Thread to talk about the actor...oh fuck it. You know what to do
I love that you restarted the thread count.
I leave this here, it's a clip from today's BBC radio program TH attended (torrilla has the whole file, I think, plus photo with his driver/bodyguard)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04vdyft
he gets asked if he google himself and about his sweatpants, he didn't know they had a hole!
And just when you thought Tommy had been such a good boy at keeping his eyes off Brie's cleavage yesterday at the premiere, there comes this video (starting at :15 seconds). She's so cute when she catches him! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tB7gQ2fXzs
>>1 We're regressing! But we've come through so much...14 threads...actually, let's pretend we're on 1.
>>2 I didn't know they had a hole...honestly. That's the truth. Thanks for asking.
This reminds me of an interview I tried to watch. It was a British outlet and seemed serious so I thought that I could manage it. Within 20 seconds he said: I've always wanted to do an adventure movie about a journey to an undiscovered island'...said the guy promoting a movie about a journey to an undiscovered island. I had to stop watching. He's a hopeless fibber who sometimes stumbles blindly and badly into outright lying.
>>2 Yes, we've reached the end times. No, I forgot that the board didn't automatically number the threads.
>>4 We are in the desert and Mr Hiddleston has some sand to sell us.
PS I saw a pic of BL at the Golden Globes last year - I think those puppies are a recent addition, hence perhaps their starring role in KSI promotion.
>>6 I thought that too. At Golden Globes it really didn't look like she had an ample chest. Then I googled Brie Larson 2016 to make sure and it looks like she's always had the same size but just didn't wear outfits that emphasized them:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/sites/default/files/custom/Stephanie/Sam/Brie.jpg
Then at Comic Con 2016 she dresses similar to SI promo: http://tomandlorenzo.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Brie-Larson-Marvel-Panel-San-Diego-Comic-Con-2016-Red-Carpet-Fashion-Gabriela-Hearst-Tom-Lorenzo-Site-3.jpg
I'm guessing award season dressing is much more demure than shilling action adventure promo lol gotta bring in those fanboys!
Ummm, TH is at RADA inspiring a new generation of fake boyfriends with these powerful words..."Everything from the RADA training comes into play...The muscle of committing to the belief in something that doesn't exist...." He says he's talking about CGI but we know better.
The quotes the RADA twitter acct. is sending out are unintentionally hilarious if you read them in light of Tayto:
"You have to hold the moment in your mind and then replicate it, often weeks later, in several different locations."
"When I left RADA my hope was I'd never do just one thing my whole career. That influences my choices about my work."
>>4, >>6 Anyone else feel like he's kind of just phoning it in during this round of PR (including in LA)? Especially when compared to his level of excitement about SI during ComicCon last summer?
>>5 The press may be more interested in the Bond story than he is now. In one of the early interviews from LA (I'll try to re-find it), he looks to be squirming in his chair when that question came up. Now that he's made his Official Statement about the summer of love, the rags are going to need items to keep his as clickbait.
>>9 Let's hope he's satisfied with already having played the PR boyfriend once in his career!
First reviews are out. Variety: "Hiddleston, while top-billed, never takes over the movie, but he’s crisp and hearty (though that accent of his is too posh)."
Ouch - the Guardian! "...the talented Tom Hiddleston is frankly off his game. Given no support in terms of script and direction, he looks stiff and unrelaxed and delivers lines with an edge of panic, like Michael Caine in The Swarm."
Links to Variety and Guardian:
http://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/kong-skull-island-review-1202000823/
So far, Rotten Tomatoes is at 81% (but it was higher earlier in the day) and MetaCritic is at 62.
GQ's not a fan.
http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/kong-skull-island-review-tom-hiddleston-brie-larson-king-kong
AND, they:
They at least get JG's character's name correct. The Guardian calls him Bill Panda.
We knew it was never going to be Oscar bound. The first sign was the 20 different re-writes and the two big stars dropping out right after they won major awards. The second was the need for re-shoots. The third: the revelation that the director was a peanut. But the summer has shown us one of TH's qualities: he never runs when faced with abject failure. He'll continue to talk about 'myth' and 'watching Kong as a child' and JVR's 'amazing vision.' And he'll hope for good box office - domestic and overseas. He'll treat this just like Tatyo: ignore reality, embrace fantasy, full steam ahead.
>>14 And GQ has been upped at its own game by this: http://lwlies.com/reviews/kong-skull-island/
I'll just say that it starts with "Tom! Hiddleston! Loves! This! Blockbuster!
It’s an amazing blockbuster, the most incredible blockbuster you’ve ever seen. You think you’ve seen great blockbusters? Try Tom Hiddleston’s blockbuster before you continue to talk about great blockbusters you’ve seen in your life. (You smother it in CGI after shooting it on an island – that’s the thing. Also: big guns! Also: Brie! He also loves big guns and Brie!)…."
>>14 After skimming the reviews so far, about the best for TH is "he's fine, but..." with the buts being mainly the script and John C. Reilly being far and away the best performance by a human.
And of course there's snark: a couple of Bond allusions, mentions of TH's square-jaw-edness, and (most frequent) his perfect-even-though-we're-in-a-jungle-or-swamp hair.
Good thing he liked the "gas-mask samuri" bit, because that's his only scene that's called out for attention.
It will be interesting to see what he's like on the BBC Morning Show tomorrow (that is, if he succumbed to googling the reviews). But I suspect Anon. is right about him continuing to embrace the fantasy.
Did a lot of googling and the reviews are very mixed, to say the least. 1 star from the Guardian and 4 from the Telegraph.
Another interesting fact: TH is still in London but Olly (according to his IG) has been in LA for 3 days now...
Just checked Vogt-Roberts' assistant's IG. Olly is visiting him. Either being TH's personal assistant is the best gig ever and requires no work whatsoever, even when your boss is doing back to back interviews in the U.K., or they have parted ways.
Watch this bizarre interview from 4.00 or so: https://youtu.be/9Jr0frtKNCc
Interviewer mentions that TH is a Rangers (football) fan. TH furrows brow and says "I don't think I've ever said that" and then "I think it's a fiction". What???? You don't actually know whether you support a particular team or not?
He must have loved doing the RADA talk:
From a student actor's tumblr. I am not going to link to it in order to protect the guilty. Tom's face in the accompanying fan pic is priceless.
"I asked him if one day he’d write a script of direct a film himself, and he said he’d love to. I then got to tell him about my Novel in which I based a character on him. I said “I even described him abit like you so they’re forced to cast you in the movie adaptation” (and I actually fucking winked at him) and I got a ‘ehehehe’ "
>10 Maybe because he July he probably hadn't watched the final product. Now he knows it's mediocre; what you get when you sign onto a film without having even read the script.
>>15 I also didn't see the point of spending so much money to tour so many different locations and then end up with a festival of CG monsters. Add some more CG and travel less.
As for RT and Metacritic, better to wait, Crimson Peak had the same strong start in RT and then settled for a 64.
>>20 Oh I saw that one. It's funny because she's also one of those Hiddlestoners that writes TH fanfic. Tbh, I found her post all sorts of awkward...
>>19 'I don't think I've ever said that...but I've always wanted to be a Rangers fan.'
This is the problem with fibers or those who are constantly molding and remolding themselves to fit what's needed in a particular moment. Sooner or later they forget the fibs or momentary characters they've created.
>>20,25 Ok I gave in to curiosity and looked for it and Anon you're right, he looks so uncomfortable in that photo.
What amused me the most is his stans up in arms against mean UK critics for daring not liking this film. I swear they are one step away from shouting: "Fake news! Failing Guardian! Sad!".
Really, if they didn't like they didn't like it, suck it up. If you claim critics reviews don't count, imagine how irrelevant is your blog.
Do you think he asked Ed about Taytay?
Tom Hiddleston @BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show
http://ww4.sinaimg.cn/bmiddle/6e14d388gy1fd9vfm5lcpj21hc0u0tfo.jpg
>>27 Yes. He is wearing the expression he wore for most of those photos with fans in Philly.
Here's a clip from the BBC Radio 2 program, TH had a preview of ES's single DIVIDE last summer in Rome.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04vn425?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_radio_2&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=radio_and_music
Was ES one of the bodyguard in disguise?
>>30 Is Ed being sarcastic about him being Rome, as to not mention TS? B/c Who brings a pal on an allegedly passionate worldwide hookup fest?! Couldn't they even hang platonically w/o others around and have fun? If I was faking a relationship with a talented person in an interesting field of profession, I think I would try and pick their brain and learn something from the experience. Not a TS girl, but her team knows a lot about marketing, and buying real estate, etc. And hearing Tom talk about theatre and literature would be interesting for a novice. Odd.
This person is creepy. Her account should be reported for harassment.
https://twitter.
com/AqraAhmad
>>27 Does he look like he did on date night in Oz?
The one where he's basically SOSing with his eyes but valiantly smiling.
His stans have always done this. I feel it's gotten worse following on from Tayto and the GGs speech. They've become so protective of him that one is just not allowed to criticize him or his work in any way, even reasonably (not that I do that 😏). Those who consider it some sort of duty - Horatius on the bridge - are the most frightening. He's an actor, not a 'cause' that needs to be defended or championed.
OT What did everyone give up for Lent? What do we think TH gave up?
Me: Cafe bought coffee. The money's going into the nipper's college fund. As my husband said: it will cover a half second of college tuition.
TH: Olly it seems.
>>34 Me: Chocolate and pasta. I eat a lot of pasta.
Tom: Hope of ever landing Bond.
>>33 hahaha no, it was more "I'm not going too close in case someone will name her my new gf" kind of look.
This is TH at Front Row on BBC Radio 4. At the end of his segment he's asked whether the media being so volatile, in favour or against so quickly, changed how he operates with them; he is evasive at first and then gives an interesting answer.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08g2tvw
>>34 I'm like NewAnon, chocolate.
TH: being a media darling.
>>34 Me: alcohol and takeout food.
TH: I am hoping the sweatpants, but he was asked about them and he said very plaintively, "they're my favourite." Maybe the boots (fat chance).
>>39 Me: it's Lent already?
TH: it won't be the boots - they're now made special order for him:
www.gq.com/story/tom-hiddleston-aquatalia-boots
>>40 working link (I hope) -- http://www.gq.com/story/tom-hiddleston-aquatalia-boots
>>41 God I can't stand that woman. Talk about sucking every ounce of fame out of her association with TH. She is an average menswear stylist and a pretty rubbish womenswear stylist (her women's Oscar looks are just horrid). He should have made her sign up to a confidentiality agreement.
>>37 He's still evasive even after taking a long pause to think about the question. He just talks about the actor's responsibility to represent everyone who worked on a production. But the interviewer was asking about him and his current relationship with the media.
For someone who's supposedly so thoughtful, he has such trouble answering questions about himself. (Even his answer to the earlier question about dealing with his fans as he's gotten more famous was jumbled, I thought.) At least he had a coherent, brief answer about his GG speech.
>>42 Everyone seems to do that with him these days (Taffy being another example). Even GQ is using him as clickbait while continuing their snark about Tayto. We should take bets on when the press will finally stop mentioning the SoL in every article.
>>34 I gave up smoking. Kind like social drinking, I will have the odd cigarette at parties. But afterwards I can't stand how my breath stinks and how it smells overall. So goodbye.
>>33 The nannying has been nearly unbearable for quite a while but the overseeing of the movie reviews from publications is ridiculous. They almost make the byke woman's anti-nanny stance seem sane, even though she couldn't take what people dished out to her.
Empire review which doesn't even mention TH: http://www.empireonline.com/movies/kong-skull-island/review/
Someone did a compare and contrast and pointed out that British reviews were a lot less positive than US ones. That's a divide I noticed: Variety and THR were a lot better.
As for the nannies: they are losing it. Over the GQ parody review ("Taffy was criticising evil snark like this!" - um, Taffy was bringing evil snark like this). And the other reviews - one " TH news" site I follow is just not linking to any of the bad reviews. Funny as they didn't have a problem publishing bad ISTL reviews. Is it that they all hated the concept of ISTL/the film and therefore understood why it wasn't getting good reviews? But they love the concept of SI? Or are they just desperate for this project to succeed? (Which I think it will BTW as the US reviews have been good enough).
>>43 He does answer, he only uses a very indirect and politer way of doing it. He basically says "I'm here to talk about the film not about me" i.e. don't ask me personal question. Which is like admitting that his relationship with the media has changed, otherwise he would said "I operate like I always have".
>>46 I didn't quote the orange brat by chance, they have the same attitude of not being able to stand anyone who doesn't agree and ignoring facts if they don't suit them.
>>46 About SI reviews, it must be embarrassing to have to older actors who are not the leads, stealing the spotlight in terms of performance.
I read some foreign reviews (not UK or US), they seem to go along with that first review that was posted here as far as the film on the whole is concerned.
There's a first introductory part that it's ok, then a central part, from when they "land" on the island to the final part, that is very silly and mediocre. One journalist wrote that it's like they gave a huge budget to a cinema fan and a cinephile, the result is that the central segment is full of silly dialogues and famous film quotes. The final part is the one with all the action, where the monsters beat the shit out of each other and that's the best part of the movie.
I would say that reviews are as usual indicative, sometimes the audience agree with the critics, sometimes they don't. Sometimes the critics/audience are right, sometimes they are not. We'll see how it does at the box office, they need more than the US to call this film a success.
>>46 A couple of other reviews also didn't mention him at all. I wonder why the UK reviews trended more negative than the US ones? (There will be more US ones for next weekend's opening here, but more will be from outside the entertainment press.)
>>47 lol - so indirect that I missed that interpretation (I'm so used to our politicians dodging every question)! And the new "I'm only here to talk about the work" is ironic given his team's use of GQ to get the Official Personal Answer (TM) out about Tayto, in an article that barely mentioned any of his work.
>>49 Now he must know how Chris Hemsworth feels about Loki stealing every Thor movie.
Agree about the importance of the non-US box office. This review even calls out that "...it's almost painstakingly clear Skull Island wasn't made for a Western audience..." (scroll down to the section "This is a Global Film"): http://www.polygon.com/2017/3/2/14782556/kong-skull-island-review
>>46 Oh, and what does it say about his role and/or performance that after Empire ran a huge spread on the film beforehand, heavily featuring TH, that they can't bother to include him in the review?
>>51 But GQ's profile was about him, not a film, it was a way of getting rid of the tayto questions prior to this promo tour. So what he said isn't ironic, it's consistent. For now.
I was thinking about money spent and box office yes, and to add to the review you posted (good review by the way), Legendary is now owned by China's Dalian Wanda, which is why you have Chinese actress Jing Tian as part of the cast. And because of the KongvsGodzilla they also needed bait for the Japanese audience, which is why you have Miyavi as part of the cast.
>>46 They didn't have a problem with bad ISTL reviews because all but one praised Tom's acting to the hilt.
Captcha: fetheish for some, yes.
He's wearing a goddamn sombrero in Mexico. Looks like he should join a mariachi band. Really Thomas? Didn't he learn from 'tank-gate' not to randomly put on things thrust your way.
>>46>>49 I don't know if the nannies ever had it to lose.
I've only read The Guardian and The Tele's review. The Guardian was bringing both barrels. The Tele liked the movie but strangely said that nearly every character, even TH's, could have been left out without the plot suffering. Only BL's character was 'key' (probably because of the tank top). So if they're reblogging the Tele's review, they're not doing him any favors.
TH is probably practicing this line in the mirror: Honestly, I've always wanted to be in movie about a journey to an undiscovered island that got mixed reviews and made back its box office thanks to overseas markets.
>>55 Ha! I'm surprised Miss Yours Truly didn't put him in a mariachi suit for the RC. More: hasn't he learned anything after the GG speech. People will accuse him of cultural appropriation. ;)
This RC look is another miss for me. I'm not feeling the coral (?) shirt and tie contrast.
>>55, >>57 From the video bits of the sombrero moment, his smile looks plastered on (especially the last one where he's turning away after having taken it off). He may be thinking "well, that's going to be all over the internet...."
https://68.media.tumblr.com/5eba2649737af109b9017b9aba1bdd55/tumblr_ombn78i7qo1t7x9x7o3_400.gif
https://68.media.tumblr.com/e0006ae3e1113b1f27415345170977c4/tumblr_ombn78i7qo1t7x9x7o2_400.gif
https://68.media.tumblr.com/f9e3a27eebfee55b200323d2eef22c93/tumblr_ombn78i7qo1t7x9x7o1_400.gif
captcha: coyngly
>>56 hahaha that's a wonderful line!
Brie's boobies are also doing all the promotion for her, another deep v necked dress in Mexico. (btw, on the subject, in Room where she was mostly braless they weren't that prominent)
>>55,57 In words he learns, but give him an adoring crowd and he forgets. He is back to his old habit, he stood there for 2 hours taking photos and signing stuff. Will he ever understand that that is the source of his fans entitlement? No. What will happen when he doesn't stay there for 2 hours at future premieres? A mess.
The coral shirt doesn't suit his complexion.
>>60 saw one comment on twitter to BL along the lines of 'TH stayed with us for 2 hrs why didn't you?' (I'm paraphrasing). Entitlement spreads it seems; fans asking a lot of those with TH too.
But welcome to our merry band....!!
>>63 Ha. I was about to chastize you for taking the Lord's name in vain during Lent! Good thing I didn't.
>>20 I think I stumbled across this woman on IG. She posted a pic of her speaking to TH. In the pic, he's looking at her and listening patiently but you can maybe detect an urge to 'depart from the conversation' - as my MIL delicately puts it. I read the caption and she talked about her novel and getting TH to star in the movie adaption.
Those who saw her on Tumblr, is she rather busty and with an Irish and then Welsh name?
Apologies! This should stop the confusion.
>>65 Positive ID.
She was busty but he very evidently had no desire to look down her cleavage.
I once was presented to the Queen (true story!) and among my little group was one lady who thought that HMQ actually cared about her phd. She spoke without drawing breath about rock formations in Bogota (or whatever it was) for two or three agonising minutes while the Queen shunted uneasily from one sensible shoe to the other. Eventually the rock person paused for a millisecond and the Queen said desperately "Well!" At this point her equerry bodily dragged her away.
Anyway, HMQ's expression was just like TH's expression in this photo.
And it's hardly surprising he wanted to run. Almost all fanfiction seems to revolve around the premise that Tom has sexytimes with someone strongly resembling the author!
Aaaaaand he posted the sombrero photo to his IG. We can just be thankful that he didn't dance.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BRRpeYiDCMy/?taken-by=twhiddleston
>>66 Welcome. And you've already figured out the referencing system. It took me a week to do that.
You'll enjoy TH's latest IG post...him in the sombrero. He even captioned it in Spanish and added a tiny Mexican flag.
He should post a pic of him in the t-shirt and caption it with the lyrics to 'We Are Never Getting Back Together.' That IG post would make me go see Kong.
>>73 Our spidey senses told us he's embarrassed himself again somehow.
>>72 Or perhaps this shirt instead: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CmgZuPbWEAAUOKU.jpg
Tom's Kong radio interview w Australian radio, commenting that he is not afraid of being mentioned in a Swift song. Says that they are friends, but he sounds a bit chilly, that they brought up his peronal life. Part 1 is there as well.
https://m.soundcloud.com/fitzy-and-wippa/tom-hiddleston-part-2
>>75 I guess the GQ article didn't reach these two. I love, LOVE that the Australian media just does not give a fuck about playing games. Remember those tv reporters hanging outside the hotel asking him about TS? Does this mean that Luke or Luke's stand-in isn't vetting questions or topics? Why aren't more people taking advantage of this?
Also love that they call him 'Tommy' and reference 'Johnny Goodman' and 'Sammy L.'
>>75 >>76 waves Aussie flag high I'm sure the article made it to them, they would have laughed, thought it was complete nonsense and asked whatever they wanted regardless. We're not know for sticking to the rules and TH is too media polite to just not answer. Other celebs would just say no, but as mentioned >>62 image rehab is a-happening.
>>76 >>75 Wow, the audio file of Tom mentioning Swift on the radio has been deleted! Will it reappear in an edited form? Was it the power of Kong? Did the American PR team step in to actually do PR? If they did, parabens!
Sadly, the talented Brie Larson had her phone hacked, and her intimate photos were released to the world. Unfortunate, b/c she's a talented woman. I think that Brie's stylist just knows how to work the bust tape, and padding, and those are skills that must be revealed to the world, IMO. Brie has an Oscar, and has been repeatedly told by casting directors that she was too much of a girl next door and not pretty enough to play leads. So I think she's just trying to have fun by roping in more fanboys for Kong and Captain Marvel. She looks great.
"I guarantee you nobody has said me". The hard NO from SLJ made me laugh out loud, too many long winded stories? https://youtu.be/fIYfONzE-jI
>>75,78 That's curious since the radio website talks about it and links to the soundcloud page.
http://www.nova100.com.au/show/tom-hiddleston-breaks-his-silence-his-relationship-taylor-swift
>>78 I don't understand how Brie's leak is relevant (it was her iCloud account not iPhone), it happened in 2015. Besides she was told those things at castings before she won her Oscar, and during Oscar campaign she made a big deal of telling the world how she didn't give in to those requests, she went as far as saying "winning an Oscar allowed me to burn that miniskirt". I don't get your point, of course Brie can dress as she likes.
For some reason the British press were giving Brie a really hard time over her outfits, because she wore a low neck jumpsuit at 7pm. There were multiple articles about it for some reason. I was just trying to be supportive of her, and I said she looks great, and that I think she has a lovely fashion taste, and a natural figure. I was just suggesting that she's having fun dressing in a more overt way now on red carpets, and I'm sure the fanboys appreciate it. Her earlier looks were more subtle, but she always looks great. The Brits need to relax.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/brie-larsons-busty-display-one-9946068
>>80 Btw, the radio shows the SoundCloud page link, but it says oops we cannot find that track. It's odd. That's why I was confused.
Here's the podcast of the aussie radio program
http://www.nova969.com.au/podcast/fitzy-and-wippa-podcast-6-march-2017
>>78 Often clips that are getting a lot of plays are taken off secondary sites so that traffic is sent to the 'home' site. I don't think it's a PR matter.
>>81>>82. Brie can dress as she likes, all would agree. But if she's going to get her baps out, it's expected the British - and most western - media outlets will focus on them. 'Sexy' dressing will, right or wrong, always come in for extra mention and scrutiny...probably wrongly.
Maybe Miss Yours Truly will give us TH in a deep V and Brie will get caught looking at his baps. Equalite.
The true test of #hiddlescalm arriveth tomorrow at 10:30 am Eastern US time. He's doing a Facebook live with Josh Horowitz (according to JH's twitter).
>>87 There is no such thing as HiddlesCalm. There is only the eye of the HiddlesStorm.
>>87 the cracks are starting to show. He got a little snippy in his Telegraph interview but then true to form he had to go and be extra about privacy lol yeah Tom you really should have thought through this whole summer of romance thing. Here's the link. The super smart one posted since the article is a premium one:
http://insanely-smart.tumblr.com/post/158075433638/tom-hiddleston-interview-im-entitled-to-a
>>89 The true comedy will come when one of them ends up humping the other's leg mid-interview. Because that's what those two are headed for.
>>90 This seems to be part of the roundtable interview done when he was last in LA, the one that gave us the 'I'm taking a break to find myself' story before the UK premiere. We had one of these for ISTL that produced a variety of 'shades' in his answers and how they were reported. It will be interesting to see what else comes out of this interview.
How much do you want to bet that the snippiness is rooted in the GQ article not working like he and his team wanted it to work? It will be like Tayto: doesn't regret the action, just regrets the outcome not being successful.
As to being entitled to a private life, I will direct him to Bond, James Bond: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/8923078/Daniel-Craig-celebrities-who-speak-about-private-lives-should-not-expect-privacy.html
We had this article up during the early days of Tayto. It still holds water. He's used his private life - albeit a manufactured one - for publicity. So that ship has sailed, Tommy.
>>91 I think you're right: some of this is from a group session - and some is from very old interviews (the boarding school as Harry Potter, the quote about prince William being busy).
New: 2 Avengers films in 2018? Speculation or derived from something he said?
>>92 He would have never said that he had parts in the next two Avengers films. He knows better than to give away spoilers. Think she's inferring that from the known Marvel schedule.
>>90 Don't you wish that when Himself snapped "“What should I regret, in your mind?” the interviewer had started to list some things? Or responded "How long do you have?"
>>91, >>92 The interview does mention being in a hotel suite, and that TH is all in black, which he wasn't for the panel interview in LA. I suspect some of the familiar answers were him recycling verbiage. (There must be parts of interviews that he can do on absolute autopilot.) Though the quote about seeing Prince William "a few years back" might have been lifted.
>>91 I'll take that bet, especially because the interviewer was a guy this time. No cute young female being all "oh you were so HONEST in that article - thank you for sharing!"
Here's also betting that the JH/TH hugging tomorrow will be epic. (Yes, that's hugging, not humping!)
>>91 I wonder if the Telegraph reporter was told "interview over" once he asked the dreaded question about summer and was kicked out and maybe that's why it seems like some parts are a cut and paste job because it quite literally might be lol
>>94 oh! That would have been hilarious! The reporter should have listed the rocks, the TS tank, those gray shoes, the holey sweatpants, not jumping into the ocean and swimming for freedom on his daily runs in Oz, sitting next to Taylor at MET and dancing with her.
Tbh I'm getting quite fed up of this privacy lament of his. He sounded like a conceited fool when he gave that long answer about privacy. It reminded me of the "everyone has a camera phone these days". He needs to stop pointing fingers at the media as the bad guy when him and his girlfriend clearly sent a hand calligraphed RSVP invite and made deals with all the major agencies and outlets.
Tom at an Ed Sheeran concert today: http://okiejess1208.tumblr.com/post/158092049888/wealreadyhome-tom-and-ed-tonight
I don't know what to make of this except it looks a bit thirsty and looks like he's trying to keep his association with Taylor in the chatter for as long as he can.
>>91, >>96 In re-reading that interview, the snippiness may indeed have coming from the GQ article not working out as planned, because he evidently didn't expect any follow-up questions! Further evidence - he sounds unhappy later in it about having to do the publicity tour now: ' "I understand that this is a big film and it’s part of my duty to stand in front of it and do interviews and go to premieres and meet people and that somehow goes with the territory,” he says as if to explain his presence in a Los Angeles hotel suite. “So I just try to be myself.” ' (Duty? Since he usually seems so enthusiastic on the press tours, I get the impression he might want to go back into hiding at this point....)
When I checked Tumblr earlier, there was a lot of reaction to the Telegraph and Aussie radio interviews with discussion happening in ALL CAPS. Just like with the GQ article, he's managed to get part of the fanbase feeling sorry for him, and another part washing their hands of him. Let's hope his LA agency reads him the riot act again and gets some professional PR staff on his case. And that he'll finally take some advice.
On a lighter note, who is the man in these interviews and what has he done with TH? TH never sits with his legs crossed! (Unless called out on his manspreading by an interviewer first.)
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10155166904510929&id=123963360928&_rdr
http://68.media.tumblr.com/1e49993f44fb189c7fdbd8b12bfd8999/tumblr_omfdwkpsz71u5j9sco7_1280.jpg
>>94 'Which do you regret more: the showmance itself or that you involved your family?' All shit would have been lost. It would have pushed him to the edge honestly. I'm glad it didn't happen. It would only have led to more 2am tweeting. No one wants that.
>>96 Yeah. He's hurt his chances for true privacy or for a true separation between his private and professional lives. I wonder if the titling at the windmills of an intrusive press is him realizing that he's done just that. He's perhaps thinking if he says that the attention and paps were unwanted - and keeps saying it - then the press will believe him and let him be. But the press have seen through Tayto since day one. He can't Greta Garbo with them, they know better.
Worse, his cries for privacy are prime pickings for gossip sites. This will be on Celebitchy tomorrow and may even make an appearance on Dlisted. Here's ONTD: http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/105345615.html
The intro is particularly snarky.
>>100 Fortunately for him and for us, no interviewer is likely to press him on a Tayto question; they can't risk him refusing an interview in future once his career has recovered from this mess. And, humor aside, I really wouldn't want to see TH pushed to the edge. He evidently wasn't doing well during that LA stop.
As we said above, he opened the door to the press again with the GQ article. He really could use someone on his team who can think through all the possible negative outcomes of these PR ideas.
One of the commenters to the ONTD post summed it up with a gif from Chicago: "He had it coming...he only had himself to blame."
>>90 Oh boy, it's not like we didn't foresee this, we said when the GQ profile was published that he opened a door on the subject and questions will be coming, but I thought he'd prepare some answers to give, not every journalist was going to be Edith Bowman, neighbour and occasional lunch companion.
>>91 At least he didn't say "some things are sacred".
>>97 Well! It might be the first time for taytay where it's her ex being the stalker! (I'm kidding, Ed probably invited him. For the good times in Rome.)
>>100 Tough promo tour for him, together with tiredness he never knows when someone is going to ask Tayto questions. And he'll have to go through it again in October with Thor3 because Taytay will be releasing her new album at the end of the year.
>>103 if her album drops around the same time there will be plenty of speculation about 'which song is him'. I honestly doubt any of them will be.
Sensible things Tom said: "I'd rather not talk about this if that's alright" (words he should have uttered a long time ago).
Silly things Tom said: all the stuff about having a publicity and private life which are separate.
I still don't think he gets it. Nobody would deny him the right to a private life if, like Adele, he said "oh by the way I got married and I didn't tell any of you!" Oddly for a classicist he doesn't not understand that when you lift the lid off Pandora's box, that is IT. Use your private life for publicity once and the press will hound you forever.
BTW I did mean to say a "publicity life". It seemed to me he was talking about something other than a public life here - the fact that he is forced to do interviews etc.
Anyone else sense he has been phoning it in for this tour? Apart from the unenthusiastic expressed to the Telegraph, someone said after AOL Build that they had never heard him talk so little in a group interview....
>>105 Nailed it with the Pandora's Box reference. If only someone warned old mate in terms he'd understand.
>>101 The pics of him outside the AOL Build studio show the same stocky, grey-haired guy who was with him at the Emmys in LA, who was identified as someone from the LA managerial team.
Can one of you take a look and confirm this?
Captcha: rude
>>108 Forgot to add - pics are on Torrilla's site. The man is wearing a pink, dark blue and light blue criss-crossed tie.
>>106 Yes, I commented earlier that he seems really subdued on this tour. It's probably a combination of having seen the movie (which, according to an LA interview vid that popped up yesterday, happened before he came to LA); the mixed reviews, including at best "meh" for his role and performance; and the ongoing tayto questions that he though he'd quelled.
Even his body language is different (>>99).
>>108 I don't think that's Beardy, he looks like a security person.
Still waiting for the day when the DM just reports on Tom, and no this summer. Blah.
>>105,106 I don't think he doesn't get it, since he used to be a little more private before. I think he decided to not keep it in mind because it was more convenient (or to go along to taytay requests).
I agree that he was referring to having to promote and having to subject himself to questions, even ones he doesn't like (because apparently his PR can't veto those questions). Of course it's because there's something negative to ask him about, in the past he didn't mind the attention. Luckily for him, once he leaves the US, he should be fine, it's unlikely journalists will ask in Japan.
Go here to watch the AOL Build interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGI-hiBvNqA
>>112 How's never - is never good for you? (To quote that great cartoon.
And the article made a point of calling out the difference in TH's and Taytay's ages several times.
>>101 The LA stop was also where he was when his did the Aussie interview. Which means he had to deal with a good amount of direct Tayto questions and indirect ones, I.e., how he was dealing with increased press scrutiny, fame, etc.
Agree with everyone saying things are off with him. He's a puppy still but one that's gotten a newspaper to the nose. I saw where a reporter asked him and BL to read out Stormzy lyrics. In the past, that would have tickled his mischievous side. He was going through the motions this time, balked at saying fuck and wouldn't say fudging as the interviewer suggested. At the end, he looked at the interviewer as if to say, 'Are you happy? I've jumped through the hoop.' Before he loved jumping through hoops. He's not having fun anymore.
In another interview the reporter mentioned how wonderful and supportive his fans were, and he very quickly turned it into an answer about the WORK.
I wonder if he's resentful at the press for not buying Tayto and raking him over the coals and for then continuing to bring it up. You didn't give me the support I needed with my fauxmance so I'm not giving you what you need.
So, I've just finished watching the AOL Build video, I don't think he looked subdued or anything, at least in this particular case. It's just that he was in the company of two other people that can and will take control of the conversation and interact with each other before an audience that is not only interested in him. He rarely had that in recent years.
Tom Hiddleston on ‘Kong: Skull Island,’ relationship with Taylor Swift
http://www.today.com/video/tom-hiddleston-on-kong-skull-island-relationship-with-taylor-swift-891977795573
where nothing interested is said and he repeats the telegraph's answer about separating work and private life
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-39197012
Is this the 'maybe I have something lined up' project? If this happens, I see OC's character as the hold over, not TH's, but I could be wrong.
>>117 My goodness. Tom's long pause was terrifying. And Savannah Guthrie concluding that the Swift media situation must have felt disconcerting to him, was slightly hysterical. Please, someone help Tom to craft a better answer that assumes some responsibility for his participation in the madness of the press attention, and a renewed desire to be guarded in future relationships. This is not going to away until he owns up in some way, or until he just says no comment, period, although it's a bit Kate for that. And kudos to Guthrie for asking a direct question in a professional way. My oh my.
I was wrong about the Telegraph article being fodder for gossip sites...because everyone has picked it up: USA Today >>119, Vanity Fair, People, even Tiger Beat.
This boat feels very rudderless.
>>118 Me too, if not that's a terrible idea.
>>120 I think the answer he gives towards the end of the USA article might work. He still doesn't own any responsibility for his choices, and it kind of comes off as blaming his fans (does anyone else feel that?) But at least he avoided the unsolicited pictures line, and clearly says he's going to separate his professional and personal (I.e., love) lives.
>>122 Tagline: he took down the worst man in the world. Now he's taking down the second worst.
Maybe they make Pine the handler this second time. I just can't see him being the operative again. Maybe it's like Broadchurch and the second season is about Roper's trial. So many possibilities. I guess I can see TH in it, but hopefully with less annoying chuckling.
>>122 Bier's remark about the script being slowly developed = this won't be happening this year. And have to admit I'm meh about this idea for TH anyway; I'd rather see him in a really good character role or sophisticated comedy.
>>121 The Telegraph thing is everywhere (including CB but not dlisted, yet). Will be interesting to see if other outlets pick up on the USA Today article and his longer explication.
At one point it seemed like Tom Hiddleston’s official job title was “Taylor Swift’s PR Stunt Partner,” but now one of the thirstiest hos on the stroll wants everyone to respect the “privacy please” sign that is hanging on his door.
