlesconda with G force behind it. That's all I'm sayin'
Slightly OT, but we are there already: Idris as Bond would have been fantastic. There is a great pic of Helen Mirren meeting him for the first time and looking awestruck. She said afterwards that he was so gorgeous she could hardly get a word out. For someone who has had men drooling over her for 40 years I thought that was so sweet.
>>867 Cue the fanfics! I better get credit. Jk please don't.
>>863 For Hamlet, there was a 2nd ballot drawing for those who didn't succeed in the 1st round. Tix are on sale for them til tomorrow AM GMT, I believe. So of course there was some only semi-legit "gifting" of slots happening via twitter. More on that later when not typing on phone.
>>870 see ##429 and following. I'll see if I can find the bicycle link. http://4-ch.net/tv/kareha.pl/1445094141/
According to tumblr there are still tickets available for all but one show!!
>>870 The kitchen door! A series of tweets suggesting that after PurseGateGate, TH took EO to his place and did the deed up against the kitchen door. The best parts being: he admired himself in a mirror before doing so (I think) and that the deed lasted two minutes.
Some rang true, some not. As always, we here made light of it and it was a running gag for a time.
>>872 That can't be true. Can it? Why would so many enter the ballot and then not purchase? Presumably they drew enough ballot entries to cover the number of available seats. Did the hottest ticket in town just become lukewarm?
Or is this because one person entered with 43 (mostly fake) names, 23 of those names were selected, but only one ticket purchased? Time to trot out the rotten quote?
##871, >>872, >>873 Thanks for the kitchen door background - too funny!
As of a couple of hours ago, RADA tweeted that all regular tix were sold out, but there were still some under-25 ones available. I would thought those would have gone early since they were limited. Guess Tayto didn't win him more younger fans!
>>874 So these must be the unsold seats scattered throughout the performances.
Wasn't that the whole point of Tayto? I've always secretly thought that his fanbase is mostly 35-40+ women and Under 21 boy 'nerds' - and he and his people know it! Which is yet another reason Tayto was so poorly envisioned. She doesn't have a wide range of fans and her fans don't seem to stick with her exes for long. No TS fan is buying tickets to see her ex as Hamlet.
>>875 Yes, exactly right on the demographic. Did I mention that the talk at the Southampton theatre he did a couple of years ago for a mate who is artistic director there was exactly that demographic? Lots and lots of emo/goth/geek girls under 21, about 3 people between 25 and 35 and a lot of people over 40. Plus quite a lot over 60.
Before today it sounds like there were tickets left for over 25s as well, hence the twitter surge of people getting them in the second round, who I didn't get the impression were all under 25. Is this a sign that the hottest ticket wasn't? I wonder if the faff with the ballot put a lot of people off (the kind who would buy tickets at the Donmar on their advance membership). Another alternative is that a lot of people from abroad entered the ballot hoping to be able to get time off but decided in the end it was too expensive at such short notice. Tickets for Coriolanus went on sale months ahead and that gives you time to arrange your vacation and maybe get a cheap flight - a month ahead, not so much.
>>875 He said in an interview during Kong's promo that he perceives his psychological age to be 26/27. It was during the China leg. That sheds some light for me on why he keeps aiming for that 20something demographic and a heartthrob celebrity status. 30+ is what I also assumed was his demographic.
Here's that age part in the Q&A:
twitter,com/daisy_104/status/896805108712824832
>>877 I thought this was very interesting. I think I mentioned before that George Clooney said that he thought one's development was arrested when one first got famous (hence he got famous in his early 30s and stayed a playboy for so long).
Interestingly Cymbeline, for which he won the Olivier for best newcomer, was 2008. So knowingly or not TH puts his point of arrested development when he first achieved what I might call measurable recognition.
>>876 From Twitter and checking the RadaHamlet site, the story seems to keep changing about what tix are/were available when. Saw someone who tried to get an under-25 ticket earlier and the system said they were sold out; then RADA announced today that the under-25s were the only ones left. And unfortunately some over-25 ballot winners were only notified today when there were no tix for them.
I think the non-sell out could be partly from the overseas/short notice effect you described. Also there likely were people who couldn't get seats together, or couldn't get the only date they could attend. And there were dropouts from the round 2 winners who didn't want to pay 95 pounds. Which left all the more opportunities for some nutter fangirls to stalk Twitter in search of unused seats. See the most extreme example called out here: insanely-smart.tumblr.com/post/164270807763/i-fucking-hate-ballots
>> 838, >>878, >>879 As I said above, I think that psychological age explains a few things. Especially how he managed to get so thoroughly played last summer by a 26-year-old high school graduate. No wonder if he then had massive cognitive dissonance at people calling him out for behavior unbecoming in a 35-year-old grown man.
In looking at his CV, 2008 does look like the year in which he started to get juicier roles and longer mentions in reviews. (Wasn't he up against himself in another role for the newcomer award that year?) I wonder if he's fixed on that age because he was clearly on the rise at that time, which must have given him such a high. He may not feel so in control of his life and/or career now.
>>876 And speaking of age, I realized today that R/H didn't offer any special ticket price for 60+ or 65+. Are senior citizen discounts not done in the UK?
@879
TBH: Insanely S is really not in a position to be mocking anyone seeing as she's been coddling and protecting Berlinale for years.
As for the twitter fan, she runs hot and cold and then acts like a brat when she doesn't get tickets and then happy when she does. Entitlement is huge with that one.
>>838 Nothing says unattractive like a 36 year old man thinking he's a 27 year old young man. He's so delusional.
>>839 I don't think that fan was being intrusive or rude. At least she made herself known unlike others who sneak photos of him while he isn't looking with their creepshots. TH had a ton of opportunities to leave the conversation and he didn't. Also, he's a public figure so he's going to get recognized especially if he takes the subway by himself. Yes that fans post was annoying to read through but no intrusion there and TH was nice and he asked her follow-up questions. He could've easily just said Hi and ignored her but he didn't. He was under no obligation to interact with her more.
>>883 Oh I agree about the oddly clever one! I just posted the link as a handy summary of some of the nonsense that's been happening on Twitter to get tickets.
>>883 She wasn't being rude, with that I'll agree. Nor overly intrusive. But I think she, as most would, given the chance, seemed reluctant for the conversation to end. Her story/language is very telling. She says 'we both stood at the back of the carriage.' How did you both end up there? She's sparse with details here, having been liberal with them before and after. Was the carriage packed so they naturally ended up there because it was the only space? Did he follow her to that location? Did she follow him?
From my time in London and interactions with Foreign Office types, I know that there's not a snowball's he would have ignored her or taken steps to end the conversation. Her or our insistence that he could have just walked away or just stopped talking (by pretending to be mute??!!), does not take into account that for a certain segment of British society chewing off a limb is preferable to the appearance of rudeness - not being rude, just appearing rude. I am of the opinion TH falls into this group.
Maybe TH's 'No' minder could accompany him on train journeys: 'I'm sorry, Mr. Hiddleston is not having conversations today. Thank you and fuck off.'
Hamlet has sold out (at last). I could use some perspective from this board, particularly the British members. RADA's intention with the ballot and the "tickets may not be transferred or sold" was obviously to make the process as fair as possible. Do you think the fans' working twitter to beg for tickets, fans who succeeded at the ballot giving their system IDs to other fans to buy tickets, fans from abroad who had no intention of attending "gifting" their tix to other fans, etc., is in the spirit of what RADA intended?
I probably shouldn't be so surprised by their actions, given what I've read about their behavior getting seats for Coriolanus. But it irks me that people who did succeed on the 2nd ballot (which was deliberately overdrawn by RADA) and got their emails late, were likely prevented from getting tickets by these fans. And I wonder - how likely are these fans (as opposed to more 'normal' theatre goers who applied) to support RADA in future if TH is not involved?
>>878>>880 It does explain how easily he got gamed by Taylor. Normal men in their 30s wouldn't be acting like that, thirsty or not. I think it'll take another year before he's able to clearly see his fuckup there.
I wonder if he's rejecting certain good roles because of this 27 yr old thing. From his interviews, I get the sense he wants an acting career like actors had back in the 80s. Blockbuster celebrity, that one name that could alone sell a crap movie, that type of career. That doesn't happen anymore now. Does he even know himself what he wants? Celebrity tabloid fame or respected successful acting career?
>>885 This is exactly what I was trying to articulate with my original post.
The reason I thought the encounter was intrusive was because the fan was (unintentionally I am sure) imposing herself on someone who could no more have escaped from the conversation than he could have flown. I am one of those people. I have no doubt that TH is one of those people. The Queen is one of those people, cf >>69.
I was also struck by the fact that neither the originator nor one single fan commenting on the encounter seemed to get it. Just because he has the chance to say "well, bye now! I'll just stand here quietly and be alone with my thoughts" does not mean he was a willing participant.
Anon. gets it. But she has lived among us with our peculiar ways.