HAHAHAHA!
And a quick look at twitter:
- It is everywhere, yes >>125
- Savannah Guthrie is getting it in the neck for daring to ask that question...totally classless, intrusive, rookie, shameful, etc. The fan girls have brought out their pocket thesauri. Frighteningly, they are parroting TH by saying that his private life is private! They seem as clueless as he.
- This will go down as TH's 'bristle' moment. This seems to be the word most favored by articles.
Is this his team's secondary (GQ was primary) way of dealing with Tayto: get angry, get testy, bristle a bit and then it will explode - no one will ask you after that. I hope not.
I read this very interesting comment on the CB thread about the testiness: it casts a new light on why he/Luke/studio PR is allowing interviewers to ask about Tayto.
As a former PR practitioner. The studio PR do have the clout to shut this down and I doubt they would object if he requested they enforce a NO list. Its in their interests to ensure that their macho star isnt constantly being reduced to a pop star groupie.
Serious outlets like BBC and Channel 4 will probably not interview you with a NO list. They dont see themselves as promotional outlets, so if you give them a list they simply wont have you on. Thats what happened with RDJ. The interviewer doesnt do puff pieces and doesnt take NO lists. RDJs PR probably assumed a corner had been turned on the drug stories and nobody would bother going there, but this guy did.
Toms solution is easy. Request the studio PR to enforce a NO list. This means s/he must be glued to his side for every interview ready to shut it down should it go south. They MUST get him off the serious publications, the ones less likely to do puff pieces. Why is he promoting King Kong on the Telegraph of all places? Alternatively, get Samuel L or one of the other co-stars to do the prestigous outlets.
Personally, I suspect that these options have been laid out to him but HE insists on continuing on with the prestigous outlets because he isn’t just trying to promote the movie, he wants to promote himself. If I am right, he deserves all the ridicule they are heaping on him.
TL:DR
Prestigious publications like the Telegraph won't interview a star with no go subjects. Second string publications that need the clicks will. But TH wants to be interviewed by the big boys so he takes the risk.
>>129 'Personally, I suspect that these options have been laid out to him but HE insists on continuing on with the prestigous outlets because he isn’t just trying to promote the movie, he wants to promote himself.'
This sounds like him, exactly like him. Do we think he's risking the broadsheets because he wants to claw back the respect and admiration that they used to have for him? Because he is just desperate enough to try a 'take me seriously' offensive with a Kong movie. He really is.
>>131 Yes, I thought it was very perceptive. Of course verandah lady saw fit to pooh-pooh these sensible remarks (!).
Can he still believe that all publicity is good publicity? I feel he is thinking "thank god I have Kong as any movie that people want to talk about will get me back in the public eye."
I rather think it is the other way around: Shit Island has gained more traction than it might because publications know that Hiddleswift means clicks and "what Tom thought about Hiddleswift" means even more clicks. (I am not saying that that made Tayto worth the collateral damage to his credibility.)
>>123 The author brings up his fans in the narrative, TH doesn't, so I don't think he's blaming fans. But he might indeed blame us to some extent. Many of us didn't buy it either, and many called him out on it.
Maybe he has to blame someone other than himself just for the sake of his sanity. He fucked up big time, and it's always easier to blame mistakes on others.
>>126, >>127 Dlisted seems particularly pointer this time round, especially about Tom's PR (or woeful lack thereof).
>>128 I think this "secondary" approach could also backfire, because some interviewers will want to provoke another outburst to get the clicks. (Look how the discussion changed so quickly from the SI reviews to the Aussie and Telegraph interviews over the last day.)
>>131 It has to hurt that he went so quickly from golden boy of TNM to PR-stunt-ho, especially with pubs like the Guardian. And the Guardian's slash-and-burn review of him in Kong was probably salt in the wound.
>>129 That was a helpful comment on the CB. And that must be another stinger for him, that he doesn't have enough clout to enforce a NO list on his own. Mind you, not that it would have to have a studio PR flack at his side - if the GG video is any indication, TH seems to think he can handle any awkward situation.
>>132 What have really gotten more publicity, from what I've seen in Google results the last few days, are the GQ article and the Wash Post article dissecting the GQ one.
>>133 That's a good point about why he might be putting the blame so heavily on others. He may not even be ready yet to acknowledge to himself, let alone others, how badly he eff'd up (and is continuing to do so). Not that it would help, probably, but where the heck is Luke or TH's US agents?
>>134 "...not that it would help to have a studio PR flack..."
Captcha: pup (love whoever said above that he's still a puppy but one that's been whacked on the nose!)
Luke, please make this stop. My head hearts.
http://nymag.com/thecut/2017/03/tom-hiddleston-does-not-regret-taylor-swift.html?mid=twitter_cut
Brie and Tom looked tuckered out arriving for the paps at JFK. At least it's a Kong article.
And the comments on CB: http://www.celebitchy.com/526708/tom_hiddleston_got_testy_while_explaining_his_super-private_romantic_life/
I agree with the comment that says the press who are asking him about HS are trying to get him to slip and say the summer was a stunt. I'm ready for them to give up.
Here's the MTV interview with Josh. I haven't seen all the videos linked in this thread the past 2 days, but of the main ones, this is the least contentious, most relaxed and has the most non-standard questions than all the others. Dare I say, it was fun.
https://www.facebook.com/MTV/videos/10154525236041701/
>>139 and he says that he grew a thick skin now.
I'm posting the youtube link too since some people might not have fb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6kXNtfaqEA
If only journalist would read bustle they'll know now why tayto ended (for any lurker, I'm kidding)
"Tom Hiddleston likes to eat dessert before lunch. I know this because I've just watched him finish a piece of chocolate cake before diving into a plate of chicken and vegetables."
https://www.bustle.com/p/the-frustrating-perfection-of-tom-hiddleston-39619
Nobody would ever be able to watch a guy do this and have lustful thoughts.
>>129 I don't know about this, I agree that now he got irritated the press might going to try more to get him to slip - although his promo tour in the US ends tomorrow with the LA premiere - but I disagree that a no list only works with small outlet, I remember that during the ISTL promo (I think) he did an interview in LA and the journalist mentioned that TH went through the list of questions banning some (the journalist said he apologised about it).
I think Anon. was right when she said this was probably a group interview where it more unlikely one could oversee questions.
And I think RDJ example is the wrong one, the journalist interviewing RDJ wasn't a cinema or gossip one, but someone that covers politics, grilling people it's his style. RDJ's team claimed that they told him not to do some kind of questions, but he denied ever being said that otherwise he would have refused to do the interview.
>>141 I don't recall being aroused by the RI faux romantic dinner night, with the entree followed by swan cream pastries, either. I find desserts in animal form to be deeply confusing : )
ONTD's take on TNM 2.
Comment: Is this worth watching?
Response: Yes, it literary saved the lives of doctors in Sudan.
He and his team somehow managed to fuck up the winning of an award. We really should not be surprised by anything that happens on this promo tour.
>>145 haha!
Suggestions for this new series: TH's character has to become a night manager again for MI6, so he sends out plenty of applications, but everyone tells him that he doesn't have any recent experience and he's too old and if he would be ok with a zero hour contract.
Or,
there's no TH character, MI6 has a meeting where they decide that infiltrating agents as night managers into five starts hotel is good for intelligence gathering, so they put their men in all the Four Seasons of the globe and OC gets to tour all of them. Crappy plot but great photography! Plus, if they go to BoraBora, we can have a TH's Pine cameo as a connoisseur of the islands.
>>136 NY Mag was really hard on TH during TayTo and continues that tradition: "Noted tank top model...."
>>138 Though at least NYM didn't call him a "Golden Glove" winner as the DM just did. (Let's not encourage any pugilistic tendencies Tom may be developing!) Brie's comments on how women and men are treated differently for fashion suits were interesting, I thought.
>>139 I haven't watched all of the MTV video, but thought he did look tired and comparatively subdued. And gun-shy: Tom gets flustered when Josh asks him what he did last night. The bit with Tom reproducing the expression of his Mme. Tussaud's wax figure was funny, though.
>>141 The Bustle article, while fan-girly/Taffy imitating, is worth it for Tom's mantra while filming SI - "It's only forever." Now if only he'd kept that in mind while letting himself be papped during TayTo!
>>144 That swan pastry was disconcertingly phallic for such a publicly chaste romance....
I would be interested in TNM 2 if and only if LeCarre wrote every word of the script. And even then, I'm still confused. I love Olivia Coleman, but I'm not so interested in her continuing the story of her character in a sequel as a new Mommy/Spy handler, as she chases other baddies. Jonathan Pine has defeated Roper, and unlike the ending of the book which keeps Jed and Pine together, Tom was quite clear that he didn't know where his character would end up. They're retreading the same water unnecessarily. Just do another LeCarre adaptation (The Patriot would rock) or think like thre Disney film Frozen and 'Let It Go.' Tom would be good in The Spy Who Came In From the Cold, as well.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4292830/The-Night-Manager-return-second-series.html
Of all the articles on The Bristle, People's is my favorite. Have a look and see if you can tell if they're in the business of serious entertainment journalism or if they're one step up from Gossip Cop.
http://people.com/celebrity/tom-hiddleston-no-regrets-taylor-swift-romance/
Speaking of GC, where is our article about how TH definitely did not bristle at reporters? Or about how he definitely does not regret...anything, ever.
GossipCop posted the Hiddleston Today Show video, but no PR comment from his team.
>>146 A zero hour would be all he could get with that obvious chuckle of his. How did Roper not realize that you cannot trust a man who laughs like that?
>>151 Hahaha. A 10 on the truth meter. Yes, it's totally true that he was asked about TS on the Today Show.
OT Happy International Women's Day to the ladies of this board. I'm going to spend it tending to my husband and son since males are more important. ;) My husband's actual question to me this morning: What do you want me to do for IWD? This is the first time he's ever even mentioned IWD, and he asked for instructions. I told him: bring cake home, pick up dinner, change all the diapers and fix the wage gap. We'll see what he manages.
>>152 hehe (in honor to Pine) clearly villains all over the world are ignorant of the oldest tropes and we, the audience, are supposed to be as dumb.
Believe it or not, I've only now noticed the truth meter. I suppose bs meter was taken.
Happy IWD to all of you!
How's the press tour going, you ask? In googling 'Tom Hiddleston news' just now, results were:
Might be a new record for foot-in-mouth.
2 new reviews just out (AV Club, NY Daily News). Both pretty positive but neither mentions TH more than in passing.
More bristling:
"What’s the most frustrating thing about having your life sort of up for grabs?"
"It's not. No."
>>157 Yowzwr! And we get to see the bristling. Bit of blue steel there.
>>154 Expected. The shitshow of Tayto tends to overpower everyone and thing. We filled up our Tayto threads very quickly. And it's still the main topic on here. King Kong who, what?
He'll dislike this most. We mock, but he reallly does care about his work. And he always wants to fulfill his obligations to studios and his films. So it will be disappointing that Kong is taking a backish seat to Tayto, or at least having to sit sidegun to her.
Deserved? Probably. Fair. I'd say no.
>>159 Not fair at all. And I'm sorry he seems to be surprised things are not at all fair for him now. Cruel learning experience? At the very least. This will stick to him like a stain that'll never come out, and he doesn't deserve that imo.
>>157, >>158 He shut her right down, and didn't do his usual relenting explanation even though she was very flustered by his response. He may just have (re)grown a pair....
Also, in this he clearly walks back his "taking most of 2017 off" statement. Says he "took a month or two at Christmas," but doesn't give any details about what's next.
>>159, >>161 It isn't fair for the crew and rest of the cast of SI, certainly. And maybe at this point it isn't fair for him, but at the risk of sounding like my mother, life isn't fair. And at 36, it's time he learned how to handle that a little more smoothly if he's going to stay in the public eye at the level he otherwise seems to want.
I hope for Ragnarok that he, Marvel, and his team figure out how in advance how to deal with any Tayto/predictions about songs on her album questions. I think there may be fewer tayto questions (other than some taking the "it's been just about a year since..." tack), but more song speculation. Maybe his sense of humor will have come back by then.
EW has first pix up from Ragnarok. Anyone think they airbrushed a few years off Tom in this one? http://ew.com/movies/thor-ragnarok-exclusive-first-look-photos/loki-tom-hiddleston/
A new radio program with Tom. He retells a very funny anecdote from Coriolanus.
A new radio program with Tom. He retells a very funny anecdote from Coriolanus.
I post this in fun, but it could be the next tricky issue for TH.
As we know TH is chummy with Ed Sheeran singing his praise to this guy's latest album on the radio, getting invited to his secret concert and bobbing his head along (https://twitter .com/sharontharp/status/838913057975853056).
The day after his secret concert ES paid visit to his dearest friend TS. No, I'm not going to insinuate that she summoned ES to scold him for inviting TH or alternatively to question if TH is still hooked up on her.
It's just that yesterday (or today) Rolling Stones published an interview with ES where he proves to be a complete idiot. And I laughed because this could only happen to TH, complimenting a guy and then it turns out he's a moron.
http://www.celebitchy.com/526862/ed_sheeran_is_the_james_taylor_to_taylor_swifts_carole_king_so_says_swifty/#comment-15412320
This is the link to listen to the Heart Breakfast radio interview
http://www.heart.co.uk/london/on-air/aod/?episodeId=efbca9f4-cc0e-4f69-8a71-9ba5cd20ab5f
There's also a video on their website with a chunk of it.
http://www.heart.co.uk/london/on-air/breakfast/watch-tom-hiddleston-on-heart-breakfast/
There's a point where TH is asked if he is single (this is not on the video) and he says yes, absolutely and that no, he doesn't intentionally go out to look for a mate.
>>159 No it isn't fair to the film or him, but it was a predictable consequence. Who knows, maybe in the end he'll be right to get it out of everyone's system now instead of being asked for years as it happens with others TS's ex bfs.
>>166 The testing of the gf is the act of a twat. Of course TS would compare herself to Carole King, she's delusional. Of course ES would call her the most famous woman in the world, even when she's not.
If it's true that ES ghostwrites some of TS's songs, TH may consider this new love of ES self-preservation.
In other news, Yours Truly noted that TH honored IWD with a ribbon. I'm sure he wore it in honor of his mother, sister, niece and their willingness to stroll for the main man in their lives. After all, women are for publicity and legitimizing your fauxmance.
>>170 As a classical music lover, I have no love for bubble gum pop artists like Swift or Sheeran. And no young artists have the right to invoke the names of songwriter poets, like King and Taylor, period. Modern pop is melodically simple, and lyrically banal, so that young MTV kids w/o attention spans can easily consume it at speed. But Sheeran, by all accounts, has a warm and gregarious personality and vivacious social energy that envelops everyone he meets, from Elton John to even Demi Moore. So b/twn Tom's desire to be liked and Ed's affability I'm pretty sure they get along, in truth. Swedish producer Max Martin seems to be the mastermind of all the pop artists now from, Swift, to Timberlake, The Weeknd, Grande, and to Perry. So I think that Tom should befriend Max : )
The latest SI review round up. Generally pretty good (though not much attention for TH).
https://www.google.com/amp/m.eonline.com/amp/news/834916/kong-skull-island-review-roundup-critics-call-it-a-rip-roaring-rumble-in-the-jungle
>>172 The NY Times review calls TH "the world's prettiest mercenary." Heehee!
>>171 I wouldn't use EJ or DM as a personality yardstick anymore than I would TS.
>>173 Twas pretty that killed the beast...the prettiest.
>>172,156 Looks like it's shaping up to be a fun, exciting, entertaining but somewhat substance-less film: GCI monsters knocking six bells out of each other with questionable characterization and plot. There's a place for that so I don't think TH's reputation or box office pulling power will take a hit. But I do wonder if this is what he signed up for. He said he came onboard before it had a script which suggests he was lured in by words like: leading man, action hero. All good words for a man who wants to increase his star power. But with his usual absence of forethought, he neglected to realize that the leading man of a monster movie is always the monster.
(Here's hoping for a song entitled Pretty Mercenary of My Heart, or Soul Soldier or Love King on TS's next album.)
Its Rotten Tomato rating is a lot better than I feared when I read the Guardian review.
I think the technical movie term is "schlock." There's a place for that in the Hollywood ecosystem - often a very lucrative one. I thought the Avengers wasn't much different. Far too many characters, too much CGI, mostly poor characterisation (save Loki and a lot of his characterisation was assumed from Thor).
I actually think he needs a schlocky success. Money talks and he has had a lot of financial duds recently.
Well, the Olly mystery continues. He attended the premiere (see his Instagram), but whether as TH's assistant or as friend of Bryan and others as part of a holiday is impossible to tell. Keep your eyes peeled for pics of him and TH in London.
Apparently he has said he's "single and available." (Is there any practical difference for a man in his 30s?!). Couldn't find where.
>>174 haha - "pretty(est) that killed the beast" and song titles!
Well said about if this is what he thought he was signing up for (especially that the monster = the real leading man). This probably won't hurt him professionally, but neither will it give him the boost he may have been expecting. I feel a bit bad for him because he put so much work into his preparation for the role, and always works hard on set.
>>175 When I checked at lunchtime today, both RT and Metacritic numbers were pretty much where they were when the first reviews came out, so that's not too bad. I've seen a couple of articles saying SI's box office this weekend may depend on how much Logan's drops off at this point. They might about tie.
A couple of reviews called this "a B movie with an A movie budget," which I bet sums it up just right.
>>175 The Guardian and TH are never, ever getting back together. He was their guest for WHCD, he thumb-uped their article (emoji) and then a blonde and a fauxmance came between them.
>>177 Single and available - here that, closeted celeb lesbians? It's your turn!
I asked my husband. He did not consider himself 'available' while we were dating but he said he considered himself 'single' until he proposed. (I'm going to cut him in his sleep.)
I'm sure the Swift hive has heard. Reactions will include:
>>177, >>179 The "single and available" quote comes from the Heart Breakfast interview (at >>167). It's about about 2:38 in after the tag line game. The host asks 'are you single?' Tom's A: "I am, absolutely, yes sir." Q: 'Single and available?' A (laughing): "Isn't that the whole point of being single?"
This must have been recorded before his "my private life is PRIVATE GODDAMMIT PEOPLE LEAVE ME ALONE" tetchy phase. He's actually laughing. Can't wait to see all the dating proposals on his Twitter!
From some Tumbl anons, TH may have said in the past something like "you're technically single until there's a ring on your finger." So he seems to make the distinction between the two words as well. Be nice if guys could factor in "in a relationship" or at least "currently seeing someone"!
And apparently the "oh they're still secretly dating shippers" on Tumblr were crashing and burning at first, but now may be trying to come up with other interpretations of his words.
Hiddleston on Kimmel. He looks slick in black Gucci. Some awkward singing in spanish w Guillermo. Then a bit dry. Boarding school takes. So odd that I now hope for the best, and cross my fingers that if Tom gets a direct awkward question, then he will answer with PR approved confidence and competence . Standard tv appearance for Kong.
>>176 I already think like you, Olly probably isn't his PA anymkore, but next is Japan's premiere on the 15th, so we have another official occasion. In the meantime, in the video of TH arriving at Kimmels I don't see Olly.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/tvshowbiz/video-1426947/Tom-Hiddleston-arrives-Jimmy-Kimmel-Reservoir-Dogs-style.html
>>177 I posted it 😭
Huge King Kong model catches fire at Vietnam Kong premiere? Is this for real? Fleeing crowds. Did Tom's film barge really catch fire?!
>>182 The Kimmel appearance was pretty dull, imo. I'm so glad Jimmy jumped in to stop the singing bit before we could be reminded of how badly Tom sings! And the show got the tayto reference out the way the previous night (in their "Yaya" review of Kong). Not sure Kimmel would have asked him about it anyway (Colbert might have).
>>184 I googled the Vietnam premiere and the fire is covered by several outlets (though none I recognized). So it may well be for real.
Metacritic is holding steady; RT has dropped slightly to 79%.
>>182,184 This link open the KISS FM radio show :)
Here's the link to Kimmel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC9hmI1jRqI
>>182,184 This link open the KISS FM radio show :)
Here's the link to Kimmel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iC9hmI1jRqI
This (after a heading about SI's 70s hair and "fashion goodness"); 'We determined that it pretty much doesn’t matter what decade, what time, what character, Tom is gonna show up in the tshirt, jeans and same awesome hair as yesterday.' Pretty much what I thought about him in High Rise. Guess he only does long hair when it's dark?
http://thats-normal.com/2017/03/10-reasons-see-kong-skull-island-arent-tom-hiddleston/
I asked my Japanese colleague some help to understand when the Japanese premiere for Kong will be, it's on March 15th in Shinjuku, Tokyo. While browsing she also found out that:
"The Japanese premier of "Kong: Skull Island" will be held in mid-March and GACKT, who provides the Japanese voice dubbing for the main character Conrad, will attend!!On that day, cast members Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson will come to Japan for the premier. For the first time, a Western movie will have a red carpet spread down the 120.1 meter long Godzilla Road in Shinjuku, and will greet 1000 Japanese fans!! Will we see GACKT and Tom Hiddleston together...?"
(this was on Gackt's website)
She says that Gackt is a big deal musician there and a heartthrob and there'll probably be a general fangirl meltdown for him at the red carpet. In any case, this is going to be fun.
>>189 That premiere does sound like fun. Maybe the fangirl meltdown will help TH feel better about his fans!
>>189 Just googled GACKT. He looks like a trip! A musician? Maybe he and TH can do a duet...and a dance together. Would Japan still be standing after the tsunami of feels such a pairing would generate? (I want to write for GACKT's website.)
>>183 You can tell we're not feeling it the same as before. I still find it hard to watch interviews. I'm getting better at listening to them. Best: everything is reported third person.
>>183 What was the guy checking for previous to giving TH the all-clear? Was he worried Savannah Guthrie was going to jump out with more TS questions? This video also tells me that Yours Truly is going to give an interview where she talks about how the pocket square has 'really revolutionized men's fashion,' and TH's look in particular. She loves a pocket square. She'll also subtly tell us that she invented the pocket square.
>>191 haha I've been trying to get my interest back by posting stuff and forcing myself to watch and listen. I suggest you don't watch Horowitz, when he asked TH if he dances at concert or he stands still all I could think about was Selena Gomez's concert.
>>191 He is apparently! (I asked my colleague for some more info) He is 43 but for years he claimed he was over a hundred years old, but he can sing (and play) so TH might want not to go there.
LOL, Yours Truly it's a case study.
https://soundcloud.com/empiremagazine/253-tom-hiddleston
Starts around 38:00. The IMDe-bunker was the perfect opportunity to ask about Tayto. The languages part was interesting. Guess he didn't pick up any Italian when in Rome with TS. He was probably looking at an online translator on his phone in that one pic. ;)
Interview about Tom's career. They used a similar Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy reference that the Sun did over the summer, in their title for the article. Kind of a retread of Tom's views about art, fame, education, and story telling in general. He side steps the summer spectacle, while the author described the alleged romance as brief and bizarre. Ouch. Bond speculation about any actor besides Craig is a bit silly.
"Last day in Hollywood and came across John Goodman's star unveiling. Managed to capture @brielarson & the back of @twhiddleston 's head."
https://twitter.
com/jamesjdunham/status/840299611990429696/photo/1
>>193 A debunk opportunity lost, too bad :)
About languages, I forgot that photo! haha
Last night at Kimmel's he did a rehearsed bit where he was singing in Spanish, Kimmel commented his Spanish was so so and asked about other languages he spoke, TH admitted to speak little Spanish and to have a passable French.
But his fans didn't make the languages stuff up, video proof of him saying he speaks Italian https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FwinI-G_tY
And there was a video during War Horse where he said stuff in Ancient Greek https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2E0c1DgiYDI
>>194 it reads like rehashed bits of past interview, particularly his answer about marriage.
You can find more photos of TH @ yesterday's ceremony for JG's star at Torrilla's.
Also, always from Torrilla, China's premiere for Kong will be on the 16th http://tw.weibo.com/5685400200/4084078561562605
so it's either the day after or before Japan's.
>>196 He's a bad Classicist for calling Latin a dead language. It has a dictionary, Tom, not a lexicon.
Unsurprisingly, he's not been completely honest with his language knowledge, no one ever is. I would say I'm 'passable' at Spanish and Italian but both are really just tourist level. When I try to write Italian on a film messageboard I frequent, the others are always like, 'It's okay, we can use English. Really!' In that clip, I believe he says 'parla Italiano pero...' This makes me think he thinks he kinda knows Italian because he studied Latin and knows some Spanish.
>>197,194 There may be new stuff in there but some old is mixed in. I'm almost certain he gave that marriage answer last year (but he does recycle stuff too).
>>198 These two are very important for the overseas box office. And as you pointed out, Legendary is now Chinese owned. They will want to impress.
I have a question. How much does Kong need to make to be profitable?
The filming budget was around 190-200 mil. I feel like the promotion may reach a quarter of that, maybe more. I have no idea how much a promo push costs but they are pulling out all the stops for this one. It's like cashmere, it just feels expensive.
Captcha: puffazz...TH needs to bring more puffazz to this promo.
>>194, >>197, >>199 Odd article, I thought; wonder when the interview was done? Spends almost as much time rehashing his PR fails of the last year as it does on positives about him.
Sounds as if he's trying to position himself how as above the celebrity fray. But the article points out the contradiction later: > ' It’s hard though to match the enigmatic aspect of Hiddleston the actor to his more approachable, humorous side. The photos following his cringeworthy Golden Globe speech, clutching his gong and grinning with boyish glee, suggest a less serious streak which perhaps we’ll see more of as his career develops. ' < Yeah, if he forgets the lessons of this past year....
Many of his quotes sounded recycled, including the marriage one. But has he said this before? > '...every conversation about his success goes back to just one conclusion: art is forever; fame is fleeting. “One of the things I found interesting about playing [legendary country and western singer] Hank Williams is that he was driven to be the biggest singer in the business and then when he finally got there he found out that there was nothing there,” he says with a magician-like flourish. “Being a star didn’t solve any of his problems and didn’t make him feel any better about who he was or his personal life. There’s a good lesson there.” ' < If Tom hasn't said that before, then maybe he has learned something that will stick.
>>193, >>196, >>199 About his Spanish, at the M. City premiere, he was asking the presenters for words when he had to make his little speech. And I've seen interviews for Spanish outlets where he can understand something said to him in Spanish and answer with a few phrases, but doesn't try to conduct the interview in it. So it probably is "tourist level." And I saw a video with him about his French (I think) where he says that he understands it much better than he speaks it. And another he which he sings a little bit in Italian and says that that's all he knows. So I think he and/or the press exaggerate the number of languages he "speaks," if they mean "speaks fluently."
I have seen a vid of an interview with him in modern Greek, though; I'll try to dig that out. Might be why he thinks of Latin as "dead" - but way to sell youngsters on studying classics!
>>201 He did during the ISTL promo, I don't remember if he was quoting the BBC's documentary about HW or something he read about him. It's possible he said it again for this interview, it's hard to tell given how the interview is presented.
>>199 The Italian thing is curious since he has been consistent about his level in French (intermediate I'd say) and Spanish (low intermediate, he says he understands more than he speaks). In Italian he says "Io parlo italiano però.." and I think he wanted to add something in Italian but words failed him and he moved forward. Maybe he was trying to impress.
Latin and Greek surely can help guessing some words meaning, but Italian is completely different language, so I'd say tourist level is probably right for him.
But his answer in that podcast is interesting because maybe he remembered saying differently and decided to be accurate to avoid confusion. Whether it's because he can't complain about lies being said about him and then be ambiguous, or because he decided to stop trying to impress people it's difficult to say.
>>203 Ah, thanks. Yes, there wasn't a description in the article of how he said it (cooly, enthusiastically) as there were for some other quotes, so it might just have been pulled from another piece.
>>202 My bad; the Greek interview only has him reading ancient Greek (sounds very nice, though!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5BcuHxsxTo
A recent one where he's quizzed on some S. American Spanish - he doesn't even know that "gato" is cat. Very funny part at the start where he learns that the two sides of his face can say different things in the same photo (though that meme's been around a while): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IWtI1WWVKM
>>200 That's a difficult question to answer, I think we posted something for Crimson Peak about how it takes years for films to make money back because studios don't make much money from cinemas and they basically operate on debt economy.
I don't believe for a second that Kong has the same budget of Thor2, but let's say that's correct, promo usually costs half the production budget, so at least 300 to break even, but as I said in reality they probably need to do twice that.
I leave you this article, it's quite interesting
http://io9.gizmodo.com/5747305/how-much-money-does-a-movie-need-to-make-to-be-profitable
>>200, >>206 Deadline is saying this about break even: "If Kong: Skull Island is going to breakeven after all ancillaries, he’ll need to mint in the mid $500M worldwide range per Deadline sources." -- http://deadline.com/2017/03/kong-skull-island-logan-weekend-box-office-get-out-1202040377/
>>200, >>206, >>207 But from the same Deadline article (>>207>, "Let’s face facts: When you build a feature film for $185M and spend an estimated $136M global P&A on it (that’s how much it took to launch Godzilla), you don’t wish for an opening that’s in the $50M range. When you spend this much, the intent is to pull in four-quads. Seriously, I don’t think it was any studio executive’s plan for Kong: Skull Island to open like a sequel, meaning it’s 41% down from Godzilla’s $93.2M opening."
captcha: wow
>>201 I remember during the ISTL promo, Tom kept quoting the BBC documentary on Hank Williams, "legends don't know the're legends when they're being made..., etc" I saw that docmentary, and one of Hanks friends said that Hank got to the top of his profession, reached stardom, and realized he had left everything he loved back down at the bottom. Tom references that quote all the time, but I think that the observation about that celebrity not bringing personal emotional contentment, and that being a good lesson is not a statement I remember reading.
Tom became quite guarded after he realized that the fans were getting too close in social media, after he engaged with them daily and took pics for hours at events, and he started giving these very specific and calculated interview answers, where it was obvious that he didn't want to be misunderstood. And he would still re contact the journalist to clarify things. That was why this summer was a shock. B/c Tom doesn't trust the press to report interpret his truth, even in a controlled situation, where he's talking about his films and his world views. But Tom engaged in a ridiculous spectacle, and he somehow thought the press would magically print the right observations about the scenario? Odd. He's kind of fibbing about Italian. Tom took some classes while he made the film Unrelated, but said that he mainly can sing Volare, then he sang Volare.
>>207,208 This is also interesting. Boxofficemojo confirms the estimated opening http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4273&p=.htm
It could always gain momentum (although this kind of popcorn flick either starts well or it sinks). However, as we said posts ago, this film was always going to need the foreign market, doing well in the US is a good start, but it was never going to be enough.
>>209 This is odd. In searching to see if Tom said that previously about Hank Williams, I found this article. It has the same content as the Square Mile one (plus some additional paragraphs) and the same wording in the shared content (though it's restructured to look like a Q&A). Plus there's no byline. What do you think - do fake interviews get published? http://striplv.com/component/content/article/25-articles/interviews/964-tom-hiddleston-the-interview.html
>>210 Sounds as though it's doing fairly well overseas so far: http://deadline.com/2017/03/kong-skull-island-opening-tom-hiddleston-international-box-office-1202040085/
>>211 We talked about this phenomenon when ISTL came out - not sure if you were lurking then.
A number of things seem to happen:
1) there is a round table meeting with a group of journalists. You get the same quote, more or less, but occasionally with a change of emphasis. Presumably because that journalist's tape recorder didn't quite pick up the exact words, or their first language is not English or whatever.
2) An independent journalist interviews TH and then sells that interview to a few publications. They chop and change as they see fit, so it is all strangely familiar but you again get different emphasis.
3) An old article is sold again when the subject becomes of renewed interest, or is repurposed, or cut together with interviews from other interviews.
I think that we are looking some variant of (3) using an old ISTL interview. Look at how much he talks about ISTL and how little about Kong; the intro referring to ISTL, EO (remember when everyone asked him about her?), to him being 35 and wearing a pale top (not seen on this press tour).
Remember, he had finished filming Kong before he started doing the ISTL tour. It is not surprising they would ask about it. They have rewritten the interview to put those bits first and make it look new.
(BTW I also know because I definitely recall the comment in this interview about marriage not having come to him - and that this was in fact the interview which was a round table with lots of journos and got reported in several slightly different ways. My guess is one or more journos has repurposed this interview from last year. Not surprising as press access to TH has been much more restricted this time round).
>>204 Ah, I heard 'parla.' 'Parlo' is better of course. The 'pero' is his Spanish; should be 'ma.'
>>205 His Greek pronunciation is excellent. I've always said this. I wonder if he had a non-British Greek teacher. I saw the Greek plays at Cambridge and UCL when in the UK. I was always shocked at the difference in pronunciation from American - and not just because of the underlying accents. His is different.
>>206 Half?! Lord have mercy. It is cashmere...CASHmere.
>>209 And quoting it in the damn accent. I hated that accent.
>>215 I was taught pero means however in Italiano. But that is how crap my Italian is! Maybe it's six and one half dozen.
>>213 All of this. There was that one ISTL group interview that popped up everywhere and was both familiar (quotes, subject matter) but also different (format, emphasis).
They are now easier to spot.
There may be some new in there but it's more old than anything.
>>213, 216 Thanks, Anon and Anon. - I wasn't lurking here yet for ISTL. I noticed those references to his age, but they must have added a bit about his GG win. So his quoted views on marriage are likely pre-tayto.
>>214 His accent didn't bother me in the movie (but I wouldn't know an accurate Alabama accent if it bit me). It did bug me when he'd do it live, though - way too much cognitive dissonance!
The Telegraph trying to make up for having reported him replying testily to a tayto question (and then having that picked up by every other possible outlet? -- "He's sincere, uncool, and all too vulnerable. But does Tom Hiddleston deserve your cynicism? " Not an interview; comes across like the taffy article without quite as much subtle snark and obvious pathos.
Sample: "The 36-year-old, by all appearances, is a very sincere, very earnest and very enthusiastic man, who wears his heart on his sleeve, and likes to tell people all about his heart. And then, just for good measure, all about his sleeve. At school, you feel, he wasn’t just the kid who answered the question: he’d answer the question, then add in some extra facts and a personal anecdote or two, before thanking the teacher for asking him in the first place. And while these qualities may endear him to his fans, others seem to think that they should, perhaps, be moderated."
(requires free registration or can log in through Facebook) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/sincere-uncool-vulnerable-does-tom-hiddleston-deserve-cynicism/
Bless. He liked an Instagram of a shirtless Hemsworth. (See Torrilla)
http://insanely-smart.tumblr.com/post/158309170048/hes-sincere-uncool-and-all-too-vulnerable-but
Some people are re blogging the article on tumblr. It actually is very sympathetic towards Tom. I wish Tom the best, but I don't think he got into this summer mess b/c he is so vulnerable. It was because he is so ambitious. And the awards speeches aren't written well b/c he doesn't understand his level of fame in the US (which is not what it is in the UK), or how his demeanor comes off to Americans in those moments. People didn't malign Tom's character b/c they're jealous of his talent or b/c they are too cynical to understand earnestness, it was because they didn't think he was being authentic. I think Kong opened int he US with 60 million at the box office. Let's see how it holds against Beauty and the Beast.
>>218>>220 Like everyone, he deserves cynicism if warranted. What the Tele is saying is we are cynics because
...and a whole load of others. Are we cynics for doubting 'narratives' celebrities present to us? Yes, with good reason. The same is true for TH. I don't think everything he does is disingenuous, far from it. But I'm not so naive as to think everything is true and without ulterior motive. Mostly because I'm not 14.
I actually discussed the fakeness of Tayto with my husband as a result of this article. What was most interesting to me about his reaction was that he thought I was slightly bonkers (possibly true!) until I told him of the photo shoot with the niece. At this point he was horrified (I think he had genuinely forgotten all about it except that they had at some point been in the same town as us) and also immediately accepted that it was fake.
>>220, >>221 Maybe it's just too cynical of me, but:
Riiiiiiiight.
>>223 The Tele made nice in their review, one of the early positive ones. And mentioning that TH got pissy when asked a valid question requires no apologies, that I can see. I would hope The Telegraph would not feel the need for puff pieces like GQ. If anything their first piece probably pulled in the clicks and registrations. This popularity may have spawned a second article.
Has GC weighed in? Is it 10/10 that we are all too cynical when it comes to buying TH's bullshit?
>>224 haha, no GC on this yet. But they did give a 10/10 for SI topping the weekend box office!
On the lighter side, an analysis of Tom's t-shirt in SI (with pictures): https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.popsugar.com/entertainment/Tom-Hiddleston-Kong-Skull-Island-Pictures-43281599/amp
TH at Tokyo Narita Airport
https://twitter.
com/CollectAll/status/841206516346642437
https://twitter.
com/hiddles_colin/status/841207441580744704
"After taping #JimmyKimmelLive on March 9, 2017 in Los Angeles, #TomHiddleston records a message with Grace Baker (@disneycastle88) to his fans thanking them for their generosity in supporting #UNICEF."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAcHC57XY
"Weekend Box Office: 'Kong: Skull Island' Scales $61M for No. 1 Finish"
"Overseas, Kong: Skull Island opened to $81.6 million from 65 markets — minus China, where it hits theaters March 24 — for a global bow of $142.6 million."
"The one major caveat: The movie, costing at least $185 million to make before a major marketing spend, will likely need to earn $500 million globally to land in the black."
I saw this posted at CB, thought it was interesting since we were talking about it. Now all it's left to be seen is whether the film will continue.
>>227 Is it wrong that I want him to end up on one of those crazy Japanese tv/game shows? The ones where he has to spend an hour in a room with an angry goat or answer questions while standing on a disappearing platform over a pit of water.
If he doesn't make at least one appearance in an inflatable sumo suit, I will be disappointed.
OT We lost an hour because of DST AND we're under a blizzard warning. It is officially the crappiest Monday ever. My MIL came over this morning with 'supplies.' My MIL considers sparkling water, expensive cheese and smoked salmon to be 'survival basics' so I'm not complaining. She also brought over the ingredients for blinis because 'those are (hubby's) favorites, remember?' They're not, lady; I remember that.
>>230 Not wrong at all - it's hilarious! Though after the latest round of interviews, he might be too good at the questions/platform water type.
To cheer up your crappy Monday (I'm in a blizzard warning here too), you might enjoy the comments on Conan O'Brien's tweet that "I should have predicted this would happen - my kids saw "Kong: Skull Island" and now they want their own pet Hiddleston.":
https://twitter.
com/ConanOBrien/status/841336795577094144
>>230 For now, we only have a morning show (it wasn't pre-recorded)
photo: https://twitter.
com/nebulas_fujinan/status/841447296067821568
small video: https://twitter.
com/bubbles_love80s/status/841467514320125952
>>230, >>232 No video yet (alas), but Tom apparently was demonstrating his samuri sword skills on this other show:
http://68.media.tumblr.com/c78dd1d46a006b85d0ce7842240dc79e/tumblr_omsp7l98S81u5j9sco2_1280.jpg
http://68.media.tumblr.com/f766542bffafa5b4eacd13edc2c26175/tumblr_omsp7l98S81u5j9sco3_1280.jpg
>>233 The guy in the video is Eric Nam Korean-American singer, television host etc. This is for the Korean TV
http://www.vlive.tv/video/24873
>>235 haha he looked like a frost giant next to her!
>>235 I also like how, when he spots the translator, he immediately looks to his other side as if to check for any other unexpected short people.
>>234 He's a comparatively well-behaved attention puppy in this one. He declines to dance, and dodges singing too. But he keeps looking off-camera to his publicist whenever he thinks he's been funny!
He does mention that he'll be working on something next week that he can't talk about. But when asked directly about what's next, he only mentions T:R and Early Man, and some things that are "cooking."
>>235 Speaking of yours truly: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/25-powerful-stylists-hollywood-985222/item/micaela-erlanger-power-stylists-2017-985211
This is a dire article. It suggests with a straight face that Ruth Negga (of Loving fame) only became well known because she acquired a stylist.
>>238 Yours truly is going to have to style up some new coats soon, from all the tails she's been riding on. Sorry, not sorry.
>>237 I was expecting more tv material, one morning Japanese tv show and a Korean program. I guess they did more print interviews.
He is participating to an event on Sunday with Redmayne, probably Early Man related. Or his documentary. Or IW.
I picked up on something in this Korean video, more trivial than the languages issue, I'd say closer to his smoking statements. At some point he is asked if he tasted a strong Korean liquor, he says no, that he isn't much of a drinker. It made me wonder if he isn't much of a drinker by British standards, since I would interpret that as drinking rarely and not much. And then I remembered him mentioning how he liked vodka in a 2012 interview http://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/tom-hiddleston-interview-style-thor-2
and gulping down 5 shots of whiskey during an ElleUK interview
http://www.elleuk.com/life-and-culture/culture/articles/a30865/tom-hiddleston-interview/
By the way, why I was searching for the ElleUK interview on their website I got a list of all the articles on TH by ElleUK, look at their extensive coverage of tayto http://www.elleuk.com/search/tom%2520hiddleston?
>>238 Casey Affleck's stylist, enough said.
>>239 Haha! Yes, she has been milking this for all it's worth.
>>241 I guess all things are relative (I enjoy a tipple; you overindulge; he is an alcoholic).
However that GQ interview was a while back (2012), and I think also the Elle mag one (2013?). He has lost weight since then and works out more; and he is further away from his student days. So it might be true. He also said in the interview that he liked "a" vodka - meaning perhaps when he goes out he only has one drink. Most Brits would probably call that "not much of a drinker." Anyway, I tend to think that vodka and tonic is a drink for people who don't like drinking in the sense that they don't like the taste. It is so bland - all you can taste is the mixer.
>>245 Thanks, I wasn't doubting his words, but I was wondering if it's more of a recent attitude or he always considered himself not much of a drinker by comparison to other Brits.
video from Tokyo's premiere
https://twitter .com/warnerjp/status/841943289553129473
https://twitter .com/warnerjp/status/841948529299972097
https://twitter .com/warnerjp/status/841951963369619457
https://twitter .com/warnerjp/status/841956124551184384
https://twitter .com/warnerjp/status/841965537601118208
https://twitter .com/warnerjp/status/841970267760992256
I'm sure torrilla will post HQ photos soon enough. I'm disappointed Gackt and TH didn't walk the red carpet together!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BRp_bpEFnbj/?taken-by=gackt
>>242 Is this another example of TH 'falling out' with a media outlet. Their coverage of him in 2013-14 was huge and oleaginous (sexiest, man of, etc.). Then, from a quick glance at dates and stories, nothing from 2015 and no mention of CP or HR (only one of ISTL from when it was announced).
They pick up with him again in 2016, mostly Tayto, and it's snarky. They, like many of us, have a 'history' with him and were quick to note, several times, that Tayto wasn't like his previous approach to relationships. And their take on his explanation of the shirt: Oh, Tom.
He's had as much luck sticking with a magazine/newspaper as he's had finding The One: Susannah, Jane, Elle, The Guardian. Now it's GQ's turn but I have a feeling the 'break-up' list will grow.
>>247 I'll admit to falling into the rabbit hole of Gackt's IG. And I'm not sorry. It was magical. Those aren't his real lips, are they? Those aren't his real pecs, are they? Either way, I love him. Excuse me while I decamp to the Gackt board.
>>243 Nuff said indeed.
>>241>>245 Bet he put a few away during the summer! Remember the giant, nearly empty wine glass in the porch pic? The one he was gripping like Charleton Heston gripping a gun. In the 'wallflower' one I'm pretty sure he's holding a champagne flute. He must have been three sheets to in order to get through that weekend.
Captcha: shive - Prison drama on the horizon for TH?
>>248 I think Anonon and I talked about it during CP promo and we thought it might be because ELLEUK's director was close friend with JA, so after Tahiti there might have been a fallen-out.
Whatever the reason though, I find it unprofessional on their side because they exploited him to get clicks and sell copies (remember when Annabel Brog wrote an article taking credit for introducing TH to Hank?) and then dropped him over something that was hardly personal for them. As present or former fans we commented out of disappointment, they did it in self-interest. (btw Lorraine Candy left ElleUK in Nov. 2016 to go work for Sunday Times and Annabel Brog left too in 2014 so that might also be a reason)
Someone may be getting a little punch drunk from all the promo work: https://www.instagram.com/p/BRrLZEsgoDy/
>>252 (giggling madly) SO glad you didn't decamp to the Gackt board!
>>241, >>245, >>246, >>249 Other previous drinking examples -- odd dancing and DJ'ing at last year's BAFTAs, and (my fave) his in absentia (or absinthe?) acceptance of Elle's Man of the Year award: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px4Xq6UDYLc
I suspect that drinking less might also have to do with (as he's said) he "can't just go out for a drink" anymore now that he's much better known.
But I agree that he must have needed all the booze he could get to survive Taymerica. There was also a story about him sneaking away with the other guys at some point for some beers. (And he did have a death grip on that huge wine glass!)
>>245 Here he is signing autographs, taking pictures with fans in Tokyo. This is a good wide shot, and I was considering how much weight he's lost compared to mid-2014 when filming CP (the height of his weight was probably during Coriolanus at the end of 2013):
https://mobile.twitter.
com/9quew/status/841951525387792385
Thoughts?
>>245>>254 Tom still seems to be a social drinker. Tom drank multiple cocktails at that lunch with TS in Nashville, and he drinks quite a bit at wrap parties, and he looked like he'd had quite a few drinks when he was spinning that reporter on the dance floor and DJing after that awards ceremony. In general, we don't see pics of Daniel Craig, or Hugh Laurie, or Jude Law out and about, so I don't think that fans are so wild about Tom that he can't grab a pint at a pub. Although people would notice if he were to go out partying and if he got way out of control. The pics we see of Tom in his neighborhood are prearranged pap walks. I actually think that Tom strategically lets fans take pics with him when he's in a promotional groove, as a sort of fame management tool (although he does value his fans.) And of course, Tom had to take a big step back from overexposure because of the summer antics.
>>255 Tom seems to feel better about his physique when he is lean from running. Does he just feel capable when runs as much as possible? Does looking slim make him feel younger, like when he was in Suburban Shootout? I have no idea. Catherine Deneuve famously said that as you mature, you have to choose between your fanny and your face, because being too slim for your frame makes you look drawn/older in photos.Tom looked good in CP, and post the TNM slim down for Loki. Seems a little narrow in the face, now.
>>255 I think he has lost quite a lot of weight over the years. The publicity photos for The Deep Blue Sea at San Sebastián show how much he has lost round the bum. In this pic you can see how much rounder his face is as well: http://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Tom+Hiddleston+59th+San+Sebastian+Film+Festival+af0KUnTg7DPl.jpg
He then lost a lot of weight for OLLA and at that time he started to really show the cheekbones. Since then he has put it back on at times and lost a lot more at times (ISTL) but he has never permanently gone back to the size he was in the pic I posted. He looks positively chunky in the CP publicity stills (where he is standing in the hallway wearing a navy coat) compared to how he looks now - and he was by no means big then.
>>256 >>257 I just realized - could it also be that since he's signed with Gucci for the moment, he needs to stay slim for the way their suits are cut?
I do see what you mean, Anon, about being rounder in his face re: that pic. The running has gotten rid of the facial baby fat. The CP publicity still were coming off of Coriolanus and he was relatively huge back then.
Kong, Beijing press conference video. It seems the host asked them to repeat dancing moves they performed in the past.
http://m.miaopai.com/show/channerWbH5/1034:4332881e7209d125829b44f8663441a4
>>255 - >>258 He seems particularly thin at the moment (I'm trying to relocate some of the "candid" standing shots of him in knit top and jeans from the LA press junket - his waist looks tiny in those). Could be for Gucci, though since his suits from them are custom-made, they should be able to adjust for any slight variations in his weight. I'm guessing it's more from lots and lots of running (which I think is his stress relief), plus not currently working on a role for which he needs to bulk up.
The pressing question - is he currently at his Loki weight (for the rumored IW filming soon)?
>>262 I remember those pics. In some of them he looked waffer thin (to quote Mr Creosote).
>>262 But when he was in OZ for Thor3 he was bulkier (unless all that gym was stress relief too), so does he even have a Loki weight?
>>265 IW promo? Will Gossipcop deny? Chris Evans and Olsen kept getting asked if they were a couple during Civil War promo, and instead of just saying no, or Evans saying that he was with Jenny Slade, they just kept teasing each other. I think it's that sizzle and steak theory, where if you want the audience to buy the steak/film, you have to get them to believe in the sizzle/chemistry b/twn the leads. Or maybe Tom is just distancing himself further from this summer? But no one believed that the crazy kinds weren't promoting ISTL when they had dinner in front of the press corps at the Wolseley in London, and then let the press run stories about them till the film got no oscar buzz at festivals, and then they finally killed the relationship talk. No more more games! Please, more talk of good scripts! Cumberbatch is playing the lead in the miniseries of one of Tom's favorite books, the Patrick Melrose novels, on Showtime, gosh darnit!
>>265,266 It's radar online, so it's probably complete made up click bait BS, like all the other "Tom dumped Elizabeth Olsen for Taylor!" and "Tom is texting his ex Lizzie behind Taylor's back!" stories from the summer. Isn't Olsen "dating" Jeremy Renner now anyway? They've got a movie together coming out soon.
>>265 Ha! This is mediocre even by the mediocre standards of gossip websites. I find the chance of that, if that was ever a thing, happening as likely as TH going back to TS.
Besides, if one has to build a narrative about that, we already posted something here http://4-ch.net/tv/kareha.pl/1475085154/335,336 and here http://4-ch.net/tv/kareha.pl/1475085154/529
>>266 Nah, it's just good old-fashioned click-bait. Another publication today had an article about Scarlett and CE possibly starting a romance because allegedly they wanted to be seated together at an event. If Marvel is going to use that kind of publicity (provided this is the case) these two would make more sense since they'll surely appear in IW.
>>264 Not sure if there is a Loki weight/look, but he's said he does train specially for that role due to the heavy costumes and doing stunts. So perhaps next week isn't IW (or the Oz bulk was due to the Summer of Pasta and Take-Out).
>>265 Oh good grief. I think they're expecting a drought of hiddleston-clickbait, so they'll just make up some of their own.
As a side note, but not so much, Derek Walcott has died today.
He is the author of one of TH's favourite poem, Love After Love, TH did a reading of it for The Love Book.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z850LNbudlw
Yours truly is a Scientologist (see comments on this article: http://www.celebitchy.com/528004/tom_hiddleston_his_stylist_agree_that_he_should_never_wear_capri_pants/#comment-15422818)
Director GDT has posted all three sections of Sir Thomas Sharpe's bio on his twitter account. Deliciously dark.
RealGDT is his twitter.
>>273 Tom's stylist, Ilaria, also just got a deal to design a women's line for Eddie Bauer. I guess all of the press for her clients in magazines/connections worked, whether or not we agree with it. I kind of miss the days when stylists were in he background, though. Although I loved the Gucci bumble bee bow tie, and the oxblood coloured suit Tom wore was interesting for the Tribeca film festival premiere, I really think that Tom's prior Armani duds and Ralph Lauren three piece suits (like Wimbledon 2015) suit his classic sense of style, the most. Ilaria's casual wear is interesting, like the Breton striped Cunicelli sweater and the new Isaia double breasted Pea Coat.
>>275 I prefer the cut of Armani suits on his body, RL second. And you're right about the casual wear - it's brightened up his look. Now if she could convince him to get another pair of shoes besides the grey ones.
>>275 A perfect example of why yours truly only styles men- I wouldn't be caught dead in those clothes.
>>273 Oh dear
I missed most of that press tour but it must have been fairly uneventful compared to the usual. He schilled his summer romance harder than SI, I feel cheated.
Who here has seen the Monkey Movie- is it worth giving up some of the precious little spare time I have?
>>277 Just saw the Monkey Movie last night, and my sister did last week, as well. The good news is that it's a fun ride while you're in the theater, but a week later you will forget the plot completely. There is an awesome helicopter sequence with Kong, and each time the team defeats a monster, a new monster pops up to for the teams to confront. It's kind of like an Indiana Jones movie where every time a new obstacle is conquered, there's a new problem to solve, and on, and on. But unlike Spielberg, Vogt Roberts has far too many soldiers for us to care about anyone at all. They each have 2 sentence back stories and no time us to explore them. Toby is empathetic, but the script is full of cut out banal cardboard characters, despite the fact that there are a lot of really talented actors in the project. John C Reilly does his best to be funny to bring something to the script. I like Tom a lot as an actor, and in general prefer Brits hands down to the young American actors. But I think that Tom's strength is his ability to use his Shakespearean verse speaking training to make flesh out of complex language on the page, and his ability to mine the poetry of the text to fuel his emotions. When there's just a silly script, Tom doesn't yet have those innate Harrison Ford leading man instincts with humour and irony to make an underwritten script believable. Hope Kong holds well with Beauty and Beast coming out.
>>273 Goodness.
You know, we mock here because as a group of people, I think, we don't have a tendency to idolize. And sarcasm is what allowed us to still be here with an interest for TH. But boy, this guy has a natural gift for associating himself with dubious people. He truly looks at people through pink coloured glasses.
>>273 Since I know next to nothing about Scientology, except being a stupid cult (like all cults) I googled a little bit.
Yours Truly is bad news, worse than I thought. She and her husband (and her mother!) are both chummy with Danny Masterson, she opened a shop with him some time ago called Confederacy.
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/sep/21/image/ig-confederacy21
http://champagneandheels.com/uncategorized/mick-rock-at-confederacy/
http://digital.modernluxury.com/article/The+Radar+People/93054/10070/article.html
It gets worse. Danny Masterson has just been charged with sexual assault (second of her client involved in something like that, she just has that keen eye)
http://variety.com/2017/film/news/danny-masterson-sexual-assault-allegations-lapd-scientology-1202001831/
Where is Luke when he is needed?
>>280 Yes - that venture failed but she is still hand in glove with Masterson. According to the Celebitchy thread her mother is a lecturer at the Scientology "Celebrity centre" in LA. All rather ghastly.
Apparently there are a lot of Scientologists in the industry, especially in support professions - stylists, hairdressers, cinematographers etc. I can't imagine that TH would touch it with a bargepole, but it does explain the excessive thirst on her part. They suck in the more minor industry people by promising them access/success. If they achieve it, of course they attribute it to Scientology and not to the fact that it is just networking with a crazy cult overlay. So she has to peddle the "I am a Scientologist and look how I hang out with famous people" line, to show others how great it all is.
>>281 Or would he? If they promised him the ultimate fame?
>>282 haha No, he is not the type.
But, Yours Truly isn't some random hairstylist or make-up artist the studio has employed for a film. She is his personal stylist, he chose her. Her link to Scientology and her closeness to a man charged with sexual assault is something that will reflect poorly on him, because these infos are easy enough to find. He really doesn't need any more bad press.
>>283 She also styles Chris Evans, Bradley Cooper, Rami Malek, Ryan Reynolds... She was a big Celeb Stylist before Tom ever hired her. It's a professional relationship, and there are a lot of Scientologists in Hollywood. He's not dating her and he's not her only client, so the press can't really single him out in any way for his association with her - if they even cared.
>>283 How many of us would have said the same about a fauxmance a year ago?
>>284 Professional relationships come under scrutiny just as much as personal ones these days. More so for TH as he now says his private life is off limits. And just like with Tayto he's opened the door for scrutiny of this professional relationship by appearing with Yours Truly in this article.
The press, if they cared, wouldn't 'single' him out. Instead they'd lump him in with the others you mentioned. Bad press is bad press, shared or not.
And welcome, huh. I think you're new. We're always glad when newbies decide to join the conversation.
>>285 (I'm actually dreading the approaching of summer, it's a tricky season for him)
>>285 I am watching with some amusement as the tumblr regulars, who ran to fawn over yours truly's amazing style choices (!) are now recalibration for their opinions. Shades of Tayto - at first the drivelling love for Taylor and the refusal to accept that she might be flawed in any respect, followed (mostly after they broke up) by the realisation that she was, perhaps, not a perfect example of feminism etc...
I mean "recalibrating their". I have just tried to type this about 10 times but iPhone's autocorrect is very resistant to present participles.
>>279 Thank you, Coach. You've summarized a lot with this comment. Since I'm sure I won't use it as a parent - we've decided to be angry and stern parents :), I'll use it with TH. I'm not angry, TH, I'm just disappointed. His choices of late have been disappointing, especially in the people with whom he's chosen to associate: The American team, which led to TS ( yes, that's a professional association) and the stylist.
I don't care about TS or Yours Truly from a moral standpoint. We all have our failings. I care that they're both rubbish at their 'jobs.' His choice to associate with both has earned him some notice, a good few column inches, a few magazine covers, but I don't think either has benefited him in the way he wants: boosting his career prospects.
>>287 TH summers. Three years running, he's not let us down. BoraBoraGate, PurseGateGate, Tayto. What could he and the American team be cooking up?
>>290 and above. I doubt Tom would succumb to Scientology. As someone (surprisingly smart for the venue) said in the CB comments, it tends to be celebrities with lower educational level, or people new to the business, who get roped in. (Neither Cruise nor Travolta graduated from high school, for example.)
That said, I think his rose-colored lenses also may make him too loyal to people once he's committed to them, even if the association isn't helping him. (Aside from the BF rumors, how else does one explain sticking with Luke for PR?)
>>291 Oh, summer-gate could be fun to guess. I'll start. He launches his own fashion line, specializing in distressed casual/running clothing, and skin-tight suits in which the wearer cannot sit, only stand.
>>290 I think with both TS and scientologist celebs, their moral/ethical standpoint is hard to dissociate from the professional image that they portray and therefore from their success and the success of those who associate with them.
TS can be a feminist or not, vote Republican or not - her choice. However when she assumes the mantle of feminism for financial gain, one is entitled I think to scrutinise the extent of her feminism, and in particular whether it is sending negative messages to her mostly tweety fans. I think one is also entitled to scrutinise her decision on the one hand to pursue teenagers who make and sell Taylor Swift memorabilia on Etsy, but on the other hand to take no action against alt right groups who use her image as an ideal of Aryan womanhood.
As for Scientology - it's a cult, and one about which there is a considerable amount of evidence of exploitative behaviour of many kinds (financial exploitation, abuse of minors, blackmail). Setting aside the question of whether one wants to support any celeb who chooses to align themselves with this organisation (I don't), association with Scientology has come to have an adverse effect on professional image.
TLDR: being a fake feminist/a scientologist/etc is arguably part of what makes these people crap at their jobs.
>>295 I can disassociate the two. Perhaps it stems from what I do. If you want me to analyze someone's professional life, without reference to their personal, I can. International relations is also a world in which the ends often justify less than admirable means; I tend to focus on outcomes. TS engages in fake relationships for the purpose of publicity. She's an unconsecrated communion wafer of a human being who is essentially nothing more than a PR construction. She does this in order to make money. The people who buy into that, or the parents of children who allow them to buy into that, are responsible for their own actions as much as she is for hers. I can put that questionable morality to the side while saying I can tell she's a bland wafer and that her relationships are fake - questionable morals and poor outcomes. (Yes, the two are probably connected but I can separate them for certain purposes.)
Scientology is totally a cult. That they are given tax exempt status is shameful. I half remember a story about Peaches Geldof and Scientology. She met a man in LA. They did some drugs, heroin maybe, and slept together. He woke up vomiting at the celeb Sc. center in a sauna and found her on an exercise bike outside in some sort of purification ceremony.
Now for more important matters: The Boat Race.
>>280 Forgot to say that Luke is probably still embedded with Watson on her tour. And he's probably having fun with the supposed nudes of her that were leaked. Luke cannot catch a break with his high profile clients. I expect a pic of him at an airport bar with a HUGE drink and a FML expression to show on tumblr any day now.
>>297 Or he'll redeem his poor surfing paddling by pushing Cam's boat from behind!
Pix on toririlla of his arrival at Heathrow today. He's actually smiling at the pap in most of them. It looked like he had fun in Bejing.
>>299 I saw those. I thought he looked well and happy. He must have had a nice time.
>>292 How could I forget! Sadly I wasn't around for Wimb. '13 or BoraBoraGate. My life's true regrets. Please come back to us, JArthy.
I thought he'd show at WImb. '16 with TS but I guess tennis is just for real gfs and PAs. Now that Olly may be out of the picture, who will he take this year? Probably Mr. Beardy.
>>294 More likely to be slogan t-shirts. ;)
Painfully awkward interview of Tom at the 2017 Empire awards, as High Rise and TNM are nominated. The questions were pretty dull. Tom seems polite but incredibly tired. TNM sequel is being created, and he says his return will depend on the script, character, and his availability which I think is his code for there is not a chance he will be back : ) Thank goodness.
>>302 Apparently he is receiving the Hero Award. I fear there will be a speech.
>>302 He did seem very tired (SM rumors say he did go to Cambridge yesterday). At this point, probably what he most looks forward to is sleep and no interviews.
I think TMN2 would have to be extremely compelling for him to do it - there's no good career reason for him to repeat the role.
>>303 Hoo boy.
>>303, >>304 From Empire's live blog of Tom's speech (and he's shown holding an unfolded paper, so he may have prepared this time): ' "They say never meet your heroes," says Tom, in a gracious and humble acceptance speech. "I'm lucky enough that I wouldn't be standing here if I hadn't met mine. I've been lucky enough to work with them. And if I haven't worked with them, I've attempted an impersonation of them on the Graham Norton show." '
What is the Hero award for, anyway?
Empire has a pic of him holding the award and, most importantly, a piece of paper with his speech. Everything might be okay.
>>304 Just did a little search on twitter and it seems he could have been in Camb. yesterday. Something to do with his college or Classics, both?
>>302 It's the morning in Beijing, he's probably still wrecked from the time difference and exhausted. The odd, awkward interview isn't rare for him, never has been. This is pretty low on the awkward scale imo.
>>305 Apologies, I didn't refresh after >>304. 'Gracious and humble' is sounding good.
I think the Hero Award might be one of those that your PR peeps get for you. Anyone remember EO's style award from Elle last year? I think this might be similar. Not that there wasn't something truly heroic about surviving a three moth relationship with TS. ;)
>>306 I had a little look yesterday and didn't find anything. No Gaudy that I could see (event for past students). No fundraiser, and Saturday is an odd night to be invited back to college by one's old tutor, for example - the formal dinner is usually on a Sunday.
>>307 Not a problem; great minds and all that....
From the list of previous Hero awards winners (the entire cast of Game of Thrones one year?), I think you're right that it's a "made up" award. At least it gave him some practice at speechifying.
>>308 I saw three tweets. Two from present Pembroke students about him coming back. Neither seemed certain that he was there. Another from a Camb. Classics student about singing in front of him. One talked about him 'sneaking' back onto campus. Undercover Gaudy?
I don't know if there's a rule of three that applies here. The tweeters all seem to be unconnected. Still could just be fiction. Maybe he was invited back but didn't show.
>>310 I don't doubt he was there - just couldn't find out why.
>>309 Ummm, hello? The cast of GoT is defending the Wall from the White Walkers. Heroes!
>>311 I do! Twitter can be a very good GPS but also an awful GPS. I can see it being a situation where he was invited by couldn't attend. Those often lead to these 'unconfirmed' event rumors.
>>313 I thought the singing one sounded legit - not I may be singing for him but I actually was, unexpectedly.
>>312 Ah, so it's for the role, not the person/people.... So perhaps TH's was for rescuing TS from -- oh, too many things to list?
Tom, expressing thanks for the Empire Hero award, and for audiences' embracing TNM.
>>300 Probably due to relaxation, at long last, inevitably the big tayto hurdle for him was in the US and UK.
>>301 JA to make you happy.
Partial video of his speech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9_wHUVp-2E
Kong second weekend in the US is half the result of its first.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=daily&id=legendary2016.htm
Foreign countries (without China and Japan)
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=legendary2016.htm&sort=country&order=ASC&p=.htm
So for now the film is a long way away from breaking even, let alone make a profit. I doubt that China and Japan can do the magic.
Look here for a comparison with Jurassic World who had a similar budget.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=similar&id=legendary2016.htm
>>309 Not that the rest was any better. They managed to give the award for Best Actress to Felicity Jones for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story while having nominees like Amy Adams or Natalie Portman, Best tv drama to TNM when they had Westworld and Stranger Things, Best Film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story when they had Arrival.
It's a silly award. But he looks like he had a nice time, he seems to have been surrounded by friends from the British film industry, and the location (the Roundhouse) is a 5 minute walk from his house. After his GG win, which I am sure was spoiled for him by the (over)reaction to his speech, I feel like he deserves a bit of a pass.
I have a sense that the ship is on a more even keel - or at least that it is no longer moored at Desperation Dock. He seemed to enjoy his little publicity trip without being too OTT or hogging the limelight and not letting anyone else answer. He posted pics of himself on Instagram having fun, like a normal person. He prepared a speech for his award show. He sounded self-deprecating when he was interviewed afterwards. Kong got mostly good reviews outside the UK and has made respectable $$ (more than you can say of any other recent outing). He even smiled at the paps when he flew into Heathrow. We haven't seen that for a long while.
Looks like it was a fundraiser at Pembroke Cambridge - hashtag thetimeandtheplace on twitter. I actually saw a reference to this fundraiser early yesterday, by an advertising exec who said he had enjoyed working with the college - but there wasn't a mention of any launch event until today, so I didn't bother posting it.
>>318 It didn't get my money this weekend but did get my BIL's. I asked him how it was. 'Okay' was the answer but he says that about a lot of films. He did say that the theatre was nearly empty because everyone was in B&tB. I'm sure it will make its money back eventually. I still can't believe it needs to make $500m!
>>319 In addition to being UK-centric (expected with a UK magazine), it seems like these awards were more likely to be given out to those who were actually in attendance. Looking at the categories, many of which were sponsored, I also suspect this may have been a money making venture for Empire. Not that the awards were paid for, i don't think that was the case.
>>322 Everyone likes to win a prize, I guess. That plus the fact that Empire is the big film magazine over here. It has been around for a long time (1989!) and it has seen off a lot of competitors over the years. It is not a bad business model to get everyone along by bribing them with a prize!!
TH already has a lot of plastic awards on the shelf in the downstairs loo (Elle Man of the Year, MTV for whatever it was). Let us also not forget that his brown nosing about Jameson (the former Empire Awards sponsor) has condemned him to a lifetime of getting a bottle of average scotch wherever he stays instead of vintage champagne!!
>>323 not even average scotch (it's Irish of course. Which is fine, but it's also a blended whiskey, yuk yuk)
He must be feeling better - and browsing the Guardian website a lot - two tweets and one like in 24 hours....
Elizabeth Olsen just stepped out with an alleged new beau/perhaps just a friend in NYC. Male model? So I guess that the only new Star magazine-created fauxmance for IW that we have to look forward to will have to be Chris Evans and Scarlett : )
>>320, >>322 Even if it's a frivolous award, at least now he knows at least one UK publication isn't totally against him. (Though their review of SI wasn't terribly positive, it didn't trash his performance the way the Guardian's did.)
>>325 Those were interesting tweets (in that the subtext of both rather parallels his life for most of last year - fake/real, having your life blown up, recovering)....
>>325>>327 That Harari quote was fascinating. But I read Andre Agassi's autobiography, "Open", and Agassi's past was a brutal one. Tom's father may have been a hard disciplinarian and unsupportive of his artistic career at first, but Agassi's Dad was cuckoo. He forced him relentlessly into tennis as soon as he got out of the cradle, Agassi became really depressed because he hated the professional sport lifestyle choice his father imposed on him, and Agassi developed a ragingly ugly crystal meth addiction in Vegas during his career because he tried drugs when he was bored one weekend. This summer and the public reaction to his extended GG speech was difficult for Tom, but Tom's career took a swerve as a result of ambition to make it in LA. Agassi blew up his own career and had to rebuild his life, reacting to a very different set of circumstances than Tom, IMO.
>>326 EO was with Robbie Arnett from the band Milo Greene.
>>322,323,327 It's sort of strange though to have a cinema magazine give awards with that criteria, if anything it should be based on quality precisely because it's a cinema magazine. It doesn't exactly give credit to their staff.
>>326 They make a pretty couple, but I love the photo-bombing guy. (note how there wasn't any scarf madness)
>>325 Good on him if he feels better, if he managed to take a burden off his shoulders (for the time being at least, because TS remains an unknown variable).
>>329 There was no PapGateGate madness because EO seemed to be an equally willing participant in this pap stroll. After Tayto we all got the sense that EO might not have been the driving force behind THEO. Her reaction on Pap Night was still OTT but her being unaware of the paps or unsure of being papped (changed her mind?) could have been the cause of her reaction. Want to bet TH is looking at these pics and singing 'we could have had it alllllllll?' She looks lovely and happy.