>>887 I might be the only cynical one here with this opinion. When this whole Hamlet RADA announcement happened, I didn't buy it for one second that it's a genuine solely help support RADA initiative. It's setup as an easy vehicle for Tom's comeback and was in the works for a while. The ballot system guaranteed audience full of fans, not critics or theater lovers. They were banking on the fans. The "help support RADA" is part of two birds with one stone with TH's comeback being the bigger bird. Also fans always do this kind of stuff, not just TH's. Nobody is going to call them out on it because a) Tom needs those fans, b) the fans' behavior (as juvenile as it is) works in their favor.
I knew something like this would happen with this play and I think RADA/ Ken B were hoping for it.
>>887 I doubt very much that the fans' behaviour is what RADA intended. But narrowly speaking all they wanted to prevent was tickets being touted for hundreds of pounds. Giving your right to buy tickets to someone who could attend is not touting (unless money changed hands, and I am not so sure that that seemed to be happening).
I don't think that "regular" theatregoers are especially likely to donate to RADA compared to fans. I have been theatregoing in London for ages , I tend to think I am reasonably switched on about this sort of thing, and I donate a certain amount through memberships which let you buy tickets a bit in advance. It had never crossed my mind to attend a RADA show or give RADA money. I don't know anyone who's ever attended a RADA show or fundraiser.
It's also a crappy way to make money. The gross ticket take will be about £240k. Taking off the expenses of production that is - what? - £150k max. Out of £20 million. He could have raised that on one night through selling tickets to a fancy dinner. There are also I think moral/ethical questions about getting students/new graduates to work for free on that production (even if it is a "good career opportunity").
>>890 No you are not the only cynical one. What I just said about it being a bad way to make a relatively small amount of cash for RADA says to me that it was a multipurpose event.
I am not sure RADA cares one way or the other about Tom's rehabilitation. I imagine RADA doesn't look the gift horse in the mouth when offered this production. TH probably tells himself it is all about RADA but really it is about rehabilitation with, as you say, an easy audience of people who are committed enough to enter the ballot and no critics.
BTW I have seen several articles about how dire the summer's box office has been, with a lot of expected hits such as Valerian or The Dark Tower turning out to be stinkers. KSI's box office looks pretty respectable in light of this.
>>887 Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, ever works out like it was intended. But they must have known there would be fiddling and very little playing-by-the-rules behavior. But probably little they can do about it.
NewAnon >>890 you are partly or totally correct. Everyone on this board saw it for what it was, a chance for him to earn back the serious actor cred he lost last year. Without looking back, I don't think one of us suggested otherwise when we had those discussions. You're not cynical, you're a common-sense realist.
I would, however, argue that it was 'in the works for a while.' Not sure what NewAnon means by that, but I can see it being cooked up post-Tayto, end of last year, start of this. The hiddlestonanons tumblr mentioned a 'RADA project' in March or April and kinda out of nowhere. They'd heard something concrete by that point so maybe initiated at the start of the year and confirmed around this time?
>>885 I get it. But at the same time, if he truly doesn't want to be bothered he should've taken a cab or hell even drove. Doesn't he own a Jaguar? I know the traffic in these big cities like London is bad, but if you're a well known public figure whose whereabouts are known to his fans, you try to avoid those places as much as possible. I know its awkward and uncomfortable trying to leave a conversation but you know he could also stand up for himself and be like "I'm sorry i'm really tired I can't really talk now. It was nice meeting you". But again, I'll give him the benefit of not wanting to seem rude, because I probably would do the same thing even if this annoying fan was well...annoying me. His fans are really intrusive overall anyway and Tom is extremely image conscious.
>>890 This whole RADA Hamlet thing has Comeback all over it. Kenneth Branagh is directing, its at RADA and also its a charity event and its TH taking on a serious Shakespeare role he's never done before. But the charity is more for TH then RADA itself. Serious role + Acclaim Actor/Director + Prestigious Drama School + Charity= Great PR makeoever for him. It's so transparent that Newzoids should do another skit about it.
Short break: unrelated to Hamlet. Guess which TH exgf has just scrubbed her major social media accounts (all instagram, 7 years of twitter)?
>>896 She's just like TH in trying to get a new PR image. She might be preparing to make an announcement on her new album or something. Whatever it is both TH and TS are still doing PR stunts to rehabilitate there tarnished public persona. Too bad the internet never forgets.
>>896 LOOK AT MEEEEEEE. Next thing she'll rock up at a wedding and sing a song rather than bring a gift.
>>899 I have a feeling, like most things in her life, SM follows fall under an airtight contract. Even if they don't, TH simply doesn't have the balls. He'll follow her empty (don't think they'll stay that way) accounts until twitter/IG dies or he dies.
I'm happy for him to prove me wrong but I don't think he's going to prove me wrong.