>>330 I love the thought of TS as some 'unknown variable' in a mathematical equation. It fits sadly. Yesterday I saw an article about J. Gyllenhaal being asked about TS. I clicked on it to double check the date. It wasn't from 2010, it was dated March 20 2017. I guess someone asked him while on his latest junket. He politely said that he would not speak about his private life (where have we heard that before?). I hope the stans over at CB don't see it because it will destroy their fantasies of TH never being asked about TS now that he's said he doesn't want to be asked about TS. Because that lot over there thinks that's how it works: yeah, he whored out his private life but now he doesn't want to talk about whoring it out - well, okay then! JG gets the TS question seven years after their three month relationship. TH will get the same. The CBers need to gird their loins just like TH because the 'unknown variable' isn't going away.
>>327 Is it subliminal or is this the only way he can blink out 'it was fake' because TS and her people are watching him like a hawk?
>>329 It is strange but they've got to make money and get publicity for their mag, and these types of awards, as unbelievable as it sounds, are a fairly good way to make money and get a name check. I know this because my FIL's company often sponsors these types of awards. They get companies - who can write off the expense on taxes (don't know if it's the same in the UK) - to sponsor awards and that can pretty much cover the costs involved in the evening. They often get the food and drink sponsored as well.
As for the publicity, the clue is in the trophy here. It's not some abstract form (Oscar's, GG, SAG) - it's the actual name of the magazine. Subtle? No.
>>324 Ahh, Jameson's okay. If you're going to mix your whiskey with ginger ale/beer/cola (and be European about it), then Jameson is the way to go. This is what my mother does! She also makes a Christmas punch with Jameson that is delish and lethal. I think it got a bad rep early in its life but has improved...maybe.
Chances that TH always turns up to a dinner party with a bottle of Jameson? 10/10.
>>331 I know we did, but I wouldn't say I'm sure about it. At the time of PGG we assumed her doing because he looked so annoyed and her so unnatural (tbf right before the started a conversation with the Gate, she also sounded annoyed when she asked the paps if "they got what they wanted"). The only other time I saw her doing that was always in London for CA:Civil War, outside her hotel. Maybe it's the city.
>>331 7 years later! Not that I expect TS to go heavy on him, but since most of her songs are love songs, the questions are going to happen. Unfortunately for him, she might be promoting during the Thor3 promo tour. (I have a great feeling for Thor3 so I'm hoping TS will still be into hiding)
>>332 I want to see them convince the Millenials to buy their mag with these premises.
>>335 and above: Turns out it was the Guardian who asked Jake G about that, so TH absolutely will get asked about it again around Thor3 and her album drop. (I also hope it doesn't time out that way. Anyone know how far in advance TS starts her album promos?)
And at least one outlet (Popsugar) that picked up the Jake G question threw in a TH mention at the end, so I that's now the first item on Tom's IMDB news feed.
Just skimmed the Guardian's Jake G. article. It got quite frosty after the TS question! If TH gets asked again, we may see this from him.
>>336 She always releases her albums in October-November so yeah it's gonna be perfectly awful timing.
>>338 Maybe by then she'll be picking apples, beach walking and sharing maple lattes/swan pastries with some other poor sucker. Fingers crossed.
>>337 I didn't even skim, just checked the date and the headline. Maybe TH is going to retweet some more Guardian in an attempt to get back in their good books. He may have seen this. He may have heard the bell tolling for him come promo time. His genitals may have retreated into his body.
Is it wrong that my spot for JG is softer than for TH in regards to TS? I fear that TS and JG was about mutual bearding. It is possible that JG is gay. With films like Brokeback Mountain and stardom under his belt, JG didn't need the publicity, he seemed to need the heterosexual relationship. TH could very well be gay but I think Tayto was all about the publicity.
>>339 Gyllenhaal is most likely in the closet. Could be Bi. He started to beard mutually for Swift two days before she dropped the Speak Now album, and one month before he opened "Love and Other Drugs". It was bearding in general and PR. But Gyllenhaal hated how his team handled the Swift PR, and he wisely fired everyone on his team directly following the breakup! Manager gone, publicist gone, and agent I think. Jake also fake dated Reese Witherspoon, so she could look like a yummy mummy after Ryan Phillipe was unfaithful, and they split up. And in turn, Jake looked like a very mature and kind fellow A lister b/c he had a gorgeous serious actress gf w kids. No idea about Tom. Tom's private life is so quiet, he just confuses me.
>>339 If his package has retreated, that might also be due to being treated as it was in this video. In so many ways, this is how not to wear a tight suit. (Though to be fair, that thing he's seated on is much too low to the ground for someone his height and there's probably no good manly way to perch on it!)
http://damnyouhiddles.tumblr.com/post/158671047651/when-your-phone-rings-in-the-middle-of-doing
It was always going to make a mainstream gossip website. But I think this is the hi-larry part: 'Hiddleston had hoped that if he spoke about his former relationship once—in GQ's March issue—people would lose interest.' Even E! cottoned on to that plan.
The meme of being 'excluded from the narrative' will continue on as well. TS is to blame for that.
>>342 That "one and done" interview idea was a vain hope.
Wasn't there a theory during Tayto that some of the verbiage in TS's response that included "excluded from the narrative" ("character assassination," I think?) might have been contributed by TH? If so, it's another snake that will keep circling around to bite him.
Also an interesting bit from the E! article, quoting a previous interview w/ TS: >>...as she explained in an interview with The Telegraph in 2015, no normal man would ever "sign up for this and everything that goes with it. Like, 'Hi, nice to meet you. Want a date? Do you love camera flashes? I hope you do!'"<< Subtle shade of TH and JG as fauxmances for the PR....
>>342 Supposedly another gossip rag (Daily Express?) got a rise out of Tom at the Empire awards, but the blurb later was deleted from their site: >>Perhaps better known these days for his failed relationship with American pop star Taylor Swift than his acting, Tom Hiddleston did not shoot us down when we raised the subject of his ex but was looking to move things on, “She’s a great girl,” said the 34-year-old Night Manager star.
“More importantly, give me your phone. Let’s take a selfie.”<<
from http://myinforms.com/en-gb/a/188630997-day--night-taylor-swifts-a-great-girl-admits-tom-hiddleston/
Think the rag was more afraid of the wrath of TS's PR machine or TH's blue stare of death?
>>344>>343 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4336992/Jake-Gylenhaal-bubble-jacket-ex-lover-Taylor-Swift.html
Now the dailymail has an article about Gyllenhaal, TS and Tom. They defined Jake, who is currently warbling show tunes on Broadway in Sunday in the Park with George, as a known "macho leadies' man," so I now definitely think that he is not straight, not that it's any of our business, and best of luck to Jake in the show. I think that Tom's selfie answer was perfect. Tom showed that he is polite, and that summer was a long time ago. Can't wait for the announcement of a new project!
>>344 She's a great girl. Oh the beige-ry. It's the sort of statement that will make the Swifties swoon but really isn't something I'd want my husband to say about me.
>>345 I'll agree that the selfie deflect was a very good one but it is limited. He can't pull that with broadsheets or during sit down interviews. That's purely within the purview of a press line. Maybe he can walk around with a pot of bolognese and deflect with that: 'Let's not talk about the amazing Taylor. Let's eat some meat sauce!'
A new one will have to come eventually. Even if, technically, we got Early Man recently-ish.
What do we think? Comedy, drama, dramedy, another blockbuster action role? TNM 2? Bond? Whatever it is, it will be scrutinised heavily as to the state of his post-Tayto career.
(Junior doesn't want to sleep tonight/this morning so we're reading articles about Tayto!)
>>339 maybe because JG was younger and TS's MO wasn't that known? Or because, like you said, it might have been bearding. Claiming ingorance for TH is more difficult.
>>340 haha I didn't know that! "couldn't you have found me a better bearding? Fired!" sort of things? JG also involved his family I think, there's a photo with TS MaggieG. and a kid.
>>342 JustJared posted it too, which means TH saw it since he follows their twitter.
http://www.justjaredjr.com/2017/03/20/jake-gyllenhaal-doesnt-want-to-talk-about-dating-taylor-swift/
While I was browsing for JG I found this article. She is an unknown variable.
http://hollywoodlife.com/2013/01/25/taylor-swift-disses-jake-gyllenhaal-exhausting-dating-interview/
>>346 The other one is "we are friends". They can't both be at the concert of her best buddy ES, but they are friends, sure.
>>347 If it's this year, theatre or indie, there isn't that much time for a blockbuster.
(has anyone else read about the +4 TH had at the Empire Awards? Or better about one of the +4?)
>>351 (I mention this not because I think there is anything in it, but because I was bemused by his stans posting it just to shoot it down. Don't even talk about it if you don't want the suspicion out there. I wouldn't have known except for them)
>>352 I did read about this - the blonde UNICEF lady?
I would say that TH is pretty unlikely to being his actual GF to an event like that, especially if she is not a celeb.
He did it once for JA at Wimbledon, and then went straight underground. He must have been dating her for a long time after, but he denied it and they only surfaced in BB due to her efforts.
Then with EO - a lot of sneaking around until Toby got hold of that fan pic, and someone sent it to the DM. Then he tried to ride the publicity wave with Pursegate - dismal failure so back to the denials.
The TS stuff I regard as a total aberration - quite uncharacteristic of how he has previously behaved with any GF, and also at odds with what he says he feels about his private life. I think we exclude it from our dataset.
>>353 It was bizarre, for a moment I thought it was a bycycle-like blog trying to start a rumour, instead it was a hardcore fan's blog. (I bet even if they claim it's nothing, they'll be checking her SM all the same)
I agree that he is unlikely to expose a GF at an event full of media right now. Plus, it would be at odd with what he recently stated.
However - let me contradict myself for the fun of it - he also said he doesn't plan on hiding. So while this particular case is at 99.9% nothing, more in general, bringing a GF to a public event is something that he might do.
TH at Japanese tv morning program ZIP
http://tw.weibo.com/torilla/4088137510422198
Short article from the person who interviewed Tom and got that long pause from - explains how much they cut of the pause and his publicist's reaction during it. Scroll down to "Silence is Golden" section. https://www.google.com/amp/www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2017/03/how-school-visit-prompted-me-re-assess-john-ruskin%3Famp
Posted earlier before heard about the London attacks - hope everyone in this group in the U.K. is safe and sound. Our thoughts are with you.
>>339>>348 Jake hated the Brooklyn Thanksgiving Weekend pap walk with his niece, TS, and his sister Maggie. And Jake thought that anyone on his team who encouraged such fakery, games with the press, and blatant PR machinations with his family, didn't have his best interests at heart. Now he seen only with a pretty girl once a year (having lunch or coming from Soul cycle) or vacations with an actual female friend. Jake hates fake.
>>351 I think that the guests at the Empire awards were Victoria from Prosper PR, UNICEF blonde Louise O'Shea from G&W TS lookalike breakfast pics, maybe UNICEF worker Joe English, a dark haired woman who was at the London premiere of Kong who no one has yet identified, and actors John Macmillan (Tom's cast of Cymbeline and the U.K tv series Chewing Gum) and Laurence Spellman (Cymbeline) both of whom Tom was rumored to have dated, ha.
>>353 No idea what happened with TH and EO on set of ISTL. But all of Tom's pics at G&W are set up in some way since he is always papped there, with his coffee and scripts. I think that TH and EO did a planned catch up breakfast in prep for the pap walk after the Elephant Man play at the Wolseley, later that night. They set up the press at G&W themselves, or emailed the photo to a fan website themselves. EO went on vacation with her friends to Hawaii during the Kong filming, b/c her girlfriends instagrammed the vacation pics, and she caught up wi Tom for a Brie-end. Since TH was filming TNM for five months abroad and EO was in LA most of that time, at most they publicized a quick hookup for ISTL press, and then ran for the hills and denied all romance when the film got uneven reviews at the festivals.
I am all right. Thank you for asking. Hoping that the other Brits on here are also ok.
>>359 Glad to hear that, take care everyone.
>>358 >>351 Quite the detailed list. Someone associated with the event managed to sneak a picture of the table assignments and it floated across my tumblr dash on Monday. I'm pretty sure he was listed as TH plus 4 - no specifics on names. No one replying to the thread mentioned names either. It was assumed they were old friends as opposed to the people you listed.
>>361 The Unicef girl is sure, her face was clearly visible in one of the photos, and the blog where I saw the photos mentioned her name. I have no idea about the other 3.
>>361, >>362 Including the UNICEF folks would make sense, since THo likely would think his charity work is all that would qualify him for a "hero" award; and he'd probably want to share that with their reps. (But can't be sure since there's no vid of his full speech.)
Not sure if this is new info or cobbled-together old quotes. Either way, may be his pr's response to his having been included in the JG/TS narrative this week.
https://www.google.com/amp/www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/tom-hiddleston-on-rise-to-fame-you-just-have-to-hold-on-to-reality-a3497536.html%3Famp
>>361 I saw that - the table plan did indeed say TH+4 with no names. I am assuming that beardy UNICEF guy (the one who was cut out of all the pics of TH with UNICEF blonde!) was also there.
Dear me. The dailymail did a mashup of the GQ article and the
Evening Standard article, and kind of suggests that the summer relationship was PR. Please make it stop.
"Their split was nearly as abrupt as their sudden dalliance, and the time they did spend together seemed to be for the benefit of gossip fodder."
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4343624/Tom-Hiddleston-looks-romance-Taylor-Swift.html#ixzz4cBTeqlhY
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
>>365 And the pix of him the DM used just had to be the one of him seeming to check his fly on the Empire red carpet.. .
>>365 The Eve. Std. article itself pulled heavily from GQ, so this and others are mostly likely a mismatch of previous quotes to keep up the clickbait. I doubt it will stop until either there's some new work news from him, or he drops completely out of sight for months.
The DM article, and several others on Twitter that also parallel the STD.'s, even pull in quotes that sound like what he said when he broke up with SF (too busy for a GF/romance), especially since he isn't visibly busy right now. Starting to smell more and more like his PR team put this out. The drawback - something like the DM did in implying TH wasn't in touch w/ reality during Tayto!
Though has he used the "projections" language before?
Box office strategy in China for Kong. Fascinating.
http://chinafilminsider.com/on-screen-china-kong-will-be-king/
Now this is a bit of fun. Remember the unconvincing beard from the bar scene in KSI? Looks like it may have been a completely CGI beard!!!
bryaninspace/status/845305669741789184
>>369 From tumblr I think that's an alternate version of the scene where they hire Conrad. His clothes are different too, two shirts here but one blue shirt in the movie. There is also a photo somewhere of him in the two shirts version with a dog. On Instagram or Torila.
>>369 The beard was def. a fake though, and not a very good one.
>>370 Oh I see - two scenes, one with a stick on beard and one without!
Funny how tumblr was all over the beard pic when it first came out, insisting it was a real beard!!! And how people who said it was a crap fake stick on beard were haters (the usual stuff....)
>>369,370 That was one of the worst movie beards I've ever seen. I love applying beards and it's really not that hard to float one on by hand for a day or two of pickups. There's no excuse for being that sloppy.
I'd say it's a case of TH's personal very talented and expensive makeup artist Bill Corso not being available or unaffordable for those 'quick let's shoot a bar scene to cover those plot holes and stick a beard on it' pickups.
Real beard my arse... so many 'experts' on tumblr!
>>373 I remember you saying this when BeardGate first happened!
But anyone who has seen Tom with a real beard should be able to tell the difference between that and the KSI beard. It's the wrong colour and it doesn't grow where his natural beard grows, or in the right pattern.
>>370,374 The fact that the scene was shot beardless during scheduled production to me screams of the producers demanding a reshoot because TH didn't look tough enough. His real beard looks more like the bum fluff of a hormonal teenager than the thick wooley terrain of a wild rugged mountain man.
>>375 I was sad that the Henry V beard wasn't macho enough for 'former SAS Conrad.' I like that beard.
>>376 Very sad, but what wildman has time to meticulously clean shave his baby cheek sideburns and trim his delicate goatee to a number 2?
>>375 I rear will never be able to see TH's beard again without thinking of your description and snorting!
Agree that his full beard, when left untrimmed, is rather patchy. I prefer him in Henry V mode (think he's actually one of the few gents who can make a goatee work), or his day-to-day unshaven scruffiness.
>>378 I FEAR I'll never be able.... Little subliminal influence from the "bum fluff" phrase! (I'll just go to my corner and giggle now.)
How many of us have seen Shit Island? I think SoSorry has - anyone else? Can it be that more of us have seen ISTL than KSI?!!!!
Looks like TH, OC, and HL are all casually committed to the second series of the The Night Manager. No mention of ED yet, as the love interest again. I'm not a sequel person. So I'm lighting a candle for the script. Please let Le Carre help with its development. So Tom will not be following in the footsteps of Richard Burton by playing The Spy Who Came in Frm the Cold for Tom, I guess. My oh my.
>>382 Well, it's the DM and it's from a "source," so I'd take it with a chunk of salt. Unless they come up with a stellar script, I'd suspect Tom might rather play the Burton role. Especially since it felt as though most of the attention he got for TNM was for baring his bum, or as his "six-hour Bond audition."
At least for once TH is saying his participation depends on the script, rather than jumping into the project sight unseen!
>>384 Not yet (I didn't plan well this weekend, partly because I can't decide if I want to splurge for 3D). So, going to catch it late in this week or the weekend. Fortunately there's a giga-plex near me, because it doesn't look as though KSI will still be showing at medium-to-small theatre complexes - too many movies opening this month. Have you seen it yet, Anon ?
>>385 I haven't seen it yet. Tried to persuade a friend to see it this weeks but she wanted to see Hidden Figures (which was excellent). It is on at lots of places here but mostly the larger places as wth you.
I went and sat through ISTL at a giant cinema at the Westfield Centre (huge shopping mall in West London). Me and one other person on a Sunday morning.
I was thinking of that day and it feels like such a long time ago. Most of us on here at that time saw it. Partly to see whether he could sing and partly I think because he had tried so hard and publicised it so gamely.
I somehow don't feel motivated this time. It's probably a better movie overall than ISTL (and it's certainly earned a lot more - I read $400m worldwide). But somehow the goodwill isn't there for me any more. He seemed strangely underpowered as regards publicity, too. Is it just that he has dialled it down to "normal for everyone else"? Is he not so interested in this project, for all that it earned a lot? Is he wary of giving the press anything to criticise? It is he just over trying to be a massive movie star?
>> Know what you mean. SI isn't the kind of flick that I'd normally go out to see, so I'll be going mainly out of curiosity about the performances and how much JVR borrowed from other Vietnam-era movies.
I think his low-power PR was due to a combination of the things you listed. The behavior dial-back was probably due somewhat to having to share the spotlight for most of the tour with two other co-stars (who, as someone here said earlier, can hold their own). But mostly likely due to having been so burned for his antics this summer, he doesn't want to give the press more ammunition. Look how he responded whenever he was asked to dance - either doing very little, or even just referring the asker to YouTube.
That, coupled with his tone about SI changing from this summer (ComicCon) to now, possibly after he'd seen the final cut. It went from "myth/origin story/power of nature" to "monster mash" in his description, and he didn't spend as much time talking up his character's background and heroism.
I really don't know if he's over trying to be a big movie star, but it felt like he's over all the pressures/scrutiny that come with it. We'll get a better sense once we find out about his next projects (assuming they're not just IW).
I haven't seen it. I swore I wasn't interested in going when the movie was announced. It looks more entertaining than originally pitched, so I will see if there's a 3D showing this week.
I welcome the new Tom "Over It All" Hiddleston. It was easier to watch the interviews.
I saw an interview with Tom in Japan where he was given a pair of Lokitty cat ears. He barely cracked a smile and didn't make any real effort to put them on. A contrast to the TTDW tour in S Korea when he wore a flower crown while signing autographs. I think some of it is a positive development. When people ask you to do these things you don't have to agree! I hope he can find a balance going forwards between his own unique slightly goofy charm and Crazy Extra Guy.
>>390 He did laugh after his first reaction to the ears, but mostly he looks like he's thinking "just when I thought I'd seen it all...." mixed with "must be polite!"
He did seem to loosen up a bit in China without going too extra, so that was good.
>>390 And in a postscript to one of his interviews in Japan, the interviewer said <<...he struck me as awkward. Despite such an elite background, I was surprised by how earnestly he came across, like he was constantly thinking, “What can I say to please this person?” “Am I making a good impression?">> So he was trying hard to be serious while there. (Elle Japan translation at http://insanely-smart.tumblr.com/post/158856651338/elle-japan-interview-with-tom-brie-translation )
Here are variations on what must have been a group interview in Japan. Interesting bits:
"I felt it was a really good thing to train my body to its very limits. I mean, I’m already 36 years old, so it won’t be too long before my body starts to steadily break down, I think. (laughs bitterly)" (http://insanely-smart.tumblr.com/post/158875643543/japanese-interview-mynavi )
"Tom describes Kong as a “masculine protector”. “But he’s misunderstood. That’s why we’re able to sympathize with him. People feel hurt when they’re misunderstood by others, aren’t they? Kong tends to be thought of as destructive and terrifying but in reality he’s responsible and self-restrained, which are really attractive qualities. He’s actually kind of similar to my ideal. I’m always thinking about how I want to become the sort of person who’s kind, respectful, and responsible. Those are rare qualities in the world we live today.”" (http://insanely-smart.tumblr.com/post/158903186033/japanese-interview-translation-cinema-cafe ) -- The post-Tayto themes are rampant in that one.
"“People have more life experiences as they grow older and the stories they want to tell become more abundant. That’s why I think I’d like to grow with Shakespeare. I mean, Shakespeare understood every stage of a person’s life, he’s someone who has represented characters at all different stages of life. First you have lovers, then soldiers, kings, fathers, sages, jesters… My ambition is to play each kind of role Shakespeare left behind. Which is why I’m so pleased to be told I have range as an actor. From here on out, I intend to try playing every kind of role I can.” " (http://insanely-smart.tumblr.com/post/158868567608/japanese-interview-with-t-site )
Apparently Ben Wheatley has already written the Hard Boiled script, though who knows if that will get the film much closer to being made. BW is scheduled to start shooting another project in August. The relevant info is almost at the end of the article.
Video from the NYC Apple Store SI interview is finally up. Watched the first half and it's good - intelligent discussion. Sam Jackson really takes the lead and Brie chimes in a lot; Tom is engaged but doesn't talk much at all. The 2nd half will be audience questions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpqpWFG4Cm0&feature=youtu.be
Captcha: TH's remnant school nickname - "pid"!
>>395 I shall watch this, this weekend.
Your links to the article were very interesting. He hasn't shown much evidence of growing with Shakespeare lately. If you want to be a first class Shakespearean actor - or stage actor generally - you really have to go back to it regularly, in my view, especially if you didn't do much at the outset. All the greats like McKellen started out in rep theatre and notched up years of experience on the stage before getting diverted to film. Tom doesn't have that to anything like the same extent - time to tread the boards again, perhaps.
>>396 Thanks! For his WS experience, I think he did a little at Cambridge (Romeo), maybe some at RADA (or a WS contemporary), before he did Cassius and Coriolanus. But I agree that isn't much compared to most Brit Shakespearian actors. I was thinking after I saw that quote that a couple of years at the RSC would do him a world of good, not that it would happen at this point in his career. But even one good production would really recharge his batteries, I bet; he probably thrives with an audience even more than most actors.
Tom flying in the face of reality and a lot of gifs by insisting that he didn't "bare all" in HR....
http://damageditem.tumblr.com/post/159030768933/lolawashere-tom-hiddleston-featured-on-the-star
>>397 I'd love to see him do a season at the RSC. He won't - it's a big time commitment, it involves him living in Stratford which is so small he would have even less privacy than now, and the pay is crappy (no higher rates for "stars", which you get at the National).
I really think he should. He has never done true comedy but I have a feeling he would be a fine comic actor. Something light hearted like Love's Laboirs Lost or Much Ado would iron out a lot of wrinkles.
>>399 I also think he'd be very good in a comedy. We've gotten little glimpses, such as the eye take he does in CP when he finds out that Edith is Cushing's daughter. And when I watched ISTL with the director's commentary, in the scene in which Hank brings his new wife home only to find his mistress there, Tom's facial reactions are priceless. It wouldn't take much to tip that into farce.
There's an interview with Branagh in which he said he'd love to direct TH in Much Ado. Personally, I'd love to see him in Love's Labor's - he'd rock as Berowne!
>>398 It's interesting that he seems a bit touchy about the HR scene, given the nude scenes in OLLA and Deep Blue Sea. Perhaps between HR and TMN (and CP) he started to feel that the nudity was getting too much attention vs. focusing on the reason the character is naked. (His bum does seem to attract all the attention in interviews about those productions - Stephen Colbert in particular loves to discuss it!)
>>402 I figured he does, at least the slowed down one after Sienna's character drops the bottle onto his balcony, because of the touchiness during the interview of which you spoke.
>>400 I always wondered if he had more than a tinge of envy about the Much Ado movie Joss directed several years ago. I'd love to see him do either that or LLL with Branaugh in the future.
I'll have to watch CP again - I finally got it - and watch his facial expressions.
>>400,403 I forgot about one of the main glimpses - of course there is a lot of comedy in I Henry IV.
He would be delightful as Berowne.
I am torn about Much Ado because I saw one of the great productions at the National - Simon Russell Beale and Zoe Wanamaker. I really wasn't sure about that one - I thought they were both too old and SRB isn't exactly the "ideal" of Benedick. How wrong I was. Their age made it seem like they were two people who had spent their lives missing one another. And SRB truly is one of the finest comic actors there is, as well as being probably the best Shakespearean actor living. I am not sure TH could ever better that.
I can't work out whether he knows about all the HR gifs. His willy was all over twitter when the French trailer came out and everyone realised he wasn't wearing a pouch - and we know he checks his twitter tag.
But he has since said that in HR you don't see more than you would at a beach. Either he is going to nudist beaches on the sly (if so, where???) or he doesn't quite realise how much he showed. Or he is fibbing again.
He says he is happy with nudity - I think the truth is that now he is famous he is happy to be shirtless or flash the award winning bum, but not go full frontal. That is sensible in my view - and a rare instance of him having an off switch. I think he is right not to. He deserves some privacy and once you reveal all, what is there left? Little flashes are more tantalising anyway!
We were talking about weight loss and gain. I found this on my tumblr dash today - a series of Coriolanus gifs. In gifs 3 and 4 you can see he definitely had a bit of a tum and nowhere near the six pack definition he now has. I actually prefer it and carrying a bit of extra weight shows in the arm and chest muscles.
>>403, >>404 The moment in CP is short, but very nicely done.
Another small comic moment I love is in Miss Austen Regrets when his character is about to propose. Plumptree can't decide whether or not to kneel on the grass for his proposal, and in the meantime has to wrangle those long legs.
TH probably didn't miss much with Whedon's Much Ado - the cast mostly seems to be folks that Joss worked with on his TV series.
I'm also a bit conflicted about Much Ado because I have a favorite Benedick (though from long ago) - Sam Waterston! (See https://s3.amazonaws.com/tm-photos-production/108016.jpg ) And I can imagine SRB in that role, and agree that TH might not be able to top that. It's part of why I think Berowne could be a great role for him - there aren't any definitive performances of it that I know of.
Have to admit I didn't find TH all that funny in Henry IV Pt 1, but I've only watched it one, and also I find the character of Prince Hal more annoying than comic. Plus playing opposite SRB and Jeremy Irons showed that while TH is very, very good at Shakespeare, there's still room for him to grow with it. (Age and experience have their advantages!)
I know there's been some chatter that TH is in Atlanta filming possible Thor pickups with the cast but I can guarantee Thor himself was in Melbourne yesterday. My friend saw him in a cafe wearing a dubious pair of purple jeans and was very pleased that he checked out her rack.
>>408 I saw people on Tumblr saying Chris's trainer posted about going to Atlanta but I can't see anything on his Instagram about it. His Twitter hasn't been updated since Nov. So where are people seeing this? The Tom thing they got from another person's Tumblr and we're doubting it until Taika posted pics of himself in Atlanta.
>>409 The instagram pic from 1 day ago claims he's in Atlanta:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSVVOEnFfsA/?taken-by=chris_elsa_hemsworth
>>410 Oh! I won't tell her she got the wrong Hemsworth, she'll be devastated. I cross paths with the Liam brother a fair bit. He does look similar in a better looking way.
I guess pickups/ reshoots for Thor are underway.
>>410 The location on the original poster says the Atlanta airport. So either he was arriving or leaving. If Anonon's friend saw him in Aus then he was probably arriving in the US then.
>>412 My friend posted she saw him just after midday yesterday. I don't think that's enough time to fly to Atlanta when Brisbane is closer than Melbourne.
It's illogical and highly unlikely she saw the real CH. Lucky she stopped herself from asking if she could hold his hammer.
Taika is definitely in Atlanta - I saw a set pic on IG. If Hemsworth and TH are also there it looks like they are shooting pickups. I saw reference to a tumblr based in Atlanta saying he had seen TH in the airport. Haven't seen the original post.
It would make sense of TH saying in recent interviews that his holiday was over - and to earlier slightly opaque comments that he had a full diary. As Anonon explained when we talked about KSI reshoots, pickups are arranged in advance for big projects, so he would know that this was coming up - have I understood what you said aright Anonon?
Taking shots at TH is still in season, unfortunately. The NY Post has an article allegedly confirming that Daniel Craig has signed up to do a final Bond movie.
"The source added, “Plus, Barbara Broccoli doesn’t like Tom Hiddleston, he’s a bit too smug and not tough enough to play James Bond.” "
http://pagesix.com/2017/04/03/daniel-craig-ready-for-more-007-after-slash-my-wrist-diss/
There are no other news reports of this signing, and the NY Post turned from respectable paper to a rag back in the 80s, so it's not to be trusted.
>>415, >>416 And the body of the article doesn't even say that Craig has committed, just that they're "close," unfortunately other rags/sites already picked up the slam to TH, including one headline of "Tom Hiddleston reportedly rejected as Bond for being too Tom Hiddleston." I really hope somebody signs for Bond soon so this pain point can go away. (And after seeing SI this weeekend, IMO Tom should not play Bond.)
>>417 Yes, review please! I can't get excited about paying full price for it.
>>418, >>419, >>420 My review - you did ask for detailed! In two parts, because it's too long for this field.
I’m surprised by how disappointed it left me. I was expecting good mindless entertainment, but found it only mindless. And it had the potential to be a lot better.
The trailers showed almost all of the big scenes, and some of the reviews spoiled most of the other surprises. I’m easily scared, and I only really jumped once.
The good parts: many of the set pieces with the monsters, some of the other creatures, beautiful scenery, nice cinematography at some points. Loving close-ups of early 70s tech – rotary phones, portable turntables. And the soundtrack (CCR, etc.)
The worst parts: the plot, the dialogue, and the pacing. The plot premise boiled down to “we have to get from one end of the island to the other in 3 days to catch our ride.” The dialogue was lame, especially the supposedly witty banter between Tom and Brie’s characters. (One line made me snort out loud, but it was so lousy that now I can’t remember it!) And letting the actors improvise wasn’t a good choice; they need to keep their day jobs when it comes to comic interactions…. The pacing was off, to me. Many scenes could have been much richer with just a little more time; and other scenes seemed to have had seconds snipped out that caused minor continuity gaps.
Missed potential: letting the characterizations build so the characters change during the story. To me, they all seemed either stuck where they were at the start of the story, or they changed suddenly for no reason. Sam Jackson was better than I expected, but JVR should have done something to let him turn into Ahab more slowly; as is, that happens almost at the beginning, so SLJ has nowhere to go. John Goodman’s character turns out to have a significant backstory, but we get no hint of the craziness/obsession that it should have caused in the man until he tells the story, and even then it’s mild. And maybe I missed it in between all the action scenes, but Tom/Conrad goes from cynical at the start to “let’s save Kong!” without any transition between the two states.
>>421 2nd part of my review:
So, Tom. I got the sense that the bar scene towards the start was added because otherwise, there was no clear reason for Conrad to be part of the expedition. There was nothing for the character to track, and no jungle survival skills shown that any of the other military characters couldn’t have shown too. But it really felt like many of Tom’s scenes were cut. He’s set up at the start to be a major character (including one Titantic-like shot on the ship to the island), but with what’s left, he’s at most a foil to SLJ and John C. Reilly’s characters.
And there must have been more of a relationship with Brie’s character originally. (When she’s coming to after an accident, he tells her “it’s me!” as if that were significant. A real jungle survivalist should have checked for vital signs and started doing CPR instead!)
Tom is OK in what was left of his character, but only OK. He looks great, of course, but has little more to do than stand and pose with his rifle, or walk or run with his rifle. The gas-mask samuri bit is pointless except as a cool visual – he’s not really protecting anyone or driving off the flying creatures. And he just doesn’t come off as alpha male enough to provide real conflict with either Sam Jackson or John Reilly’s characters. (I strongly suspect the reason the character is a Brit is that Tom couldn’t project the kind of overtly macho toughness that you’d see in an American Special Forces vet, for example.)
If it’s any consolation, Brie’s character is also pretty pointless except for the obligatory scenes with Kong. Pity, because much more also could have been done with her and the character’s POV as a questioning photographer. (I think some of the critics had to extrapolate pretty hard to find the themes they claimed to find in this.)
The best scene for Tom and Brie turned out to be the post-credits one. Tom got to show a little range, and one exchange was actually clever.
I’d say that at this point, unless a theater near you is still showing it in Imax or at least 3-D, don’t bother going unless you really, really like monster movies. (I saw it in regular 2-D and Kong and the monsters just weren’t all that impressive.) I probably will rent the DVD from my library just to see the deleted scenes, and to see if any of the extra features explain why JVR or the studio decided what they did. They certainly didn’t end up with a “kind of movie we loved as kids” like Raiders or Star Wars, which is what they apparently sold to Tom.
>>415 Wow. The dailymail has posted the Pagesix Bond article and the comments from readers about Tom are brutal. My my. I mentioned before that Bond producer BB was producing Craig off Broadway in Othello, and for that reason, Craig has been in bed with BB all this time. He was always going to return, and all the younger actors for Bond in the headlines was just PR to keep us involved with the franchise until they come up with a solid script and a release date, which I truly hope they do.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4381136/Daniel-Craig-poised-return-James-Bond.html
>>422 Thank you! Great review. It is kind of what I expected. Just goes to show that quality has little to do with box office.
As for Tom: I can't get over the fake beard in the trailer - and the fact that the "let me list all the ways you're going to die" line sounded so hackneyed, over-rehearsed and unconvincing. It sounds strained, not like his natural voice. I guess it had been filmed in Vietnam (hence the original pics of him sans beard) and then reshot in NYC. So it must have been rehearsed a LOT. If this is Tom at Peak Butch I can see why they didn't go for him as a replacement for Daniel Craig (though I do think there is room for another suave as opposed to thuggish Bond, but there you go).
I'm not sure whether to say; LOL, Ouch or Duh.
http://crazydaysandnights.net/2017/04/blind-items-revealed-5-676.html
>>425 I think I am going to go with "yawn." I am not that surprised that he might be defensive about it since it is raised during every single press junket some way or another.
Yes, he is privileged by his upbringing. Asking him about it won't make him give any better answer - journalists aren't very original in the questions they ask! He is also privileged by being unbelievably good looking. Plenty of people in Hollywood are and they use that privilege to achieve careers that they don't deserve through talent! Maybe they should ask him about his genetic privilege...!!!
>>424 When I first heard the "let me list" line in one of the trailers, it sounded fine. In the movie, though, it and his whole speech seem really rushed. And Conrad never really shows that much cynicism again. It's one of the bits that imply there was a lot more left on the cutting room floor (or that the character wasn't well thought out in the first place).
I agree that Tom would fit the suave Bond mold better than the thuggish one, but I still feel that he's missing something needed for the role. Brosnan and Moore had that natural cockiness for the role and Tom doesn't (when he tries to play cocky in interviews, it comes off as more camp, IMO). Which is why the "too smug" reaction attributed to the producer is rather funny.
He also doesn't really come off to me as dangerous in roles such as Conrad or Pine, and even the suave Bonds need to be dangerous at times - the character is a killer, after all. I think Bond needs a quality that automatically angers the villian, just through the force of Bond's personality.
Now, if the producer wanted to take the franchise and character in a different direction, Tom could be interesting in the role. But I can't believe Broccoli would choose that approach.
>>423 At least the DM refrained from what I fear would be the first set of photos if Tom were cast. Daniel Craig bare-chested and beefy in the ocean from Casino Royale, and TH tank-topped and pale in the ocean from Taymerica. Almost my first reaction to the T-shirt picture was "there goes any chance of Bond."
All the "who will be the next Bond?" PR also might have been partly to put some pressure on Craig to finalize the deal -- "look at all the guys we could get to replace you!" And it certainly helped flog the franchise while that got sorted.
Some UK supporters do not think he is smug, and still want TH for Bond in the future. The dream is still alive, I guess. I'm still a Daniel Craig girl. Way too soon to consider anyone else, for me.
There will be TH sightings this weekend. He's on a panel about TNM on Sunday afternoon: http://www.radiotimes.com.edgesuite.net/news/2017-04-05/tom-hiddleston-joins-the-bfi--radio-times-television-festival-line-up
As of my lunchtime, no news on if he'll be at the Olivier Awards just after that. But I believe Kenneth Branagh is receiving an award, and TH will probably attend even if he's not presenting.
Taken March 16th according to the comments, while on promo tour for K:SI, either going to or coming from Mexico City:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSfeZVulYHd/
K:SI broke the $500M worldwide sales mark.
http://deadline.com/2017/04/kong-skull-island-crosses-500m-boosted-by-china-1202064019/
>>434 Just another day in TH's new life. Spotted walking in the park and stopping to check on a little girl who'd crashed her scooter. Someone else sees the tweets and chimes in with a Snake reference and disses him.
Captcha: fi
And here he is: com
Sorry, don't know what happened there: https://www.instagram.com/p/BSoakMfDFVk/
>>437 Apparently TH was with his agent, Christian Hoddell, on Primrose Hill. And Tom was heard talking about a noir thriller. Not sure if he was talking a book, a play, a new film script, or watching classic pictures on Turner Classic Movies : )
>>438 Tom was supposedly attached to 'Black Wings Has My Angel' years ago...maybe it's been dusted off. Would make such a great film.
Thor Rag trailer is online and trending all over the place. Tom looks so good.
>>441 Tumblr has gone into complete meltdown. He is does look so good, totally wasted peak hottness on Tayto.
TNM passed over for a lot of BAFTA nomn categories, including lead actor. Tom Hollander was nom'd. http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fentertainment-arts-39563454&t=YjI4YjJmNWJjNjZmM2ExNzU0ZDE2NzQ4Mzk0ZDYwMjIyOTM3Y2JmZCx1eUxhWmJYWQ%3D%3D&b=t%3AwtihBn2-rFBsXVQ3xZvuag&p=http%3A%2F%2Finsanely-smart.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F159446289248%2Fbafta-tv-awards-tom-hiddleston-and-the-night&m=1
>>443 BBC news complete analysis for why TNM was shut out of the awards, except for the great performance by Tom Hollander. Everything from TNM's implausible plot and inconsistent reviews, to TH fatigue due to the TS PR relationship and the OTT GG "inelegant" acceptance speech, to the fact that the BAFTA has fewer category spots, to the push for diversity in the actors nominated for acting awards, to the public's penchant for period pieces over modern pieces, and the intl shooting locations instead of local UK shooting locations is considered. Not sure how I feel about this. Olivia Coleman was nominated by the BAFTA for her performance in Fleabag, but not for TNM. TNM was not a groundbreaking masterpiece by any means, but it was a deeply involving and gorgeously directed mystery thriller the captivated international audiences ( it was harder to reach US audiences on the cable AMC channel.) I love the book, but I really didn't connect to the new War and Peace adaptation, to say it mildly. This feels like a slight since TNM almost swept the GG awards, Hugh Laurie is so successful in the US due to House, and since the BAFTAs don't really seem to enjoy recognizing Tom. Remember when TH didn't even get nominated for playing Prince Hal in the Hollow Crown series? That was wild. Didn't think Tom deserved to win for the Hollow Crown, but his performance was the ballast of the show. Of course Cumberbatch was deservedly nominated for playing Richard III for Hollow Crown this year.
The new trailer for Thor looks wicked. I hope that the script is good and that the director Taika Waititi and CB rocked it. Loki always pops. TH has that character in command and the public loves Loki.
>>443>>444 http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-39564174
Sorry for the long post!
>>444 I am slightly over British awards shows after the Harry Potter plays (aka, another attempt to wring cash out of a franchise that everyone thought was finished) won more Oliviers than any other theatrical production. Ever.
PS no need to apologise for long post! x
>>441 It is a great trailer. I actually really want to see this, especially for Jeff Goldblum at Def Con Eyeliner.
Not so sure about the new Loki hair though. It looks a bit - curly mullet....!
Slightly creepy stolen pic from a fan of TH heading home from a run in London yesterday, wearing a brand new running hoodie/jacket.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSvF99HDIbp/?taken-by=tomhiddleston_daily
>>444 I think the BBC article was just continuing their sniping at Tom, rather than that the BAFTA voters would pass over Laurie and Coleman (and the series) just because he's in it too. (I suspect it was a combination of some of the other reasons the BBC article suggested.) It was nice to see that, so far at least, not too many other outfits jumped to harp on the snub to TH; I was seeing more surprise at all the different snubs. May go to show that TV really is where a lot of the best work is now happening.
>>447 "DefCon Eyeliner" and "curly mullet" - lol! I can't wait to see the craziness that is Goldblum encounter Loki's snark. The mullet-like locks could be deliberate; there's been a lot of mention of the movie's "retro 80s" look (for example, the logo: http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/thor/news/a820386/thor-ragnarok-logo-retro/ ).
>>448 Agreed. Much prefer the little stories of encounters without pix (such as the woman who ran into him twice in one day and was proud that the 2nd time, she managed not to exclaim "Holy fuck!" to his face. Or one from yesterday in which someone, behind him in line for coffee, was checking out his ass before realizing that it "was Tom Hiddleston's ass!").
>>447, >>449 Meant to mention that I didn't really notice Loki's hair - I was paying far too much attention to how the new helmet emphasizes those cheekbones....
>>450 The new outfit appears to be devoid of the infamous modesty flap that covered the Hiddlebulge in Avengers and TTDW! I have now seen enough outtakes of Thor to see that his crotch was indeed reduced in post production to make it look less obtrusive in the final cut In the outtakes it is so comically large that it looks like he has socks down there. Taika doesn't appear to have a problem with this!!
TH: I've had a rough summer. Can I show off my bulge?
TW: Okay, fine.
>>455 Compare his outfit in the first Thor to the second film. In the first, behind the scenes photos show a prominent bulge, which was flattened post-production via CGI for the final edit. In the second, his outfit was redesigned to hide his groin; this was confirmed by one of the wardrobe designers.
Second - https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/f2/73/22/f27322048540eef2aef476c0959a24bb.gif
This third movie, the outfit seems redesigned again, no flap. Giving the fans what they want, I suppose.
>>456 Imagine being the digital artist who had to come in day after day to retouch Tom's crotch. Wonder how you'd go about putting that on your resume?
>>453>>454 Thanks. So remember last year when I joked about the crazy Russian giving Syrian Hitler chemical weapons? Yeah, it was a bit of a joke around the office too, mostly people telling me that Assad had gotten rid of his weapons, would never use them, the Russians would never support their use, etc. Recent events meant my paper was dusted off and my maternity leave interrupted. I've been answering lots of questions from men in uniform in not NYC while trying not to yell 'I told you so' at the top of my lungs - all with an infant in tow. Thank Jesus, I got to come home for Holy Week.
I could really use some TH fuckery to lighten the mood. On the upside, I'm not the North Korean expert in the office! I'm going to go eat my body weight in chocolate and maybe try to score some Lithium.
Happy Easter everyone!
Happy Easter, everyone! 🐰🐣
>>459 It is so good to hear from you again - I love the idea of you telling defence bigwigs how it is while Junior glares at them from your arms.
I see from the papers that mercifully the new N Korean missile did a Wily Coyote style Acme bomb fail and exploded shortly after being launched.
TH has been rather quiet in your absence save for a brief trip to Atlanta, probably to shoot pickups. Now laying low. There is a rumour circulating on tumblr that he is involved in a project about Robert the Bruce, starting shooting in September. No announcement from his people, but apparently a subscription-only production site is showing activity for a movie now called Outlaw King. This rumour has been circulating for a looooong time, since about 2014 - I recall we posted about a DM article saying he would play RTB in a project which was then called Lion Rampant.
And he is back chez mama this weekend. Arrived late Friday night or yesterday.
I think it's more solid than a rumor at this point; it's listed on IMDBPro as "Outlaw King" with his name attached and filming in Scotland to begin in September or October, I forget which. I'm crossing fingers and toes they take him back to his The Hollow Crown/Henry V hair and beard.
>>461 Yes please to his Henriad hair and beard. In chain mail for the battle scenes, he looks like a knight from a medieval tomb come to life.
>>460 Far less impressive. Baby was in the hotel room with my MIL - the only person I could get to come as babysitter on short notice. It was me and my supervisor facing questions we couldnt answer, which was on me since it was a shitty paper. My whole argument was he did it once, he will likely do it again, and he values power more than human life - those people are happy to use chemical weapons. The kicker was we were slapped on the wrist for not Erin Brockovitching it enough by pressing the paper further up in govt channels. Not the best few days of my professional life. Probably karma for me criticizing TH so much!
TL; DR I really needed a dirty beer, as we say in humitarian circles.
>>461 Am I alone in fearing another case of accent overload? Scottish instead of Southern, which is better, but trotted out for every interview. It will be good as it really is a return to his wheelhouse.
>>463 Sounds like a classic case of Orwellian doublethink: we ignored what you told us so it is your fault for not telling us repeatedly!
What interests me most about the project is that the reports about it back in 2015 seem to have been accurate. Another case of my theory that many stories have that grain of truth. It is not as if there have been loads of "shot in the dark" stories over the last couple of years about projects - just this one and the dreaded Richard II (maybe that is true as well - or maybe James Ivory met TH at a party and he said "oh that sounds nice" and JI has been fantasising about casting him ever since).
Something nobody has mentioned yet: kilts!
I am worried about the accent now. The Scottish accent he did in that ghastly BTS GQ vid was not good.....
>>464 I think this project was in the leaked Sony emails. I can't remember the circumstances though but it's been in the pipeline for a while. Don't forget about Bond, although I think that shot came from him and his people.
Oh those chicken calves of his! Mini kilts to get some thigh in there?
Sorry to plant the seed! I think it is a project suited to him. However, the actor who played RTB in Braveheart really captured my idea of the man: dark, brooding, a little shaggy. Maybe worlds away from the real man, but the stuff of my imagination.
>>465 I hadn't forgotten Bond - I was thinking more in terms of him being rumoured to be attached to a specific project as opposed to generically to a role (Hard Boiled is another, though sine that comes from Ben Wheatley I think we can say that is not really a rumour).
The legs in a kilt - not so good, unless the wind blows. It is true what they say.
>>466 Windy Scottish Highlands - don't fail us!
>>426 Speaking of being unbelievably good looking, you'll want to click on these:
http://kurtiswarienko.com/ARCHIVE/Tom-Hiddleston/thumbs
I forgot to add: Click on the Sam L. Jackson archive on the left sidebar; there are pictures of him, Brie and Tom. Looking over the rest of the archive, this photographer really did an excellent job with everyone.
Speaking at the Cambridge Union this term. https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/12725
I think this is notable because he has been very little (if at all) in evidence at his college or at Cambridge since he became famous. He has done a lot more for RADA over the years.
Time on his hands?
Also seen by the paps carrying 2 coffees and 2 bags of food back to his home (on Good Friday, I think). Pics on Torrilla. A lot of speculation on tumblr about who that second coffee was for.
>>471, >>472 The Varsity article says that he'll be speaking about his work with UNICEF, so it may be a combo of giving back to Cambridge and having an opportunity to discuss his other charitable work (and maybe the documentary). Of course, the other announcement I saw about this had to throw in a TS reference.
In other news, it sounds as though Ben Wheatley is still working on the Hard Boiled script. So I'm guessing it won't be until next year that that project really starts for Tom. http://lrmonline.com/news/exclusive-ben-wheatley-on-his-hard-boiled-adaptation
It was Good Friday so the second cup was for Jesus.
I am now hoping he doesn't have a showmance with Jesus this summer.
Speaking of... Gossip Cop is debunking an 'article' from Celeb Dirty Laundry (who? what?) which says that TH is still pining after TS.
'The unfounded allegation comes from the repeatedly discredited Celeb Dirty Laundry, which claims the actor is still “carrying a torch for his former flame.” Without any proof or information from sources, the often disproven site purports, “In [Hiddleston’s] most recent GQ interview, the actor gushed about his former girlfriend.” “Many thought” the actor was still “pining” for Swift,” adds the outlet with absolutely zero evidence to back up its speculation.
Let Gossip Cop set the record straight. A source close to Hiddleston assures us the entire report is “baseless” and “not true.” The actor had a great time dating Swift, but he is not “still in love” with the singer. While Hiddleston spoke kindly of Swift in his GQ interview, describing her as an “incredible” and “amazing” woman, it does not mean he’s “pining” for his ex.'
What did he expect after that article?!? I joked up above about a Jesus showmance but I hope this isn't the run up to Summer of Fuckery '17. Why even both denying an article from a publication no one has ever heard of? There's clearing the air and then there's laying the ground work. I can't tell which one this is. My mommy sense is tingling but that could just be because the WHCD and the Met are coming up. Shudders.
>>476 If I compare it to 2016, then most likely laying down the groundwork. He banged the drum a lot about being single and not being with EO before the Met gala. Then the Met shenanigans happened and BAM! Summer of 2016 blinded everyone.
I wouldn't be surprised if he walks out with a new summer girlfriend. Who may or may not end up pregnant and engaged to him before the year is up. He could follow in his dear friend Benedict's footsteps. Or maybe I'm just being cynical because of last summer.
>>476>>477 No no. It's such a funny story, because the crazy Hiddleswift followers who refuse to let the dream of the former fake romance die, assumed that the Easter Weekend pics of Tom carrying 2 cups of coffee meant that one of the coffees was for TS, and that they were headed up to Suffolk to visit his family b/c TS is pregnant with his baby! I am not joking. Apparently there was a charter jet that flew from Nashville to London and the Swifties track those flights for evidence of their alleged relationship. This is ridiculous b/c not only is the fauxmance long over, but TS has her own planes when she wants to travel. Anyway, a Tom tumblr blog so quickly got fed up with the rumours that she personally contacted gossip cop, and Tom's people immediately debunked the story w/in a handful of hours. No idea about what is coming this summer (hopefully Wimbledon) but Tom's worker bees seem to be determined to disassociate Tom from last summers' madness. Thank goodness.
>>478>>477>>476 So sorry. Forgot to say that the crazy Swiftie Hiddleswift rumors started the rumors that TS was with Tom Easter weekend and specifically that the GQ article meant that he was definitely still in love with her, the Celebrity Dirty Laundry website picked up on the HS shipper hysteria and wrote an article about their conspiracy about a reunion, the Tom blog reported the BS to Gossip Cop, and Team Tom quickly debunked the rumors before morning. Can't wait for Ben Wheatley's Hardboiled film, with Tom. I'm definitely going to see his last film, Free Fire, this weekend. I hope the reviews are wrong.
>>476 In their article, GC mentions that a couple of their "debunks" (my quotation marks) last summer were of Celebrity Dirty Laundry TayTo articles. Maybe that site is a hot button for Tom's team - at least something finally woke them up!
>>476, >>477, >>478 Suspect Sosorry is right that this is more about continuing to kill the dead horse as publicly as possible, rather than a set up for a new gf this summer, they jumped on it so quickly. At least I hope so - because I really doubt that either he or his team is ready to avoid all the potential landmines of going public with a new romance. A showmance with Jesus might be preferable.
Latest Torilla pix are Exhibit A of why TH would need to work on his kilt legs .
http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fm.weibo.cn%2Fstatus%2F4100148474729910&t=MmU0ZDM5YWU5YmQ0ODJlYTYwYTZiNGMwZjNlZjE5Njk4MDY3OGYxNSxZTFdiR0hOdw%3D%3D&b=t%3AQLCJ6d11c3gelrHTpSEJ1Q&p=https%3A%2F%2Fzerofucksclub.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F159942153111%2Fwhoa-loads-of-great-pictures-from-yesterday-and&m=1
Captcha: tuttable
>>481 Terrible skinny legs; great sporran-area definition. And this was on a bloody cold day in London.
>>482 Maybe he's toughening up for fall and winter outdoor shoots in Scotland?
>>484 Well, that would stink for Tom; even if he didn't want the role, the gossip sites will treat it as a slap. The new casting hasn't been officially announced yet, though. So at least we can think about kilts for a wee bit longer.
Tumblr meltdown. Amazingly Clever has finally admitted that not having any projects announced for this length of time is Not Normal. That this may mean that TH has been adversely affected by the Summer of Tayto.
>>486 hahaha! She really thought his career wasn't going to take a hit after that terrible summer? She better rethink that "producer" part in her Tumblr bio because she does not posses any producer instincts. Anyone could see whatever momentum Tom had after TNM, the snake charmer role dashed it all. He might take some more hits after she comes out with new music.
He's going to struggle for a bit and still being with Marvel won't help with getting dates for any projects he does land.
>>487 Another example of having fallen from the Hot list to the Mocked one. Some of the guys proposed for these bedtime stories get praised, but TH gets made fun of (though fairly gently). Doubt he'll be at the WHCD this year as the Guardian's guest....
Apparently the dapper older gentleman speaking with Tom in his running clothes in front of the cafe is Simon Cornwall, one of the sons of author John Le Carre. Simon and his brother Stephen were both producers of the Night Manager. It looks like TH and Simon just ran into each other spontaneously, or perhaps TNM sequel is really happening, whether there is a plausible an engaging continuing story, or not. Also, a Gossip Cop just had to deny that TH blames former faux belle TS for loss of the James Bond role, and again states he is not clamoring to get back together with her. My oh my.
http://m.weibo.cn/k/Tom%20Hiddleston?from=feed#&gid=1&pid=4
http://www.gossipcop.com/tom-hiddleston-blames-taylor-swift-losing-james-bond-role/
>>489 Simon Cornwell! My auto correct changed the name.
https://inkfactoryfilms.com/our-team/
>>489 Gossip Cop gave their denial a "1" rather than a "0." So does he blame her for losing Bond, but just a little bit? Wasn't in talks for Bond so blames her for losing other work? Or someone GC contacted forgot about the NDA for a minute?
Yay for career news! TH is speaking in June 2017 at the Cannes Festival of Creativity.
https://www.seecannes.com/news/hiddleston-and-mirren-at-cannes-lions-2017-707470?platform=hootsuite
>>484,486 Ruh roh. Has anyone informed the veranda? The rose tinted glasses had to fog up at some point. Of course Fuckery '16 was going to affect his career. The Pollyannas were mad to think that it wouldn't. We sensible lot never suggested that he would never work in Hollywood again. All we said was there would be repercussions - maybe small, maybe large but something.
>>491 That 1 is odd. Remember they gave the article about TS paying for everything a 1 because she paid for the jet fuel but TH picked up the tab for the swan pastries or his medicinal t-shirt? Maybe a 1 because TH doesn't blame her directly but the relationship in general. Of course the only one to blame is....
>>493 This actually makes me worry. I wouldn't class this as career news strictly. It's not scraping the barrel's bottom, the line-up is wonderful. But this seems like a networking thing, an attempt to meet people as a career move. Surely what he'd want to be doing is filming something, not talking about how creative he is. Do we think this is a paid gig? Is the Cambridge union paid? My gut tells me 'yes' to both.
>>493 Also note the descriptors: Oscar winning actress, multi-Grammy award-winning, Academy award-winning, actress and entrepreneur. TH gets 'heart-throb actor.'
Are we not mentioning the Oldengay Obeglay because of the circumstances which followed?
>>494>>495 I am in favor of any new conversation that is not about personal life rumors : ) I'm having an idea. Tom seems to idealize his coworker from High Rise and the Hollow Crown Series, Jeremy Irons. Irons worked with a series of phenomenal international directors in smaller art house films. With Louis Malle in the deliciously twisted Damage film based on the Hart novel, and in the Schlondorff adaptation of the Proust novel Remembrance of Things Past, the french period piece Swann in Love, where a wealthy intellectual falls in love with his courtesan lover to the detriment of his social standing in 1890s Paris. Does anyone else remember Irons as a diplomat in M. Butterfly, who accidentally falls in love with a Japanese performer who turns out to be a man? Anyway,I think Tom would be awesome working in a small french film with a costar like Isabelle Huppert in a film like Elle, or just working in any cohesive and innovative sexual thriller wih GB director, Adrian Lyne? I think TH has to find a well written script and a proven consistent director, and he has a much better chance of that with smaller projects, with a French or Danish director? Cannes networking could be great for this. Alternatively, he could try for a supporting role in a Wes Anderson film? Would love to see him in a comedy.
>>496 This would be great; it's a respectable career trajectory. You should probably be directing his career. Problem is this doesn't seem to be what he wants or what he can get. He's not busy emulating JI and working with IH. He's busy making monkey movies, voicing an animated caveman and fauxmancing with popstars.
I'm sure he can tun this around. How and when will be the interesting bits.
>>493, >>494 This could be really productive networking for him - there's an Entertainment sub-conference: https://www.canneslions.com/festival/lions-entertainment
And while it's not performing, I think he'll find it intellectually stimulating. (Plus, if he's given a talk rather than being interviewed, he'll get to work on his public speaking....) Agree that it probably is a paid gig, though likely at an honorarium level.
>>495 At least "heart-throb" is better than last summer's description of "tabloid headliner"! And they did use a picture of him holding up his GG in the photo carousel in the announcement (though that could be taken two ways).
What I hope that he gets out of this is that a bunch of branding and PR experts take him out and get just enough booze into him to make him receptive. Then they should drill into his head an understanding of branding (and what last summer's escapade did to his brand) and what strong PR representation looks like!
>>496, >>497 He should be so lucky as to have a JI kind of career! And I think Tom is well suited to be a leading man in those kinds of films. But I agree that may not be what he wants at this point, especially since his last few indies weren't well reviewed (even if his performances were).
Hard to tell if he could get those kind of top-notch indie directors and scripts right now, at least without having to fight for them. My gut says that those are the kinds of people who may want to wait another year or so for the Tayto images to fade. On the other hand, he seems to be very good at forming relationships with directors quickly during casting discussions, so he might be able to get someone to take a chance on him that way.
Does anyone else have the feeling that he tends to take whatever bright, shiny project comes his way rather than being more strategic about his career? (Or perhaps I should say realistic, since he might think he's being strategic in going for a supposed lead in an action movie, without thinking it through enough to remember than no one really remembers the actors who were in a monster movie.) I think "ooh, bright shiny" might explain taking Early Man - though no disrespect to Aardman intended! Or he just needed to work on something fun to cheer himself up after his disastrous summer.
Hello all!
It's all most odd isn't it? I believe that the Cambridge gig is not paid - or not more than minimally (in terms of free travel etc). Appearing at the Oxford or Cambridge Union is a big deal and you are meant to do it for the honour, because it means you have arrived as a sleb/intellectual/politician. The Union couldn't possibly afford to have paid half the people I saw when I was a student - Stephen Fry, Seamus Heaney, Ian McKellen etc.
I totally agree that attending Cannes to talk about anything other than an actual project looks like networking - and/or an attempt to keep his name "out there."
As for whether he is strategic - I think he thinks he is. But as with many things in TH's career, he overthinks it and tries to be too clever by half. Appearing desperate or overkeen or overambitious isn't a huge turn on in many professions. Trying to be a bit more relaxed gets you more gigs. Works in my line of business too.
I also think he has the tin ear for projects that many stars have - if the idea is good, they think that their genius will make a star project out of a stinker script. Never happens. Or rarely - KSI has performed well (still haven't seen it) without anything like a good script from what I hear.
PS though - he was spotted in Durham in the last couple of days and it has been strongly rumoured that filming of a Large Project is taking place in Durham Cathedral. (i.e. Marvel). For once the insanely clever one might be onto something - she suggested that there may be another "is Loki dead?" cliffhanger at the end of TR. Hence if he is in IW he has to keep it super secret or the cliffhanger will be spoiled. She did then ruin it by saying he couldn't possibly have made it to Durham on the day he was seen (he was seen at the theatre in London only the evening before) as it was a 6h drive! This slightly forgets the fact that Durham is less than 3h by train from London.
>>500 Re: Cannes - unless there's a surprise announcement about an upcoming project, about which they may be waiting until closer to June, I agree with Anon that it's networking.
And it doesn't look as obvious at something more serious like a talk, compared to showing up at a bunch of movie openings that he's not involved in (which he did in 2010/11), or at a bunch events. Whoopi Goldberg once said she went through a particularly thirsty period between The Color Purple and Ghost where she would "show up at the opening of an envelope" to keep her name out there.
>>501 I saw the tweet from someone saying he was in Durham but there was no photo evidence. How do we know for sure? I'm not saying I don't want to see him in the movie, just wondering if it was verified. Since they're filming in multiple cities, the tweet may be a decoy and he may secretly be at the Atlanta location instead.
>>500 KSI did not have anything like a good script; some of the dialogue made me laugh for the wrong reasons! But a giant monkey smashing helicopters obviously made up for that in terms of box office.
>>501, >>502 No pix of him in Durham that I've seen, at least. A lot of "oh, the rumor is..." tweets. And I think it was the insanely clever one who questioned why he'd be in Durham already when the rest of the cast isn't due there until next week.
I hope Marvel doesn't pull another "is Loki dead?" They've already used his supposed death twice. If they keep it up, Tom could just keep playing Loki into old age - "He's Back!" version 42....
Yeah, the Cambridge gig probably isn't paid, beyond travel and such. I was thinking it was like a commencement address, but it's not. Perhaps another side to this and the Cannes event is an attempt to grab back a little seriousness from the blackhole of Tayto.
>>503 Yes to the no more 'dead' Loki cliffhanger. Besides Crazy Intelligent has proven one thing: she doesn't know her ass from her elbow. The Marvel spoilers posted earlier said that Loki would be in IW as an ally. If those are correct, maybe that will show up at the end of Thor III.
Anyone else hoping that he has to film with EO? TH must have some WTF questions for her. Not only did she happily stroll with her new man but she's posting often on IG! He would be forgiven for thinking it was about a year or so too late!
EO's attitude is interesting - she was completely open about her fiancé and happy to be photographed with him, and she is open about this new guy. Yet in the middle.....
I personally think it is because she had overlap, or because TH was her rebound guy. Most people wouldn't wish to shout it from the rooftops that they ended their engagement after cheating, or that having done so they hopped into the sack with someone else within weeks. The relationship having lasted longer than filming it appears that someone (and now we know who) wanted to take advantage of it for publicity....
>>501 Tom was spotted north of London on the A1in Grantham/UK on twitter sophie_allen13 on twitter. Perhaps on his way to Durham for IW, but no one knows.
>>504>>505 I have no idea what happened b/twn EO and TH on the set of ISTL (I wasn't under the bed and they're both young and attractive people) but those G&W pics and date night were all staged for PR. Tom only goes to G&W when he wants to be papped. Period. He's always "found" there. And EO has always been media mindful with her PR Au Bon Pain, farmers market, and staged gym pics. EO just hasn't done social media till recently b/c despite being in the Godzilla and Avengers franchises, EO doesn't get consistent big dramatic roles like JLaw, Rooney Mara, or Emily Blunt. Brie L somehow broke out through her indie work. TH was never spotted with a woman the whole 5 months he filmed TNM abroad, at any time. And we know that EO was vacationing with girlfriends in Hawaii b/c her gal pals posted to Instagram. I think that TH assumed that people would automatically believe the TS stunt b/c the only thing his PR team did to build the Loki/Scarlett Witch narrative previously was post two days of pics with EO, and leak rumours to the paps for months till ISTL underperformed at the film festivals.
Well, I buggered that right up, didn't I?
>>509 Hahah. The board is temperamental sometimes. It's happened to all of us.
>>508 At the time so many thought it was just more cringey Korea type dancing. A few here who knew TS's track record and glimpsed TH's thirst were suspicious. Anonon I think was one. This board can pull out its crystal ball from time to time!
In hindsight a comment on Dlisted described one of his dance moves as looking like he was digging a grave for his career. Were his dance moves prophetic?
So to celebrate Tayto Contract Day, here's a question: hindsight is 20/20; given what he knows now, would TH refuse the offer or still say yes but do it differently?
>>508 You know that swifties are praying this will happen. She'll send the jet and they'll make their triumphant return to couplehood.
Interesting conundrum! I actually think/hope/believe/am still deluded enough to believe that he would say no. His vast publicity team didn't exactly manage the situation - and who could? I don't think any publicist could have predicted how badly that pairing would turn out, how instantly everyone would shout "fake" - it never happened wth any of her previous beards. Thus nobody could have contained it once it started down its preordained path. So doing it differently wasn't an option, I think.
I also think "doing it differently" isn't in the Taylor lexicon, or the point of a fake relationship. If a celebrity couple fall over in a forest and nobody sees them, does it make a noise? (Or something!!) My point is that there is no point in doing a fauxmance subtly. You have to get the pics out there. Not least because subtlety drags the whole process out for months longer, which any tolerably normal person would decline.
Would TH do it again assuming it could not have been executed better and ended the same way? I guess not. He can't possibly think this has improved his career or personal life - can he?!
Allegedly was at a wedding in Lincolnshire. Not sure what to make of this one:
com/not_imaginative/status/858983404456603648
You would go up the A1 to get to Lincolnshire. But you would also go up the A1 to get to (or home from, assuming the previous sighting was right) Durham.
>>510, >>512 That is an interesting question! And the underlying questions are - did he really learn anything from the experience, and if so what and how much?
I'm thinking that he'd say no, because I agree with Anon that there's not much he could do to do it differently. He and his team were just so completely over-matched by her and hers. Even the bits he might have controlled (not including his family in the beach pap strolls, removing the tank-top-of-doom) couldn't have prevented her from shutting down the show once she'd gotten what she needed from it.
Unless he has a cast-iron ego, and I doubt that, the outcome cannot have improved his personal life. His integrity was questioned, he was humiliatingly thrown under the bus by a 26-year old (and by only 'sources,' at that - she's yet to say a word about him directly). The questions and paps keep coming, and will pick back up in intensity at the end of this year during T:R publicity. And if he or his team paid attention to the recent Jake G. and Harry S. interviews, they should know that last summer could come back to haunt Tom at any time.
Career effects, we can't know. But even if the publicity had gotten him Bond, for example - in the long term, how would he have felt about having gotten the role that way rather than having earned it based on his talent (if he were honest with himself)?
>>515 Another thing to think of: if the timing of her next album coincides with T:R, especially if it's released before the movie, it'll be worse for him, even if she finally says something complimentary about him.
>>516 I was thinking about the likely overlap of T:R publicity and the album release. There's also supposed to be a (presumably unauthorized) biography of him coming out in the fall; it's listed on Amazon. Let's hope that Marvel is very careful about where and to whom they send him.
>>511 Did anyone else see that Gucci dressed tennis ace Prince Roger Federer in a tuxedo with a giant beaded Cobra Snake on the back for the Met Ball this year?! Not sure if I can imagine TH in this tuxedo, so I'm glad that Tom is relaxing in the UK.
http://tennisnerd.net/news/federer-met-gala-cobra-suit-from-gucci/5479
>>510>>512 Great hypothetical question! I think Tom would choose to do the dance off at the Met Ball with TS, only. Karlie's video of the two dancing went round the world, and since TS had a faux relationship with CH at the time, Tom would been able to quickly reap the PR benefits of Swift world with a woman who was perceived to be out of play, and then he could have extricated himself from additional speculation by minding his own business. Funny analysis of the lessons we have all learned from the PR stunt, which are given to commemorate the anniversary of faux HS.
http://theberry.com/2017/05/02/its-been-one-year-since-hiddleswift-was-unleashed-upon-us-lr/?utm_source=twitter&utm_source=Direct
>>517 Biography - whaaaa?! Link, please?
>>518 I didn't see it until now. I can' t imagine Th with it either.
>>510 >>512 >>519 I think #4 of the article is the key. A lot of people realize how driven he is, but since most of us don't deal with him day to day, we don't realize how intense he is.
So I'm going with - yes, he might want to do it again and hope for a better outcome using what he learned about her, but he WON'T because he's too ambitious to shoot himself in the foot twice.
Right?
>>521 Oh that's weird. I know it's unofficial but even then I don't think he's achieved enough to warrant a biography. I don't think he's even done one singular thing of significance yet that's had some magnitude effect impact on the world (dating TS and wearing the tank that was heard around the world doesn't count) to justify a biography. He's not even 40 yet lol What is up with this biography business? confused
>>516 She won't ever say anything about him, complimentary or not. She lets her songs do the commenting. He'll be answering questions about her until he goes in the grave; she just drops an album.
Agree with >>520. I think he'd do it again. He has that tin ear Anon spoke about and the actor's curse of thinking he can save any project with his talent. I fear he's somewhere saying to himself that it would be fine if he didn't do the family stroll and the t-shirt. He's just crazy enough for that. Shame and regret will keep him from Tayto 2.
>>520 Hahaha. This looks like an e-book special released as a paperback - which is a thing in this modern publishing world. In theory I could spend the rest of my maternity leave writing a TH bio and have it 'published' via Amazon. (Slinks off toward laptop....)
Here's the bio of the book writer:
Sarah Marshall is a writer and journalist who has worked across a variety of celebrity and entertainment magazines including Mizz, Cosmogirl, Bliss, CD-UK and It's Hot! She was editor of a pre-teen title before moving to the BBC magazines Star and Top of the Pops, for which she interviewed many high-profile stars including Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Jennifer Ellison and Craig David. Alongside her celebrity writing, Sarah also works for a number of specialist music publications and occasionally contributes to the Evening Standard. Her recent publications include upmarket travel books on Berlin and Lisbon for the Hedonist Guide 2 series. Sarah lives in London.
Is this the same person on Twitter? @SarahMarshall
>>524 Going by her tweets, it doesn't seem like she's the same Sarah. This one seems more into politics and the tech world. Also, she's not following Tom either (to be fair it's over 2000 ppl I could've missed his name). At a glance, I don't feel like it's her. This one also writes for Vogue International and Conde-Nast International. I don't see someone like doing unauthorized celebrity biographies. Unless it's a secret passion project for her lol
>>522 I think what's up with the bio is that it was announced after the Summer o' Love, and what "justifies" it is that he became a Tabloid Headliner.
>>523 Oh you should write the bio! It would be so much better, especially since the "official" author wrote one on Daniel Craig, "Britain's Best Actor" (according to its cover). One Amazon review said about that: "I'm not sure if the author actually interviewed Craig for this biography. I get the feeling most, if not all of it was taken from filmed interviews that he did for others. Also, much seems to come from tabloid sources. ... Lots of enthusiasm, explaintion [sic] points and open admiration for Craig on the part of the author." So at best it may be a blown-up GQ article, and at not best a glorified fanzine.
This may indicate what to expect - the photo of him on the cover is reversed! (Notice that the left eyebrow is the one that's slightly raised, and that the nose is slanting to the right.) https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61JoZKi9TsL.jpg
Video link of Tom back in London, running at the speed of light, up Primrose Hill
: )
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTynve0hsla/
And a pic of TH running, as well.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BTy-lDYDsB3/?taken-by=tomhiddleston_daily
TH is no longer on the speakers' list for Cannes 2017, I think. Maybe notice of a new project will come? Or is it just the result of more IW filming?
https://www.canneslions.com/festival/2017-speakers#/
There were two reported sightings of the Greater Hiddlesbird last Thursday in the vicinity of Durham Cathedral (site of some IW filming). Unfortunately, neither observer provided photographs nor noted any identifying field marks, although one observer stated that he saw the Hiddlesbird from only a few meters away, and it was flying with a Blond Hemsworth, Dark Ruffalo, and Beauteous Tessa. The Records Committee is taking these sightings under advisement.
On Twitter: /Ionaislegendary/status/860187846291988486
https://www.facebook.com/cameron.j.boyle.7/posts/10154330071592441?pnref=story
>>529 I'm guessing, given that he was announced so recently as a speaker, that it's due to IW filming schedule changes. I'd think that a new project could work around a short previous commitment that he'd already made.
An official video from the BFI - Radio Times Festival session on TNM is up: https://youtu.be/ezCexMPQJ8Q
Haven't watched it yet, but they must have cut quite a bit, because it's under 18 minutes.
This board is as dead as TH's eyes when staring across a dinner table at TS! I thought I was going to have to read through loads.
>>526 Good news is I've completed the first chapters of my TH bio (not really). Like the Amazon one, it will be written without me ever meeting TH. I saw him on a stage about 50 feet away - that's good enough for an in-depth bio.
I've decided to make it a bio that also has parenting (don't send your child to boarding school) and PR advice (don't engage in fauxmances). I want to hit all the demographics.
>>530 Is this IW filming or more Thor? Have other IW actors been spotted? The Greater Hiddlesbird is known by its more familiar name the Hiddle Tit.
>>532 Again with his recitation of the book's opening lines - boring and a tiny bit pretentious. We know you can memorize words, TH. AP with his quips about doing the role for the clothes and the loo roll airplane steals the interview like HL stole the Times Talk I saw.
>>533 I am sorry we are dull. No gossip and no real sightings except in London. So who knows if it is IW or what it is being filmed in Durham.
I couldn't watch the BFI stuff. John le Carre is a poisionous old coot who thinks he is a literary and acting genius and is neither. He wrote some quite good spy novels and acted badly in one cameo in TNM. Big woop. I cannot listen to them licking up for hours. I just can't.
>>533 Did he actually stare across a dinner table at her? I thought he was too busy checking his phone!
Oh but you must write the bio! Or we could make it a group project....
Other actors were rumored for the Durham filming but not confirmed. I'm guessing it was IW, not Thor, because the Russo Brothers were photographed and briefly interviewed there. Of course, it alternatively could have been for the post-credits scene for T:R.
I'm laughing too hard at the Hiddle Tit to come up with a good rejoinder. Stay tuned.
The only gossip I've spotted is that the TS album PR is kicking into gear. Alas, that also means the appearance of the earliest of what doubtless will be many, many, many articles mentioning TH as a likely song subject.
Tom was just seen in London at a swish bank, Coutts. Looking forward to a summer full of Wimbledon pics of Tom, and a summer-less TS. Apparently the Ben Wheatley/Amy Jump script for Tom of Frank Miller's Hard-Boiled graphic novel could take a long time. At least till after Ben does his next movie, maybe much much longer. Fine...
https://www.instagram.com/p/BT_i-urjD7r/
http://lrmonline.com/news/exclusive-ben-wheatley-on-his-hard-boiled-adaptation
Apparently last night's Sat. Night Live had a TH sketch during dress rehearsal that wasn't used in the live show. Details from Reddit, but also several tweets reporting it too.
"Tom Hiddleston Prom I liked this one a lot. Aidy Bryant and Vanessa Bayer are at their high school prom, talking about the A-list celebrities who they asked to prom and turned them down. McCarthy tells them that she asked Tom Hiddleston to prom, and he accepted. Then Hiddleston (McKinnon) came out and, despite insisting that he hated the attention that came with being famous, took over the dance floor, first performing a really bad rendition of Man in the Mirror before showing off his abs and turning his Prom King acceptance speech into a speech about the situation in South Sudan." https://www.reddit.com/r/LiveFromNewYork/comments/6b1pyq/melissa_mccarthyhaim_dress_rehearsal_recap/
A couple of the Twitter mentions:
Tom Hollander won Best Supporting Actor BAFTA TV award for his role in TNM, which was the show's only nomination! Well done Corky! Hiddleston was seen watching Hollander last month in April, starring in Stoppard's play, Travesties. Will they start dropping more hints about the possible TNM 2, do you think? And also below, an article bemoaning the lack of nominations for crowd pleasing shows on BBC 1 like TNM and Poldark. Loved the orignal, but I'm not a Poldark reboot fan, myself. FYI, The Crown was shut out.
http://deadline.com/2017/05/banta-tv-award-winners-happy-valley-the-crown-the-night-manager-tom-hollander-1202092915/
http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2017-05-14/can-someone--anyone--please-explain-why-the-tv-baftas-snubbed-these-bbc-dramas
>>536 Is he stopping his direct deposit to Olly? Or to whomever suggested Tayto. Or allowed him to do Tayto. The only people I knew in London who banked at Coutts were the second son of a duke and one of the Spencer-Churchills. I wouldn't have thought TH would be their usual type of customer.
>>537 Ouch. He'll need to put the I heart TS shirt back on to protect that burn. I'll leave the unnecessary outrage to the fans in the veranda. Instead: sow and reap. He's opened the door to ridicule; he should not be surprised when it shows up on the welcome mat. I still feel bad for him. It's not nice to be mocked by SNL. It's really not nice being so irrelevant that your mocking skit gets cut.
>>538 I think THol alone received all As from me during the original airing of TNM. If he was in a scene, it was his scene.
I liked the first season of Poldark. Haven't seen the second - I'm surviving just fine!
No! You know meeeeee!!! I bank at Coutts. So do (or did) lots of barristers and City folk, before Handelsbank got sexy. They wish I wasn't a customer now. Current aspirational customer base is £3m liquid (not me).
>>536 >>539 Maybe the bulk of his trust fund payout resides there. Or the account for his two production companies. I don't think Olly's been employed since January, when one tumblr reported that he seemed to have moved permanently to Los Angeles after TH finished filming Thor. What I had been expecting was that LW and TH would part ways, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
>>537 >>539 Since it was a dress rehearsal it may have been recorded and show up online. SNL does that sometimes.
>>538 >>539 I thought THol was the most memorable character myself. And now none of the main cast was at BAFTATV for support. Makes me wonder if he was shunned by the cast! (Was Eurovision too important to miss? ;) )
The latter part of this article includes TH twice in a discussion of the two different paths actors can take, or try to balance, now - tentpole and indie/prestige. It's a little contradictory about Tom, first citing him as an example of the kind of career others could have if they found the "right Loki-style part." But then later they talk about him trying to find the balance between blockbuster and indie/prestige.
I think it's telling that while TH fives Tom Hanks as the example of the kind of career he'd like to have, Charlie H. says Daniel Day-Lewis.
http://www.vulture.com/2017/05/after-king-arthur-flops-what-does-charlie-hunnam-do-now.html
>>541 I would just mention that we discussed Olly's probable non employment a long time before tumblr latched on to it!
>>542 I think that Tom used to mention Daniel Day-Lewis as having a career that he was inspired by and that he wanted to emulate when he was younger. But Tom has of late, flipped to Hanks. Over the last couple of years as he's continuing to build his fan base in the US, TH has mentioned Hanks because Hanks's persona and his films although more safe, middle brow, and slightly bland than Day-Lewis' films, are very well respected and popular with American audiences. The Day-Lewis quote from 2013 is below.
Interesting. Neither DD-L nor Hanks went the indie film route the way TH has linked himself to Ben Wheatley.
TS officially has a brand new fake British boyfriend for her new album, whom she secretly visits in London wearing disguises, allegedly! No joke! No more silly TS conversations around Tom! Yay! Of course the article in The Sun drags Tom for wanting the their former relationship to be more public than TS was comfortable with. Back to conversations about TH, and his real life and career. Joy to the world.
>>545 Not sure how linked TH/Ben Wheatley are; in that interview linked above that mentions Hardboiled, Wheatley doesn't even mention working with Tom again. That said, Tom did 3 films with Joanna Hogg early in his career.
>>546 A new UNICEF Canada video with TH was posted yesterday (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh1K360tfnk), but of course that's being drowned out by TS's "news."
>>546 And interestingly enough, apparently the Sun's line about the relationship being too public was their second choice of digs. Originally it read "The former couple split after Taylor became increasingly aware Tom was exploiting her fame to boost his own profile and standing in Hollywood." (screencaps at http://insanely-smart.tumblr.com/post/160745434738/that-line-about-tom-using-her-to-boost-his-career)
I suspect the dragging isn't over yet - a few days while all the other rags pick this up, a retrospective comparison with the new Toy Boy at the July 4 bash, and then the album drop. But at least now Tom can say "She's moved on, I've moved on, so let's move on to a different question - about The Work."
Now if there could just be some project announcements.
>>546 You're so positive, Sosorry. I wish I could be. I don't think this will end the Tayto talk. It's just that he will now have more company on the liner notes of her new album. If JG is still getting asked some seven years later, TH can expect the same.
Her PR is playing a different game - they had to, the old one stopped working - so no huge picture reveal of the new boyfriend. I'm sure she's saving the first pics for a 'special occasion' (advantageous PR moment).
What are the Tayto shippers saying? Have they all jumped overboard off the USS Tayto?
>>542 Are we surprised that he's singing a new tune? He shifts with the winds. In his defense, he never said his love for DDL was 'sacred.'
>>548 Are we still blaming IW filming for the lack of new work? Is that still the story?
>>541 That's assuming LW was the evil genius responsible for Tayto. We don't know this for certain. I think we as a board were leaning more toward the new American team. All that time with LW and no fauxmances. Then only a few months after he signs with the Americans, it's Tayto time.
We can probably blame them for Yours Truly too. Ugh.
They are awful. They must be stopped. Given his decision-making skills, he probably signed with them for 10 years.
Also thoughts go out to our British members. It's all too heartbreaking for words.
Back to our distraction from the ugliness of real life.
>>549 He's been mentioned in almost every story so far about the new Boy. The Guardian was particularly harsh: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/lostinshowbiz/2017/may/18/hiddleswift-warning-from-history-taylor-swift-beau-joe-alwyn . Also, some of the Tumblr bloggers think her PR's continuing to run the bus back over TH is to justify a "you done me wrong" song on the new album, and I bet they're on to something.
It's hard to tell from those blogs (I refuse to read the shipper ones) how the remnant Tayto shippers are handling the news, other than that they're still sniping at the Hiddles blogs.
The TH blogs are working hard trying to spin the lack of new work - as well as Marvel, "this has happened before," "many of Benedict's new projects are ones that he's producing himself," etc. But it feels to me as though his peers generally have at least one if not more future projects lined up; and one of the top Google results for Tom in the last week or so has been that Aussie article from KSI promo saying he was taking the year off, so that now may be the public perception. I suspect that he and his team dropped the ball and stopped hustling for work as hard as usual during the Summer o' Love Tour and its immediate aftermath, and that dried up his pipeline quite a bit.
There have been a couple mentions in conjunction with Joanna Hogg's new film that she and Tom are talking about future projects (example: "Tom Hiddleston has starred in Hogg’s previous three films but is not due to appear in The Souvenir, though the two are understood to be lining up future projects together." -- http://www.screendaily.com/news/martin-scorsese-robert-pattinson-joanna-hogg-team-on-the-souvenir/5118192.article )
>>550 At least one of the Tumblr blogs has said Tom fired his US PR team this fall - not sure how to fact-check that. Even it that's true, I don't think that means they were responsible for Tayto; it could just be that Tom thought they didn't do a good job of rescuing his reputation from it. But even if the PR team did propose a fauxmance, it's on him that he participated in what looked like one. As you said, his decision-making skills....
For a small blessing, at least Sat. Night Live hasn't posted the prom sketch that was cut from the live show.
>>549 I try to think positive thoughts! But I think I'm mainly just thrilled that baby TS fans have stopped tracking private jets from Nashville to London to prove that the fauxmance is still ongoing,a me that TS has been making jam and cake for Tom in the UK all this time! IMO, Tom should just work his little tail off and maintain a mature gentlemanly silence, and allow his theater projects and films to speak for him like J Gyllenhaal does. A future song about Tom can't be too mean-spirited, since the sad puppy article in GQ seemed to work to his advantage for the general public. And if TS keeps alluding to him a famewhore, he should just have team Luke leak from a "source" to the Uk media that (maybe OK magazine, for instance) that people should compare the totality of how privately and quietly Tom usually leads his life, with the exception of last summer, to how comfortable TS leads her public life, in general for a decade, including thiese new leaks to the public about a supposedly private relationship! And thus to suggest that Tom is overinterested in PR optics and tabloid coverage is illogical. Time to man up get a bit sneaky, Team Tom, then deny it came from your team : ) Also, when is Tom's next project? Not a golden globe awards fan, but doesn't that recognition give you a little more power in L.A.?
>>554 Not so sure about fall as a timeframe. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Beardy from the American mgt. team? He seemed to be doing PR stuff during and after Tayto, including the GGs, in January?
Also from what little I know about these mgt. companies (jack squat tbh), it's not just a matter of firing reps. There would be a contract in place, and they seem to be airtight in the interest of the companies - they don't like to lose their meal tickets.
>>556 But maybe that Tumblr has a Pro acct. (you just know they would) and has seen the details.
>>556, >>557, >>558 I don't have an IMDB Pro account either, so no luck there. But as of this January, he was still with his U.S. agency (WME) according to the announcement about their partnership with UNICEF: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/wme-img-launches-philanthropic-partnership-unicef-963446 . I checked WME's site and if you dig down, he's still listed in their database of voiceover talent.
They are a major, major agency, so it's hard to think that he and they would part ways. (Here's an article from when he signed with them in 2011: http://deadline.com/2011/10/wme-signs-british-actor-tom-hiddleston-186249/ -- he left another big US agency to sign with them). If he was unhappy with them, I suspect they would change him to another agent with the firm.
I couldn't find any names for any US publicists for him, though.
>>555 As aggravating as it is to read about TS "sources" still dissing Tom, it seems to have died down after the first flurry of New Toy Boy articles. I think gentlemanly silence will stay the best approach even if she puts out some mean songs, because in a PR war of leaks with her team, his team would get squashed. It would be too easy to turn the "exception" he made of last summer vs. his usual privacy as evidence that he was indeed using her for fame.
At most, I think his team's response should be something like "he's so disappointed that Taylor feels this way. He... [insert standard ex-TS-BF contractual language here about how lovely it all was and she was]."
I don't know how much a GG award benefits an actor; nowhere near as much as an Oscar, certainly, but it should make him a little more bankable.
>>558 Beardy is from the American team, yes.
>>559 You're right, they would change agents before going through the legal process of breaking the contract.
>>560 I would think that winning the GG matters overseas, if only in a small way, for reviews. I don't know if it has any affect on foreign awards (BAFTA, etc.)
>>559 No he wouldn't part with WME. He probably feels like a bona fide star by signing with them. They are huge. Beardy was from the 'talent' mtg. team, i.e., PR without calling it PR.
The GGs are more an indication that the overseas press in Hollywood like him, or I thought that was how those worked. Don't think that parlays into anything like clout or bankability. I'll whisper this so the veranda doesn't hear: I don't think he has any pull in HW. on a scale of 1 to 10, he's at a 2-3. He got Thor as a lucky break, helped by his association with Sir Ken. That got him the Avengers part by default. OLLA and CP had other actors in those roles before him. Just not a lot of pull. His biggest roles, screen time wise, have been in tv productions for the BBC.
OT
Actual question from a mother group mom: what are you doing for baby's first Memorial Day?
My answer: nothing.
Her: shock and multiple memory rich suggestions.
Me: silent resentment accompanied by disinterested nods.
I'm convinced she has her child's first turd in a box in the freezer...or bronzed on the mantle.
Happy Memorial Day!
Tom isn't listed anymore on the speakers' list for the Cambridge Union either in this coming last week of April, or in May. Maybe he's scheduled to film in Atlanta for Avengers IW? Maybe he's just free as a bird.
>>563 Curious. Maybe something more personal is going on ; what, I have no clue. What was the original date he was set for?
Hello all. After a pretty crappy week in the U.K. electioneering was suspended for a time. I decided to suspend giving a shit about Tom Hiddleston. Unfortunately normal service has been resumed in political campaigning! Thanks to everyone for their kind thoughts about the UK.
The talk at the Union is in June. That may explain the confusion as the links seem to be for April May.
https://issuu.com/thecambridgeunion/docs/cambridge-union-easter-2017-termcar
On publicity generally: I doubt he has withdrawn from WME for all the reasons Anon. identified. Also, it is an actual talent agency like Hamilton Hodell, i.e. it is responsible for getting the work in. When there is no work it wouldn't be sensible to leave one's agency I'd have thought.
As to the PR side: it seems that WME must have had some input due to Beardy's omnipresence. But I heard last year rumours of "new" PR in the US which only did PR - as he has HH and Luke in the U.K. That would also make sense given that the rumour of new representation coincided with a real change in the PR style last year. Hence - suddenly - a stylist, Instagram (first cheesetheboard and then his), presenting country music awards, a showmance etc etc. If WME had all these bright ideas it took them a long time since they signed him to put those ideas into action.
So I reckon it was a new PR agency (identity opaque, perhaps designedly so) which came on the scene and has now been fired. Hopefully.
>>562 His first Memorial Day? What? How should an infant memorialize dead soldiers?
FWIW, I kept my son's umbilical cord stump. I can't find it right now but I know it's languishing in a box somewhere. Yes, it's weird.
>>567 Thank you! One of her suggestions was to dress him in flag themed clothes and take pictures. Dear Lord! I hardly dress him as it is. Diaper and onesie, lately a onesie without legs - that's it. And once it warms up, just a diaper.
Do we think mama Hiddleston kept TH's umbilical cord? Oh, wait, he's still attached to her by it. Nevermind!
>>568 Yanno, I have always wondered about the parental influence on his career and life in general. I've read enough speculation on tumblr about it, horoscopes and other armchair analyses, but I really want to know what the real drive is.
Leave the costumes until Halloween or something. We never dressed my son in any flag at any point in his life.
There's been a bit of flurry over these 2 photos, allegedly of Tom in Cannes getting off of a helicopter (with a mystery woman walking beside in the 2nd one). Too far away to be accurate, but who knows.
>>570 Looks more likely that it's Alexander Skarsgard and his girlfriend, based on some tumblr comments.
>>570 Grey shoes or it didn't happen! ;)
I wonder if he's required to keep a low profile now that Swift and her new contract are totally having their privacy violated by not at all summoned paps.
Calvin Harris didn't but then he did not go gently into that goodnight of Swift exes.
Did he show in Cannes? Is he going to show at Cambridge? What does the all knowing crazy one say? Because then we know to assume the opposite.
Could he actually be working, or trying to get work? Nah.
Happy Election Day to our British contingent! Eyes open, breathe deeply - it looks like freedom, it smells like liberty. Enjoy it.
And a word of warning for the fans. Barring a huge upset, the Conservatives look set to take this election, maybe with a significant majority. Since TH has declared Jeremy Corbyn's integrity to be impressive, he might take this badly. The last time an election didn't go his way (Brexit), he decided to blow off some steam and have fun with a summer 'romance.' Forewarned....
>>572 No other sightings in Cannes (and with all the paps, it's unlikely he'd be there unnoticed). Cambridge is still unknown. The various Tumblrs are assuming he's filming IW (an anon supposedly was told by a friend who's working on it, when she asked about TH/Loki, that "she won't be disappointed). No other good theories have been put forth.
>>573 From what U.S. media are reporting from exit polls and declared seats so far, there may have been an upset, or at least not a clear Conservative victory. Supposedly TH's going for "fun" last summer was also due to his being upset about the not-great receptions for CP, ISTL, and HR. This time round, he has the ongoing direct and indirect references in the media's "advice" articles to the new Faux Boy about how to handle a romance with TS. I kind of hope his fun this summer will be with his Marvel buddies.
Someone posted on FB earlier today that she encountered Tom in London, also today, so at least he's still among the living.
>>574 Maybe he came back to vote.
Some light reading. Make sure you swallow your drink first.
https://curious-observations.tumblr.com/post/161556411615/the-taylor-swift-pr-virus
>>574 I fear they will be disappointed! He'll be in it but he can't have much screen time given that nearly every Marvel character is set to feature.
I'm not in the office today but I bet our elections guy will be a zombie. He probably stayed up through the night. But TH may be celebrating...maybe. And it could mean no summer showmance, unless he goes for a different excuse: he was really upset about the hung Parliament and decided to have a bit of fun!
>>575 He wouldn't have needed to. I know some believe he's been filming during this time but I wonder if he's just been under the radar. We usually get sightings when he travels but he can virtually disappear when in his own neighborhood.
Ha! That pic of the new contract sitting alone, clutching a glass with a FML expression looks familiar. Wonder if TH sent him a club welcome packet?
>>574 Cannes turned out to be Skarsgard, Cambridge is still listed as 'to be announced.' Filming is the best educated guess, with Marvel keeping him under tight wraps so as not to ruin the plot, which is what All Knowing is betting. My guess - filming combined with a personal vacation.
>>576 Since The Snake has re-emerged in all her pettish glory, it's a great time for him to be a ghost. Based on the gossip reports that Toe/Jaylor have been dating for months, people are saying that TH knew about them when he did the emotional GQ interview.
Hey, it was 2014 this week or so that the pic of him and JA showed up on FB with the caption "Mr. & Mrs. Hiddleston." What a time that was. Based on that, it would not surprise me if he's off on vacation with someone new (or was until yesterday). It's smart for him to aggressively avoid the press right now.
>>577 Tom's easy ability to ghost really shows that the neighborhood pics where he wears his capsule dressing ensembles are completely planned for PR purposes when Tom needs attention just before, and just after an event. Glad that he wants to lead a drama-free lifestyle.
>>574>>575 Tom Sighting in London on election day link
https://m.facebook.com/leah.davies.7773/posts/10158805585555720?pnref=story&refsrc=http://t.umblr.com/&refid=9&_rdr#_=_
Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network.
>>577 It's definitely in his best interests if he stays completely off the radar for now. The Snake is being extra extra petty with her Katy feud and plus, when she unveiled her new romance, she started by slamming Tom even though they were equal partners in that mess. Then again I didn't expect any different from her pettiness.
Speaking of Tom potentially dating someone, I think he might be seeing someone and I think I know who but I'm scared to share my findings on here because of the crazies who read this board. I mean there is a chance that I'm over analyzing and I could be completely wrong but maybe I'm not. I just wish there was a way of messaging each other privately or something. I don't know how to drop hints that only we can figure out.
>>579 Ouch. No one on this board is at all crazy IMO, just intrigued by Tom's career. We leave the craziness outside this realm. I would love some new filming project info, or news of a new appearance in a play. Someone guessed that maybe Tom was holding back career news b/c of the slew of TS articles, but he doesn't have the power to stop production companies from announcing projects. I've stopped trying to figure out Tom's personal life b/c it seems so odd to me. Susannah F was incorrectly rumored to be his wife, she popped up for some PR premiere pics, then she sent a harsh twitter post when they supposedly split. Weird. Then the casual JA banagins and shenanigans of Wimbledon, Sherlock, and Bora Bora gate. Then the EO PR games for ISTL, then the TS fauxmance for American PR boost for the Emmys and GG awards which were accompanied by fallacious James Bond rumours clearly from his camp. A lot of the alleged TS bfs have complicated love histories, and that's a whole other story. People always ship Tom with brainy/gorgeous artists like Hayley Atwell and Emma Watson, but he's known them forever and just he just seems to have a warm rapport with most people he meets.
Jessica Chastain is getting married this weekend in Italy, but Tom doesn't seem to be on the guest list with A. Hathaway and A Pacino. Pics of Tom and his other hero from Heat, Al Pacino, would have rocked!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4590650/Anne-Hathaway-attends-Jessica-Chastain-s-Italian-wedding.html
>>580 Congrats to Jessica though I always figured she'd get married and then casually drop the info in some interview months later lol
I didn't mean us that post on here. This board used to be pretty well hidden but recently it's been getting it's fair share of crazies from the TH fandom that quietly read what we say and some of the lesser known TH stuff or TH related things we've figured out first on here, it ends up on Tumblr with the anons acting like they found the info first or figured it all out by themselves. Hence, me not wanting to outright post what I saw because if I'm wrong I don't wanna cause the crazies to lose it and stalk the girl. Oh well it'll all come out anyways if he's dating her or not.
>>579 There are people who lurk, but there was one who posted during the EO era.
Hey, I found this list by doing a google search on 'beanup' after hearing so much about her on tumblr.
>>580 JA - Sherlock shenanigans?? I don't understand, or I don't remember. Please elaborate.
Re; Susannah F - never read anything about why they broke up.
I read the DM article.I do not doubt that Tom was invited, since they're really good friends. I don't think anything would keep him away from the wedding except illness, work commitments, or prior plans that he cannot alter.
That said, I don't think the DM article would cover the full depth of the guest list so it's possible he is there but neither seen nor mentioned.
>>581 I was surprised to hear she was marrying, since I'd read a few months ago that she and Gian Carlo broke up. Maybe that was planted to keep people from snooping their wedding plans.
Gian Luca, I meant. And congrats to him and Jessica.
>>579 Yeah we don't have a private chat room, so unless you want to give up BI-style hints, we'll just have to wait until pics surface. If he's brought her to the wedding, we may find out sooner that expected.
>>579 If you don't want to say who it is, maybe a hint of how you figured it out?
>>582 About the SF breakup: I read (but cannot re-find for the life of me) an interview from just before he was going off to film something (the Henriad, I think). In it he said that they'd broken up because he was very focused on his career at the moment and "didn't have time for a proper girlfriend." (Which I think is odd phrasing - it might have been nicer to say "I don't have time to be a proper boyfriend.")
I agree, congrats to Jessica and her new husband. But I think it's kind of a shame (though smart) that she didn't want to be involved with another actor, because she and Tom seem to get on so well!
Probably it is good that he's so off the radar right now with all the latest TS nonsense. But a project announcement soon might be helpful - the "Did TH damage his brand?" and "Why TH is taking off 2017" articles have reappeared in the top Google results for him.
>>583>>584 It was through his new FB cover. The lady I'm guessing he's with seems to have a similar cover photo on her private profile but looks like a higher angle. I could be completely wrong and it might not be the same area pics at all but they looked similar to me. Then again after all that's happened I don't think Tom would use a pic on his public page that his current gf is also using but who knows. He's not super savvy in that regards. Like I said I could be over thinking it.
>>585 I saw that but it was on the infamous townbike. Did she start and perpetuate the rumor that he brought others to distract her from being his date? Or was she repeating what others were saying? Full disclosure I haven't posted on here in a while so I don't know whether you guys discussed that already or not and I can't remember if we had discussed his Empire list of guests when the awards show had happened.
>>587 After what happened with Jane when he followed her on twitter I don't think he would make his cover photo match a girlfriend, but I also would have thought he knew better than to do what he did last summer, so idk...
>>586 It was odd. Tom did an interview in 2012 while he was dating SF and they simply asked him if he had a girlfriend in the Independant, and he replied "err, I dunno know, actually" he wasn't sure. Weird. Then SF had to clarify that she wasn't married (to Tom), and a friend, tweeted back to her "thank f-ing God" and SF replied, "yeah." Whatever happened at the end of their romance must have been a bit muddy and sloppy. Then SF liked a tweet that ridiculed the HS fauuxmance on her twitter in the middle of the craziness last summer. Burn.
>>587 Yep, we discussed all of the Empire Awards guests. But the Swifties started to track Louise O'Shea b/c the DM suggested that TH had replaced TS with a new lookalike blonde. And the Swifties were determined to prove that TS and Tom had been secretly dating all last year, and lying to the press about it. Delusional gals. I think someone said that Louise is already engaged, though.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/soldier-of-fortune-tom-hiddleston-is-set-to-become-2012s-hottest-new-star-6284844.html
Tom spotted doing a pap walk at a London cafe, carrying a coffee and a small takeout bag. Wearing an hw embroidered ISTL baseball cap, and a goatee. I guess Tom and JC aren't close enough off of the set for him to attend the Italy wedding.
New pics up from Torrilla, the usual walking with coffee. Like clockwork, over analyzing by Tumblr fans would have him sickly. He just looks like his normal, serious resting bitch face self.
>>590 This confirms something else I read, that his family is very traditional, so maybe they considered it tacky to have an ex-boyfriend/close male friend attend.
It could also be that he is feeling under the weather.
>>593 It's got to be Lex. She is the only one who comes on here and pretends to be someone else.
>>589 Damn, I missed that train. Oh well.
>>590 Is it just me or does he look like he's either recovering from being sick or having the worst hangover of his life?
I never got the vibe that Tom and Jessica were close friends. They just seemed like coworkers who jived well and were selling a movie. Her rapport with celebs who are her friends is different. I wasn't really expecting Tom at her wedding tbh.
>>594 I should change my name to WhatisReal or something.
>>590 and Fake Whatsinaname in >>592 may have a point. Even though JC and TH seem thick as thieves at the CP promo tour photo ops and interviews, and there's the cozy pic of JC, TH and GIan at a CP cast party, it doesn't mean he was invited. And I know of at least 2 weddings personally where an ex-bf or opposite sex close friend of the bride or groom was not invited (hashtag petty)
>>595 He does look sick or recovering from being sick, especially since he's dressed for fall and someone said it was 25C in London today. Fever chills, plus no body fat.
>>596 Wait, why do people think Tom and Jessica are exes? Was it mentioned somewhere or were dots connected? I know DM and some gossip rags printed a few years ago that Tom and Jessica were dating but Jessica immediately rubbished them and came out publicly with Gian soon after that.
>>598 Yes, the rags still do assert that story, and it comes up every now and again when they're pictured together. No dots connected at all.
>>580>>582 I just meant the fascinating lengths that TH will go to protect his privacy from the general public. He sat next to JA at Wimbledon in July 2013 and held hands, and just b/c it was mentioned by Elle magazine, Tom immediately the next day did at pap walk with Sherlock star Lara Pulver at Nobu for the Andy Murray Victory Dinner. Celebs are papped at Wimbledon with their dates all the time, why do you need to rush out and distract from the situation? Then Tom implies to GQ in an interview that the JA situation wasn't something to write home about, which some found to be a bit dismissive of her, whatever the casual terms of their hanging out situation were. They were then caught by fans after a preview screening of Sherlock, shopping in theater the bookstore where JA was hidin in a pink scarf, while Tom was kind of ignoring her, so people said. Then radio silence on his love life and no sign of JA at all till she was photographed on the Bora Bora trip and incorrectly labeled as his wife in the photo where TH wouldn't even put his arm her in the photo at the restaurant . Then, just after this lovely and naughty passionate vacation, they split for good a couple weeks later. He's just a funny fish when it comes to dating. Many handsome male stars date publicly and keep their fan bases, and do critically acclaimed work. Look at Oscar Isaacs. I just find it interesting.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2358725/Thor-star-Tom-Hiddleston-spotted-rumoured-girlfriend-Wimbledon-mystery-lady-day.html
http://us.hellomagazine.com/celebrities/12016061615230/tom-hiddleston-dating-history/6/
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/98/c8/21/98c8218ac2d6e441e4e51e4f8d4d0c34.jpg
>>601 Ok I'm on break and I will go back to summer in a moment, but I have to write this because fake news is fake news.
Sosorry, they were not holding hands at Wimbledon, if they had we'd have a photo of it and we did not.
And He did not do a pap walk the day after with Lara Pulver. I wrote this before but clearly it needs repeating, Lara Pulver at the time was (and still is) a) a big fan of Murray, she tweeted to him just before the finals so she was going to his party on her own, b) had a boyfriend, Raza Jeffries, who became her husband in 2014, c) all of this was public knowledge. Just because the DM couldn't even recognize her, after slamming her for her Sherlock episode, thinking she was some new mysterious love interest it doesn't mean it was a covert operation at the service of TH. She deserves more credit than that.
Other than that, good luck understanding his dating life :)
But I leave after posting this, because it made me smile (even if you probably already read about it).
https://twitter.
com/SiansUniverse/status/860198017550438405
>>603 Oohhhh!!! The supposed bestie hanging out with the ex who likes to shade TH! This is certainly interesting. The whole thing when he was hanging out with Sian and being so chummy chummy on Twitter and vacationing together. Then he comes back from his UNICEF trip and suddenly it's all silent, like full on strangers. Not to mention how Sian disappeared from Twitter for a whole year. Ah memories...
I wonder if Sian and Susannah bonded over the Hiddleswift fiasco and had a laugh over it.
>>602 I apologize unreservedly. JA linked her arms over his arm, near his hands. My point was that Tom was out in with her in a very high publicized place, and there's nothing wrong with a single man going on a date with a single woman even if he is famous.
And, I am a huge Lara Pulver and Raza Jeffries fan. Happy that they're married and they have a baby son. But their relationship, although in the public sphere, was not so highly publicized at that time, b/c they've never been fame addicted. Luke is no fool. I don't think that the papparazzi casually happened to photograph Tom with a second woman, immediately the day after Wimbledon by accident, even at a public Andy Murray party. I think Tom's London photos are all planned. Lara remonstrated the DM for not recognizing her on her twitter, but she didn't mention her bf Raza in that tweet. She and "Hiddlebum" are thick friends and I think they casually agreed to arrive at Nobu, or leave Nobu at the same time for PR. Not a crazy shenanigan, but it makes sense to me.
>>601 The 'nothing to write home about' is why people figured she was an FWB not a gf, sosorry
>>602 Wasn't his dating life with JA one of the reasons for the first thread here? LOL!
Good to have you peek back in, Couch. The tweet in >>603 is news to me. SF is still really pretty, isn't she?
PS: ID:Efyef8Wk is my laptop. This post is written from my desktop.
>>606 Apparently i was wrong, first thread started about the Thor: The Dark World promo tour.
>>607 oddly enough the first thread (which I think Couch said came about because someone on a different platform suggested/told the Hiddles fans to set up shop elsewhere) was at a similar stage of the Hiddles career - the great drought of 2013. During this year TH would turn up to the opening of an envelope - hence I think the extended tour in the Far East for Thor 2. At the time the uber fans were doing the "he is WORKING SECRETLY ON PROJECTS" thing - though in fact he walked into CP quite late on on 2013 after Cumberbatch pulled out, i.e. he had only fixed that up late in the day.
>>605 Lara's previous husband was Josh Dallas who played Fandral in Thor 1 (Lara was often on set because of it) and her private life was talked about because he divorced her to marry Ginnifer Goodwin around the same time Thor was released and because of her popularity for Sherlock.
(actually, she didn't remonstrate the DM, she made fun of the DM for not recognizing her with her clothes on)
>>604,606 It is certainly curious. In the end, Sian was likely friend with both. We really don't see but a partial picture, do we?
>>608 To be fair, he was working on Capa in spring 2013 (I now don't remember anymore when he went to Hungary, May maybe) before it fell through. After that there was a void filled with events until he started working on Coriolanus in September (and then CP).
Maybe now it feels worse because...well we all know why. (although taytay handling of her new bf is so ridiculous that her clumsy attempts at slamming TH thankfully turned out to be a huge favour to him)
Who knows, maybe he is preparing for some role, maybe not, maybe he is getting his balance back, maybe not.
I'm not so convinced he is working on IW, I don't see why Marvel would work so hard to keep Loki's presence a secret, when so many new characters have already been announced. Besides, the Thor franchise needs all the buzz it can get, one of its problem was that you don't need to see those films to watch the Avengers films. Letting people know that even Loki is in IW would bring more people to see Thor3.
>>611Welcome back Couch! I should have said previously.
I guess earlier this year he was doing something on his UNICEF project too. I'm not saying a total drought in either 13 or now - just relatively so given that we know he likes to be busy.
I totally agree that he is unlikely to be doing REALLY SECRET WORK on IW (anyone see a pattern in the fangirl madness?!). There was that rumour of him being in Durham for a weekend or so while they were filming there, and I suspect that may have been it. The beard in those recent photos didn't arrive in a weekend.
Whether he is recovering or getting balance back who knows. I slightly suspect he is going slowly nuts in Hiddleston Towers. He's all about the work, he's fiercely ambitious and he appears to all intents and purposes to be on the beach. There's more than a touch of the Norma Desmond about those recent pics.
>>609 I'm not sure if Lara saying that the DM didn't recognize her with her clothes on was a slight tease, esp after the newspapers questioned whether her Irene Adler performance in Sherlock was independent enough, since Sherlock had to save her at the end of the episode. I think she was annoyed. And although Lara had been married to Josh, and Raza had been a part of the the whole Spooks marriage and dating tree, people in the US and internationally aren't as familiar with the behind the scenes dynamics of every single UK tv show. It's not as if the split of Josh and Lara was discussed all over the world by all Marvel fans, or examined on the front page of People magazine, b/c Lara had hung out on the set of the Thor. And Lara's popularity in the US didn't explode from being Irene in the film industry, although it was a great turn for her. As you know there are tiers of fan awareness nationally and internationally. Maybe the DM didn't recognize Lara b/c of her slight oompah loomoah tan, now that I think about it, but it was still a silly error for them. Anyway, every actor has to draw attention himself/herself, and I don't think that pretty pics with other pretty people just "happen." Not judging, just realizing that I can't buy into that anymore.
>>612 Norma Desmond, haha! I'm seeing Tom descending the stairs of his house, while rocking a turban like Gloria Swanson, while belting out With One Look like Patti Lupone. Dear me.
I AM big, it's the fake romances that got small.
Coach and Lex? It's 2015 all over again!
Welcome back, Couch!!!! I kinda wish TH would have another showmance, maybe with a Kardashian, just so the old group would stop in. Anonsy, you, quaaaaaaazzzzzzz, anonymous1, M. With the oldies and newies, and a showmance, this place would be rocking.
Enjoy your summer, Couch
>>616 HAHAHAHAHAHA
We haven't heard from anonon, N11Anon (is that her number? Suffering from brain fade here) and a whole range of folks for a while now.
>>617 It's like old home week around here, isn't it?
>>611 >>612 I'd say that they're keeping his IW involvement under tight wraps because any clues right might give away the ending of Thor 3 - at least his part in it - before the promo tour and newer versions of the trailer are released as they get closer to November. His Thor role is small, the IW role is probably even smaller screen time-wise so I agree that the filming in Durham may have been it. Then again, it's Marvel, so who knows.
>>620 For all we know, Marvel might have paid him to sit out this summer to conceal that T:R willl be his last Loki. Hey, one conspiracy theory is as good as any other, right?
>>612 Norma Desmond! LOL! He's walking around the house in his Loki helmet, "I'm not just selling Loki, I'm selling me!"
His skin looks paler than usual. Makes me think he's been indoors for a while. Whether because he's been sick or depressed...He's very ambitious and to have been high on acclaim and accolades then fall like that with Hiddleswift, I don't think he's taking it well. I'm still in disbelief over how fast it all happened. But TS stock is falling in the public eye so he may get redeemed after Thor Ragnarok promo.
He's wearing the Hank Williams cap in the pics which I think ppl figured out because of Marc Abraham wearing his in the new BTS pics. Are they releasing anything extra for the movie and they told him to shill it so he had to drag himself out to get papped with the cap? I don't think the paps are sitting outside waiting for him anymore and have to be called now.
>>621 The fans are saying their prayers that Thor: R. becomes Loki: R., and IW is renamed IW: The Loki Edition. Then they can shout 'I told you his career would be fine' from the tops of their tumblrs. But it just isn't going to happen. >>620 is right, those parts, just by necessity of storyline/other characters, will be relatively small. Even his part in Avengers, where he was the main villain, was no more than 20-30 minutes of screen time. The fake romances AND the parts are getting smaller.
As for what he's going through, hard to say if it's personal or career related. Those two are so closely connected for him (whoring out his personal life to better his career). Whatever it is, it must be rough going because, to paraphrase the kind words of my mother when she first saw me after giving birth, he looks like shit. In my opinion, that suggests neither of those two areas of his life are in good shape right now.
>>622 It will officially be a year tomorrow, right? The uncomfortable beach pics heard round the world. A day that will live in fandom infamy. Maybe that is what has him so down in the dumps. When you're in the moment and even just afterwards, it passes in a flash. It was a rollercoaster from the outside, heaven knows what a full press fake relationship is like from the inside! But a year's time provides a person with greater and clearer perspective. It won't be a good anniversary: no Bond, diminished respect and boundaries from the media, a smaller fanbase, the spectre of Tayto hanging over him 4eva, no job announcements, Labour didn't win (even though they're acting like they did). An optimist would argue some of those points; a realist wouldn't.
Maybe Tom could make his Broadway debut in the brand new King Kong Musical in the fall of 2018?! He should not do this. I am kidding. But thi show is sadly happening. The story is based on the original novel. The score is composed by Marius de Vries (a contributor to the films La La Land, Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet) with songs by Eddie Perfect, composer and lyricist of the Broadway-bound Beetlejuice and Strictly Ballroom The Musical. Why do we need this at all?
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/king-kong-musical-bow-broadway-fall-2018-1004595
>>623 Ha ha ouch, your mother - though the newborn state doesn't show anyone at his or her best! And in fairness, neither did those pap photos; everyone in them was pretty darn pale. But he did look a little unkempt.
Yup, it's the anniversary of the Snogging Seen 'Round the World. Be interesting to see which if any gossip sites bring that up. One bit of good news is that none of them bothered to concoct a story this time about these coffee-run pics ("Tom Still Pines for Taylor! Distressed that New BF is Cast in Mary Q-of-S Film!").
Some of the fan blogs are really reaching and suggesting that he may on the bench because he's been asked to keep his schedule clear so he can film Bond in 2018.
>>624 Why indeed? Especially when the first thing that jumped to mind was Kong tap dancing and moan-singing like the Monster in Young Frankenstein!
>>608 How long was the HiddlesDrought of 2013? (It's been just about 8 months since he was announced for Early Man back in mid-October.)
>>619 Hiya! I still stop by every now and then. I tried to wean myself off and also life got in the way (moving house and ill, elderly parents etc).
I hope you're all well.
From a soon to no longer be N8Anon but a permanently TR13Anon. (Yes folks, I've quit the big city and run away to the seaside).
>>626 I don't think there were any announcements from the beginning of 2013, through the middle of the year. Then, the surprise appearance at SDCC as Loki, which kicked off the Thor 2 promo tour. Coriolaunus was then announced, shortly before he started rehearsals; and then CP, HR, and ISTL were announced in short succession, about 2 months apart from each other.
>>628 Thanks. So this announcements drought has been longer.
>>630 See if this one works. Make sure to add in Twitter before her handle.
SiansUniverse/status/860198017550438405
In case it doesn't work for some reason, the tweet is from May 4th this year. It's Sian tweeting at Susannah saying "About to be reunited with my long-lost LA wife. Forgive me if @Misssusannahf fails to survive the bone crushing embrace coming her way 🤓💕😘💜" and Susannah replying, "oh I survived! Just!! Such a treat.Pjs, cats and curry. We live hard. We live fast. ❤️💞👌🏼😍".
Guess they are super besties now or maybe they always were who knows. Also just noticed how much she retweets Lena Dunham...ugh ew
>>631 By she I mean Sian. Lena D seems to ber feminist idol and just...I'm hugely anti-Lena Dunham for obvious reasons so Miss Sian earns a huge side eye from me.
No sign of Tom at the the press night of Andrew Scott's Hamlet at the Pinter Theatre, with Jessica Brown-Findlay as Ophelia. Martin Freeman was there, as well as many Downton alums. Wonder if Tom will turn up at a performance during the run?
>>627 Hello! I envy you. I loved the big city in my 20s. In my 30s and with a little one tearing around an apartment, I'd like a backyard. I don't like having to take him to a bit of grass! It helps that Cornwall is just so lovely. Hope the move went well or goes well and that everything with your parents goes well too.
>>625 She said that about me after I gave birth. To be fair, she was being honest. I looked like I'd just been rescued from a cult. But she did also warn me not to take pics of the new arrival for at least a week because he'd look less alien like then. Explains why the first pic of me is from two weeks old - nothing earlier!
Bond, huh? Sure. Yeah. Yep. That's the reason. If we could monetize the narcotic effect of fan girl delusion, we'd be rich as Croesus. I guess it's possible but I also think that if he had Bond in the bag, those pap shots would be of him smiling, with a permanent semi, actually floating down the sidewalk. That doesn't look like a man who's landed a huge franchise.
>>624 Lord save us. Is he that desperate? Is anyone? Why?
I can't seem to find the post here to link to, but someone here within the past month noted that TH had changed his Twitter profile and cover pics. I went to look this morning, and it's back to the old pictures.
Unrelated to the above: last night I read a LONG post outlining a lot of old Hollywood blind item gossip that had panned out to be real, where the OP attached names to the stories. Contract relationships to hide sexuality were mentioned but since the post was written in 2012, TH was not mentioned - and that's NOT why I'm posting this.
The surprise was not the stories, but how many people were mentioned as the OP went down the list of gossip issues (Gays! Drugs! Evil (pedophilia)! Mean people! Secrets!). At the end they balanced it by listing the people in Hollywood that were actually nice (Tom Hanks, for example). What struck me was that as Hiddleston was riding high in the 2012-2014 timeframe and now appears on a (hopefully temporary) personal downswing, saved by the capsulized success of TNM and Kong, I wonder how many of these issues he has encountered in the past 2.5 years that have crept up to him and he has consistently resisted, being the Tom Hanks of the younger generation, only to be finally forced or pushed or strongly-suggested or volunteered into the HS relationship for the sake of boosting his career (no matter how much he really was interested in her as a person). And having failed on a large, public scale to presumably boost his chances for Bond and to have a high profile relationship. (It's been a year and I'm still, like, WHY MAN WHY??!!)
He's certainly a large talent with huge potential and a highly lauded career ahead of him. There is something missing though, like the last piece of the pie, that would zoom him up the ladder the way Tom Hardy or Cumberbatch did. What is that? Less people pleasing has got to be part of that. He's taken some risks in casting (HR especially) but I think he needs to get out from under the Loki/Disney contract so he can break away from that image pigeonhole. More character bit parts in movies. Less self-consciousness about his appearance - men can get away with that but he seems to be more vain that his two peers I just mentioned.
A lot of ramblng, been meaning to write something like this for a long time and reading that article last night reminded me that he is probably going through a disillusionment phase, having probably been told from the beginning that he could get through Hollywood being the kind, good person he is, ride Branaugh's coattails and make a big, but Hollyweird is a cesspool and the PR machine must be fed.
You may want to read the article so here it is. It is translated from Russian by Google, and written in Russian by someone for whom Russian is not their first language, so some of the phrasing is off
- for example, Cameron Diaz did not want someone to shoot her armpits, it was probably 'shave'. But you will get most of it.
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=ru&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http://www.spletnik.ru/blogs/pro_zvezd/51585_za_kulisami_gollivuda/comments/3#comments
Lots of rumor talk about TH being attached to this movie, even though it is not confirmed - repeat - not confirmed, just a rumor:
(insert the Twitter dot com first, then)
/Schiphol76/status/876844697905491969
Here's an official announcement about the movie without mention of actors:
http://deadline.com/2016/10/fox-international-productions-silent-night-script-james-luckard-white-horse-pictures-serial-killer-war-thriller-1201835745/
>>635 Let's hope none of the blind items about TH eventually prove true, because there are a few doozies (including that he's not as nice as all that).
I've been thinking about the same thing (his current career ceiling) recently and don't have any good answers. To be fair, BC and T Hardy (and Fassbender) are a few years older than Tom and therefore have a slight head start. Of the four of them, I think BC is the one who's made it farthest up the ladder, and I think that was probably due to Sherlock. He had a showy role, well-suited to him, that was being broadcast for multiple years, without taking up so much of his time that he couldn't do other major projects. That kept him in the public's consciousness and the industry's eye. TNM might do that for Tom if they can bring off a 2nd season.
Another problem for him may be that he happens to be in the same pool as a number of very good actors about his age and of a similar type (there's also Eddie Redmayne). So when a strong project comes along, he has a lot of serious competition. I don't remember, for example, that Branagh had the same sort of "pack" to contend with.
>>636 Now this could be the kind of project - that with the right director, excellent final script, and right co-star - that could give Tom a big career boost. But yes, it's a rumor now.
>>637 He's been spoiled somewhat, getting several choice roles without auditioning. I don't know how common that is, but what an ego booster. I guess creating your own project (TNM) is a way to push that forward as one's acting career matures.
If he's going head-to-head with his contemporaries, why does he lose out when he does? There's not much transparency into auditions; now there's gossip I'd like to see!
>>637 Which blinds are you referring to? I've seen the ones dealing with his love life, all those affairs with Mia and cheating on Olsen then cheating on Taylor with Olsen, etc etc. Are these blinds talking about him professionally/ how he is as a person? What do they say?
>>640 I'll try to pull together some links tomorrow. Various trash about how he comes off in person.
>>641 I'm interested too Heynon, what's out there that's plausible beyond the usual 'X yelled at an assistant on set' or 'X is secretly gay' blind items.
>>639 Based on Google results, a lot of people also have asked if film stars have to audition or not. The only non-crowd-sourced answer I found was this - that it's more likely to be a meeting with the director: http://www.eonline.com/news/81499/do-big-stars-have-to-audition-for-movies
It would be fascinating to know why some actors were chosen over him. What is it about Fassy that made him the first choice for Adam? Or Cumberbatch for CP - especially since Del Toro rewrote the part for Tom when he took it over?
>>644 I have no evidence to support this, but I think that it's just about an actor's current visibility in the industry, and who you know in the industry. Cumberbatch is Sherlock across the globe on tv, plus he was coming off of the Oscar winning 12 years a Slave and his casting/performance in The Imitation Game. Fassy was golden globe nominated for Shame, he had a wicked turn in the period piece A Dangerous Method playing Carl Jung, and he had at least been cast as Magneto. Charlie Hunam is not a period actor at all IMO, and he was badly miscast in CP, but he knew del Toro from filming Pacific Rim and he is kind of visible on tv from years starring on Sons of Anarchy. I think that the producers just go down a list of who they perceive as being visible to audiences and who therefore might be bankable, theoretically. Teen boys identify Tom the second they see him onscreen b/c of Loki, but they're not going to follow their favorite villain into other genres of film, sadly. Even die hard TH fans don't go out to the theatre to all of his films. I think that this is all BS, b/c only Leo DiCaprio, and D Washington can open a movie guaranteed. Everyone else is hit and miss, even J Lawrence. TH is a fave of mine, but some think that Fassy had more natural approach as an actor onscreen, and that Tom is more calculated, analytical, and theatrical, and therefore better suited to stage work, at present.
Tom still seems to be in London recording audio for Early Man. He mentioned in a video interview following the story that he was taking a break from acting, that all of the rest of 2017 was already booked in his calendar. Maybe he just meant Early Man recording and IW and Thor 3 re shoots?
>>636 Someone mentioned that the Silent Night film could be the neo noir thriller that Tom was heard discussing in the park with his manager.
Twitter link
/ernyberny/status/878266969677373441
>>646 The theories on the extremely clever one's Tumblr are that he's probably been shooting IW as well as finishing up EM. Those, coupled with the D23 and/or SDCC cons, and T:R publicity, could theoretically fill up most of his calendar. Especially if Loki is also in Avengers 4, which starts shooting later this summer. But for all we really know, he could be hiding out and working on the Next Great British Screenplay.
>>647 Don't forget about the UNICEF documentary. The rumors of him and Louise keep popping up, though without evidence.
>>648 I read somewhere the doc got taken down from the production company's website. Anybody know about this?
The Louise rumors, I've only seen on Town Bike and they're all based on Tom bringing her and some other Unicef buddies to an awards show months ago. Like you said, without evidence, but that's Town Bike for ya. eye roll
>>647 We mustn't forget the other part of her name - crazy. I'm sure she has a chart for his beard growth but doesn't seem to have consulted it. As Anon said, that beard didn't show up in a weekend. He needs a month or more for a beard that long and scruffy. So he's not just come off of filming unless Loki now has a ginger beard. We also mustn't forget her track record. Her theory about that voyeur movie - strike. Her theory about the London play - strike. Didn't she also believe Tayto was real? Strike. She'd be walking back to the dugout in baseball. And that's just off the top of my head about what filtered over here. I'm sure there's more damning evidence.
My theory: he's been in London, not calling the paps (so no pics), trying to get work and giving up on his personal appearance.
>>649 Did we ever have confirmation that he was actually working on this documentary? I can't remember. If it's come off the boil it could be because of his I saved Sudan and MSF with my Bond audition series foot in mouth moment. They may want some time to pass so that memory of that can fade.
Lovely weekends to everyone.
>>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.
>>749 I don't remember which month - maybe April? I'll try to track it down this eve. Yes, it would take time to arrange everything, but not nearly as long as it would for a film. It doubtless helped that KB is the President of RADA. And if they didn't do open castings calls, that also would have allowed for speed.
Imagining TH talking to KB about his love like makes me think of KB's uproarious laughter on the GNS when Tom was asked about Hiddlestoners....
7 YEARS?! WTF! Oh and how convenient when TH still is on damage control duty. What other damage control/distractions will he announce when Swift's album releases? This man is too much.
If he and Branagh were legit thinking up something for 7 freaking years it wouldn't be a charity show for their expensive school that runs for barely a month. TH is so transparent on what he's trying to do.
And one article (misquoting) said 20 years! If they'd really started discussing this 7 years ago, that's during Wallander or Thor filming. I'd hope at that time KB's end of the convo would have been "Sorry, but you're not ready yet, love!"
>>753 20 years ago? LMAO! So Tom and Ken have been discussing this since Tom was 16 and this is the best they could come up with? /sarcasm
His stans are reloading the DM article and downvoting any comment that laughs at that headline. So defensive. Brit tabloids always trolls celebs like no other, Hiddles ain't safe from it.
I was about to chime in with what a clever plan doing Hamlet for charity to fund RADA students is, and then I ran across this horrid new DM article about Tom and Hamlet where they call this performance "tiny" and make the headline all about Taylor Swift! They printed all the pics from July 4th party with the water slide, and highlight Tom's elite education. The British has not let anything go, and are going for clicks. Wow. Like Cumberrbatch, Tom is so well trained in Shakespeare that his interpretation will be solid. But more and more when I watch his performances I find that he uses his academic research skills to create the perfectly structured textbook Shakespearean character as it is on the page. But, unlike Ben Whishaw or Andrew Scott, Tom's interpretations of these classical parts never really surprise me. And Tom seems to lack the spontanaity/supreme intensity/animalistic attack of maybe a Richard Burton. When Tom next does a full Shakespearean production on stage, I'd love him to do work with a true visionary surrealist director like Julie Taymor or Ivo van Hove, b/c they don't think that acting should be just be about the perfect elucidation of the text, and would give him a jolt of creativity, and further distinguish his next classical production from all of the others that have been staged in London.
>>755 I meant to say "the British press" have not let anything go. They usually are quite supportive of their thespians. I didn't mean all Brits, just the press. So sorry.
>>755 I think he needs to stop being perfect in his search for acting perfection.
During the brief High Rise promotion at TIFF 2015, Jeremy Irons was quoted saying, about TH, something like 'think of what a great actor he'll be once he gets more life experience under his belt.' I realized Irons was right when I couldn't put my finger on the hollow ring I was getting from the performance in TNM.
>>756 We've discussed before how the British press really turned on him during Tayto, and were still pretty savage as of KSI. But so far it's only the DM using this news to keep up the clickbait. And (not sure if this is good or not) the DM quickly turned to the current news - fans and the tickets ballot: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4754158/Tom-Hiddleston-star-Shakespeare-s-tragedy-Hamlet.html
>>757 It's a shame there are no current plans (per the official site and their twitter responses to questions) to record this production. It would be fascinating to see if Tom's recent life experiences carry through to his performance. (I for one expect that "frailty, thy name is woman!" will be particularly charged.) So far I've only caught up to his Henriad, and I found his Prince Hal to be more technically proficient than realistic acting. His style did work well for me as King Henry, though.
How is Branagh regarded as a theatre director? He did bring a good performance out of Tom in Thor 1. And Tom seems to trust him, which might help him to be looser in this part.
Yeah so TH's true intentions are finally revealed to the surprise of no one http://blindgossip.com/?p=86395#more-86395
>>759 Not much of a blind, is it? Any of us here could have written this. BG have done this in the past, stated the obvious after the fact, I.e., when news has already broken. It's heartening to know he can 'still book jobs' or BG thinks he can because we haven't seen proof of that.
The bloom is off the rose for me but I don't want to see him going on Celebrity Big Brother. Nor do I want him to have to consider Sharknado III. But this is kinda him getting his cred back on the cheap. I have the feeling he's thinking these three weeks will rehabilitate him and then it's back to Hollywood for more leading man roles or OSCAH worthy parts. Don't know if that plan will work.
>>755 TH and Burton shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence. I wonder if he'll ever be able to reach the heights of Burton, O'Toole or Harris whose raw and realistic performances were in some part inspired by their lives and demons. I see him being more like Olivier, Hopkins and KB who are more about technical proficiency and skill. Both sets have passion and skill but it manifests itself differently in performances. >>758 And I'm not yet willing to put surviving a poorly received fauxmance up there with the hot crazy that was being in a relationship with Miss Taylor while smoking like a chimney and drinking like a fish. >>757 He's led a fairly sheltered and blessed life in many ways, which I don't begrudge him. However, that does tend to limit the experiences a person can draw upon when acting. I call it the Emma Watson phenomenon.
>>758 Branagh is a very accomplished Shakespeare director, both on stage and on film. He was 30 when he directed the film version of Henry V which is in my view an outstanding piece of work which has stood the test of time. I saw The Winter's Tale (which he also directed) - he hasn't lost his touch. His verse speaking is also outstanding. TH, in common with very many of the younger generation, needs to sharpen that up.
>>745 Well, I'd say it's, or at least was, a board of check and balances, so if blind apologists are unlikely to feel comfortable here, the same it's, or at least was, true for people merely wanting a place were they can hate on him without contradiction.
And maybe I shouldn't even be saying this since I don't post very much (there's hardly anything to post about, bless!), and maybe me being a non native of the English language gave me the wrong impression, but from what you posted it seems like you fall in the second option. I apologize if that's not the case, but when someone writes they are not someone's fan and then they proceed to list all the things they have been disliking about said someone since 2012 it makes it difficult to take it differently.
One more thing, CP was aimed at tumblr? Really? Guillermo Del Toro wrote the script thinking of TH's tumblr fans? Come on! Give a well established director a bit more credit.
Hello everyone!
I hope you are all well. I swear I only passed by to wish good holidays and not to scold, but then I read the news!
In the spirit of the checks and balances I've just written about and since anonsy isn't around anymore for the accuracy part, alas, I'll take it on my almost on the beach shoulders to point out a few things to add to the discussion.
At the beginning of May 2016 TH did an interview at BBC4's Front Row with Kermode and Mayo where when asked:"whether there were any other Shakespeare characters he'd like to take on." he said:"I do have my eyes on something...you'll find out very soon, I think." (the podcast is here http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b078x6kx)
So this Hamlet production was that, Branagh was busy with Dunkirk, the Garrick Theatre's season he presented and Murder on the Orient Express, ergo the delay. But TH's commitment to it predates Tay-tay.
As for reviews, of course there'll be reviews by critics, it's Branagh and it's Hamlet, the press will buy a ticket and go watch.
>>743 Anon, he went to CominCon and Yours Truly didn't style him! That's positive, also a guy groomed him so someone not connected to Yours Truly! Also positive. He is not caring about his fans, finally understood that there's not point in being nice to the press and, even if we never took that stance, after being accused of not doing anything practical about iniquity in the school system etc. he is partecipating in something practical that will benefit plenty of students for years to come and he was way in the background in the official photo! Kepp the faith Anon! :)
>>762 As a foreigner I agree with Branagh when he talks about the ease TH has with Shakespeare, he makes the verses very easy to follow. So does Rory Kinnear. If you say Branagh is even better (I only ever watched his Much to do about nothing but I didn't enjoy it very much) I'm now curious to see Branagh on stage. I missed the chance to watch Winter's Tale at the cinema (in my country famous plays of the year are show at the cinema)
>>764 COUCH POTATO!!!!!!
You're back! Forget Hamlet. This is the most exciting thing the board has had to deal with this year!
>>767 And I don't make you pay for it!
>>760 I hope his management or anyone with common sense around him tells him it takes more then a 3 week stint doing Hamlet to get your old reputation in Hollywood back.
>>763 I don't hate him but I don't like how he comes off sometimes. He just has this veneer of insincerity that I find sinister in a way, and no this isn't me confusing him with Loki.
I know actors aren't suppose to be 100% genuine but some can really hide it well through a natural charm while not sounding like a pretentious a-hole. It's a like/dislike outlook I have with him and i've wanted him to stop pandering to his fanbase for so long but not this abruptly.
It's one thing not pandering to them it's another just shunning them completely because of a miscalculation of what you could've thought you get away with in a contract relationship with someone, and than blaming the media and your fans for the bad outcome because it didn't go your way and not taking responsibility.
The thing with CP is that it was rewritten once TH took over the role once Cumberbatch dropped that it sounded like a bad fan fic, I doubt the original script was like this well...I hope. Also Del Toro kept pandering to Tom's fanbase specifically a bit too much at times. Del Toro is great at visuals but he lacks sometimes with writing.
Also while he shouldn't pander so much to the press anymore he also shouldn't be testy with them. He needs to make his transition to a serious actor more subtle because if not it'll just add more to this insincere persona he exudes.
Anyway, if my not so positive posts are an annoyance to the thread i'll just stick to lurking from this point on. No big deal.
>>764 Couch! Welcome back. I missed you and your analyses.
>>765 No YT, no LW because laying low for months. Made me wonder if they've all been put on hiatus for the time being.
>>766 Yeah, the connection makes me side her too, maybe she was not the one who got away after all.
>>769 Unknown, so are you a former fan? Or a really jaded fan?
>>769 Probably disappointed/annoyed fan. I liked him in the Thor 1 days, but like I said after Avengers he became a caricature of his former self.
>>769 >>772 No one is trying to make you leave based on your non-flowery opinions of TH. If nothing else, we are not nannies here. I can understand being annoyed with him. The past year feels like he's squandering his potential. I'm glad K:SI was relatively successful compared to the 3 movies before that.
>>774 I think he squandered his potential with Skull Island. He was miscast in that role and imo the movie was awful and his character was useless. He just hasn't either chosen good scripts or has been offered awful ones.
I never saw it. I never was interested in the Kong movies, ever.
>>769 I agree. When Jake Gyllenhaal decided he didn't want to do PR relationships anymore with staged pap photos following Reese Witherspoon and the really corny Thanksgiving pap walk with his his sister, his niece and Taylor Swift in 2011, he accepted responsibility for his own role in the drama, refused to talk to the press about his personal life ever again, and fired his whole team! Jake is in a different position than Tom was, since Jake wasn't so widely identified as a fame whore at the time, plus he was already a young Am. male Oscar nominee in a time where we hadn't seen an Am. young dramatic actor pop up, until Ryan Gosling and now Oscar Isaacs (and Bradley Cooper but he is not my fave.)
>>764 I remember that Kermode interview. And if that mystery project was indeed Charity Hamlet for RADA, and it was planned before Tayto, it's tragic that so much of of his choices are now coloured by and seen through the prism of that crazy summer. Any actor has self serving interests for doing charity work because it helps define your brand makes you seem empathetic, but in this instance Hamlet is now thought of his attempt to win back critical credibility. Ouch.
I've always wanted to see Tom on tv in an episode of Miss Marple on PBS, but not at this time: ) If his schedule is not blank by choice, maybe he needs a Colin Farrell level reboot to his career. He's a male drama school grad and an Olivier a recent golden globe award winner for worldwide hit miniseries. In the long run he will be fine, but maybe he won't he won't lead dramatic award bait films for a couple of years. He needs more theater, more Indy films in Europe with strong scripts, maybe another strong tv part like TNM, and to take supporting roles in films that have cohesive scripts and strong directors if available.
Well, to some of the media, even doing Hamlet for charity isn't enough to be taken all that seriously - note the title of this piece (despite the link text, it's about internet boyfriends): http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a47103/tom-hiddleston-playing-hamlet-london/
Well, to some of the media, even doing Hamlet for charity isn't enough to be taken all that seriously - note the title of this piece (despite the link text, it's about internet boyfriends): http://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/news/a47103/tom-hiddleston-playing-hamlet-lon don/
Sorry for the double post / phone not playing nicely with the site!
A different perspective on so many recent Hamlets: https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/2017/mark-shenton-can-many-hamlets/
>>779 Elle magazine confines to turn from Tom. Wow. But Ben Whishaw has never been an Internet bf! He's an astounding actor, but he's always been way too private, and now he happens to be married to a man. And nor is Jude Law, who got married and had kids very young and is too busy with his career and being a ladies man/slut puppy to be anyone's Internet bf. That's a stretch. Nor did Oscar Isaacs systematically and purposefully attempt to entertain fan girls with his online presence. Hamlet is a play that the the all male actors want to play, and that whole general public knows the title of and probably read in school, so producers will always get their money back if they stunt cast it.
>>782 Sorry. Elle magazine continues to turn from Tom, is what I meant to say.
A side note, the writer of the infamous TH GQ article focusing on spaghetti bolognese w/o pasta and TS fauxmancing, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, has a brand new New York Times Magazine article talking to Oprah about weight loss and exposing the diet industry! Apparently Taffy has struggled with body image issues and dieting for her whole life, and winds up crying over the phone to Miss O herself. The article is poignant and heartfelt, but Taffy just teased a TH reference in her twitter account that "You can be fat AND mistaken for Tom Hiddleston's girlfriend. What a world, right." I'm speechless. Taffy is on the move for fame, officially.
Twitter @taffyakner
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/02/magazine/weight-watchers-oprah-losing-it-in-the-anti-dieting-age.html?_r=0
>>764 Just to play devil's advocate, it also could be that in the May 2016 interview Tom was stretching the truth (as we've discussed recently). That said, and to clarify some of my earlier comments about this, I do think it's possible that he and KB have been discussing this possibility for as long as they've been working together. But I don't think Tom would really have been anywhere near ready for the role until now (and it's interesting that Branagh referred to this being Tom's "first time" in this title role - he might be thinking Tom will do it again someday).
>>777 Agree strongly that it's a shame that, if this project was planned pre-Tayto, it's now slightly tainted by his need to restore his reputation. How different would some reactions have been if this had been produced last May?
>>782 Not that Elle's good opinion is a big loss for him (in my opinion), but it is a 180 turn from how they treated him earlier in his career. It will be fascinating to see if his Hamlet regains him any favor, especially with the serious press. Will the Guardian ever forgive him?
>>784 Taffy has absolutely worked that GQ article and the "mystery brunette" pap shots for all they're worth. And she ended up working for the NY Times. Maybe she should have given Tom advice about his career rather than his love life!
And a second "too many Hamlets?" article: http://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/news/hamlet-too-many-tom-hiddleston-kenneth-branagh_44267.html
She has some good ideas for roles Tom could have tackled instead. Personally, I'd like to have seen his King Scot. (And Berowne, yes, please!)
Welcome back, Coach! Enjoy the beach.
>>764 He doesn't seem to say that in this podcast (I only listened to his segment - minus the singing! - so it could be in another part). Maybe he said it in another interview. Without insider info it's hard to say when this was decided. I personally don't think this was seven or 1+ years in the making. They probably have always talked about doing a stage production together but the very unusual nature of this one (utterly stacked in favor of TH: charity, short run, difficult to review, hot ticket in town) makes me think it is a quickly constructed response to Tayto.
No Yours Truly and LW might be explained by the fact that he didn't do any press. I have a feeling (an awful one!) they'll be back come Nov. promo. Is it time for another board prayer circle? Or an exorcism?
>>769 Unknown, we've all disagreed on this board. We're still here. And we can handle the negative. ;)
>>779 We've talked about how he went from hero to zero with Elle. It was somewhat repeated with the Guardian during Tayto. GQ seems to be his go-to now. How fickle is magazine.
>>784,786 Yep. If only TH could have parlayed Tayto like Taffy did that article.
When I asked how long everyone thought this had been in the planning, I hadn't forgotten the interview last year in which he said he had another Shakespeare project in mind.
I am not sure that this was necessarily that project. It could have been something quite different (maybe it was poor old James Ivory's Richard II, who knows!).
I have to say that I share Anon.'s view that this feels like something of fairly recent date. TH showed relatively little interest in his alma mater previously, and I think these RADA sightings started in spring this year (possibly with the KSI screening there in early March). I wonder if somebody planted the seed then. He has been seen in the vicinity a number of times since.
>>777 It's only tainted for US/UK gossipy, click-bait articles, and fans that are still thinking about it as first thing. The NYT had not mention of TS for example, and if you check news from serious publication from other countries again no mention of TS.
>>782,786 ELLEUK's editor is different, from 2013, and the magazine also took a different turn. I think we mentioned it last year.
>>785,788,789 I think it was that for the dubious answer he gave, like it didn't depend exclusively on his availability. Ivory seemed to be waiting for TH, here felt like TH was waiting for someone else. If KB was only ready this year it could only happen in Sept. because of Marvel and Thor 3 promo.
>>786 After I recently read a tweet of hers, posted soon after the GQ interview, I changed my view of that GQ interview, in part at least. Which in turn partly changed my point of view on tayto - I'm crossing my fingers that nothing will happen to make me change my mind again!
Speaking of pandering fans: "Game of Thrones's Sophie Turner: 'I got a job over a better actress because I had more followers' "
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2017/08/03/game-throness-sophie-turner-got-job-better-actress-had-followers/
Do you think she realizes she just gave her fans the power to make or destroy her career? Probably not.
>>769 Sorry Unknown, maybe my post wasn't that clear, I didn't mean that your dislike could be too much for the board, but that the board might be too much for you, if you thought that this was a place just to dislike the guy. As the others said we often disagree, mainly because we write in light fun, and changing one's mind is no big deal here since we all realize that we only know bits and pieces.
Nobody could have guessed that SF and Sian were bff, or that Sian and TH still hanged out. If anyone had offered that idea we would have pointed out how it didn't make sense, we would have sounded very reasonable and very competent. And we would have been completely wrong.
That's all, if you like it here, by all means keep posting.
Oh hi Couch and other oldies and newbies.
I was jarred from my long TH induced slumber earlier this week by news of his Hamlet. Unfortunately the article I read was the Times, and to quote Branagh:
“The play also asks, ‘What is reality? What are facts? And whose facts are they?’ In the age of fake news, our audience can’t avoid that connection. And underpinning that rage, it also talks of the effects of ‘the poison of deep grief’.”
Fake news... what is reality... the poison of deep grief...
This could be catastrophically worse than leftover bolognese at dawn.
I think regardless of the possibility of years of preliminary discussions, Sir Ken and not yet Sir TH intend to draw deeply on the summer of (no) regrets. To date it's the source of his greatest anguish and an untapped goldmine of torment.
>>796 Hello!
Hopefully he won't think of dressing him up with a tanktop.
>>796 Oh god...does this mean this interpretation of Hamlet will be Tom sympathetic? I really hope they don't take the political fake news propaganda and try to skew that concept in favor of TH and him getting laughed at in the media because...just no. That's not fake news, that's your PR plan failing because it wasn't well thought-out.
I wonder if TH is still trying to blame everyone else but himself over last summer. Has he seen and accepted last summer for what it was or is he still in denial?
>>766 Hello Couch! Welcome back!
I had meant I side eye Sian, not SF. It's mostly because of how superficial her understanding of feminism and other life observations like social media seem like but then again it doesn't sound that different from TH and what comes across as his understanding. Probably why the two are friends.
I had no idea about SF and liking the Casey Affleck tweets. Guess she's one not to rock the Hollywood boat lest she loses work because of it, considering she's still at the bottom of the ladder career wise.
>>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.
>>897 Let's make predictions!
>>901 Well that didn't come out like I planned!
1 - 4 are the categories. 5-8 are my predictions.
P.S. How do I erase all of my posts on this board because I'm pretty sure that I promised to buy a ticket for Shit Island and...I'd like to be excluded from that narrative.
>>890, >>891, >>892, >>894, >>895 Thank you all for helping me out of the rabbit hole of idealism down which I'd evidently fallen! Now that I've remembered the primary purpose - the Rehabilitation - the ballot approach fits into the scheme too. A way to look as though they're managing Tom's fans, because he's there to be a serious actor - while at the same time helping to seed the audiences with said fans! Where was the person who cooked up these ideas during Tayto?
>>891 About students/new grads working for free. If British Equity's rules work the same general way as the American union's, the new grads almost certainly had to be paid. And unlike the established actors, they probably weren't expected by the production team to then turn around and donate their salaries back to RADA. As for the students - the technical students in my drama school were required to work assigned productions at the associated professional theatre for free as part of our training. We were, however, paid for working as crew beyond the required slots for our program. TBH, I'm surprised that RADA doesn't have a way for its students to work on professional (i.e., for profit) productions as part of their training. I understand why they don't allow the actors to work outside the program, but in all the other disciplines, that would be invaluable experience and the best way for students to find out if the sometimes highly stressful life is really for them.
>>889 I do feel bad now that I didn't pick up on the signs that Tom really didn't want to be talking to that fan. I'm curious - do you think that even if she'd excused herself as she'd originally meant to do, would he have let it go at that? Or would he have felt obligated to continue the conversation even if she explicitly gave him an "out"?
>>892 Helping out RADA, "Taylor Swift and I are together and we're very happy", "we all live in a world where every phone has a camera"...the things Tom tells himself to get through his hardknock life.
>>894 Oh, I meant that post-Tayto, his comeback as a serious actor had been in the works for a while. I don't think it was something that was cooked up this year but something that began taking root last year when the media went after him for his Golden Globe speech. Since Tom himself has said that Ken B is his mentor, I'm positive he was helping Hiddles figure out his options. Something that's not too obvious but something that's also not movies, something that gives TH a boost in his journey to reclaiming his acting cred, something that got rid of the Golden Globe South Sudan fumble. The RADA Hamlet play is perfect and checks all boxes - working back to serious acting (no tabloids business for this 27 yr old), generosity in helping out his alma mater, etc etc.
>>903 Probably got ousted by Swift's PR. The way summer was handled last year, I do think his PR signed over his handling to her PR team. I've seen it happen with celebrity couples where one publicist will entrust their client to the other client's PR, and contracts are involved. Except in Tayto's case, it became clear later that one half of the couple did not have same goal in mind and just needed a human shield to distract from the Kimye scandal. That's when his management and agent were seen stepping in. I don't think TH ever consulted with them before he plunged in headfirst with Taylor.
>>893 I think that's because Kong made most of its money in the Asian market. The last time I saw its BI, it was the Asian market that pushed Kong into the BO hit territory. Otherwise, I think it would have met with a similar fate like Valerian and Dark Tower.
>>906 Yes, if he'd involved his team beforehand, the American members would have warned him the hell away from her!
>>896 Time for a makeover! It'll probably be a serious more thoughtful and mature Taylor Swift now. No more selfie squad stuff anymore but a more thoughtful poignant approach to life. Privacy, thoughtful quotes, more woke and less shook, mmhmm.
>>902 The kareha support staff can do it for you if you have your publicist give them a call. Just make sure it's Tree and not Luke making the call ;)
Apparently TNM 2 has no script, and they're still only tossing around plot ideas. I think they need to think like the Disney film Frozen, and Let It Go : ) There are so many Le Carre novels to pick from. The Perfect Spy is amazing, and Tom says that he loved it.
>>906 The fauxmance tabloid updates were definitely organized by her PR team, since almost every article was from her perspective or had gushing compliments about her. Except the radaronline article near the end, where Tom allegedly said he felt that they looked ridiculous in the tabloids. But I can't imagine anyone on earth being foolish/naive enough to sign a contract without consulting a lawyer and a publicist, first. Maybe Tom's American PR team who set up his "cheese board" Instagram page for his press tour convinced him. I haven't seen them around, recently...
>>889 To be honest Anon, I've never lived in England but most people would think like you did. It's obvious that in that circumstance it was up to her to let him go, she was the one who had to be considerate of his position and realize he couldn't just say "bye", particularly not after the year he had.
>>891 Well, he did a Kong screening with dinner that was pricer during Kong promo. I thought that was his "getting actual money for RADA", while this Hamlet seems to be more about advertising the merit of RADA as school (see students being involved not just as actors) to find private investors.
Page 4
https://www.rada.ac.uk/rada_files/pdfs/rada_supporters_summer_2017_newsletter.pdf
Besides, if he had done a "dinner with Tom" to raise money for RADA it would have been taken has a demonstration of egocentrism.
>>890 There's one flaw with your reasoning, you say "The ballot system guaranteed audience full of fans, not critics or theater lovers." So where's the rehabilitation? His fans already like him and no critic is going to gush about a play based on what his fans say.
If this play is for the purpose of rehabilitation with critics, it makes no sense. If it is with general audience, they don't give a shit about tayto, mainly because they don't give a shit about TS. Ask who TS is in any of the 27 and if you are lucky they'll tell you it's a pop singer.
For media rehabilitation (provided it's still needed) a blockbuster is better.
>>896 She won her trial, she can't have teenage SM anymore (I'm kidding, that she won her trial is the only positive thing I found to say about her).
Her bff Sheeran left twitter, so maybe she'll keep the account to avoid fakes, but abandon SM.
>>914 I'm not sure that Tom could land a blockbuster with his reputation still covered in fauxmance residue and after the GG speech incident. What consistent young actor lands blockbusters anymore besides Leo D? Chris Pine is about to do a TNT tv miniseries for gosh sake! It's rough out there in LA. Maybe Hamlet will throw off the tabloid magazine crowd at least, for a bit. The less mainstream his projects are, the better. Please Tom, do a sexy French film with Isabelle Huppert. And maybe he should look to produce and star in another tv series. Less competition, and great visibility.
>>912 Wasn't the American PR team just a part time contract hire during ISTL? That's what it seemed like...
>>914 It's about TH reestablishing himself in Hollywood through appearances. Appearance of a sold out, in demand play when really it's just in demand by his die-hard fans. I'm sure Ken B has saved 1-2 special seats for a few friendly critics who are either sympathetic to TH or owe Ken B a favor or are his buddies, and will write a nice review about Tom helping out his school and mentor with his polished acting chops.
General public in US knows Taylor Swift really well so I'm not sure which general public you're referring to that isn't aware of TS. She's everywhere here and so is her personal life. That doesn't mean they're all fans (tho she has a big female fanbase ranging from teens to women in their 20s and 30s) but she's heavily mainstream here. Even grandparents know and like her here lol Tom was a joke in the public here last year because of how he and TS presented him as her bf, and it affected his standing among Hollywood producers, hence dearth of offers despite Kong's success. It's only the industry ppl he has to convince he's not the joke he came off as last year so they won't be wary of giving him a chance again, and that will take care of industry mags too. Tabloids won't care about him unless he does something gossip worthy or if he decides to sell his personal life again. Personal life gossip is all tabloids and tabloid readers care about and that isn't who he's aiming his comeback at.
>>916 He should try to see if he can land something with any of the streaming platforms. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime or any of the On demand services. Shonda Rimes just moved all her shows off ABC and onto Netflix, and hers were some of ABC's highest rating shows. These subscription based streaming platforms are changing the face of conventional entertainment distribution and that's affecting studio and production decisions.
>>918 By On Demand services, I meant movies that will get released there before theaters or alongside their theater release.
>>917 Oh come on, I was nasty with this guy in every possible way last summer, but a simple play at RADA doesn't have the power to affect Hollywood producers. Are you saying they'll decide to invest millions on the basis that a small school theatre went sold out?
Before you said that the ballot was used to make sure no critic was present, now you are sure KenB will have seats for friendly critics - odd since even RADA's teachers had to enter the ballot - but let's say that were the case, wouldn't it simply piss off other critics hence ensuring negative comments and nullify this great master plan?
The world isn't just the US, nobody knows that better than Hollywood. Who paid for the last Mission Impossible and Kong film? The Chinese. Does it look like they think TH's is radioactive? No. Does it look like in the EU (the 27) people care about TS? No.
The studios care about getting a return in money, EU, China, Russia, South America, and all the South-East Asia don't care about TS enough for that to condition their opinion of TH - you should have read the Japanese journalists gushing about him during the Kong promo - and all these countries make a difference at the box office.
>>916 I wasn't necessarily speaking of a movie, it could be a tvshow. But between a RADA play and a successful hit, be it a movie, only the latter guarantees the exposure needed for worldwide media to talk about it. Kong in that sense already gave a help from a box office point of view.
>>881 Should have said: Yes! But we are used to the Crazy Smart one's hypocrisy around here. Because CS is the other side of a cray-cray penny she has to defend Miss Unrelated.
>>910 You might be on to something! That bish would have the gall to call her cooked up showmance song 'Bittersweet' instead of Contractually Obligated.
>>912 I wonder if he's going to cling to this project because it will give him a second shot at Bond, if they get the timing correct. You're right, let it go! Or do what Frozen did and turn it into a musical. He can star in Kong the musical and The Singing Night Manager. There can be an entire song made up of his annoying laughter.
I don't pretend to know how popular TS is in the EU member states. I suppose her tour numbers in those countries would hint at it. She's very well known here and well-known enough in general that TH decided to showmance with her - presumably to raise his profile. And a quick search of his name with hers on twitter tells me that they are still a package deal. He's not yet shook her off [I did a thing there ;)]. Yes his fans aren't going to mention TS, but her fans and those who only know them through Tayto will.
I don't know about how he thinks Hamlet is going to affect his HW career. I think that is second on the docket in terms of clean-up. But I agree with NewAnon >>890 (and others on the board) that this is meant to re-cred TH in terms of being a serious actor. The rehabilitation has nothing to do with fans, it comes from the choice of play, the venue, the short run (making it a hot ticket) and the charity aspect. They all scream actor who cares, not famewhore who showmanced - disastrously.
And I think its main purpose can be seen if we look at it in context. It was part of a trifecta which didn't come off. There was the Cannes conference which was all about being creative and artistic. Then there was the Camb. union speech which we think was going to be about Unicef. Those didn't happen for various reasons but suggest that he's going in like a D-5 on creative, serious, charitable, back to his roots.
NewAnon, I think you live on the west coast. Are you in the biz?
>>920 Except that it's not just some simple any old RADA play, it's a coproduction between RADA and Kenneth Branagh's own theater company, directed by Kenneth Branagh himself. It carries a certain respect while appearing humble. Look at the headlines that announced this, they all said something along the lines of Kenneth Branagh directing Tom Hiddleston in Hamlet. Not something like Tom starting in fundraising play for RADA. It's a clear attempt at stitching back Tom's reputation. The play isn't aiming at making Tom a hit sensation nor is it aiming to showcase him as the next big thing so I'm not sure why you keep bringing that up.
He wasn't at the top of casting lists before last summer but at least he was on the lists (usually as last choice but still there). He isn't anymore. This is an attempt at getting him back in the mix as an actor, hence comeback vehicle. He should appear to be the opposite of what his image currently is because of last summer. Image matters, look at Peter Dinklage in the upcoming sci-fi mystery Rememory. His acting and image from doing GoT worked so well together that despite his unconventional physical look as a lead for that genre, he got that film.
Having your own critic friends there who'll do you a favor is a lot different than having it open to any and every critic. No critic is going to write scathing angry editorials or articles that they didn't get tickets to Hamlet. It's not Hamilton. Why would they waste their time on that? This production isn't claiming to renovate the face of theater as we know it nor is it claiming to be better than the other shows in town. It's not saying Tom is going to do the best Hamlet performance ever done to date. It's not claiming anything extraordinary that would cause other critics to feel they're missing out and to get angry and write anything negative unless they specifically have a personal axe to grind with Tom or Ken.
Sure, Wanda Group financed Kong but it was before Tayto, the movie wrapped up before Tayto hit public. It was in post production by then. I don't see what bringing up EU and politics have to do with movie production unless we're looking at the current trade war friction between China and US which would impact Chinese financing in US movies. Already Legendary is putting out statements distancing itself from Wanda's funding.
Yeah, studios care about making money so they pick sure fire moneymakers. When producers make big movie pitches to investors or studio execs, they either have an idea of cast already or they'll start casting once they secure financing. Tom might have better marketability in Asia but he's not even the top guy there much less the only guy, and it's not a loss if he's not in it. I'm sure Chinese investors don't care about TS and Tom and last summer personally or specifically but they also don't care about Tom specifically just because of Kong. Also investors don't sit around coming up creatives, producers find a project and approach them. How many Chinese investors are rushing to finance movies demanding specifically that Tom be the main lead because of Kong's numbers? Are Wanda Group or Shanghai Films saying they'll only fund movies with Tom the guy from Kong in it? They'll fund whatever if the numbers are good enough. However let's make it more general. How many big movie pitches or decent movie pitches are currently being made to potential investors (not just Chinese or international ones) which specifically are considering Tom in a leading or one of the main roles after last summer? None after Tayto tbh.
Referring to your comment about the world outside US, unfortunately unless the movie calls for it, Hollywood does not aim at the international market as their primary demographic. Default demographic is always put down as white males (that's why we have the diversity problems that we do). The international market plays second to the domestic market for most movies.
>>923 yes I'm on the west coast. I'm in the non glam side of the biz but in the industry.
>>923 Interesting idea about the rehab trifecta!
I think that part of what's behind RadHam includes this: in the English-speaking world at least, he's become tabloid fodder and his name a literal punchline. Anon has pointed out that he used to be a golden boy to the UK press. Hamlet is a non-fame-whorish way for him to try and win back the favor he used to enjoy. (Which I think he wants both professionally and personally.)
About the industry, at the very least it signals that he's back actively looking for work (even if he had to create it in this case). And it will remind casting directors that he can do something other than Loki, which otherwise would be the only role he's seen in for a while between T:R and IW.
As I mentioned above, this production benefits him and KB/RADA in many ways. In particular, KB gets a well-publicized kickoff for the fund-raising campaign (even if this show doesn't actually bring in much money). And on the side, it also keeps the name of Branagh's theatre company alive.
>>924 Thank you, I thought this was very enlightening.
Especially the bit about him having been on lists but at the bottom, but now being on no lists. Is that something you know from working in the industry or an informed guess?
I'd also love to know your (and everyone's!) thoughts on where he was and now is on other lists than "tentpole blockbuster" (which I assume is what NewAnon was talking about above). I guess that there is an "innovative indie, won't make a dime" list, and that he was at or close to the top of that list (Ben Wheatley was clear he was first choice for HR, and he was also first choice for ISTL). Also, I guess, a list for movies with a budget of $50-60 million which may or may not be a breakout success. I would speculate he wasn't ever at the top of that list, hence he got CP only once Cumberbatch dropped out. I am guessing he wasn't at the bottom though as he seemed to be second choice after BC. And finally a British TV list - I actually think in early 2015 when he did TNM he was high up that list and maybe at the top, as he combined a decent degree of fame with being young and hot, but not yet so in demand that he would refuse to do British tv.
Where is he now on any of these lists, I wonder? Has Tayto been such a disaster that he can't get a job off any list? I find that a bit hard to believe, though as NewAnon says, image is important and his is still not good. Is it because he only wants projects off the "Tentpole" list, where he is nowhere? Is he rejecting decent indie projects? Be interested to know what everyone thinks!
>>927 Innovative indie/won't make a dime: Probably was near but not at the top of the list.
His track record in that category (not including the Joanna Hogg films which were early on in his career):
I think HR's budget was high enough to be in the next category.
To me, this track record reads as (a) financially, he can't help make a film make money, but neither could any of his better-known costars; and (b) critically, he will get good to great reviews but can't save a bad movie. So his strength in this category depends on his reviews, which in turn somewhat depend on his image/reputation. My guess is he is now at best right where he was pre-Tayto. Producers/directors in this category may want to wait a little longer until the Tayto stink has further dissipated. RadHam will appeal to them as a "comeback."
>>927, >>928 Movies with $50 - 60M budget that may or may not breakout: Probably was near but not yet at top of the list, though it depended on the role. I should have included CP here rather than in the first group!
Track record:
> CP (a bit more) I have the impression that Del Toro contacted him immediately after BC dropped out, so Tom may have been a close second in the casting.
> HR - was the first choice; billed 1st; lost money; mixed to poor reviews for the film, to the point that the actors didn't get much attention, so I think Tom's reviews were fine but not exceptional.
I think this track record is similar to that in the first category, with perhaps a little less strength in the reviews because the director and production get more attention here unless the performances are breakout. So my opinion is he hasn't budged from where he was at this level before last summer, and might even have dropped slightly from where he started before CP. It doesn't help that both films flopped financially and got mixed reviews. And there's a lot more competition in this category for the lead part! I think it will somewhat depend on luck of there being a role for which he's somehow a better fit than BC, Eddie R., Fassy, etc.
>>927 British (and somewhat, US) TV list: I agree with you on where he was. And of these categories, this is the one in which I think he's probably still strong.
I gather TNM was big hit in the UK and he was a big hit in it; while it wasn't as hot over here, it had a LOT of strong competition - the US is having a "peak TV" period! It's a feather in his cap that there's interest in doing a second series/season of it.
And for some reason I think that TV producers/directors won't care that much if at all about the hit to his personal reputation. Something tells me that this category is a little less concerned about reviews and more about casting that will help draw viewers.
I think this is the category on which he should focus for now. There are so many good short series happening in the US for the streaming services that he could make a big splash with a short investment of time.
>>927 Last one tonight, I promise! I'm also skeptical that he can't get a job from any of these lists. (And there's also theatre work.) My guess is that the lack of new projects is a mix of factors.
I wonder if he didn't perhaps take his eye off the prize for a while while he was preparing for/filming/publicizing so many projects in a row before last summer - CP, ISTL, TNM, H-R, KSI . He may not have had the time and energy to read through scripts in his few off hours. (Also probably didn't help that he spent some of those hours socializing with his cast mates during ISTL, H-R, and KSI.) Also, this might be where Anon's comment about Eton boys being told they're Masters of the Universe from age 13 comes in - once he started to get a lot of film/good TV roles all at once, he may have assumed that they would just keep coming (because, he thought, look at all the great work he was doing). And then there was taking off a chunk of last spring and summer to have "fun"....
Meanwhile, he has fierce competition for good roles, and they may be more active in making their own work. For example, BC found Imitation Game from the Blacklist script list and told his agent to go after it. Supposedly he's also now producing some of his upcoming projects.
He might be holding off for a "tentpole" lead role; he might be waiting for just the right indie/breakout part. Or he may be having a crisis of confidence and is deathly worried about making the wrong choice for his comeback.
>>931 Reading scripts is literally the only thing actors are supposed to do when they're not working, and I don't think that Tom can be described as lazy. There are a lot of talented drama student grads in London, and not all of them ascend the totem pole on stage and screen, in the UK amd the US. I think Tom/he and his reps got greedy/careless. Actors are supposed to book the next job before their last movie opens. Tom was flying high off TNM reception worldwide, and the some critical praise for ISTL, and had Kong in the can and Thor 3 about to film. So, he/his Team thought they could wait till the Emmy and GG nominations came in and that they could use the tabloid attention from the fauxmance to make him super marketable to studios. Instead, Tom was called out on the fauxmance, was tangentially involved in a reality star/pop star tabloid feud, and now his systematically cultivated Cambridge/RADA/hard working mysterious thespian halo has been knocked off. Tom needs to either stick to theatre and do 3 or 4 plays in a row to get the citics back on his side, produce and star in another limited tv/online series, or rebuild/rebrand in indy cinema and supporting roles in Europe.
>>932 Ascend the totem pole of stage and screen was soo melodramatic. So silly. I should have said so few acting students have successful film careers. Blah.
>>931 "For example, BC found Imitation Game from the Blacklist script list and told his agent to go after it." - Heynon, how is the Blacklist TV series related to the Imitation Game in this instance?
>>932 Sosorry, you hit it right on the head here: "and now his systematically cultivated Cambridge/RADA/hard working mysterious thespian halo has been knocked off." He cannot afford to be picky anymore if that's what's going on.
I would imagine he wants a career as hot as Tom Hardy's right now, but somehow do it being less busy than Hardy. But he can't have it that way. Like Heynon said in >>931 about thinking scripts would be handed to him from now on the way it was with ISTL, or being asked by A list directors to join in prestige ensemble spots like War Horse or the Woody Allen movie, without having to audition. My guess, or really, what I believe without really knowing the business at all - Hollywood wants to see if he's growing beyond a comicbook character and fauxBond - how far outside his comfort zone has he gone, is he willing to go? ISTL was only the start, and he has to continue finding roles that pull him out of himself. Maybe throwing himself into the theatre and/or a TV series for a few years will be the way he shows he's matured. Tom Hardy has 15 titles somewhere in development - optioned, script, announced, planned, exec prodcer, in a variety of titles and genres....Tom Hiddy has 1 listed, Hard Boiled. Maybe he was auditioning his ass off and getting turned down left and right before Ken solidified the Hamlet run.
>>927 It’s something I’ve seen. Tom was usually last in line for any big budget film if there was no exact cast in mind.
For Crimson Peak, he got the role because Benedict Cumberbatch personally recommended him when he left. Tom wasn’t 2nd in line or anything. And because of that foot in with Legendary, I think that’s how Tom got involved with Kong in the early initial stages of the treatment before an actual script was even written with a finalized director.
I don't believe Tom was ever in consideration for Bond. Actors sign NDAs when they audition for a role or are pulled into initial talks for it. None of that obnoxious Tayto stunting would have been accompanied by “Bond hopeful” in the tabs if he was actually being considered for it. It’d be a clear violation of the NDA. Or maybe he did violate the NDA and that’s why producers don’t want to work with him anymore.
I think Tom’s approach to the business is not very smart and he wastes his lucky breaks. Eg: his success in a Marvel ensemble and wanting movies at that level. Switching agencies shows that. That's how he ended up at the bottom of lists for big projects because his work at the time didn't justify him even being in the middle, much less top. If Tom had used his breakthrough momentum wisely while at ICM, he could have easily been doing projects at the level of Ex-Machina ($15m, great acclaim) around 2013 instead of something like Muppets. Even with WME, he could have achieved that if he'd been aiming for good meaty roles, not just pushing for leading roles or roles in big budgets or franchises. He hopped on that train late with High Rise ($8m), and quite frankly, I don't think he would have ever considered Laing if it weren’t for Jeremy Thomas.
Post TNM, Tom most likely would have been middle of the list for a leading role in movies at the level of The Snowman or top of the list for shows like Netflix’s The Mindhunters. He wasn't in consideration for Snowman at the time but I believe he would be considered for movies at that level now if it weren’t for the Tayto spectacle.
I know it sounds trite but image is important in Hollywood because it shows what an actor's goal is - acting or fame. He's not being considered for quality projects which he could have been after TNM and Kong. The image he projected last summer was that of a narcissistic actor who could turn a project into a "me me me" affair by calling paps during filming or leaking photos/ info from set or talking about only himself during the promo junket and would require constant babysitting. His Golden Globe speech also gave that impression. These are valid concerns any good producer or exec producer would have.
>>925 I'd always suspected this given your posts. Good to have it confirmed.
I can't tell a tent-pole from an indie sleeper so I won't even guess. He himself said pre-Tayto that he was the bridesmaid more than the bride. OLLA was Fassbender's before TH's. CP also belonged to someone before it fell to him, as noted here. The Sony leaks showed us that it wasn't false modesty on his part. He was never top of the list, even for a stinker comedy like Grimsby, and was considered B list by studios.
>>932 I think you're right. He and his people were betting on this. ISTL, TNM and Tayto were all meant to catapult him into the big-time. TNM worked in the UK, less so in the US. To paraphrase the song, 2 out of 3 ain't bad, but .75/3 is.
I'm sure he'll get another job but maybe not what he was wanting or expecting last year in March, April.
OT I'm currently on the roof of our building waiting for the eclipse. It's cloudy, of course. Junior is in his covered buggy and asleep but my MIL is still shielding him like a Secret Service agent. We look like tits in our glasses.
More on eclipses later.
>>935 Ever since he left ICM for WME he's been getting bad parts. Him and his team thought that just because he had great acclaim as Loki in the first Thor movie and Avengers that he could keep on going with that. But he got full of himself and switched to WME when ICM was getting him supporting but yet quality parts. With his actions with Taylor it just shows he's impulsive, impatient and just plain naive and with the Golden Globes speech narcissistic. He needs to stick to theater for awhile and if he wants to get A-list he needs to go on TV. He doesn't have the magnetism of a leading man at all.
>>937 What did the Sony leaks say about him? I only know that they pretty much described him as a desperate famewhore who will do anything the studios tell him to do.
>>936 No, I meant the Black List script list/marketplace that helps scripts get more notice and picked up: https://blcklst.com
>>936, >>940 And an article about the Black List: http://www.npr.org/2017/01/27/512047249/the-hollywood-black-list-turns-overlooked-scripts-into-oscar-movies
The Eclipse was magical, according to friends who live near or travelled to be near totality. Where I was, roughly in the 70% zone, it became 3degCelsius or so cooler, and I got some nice pics of the crescent-shaped sun as the moon was partially covering it by noticing the shape of leaves' shadows on the sidewalk. The birds were totally quiet during.
As ever I have learned a lot! Thanks all.
I think Sosorry is bang on in suggesting that he thought he would wait till after Tayto success (!!) and Emmy noms etc to see what was out there. The plan maybe also included planning a break in early 2017, knowing how much he would have been doing through 2016 (KSI, fauxmance, Thor 3). So, as he thought, see what comes up from September 2016 onwards, expecting to be booking by the end of 2016 and filming by mid 2017 after a break.
>>935 I had never really thought of how producers would see Tayto in terms of needing babysitting on press junkets etc. I just thought they would see it in terms of whether he was a credible leading man with the public. It's sad that he unravelled years of being a good company man with 2 months of messing around - I mean, he could not possibly have been criticised for how hard he worked on the ISTL tour in March/April 2016.
>>937 >>939 Here are some of the copies of the hacked Sony emails about Tom Hiddleston. The first email implies that his ego is easily flattered by film executives, and that Paramount had recently turned him down for a certain project. Tom is thought of as B list in general, but Sasha Baron Cohen wanted him for Grimsby and raised Tom to his personal A list for for a part in his film. Hmm...So directors who know personally of Tom's work wanted to work with him despite his status in the chain, before last summer. Unfortunate.
https://wikileaks.org/sony/emails/emailid/69606
https://wikileaks.org/sony/emails/emailid/79244
https://wikileaks.org/sony/emails/emailid/93418
>>939>>945 Don't think you can get 'famewhore' out of the emails. Maybe his behavior, but not the emails! The most telling is that he wanted to play the part of a spy/intelligence officer in dramas, not comedies, i.e., wanted Bond bad.
>>943 It was only 70%ish percent here too but it was eerie and special nonetheless. The little one slept through it but I can say that he 'witnessed' it. No birds around to see their reaction. The traffic wasn't quiet. My MIL was! Miracle.
>>946 Bond was never in the cards for anyone besides Daniel Craig. Bond producer Barbara Broccoli just was one of the producers of his Off-broadway production of Othello, in which, Craig played Iago. There was a blind item that Tom was in their peripheral vision, somehow. But blind items can't always be trusted.
Tom was "accidentally" seen running yesterday in his hw ISTL Hank Williams ISTL baseball cap. Will we get planned grumpy cat Tom pap pics while he carries coffee, closer to the opening of Hamlet? Time will only tell.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYDDliNlyqp/?taken-by=tomhiddleston_daily
OMG. Remember when Tom came out to support his Avengers' director, and Buffy, Angel, and Serenity series creator, Joss Whedon, at the premiere of Much Ado About Nothing? Well Whedon's ex-wife, architect Kia Cole, has just denounced him in a personal essay as a 15 year serial adulturer, pathological liar, and fake feminist, which caused her to develop "Complex PTSD"! She designed their georgeous marital home, which was used as the location in the Much Ado film. Let us remember that the fallout from a real relationship in Hollywood is much uglier than a fake one. Links to Tom at the premiere and the story are below.
http://www.celebitchy.com/546819/joss_whedons_ex-wife_joss_is_a_compulsive_cheater_a_fake_feminist/
http://www.thewrap.com/joss-whedon-feminist-hypocrite-infidelity-affairs-ex-wife-kai-cole-says/
http://www.justjared.com/photo-gallery/2889192/tom-hiddleston-supports-joss-whedon-much-ado-about-nothing-01/
>>932 Oh, I didn't mean to imply that Tom is lazy. Just that he had so much going on, especially with how intensely he prepared for ISTL and how hard he worked on that promo tour, that he may have dialed back looking for work just a notch. And I think we're saying essentially the same thing at the end - that he/his team assumed that good roles would just come in on their own, particularly as you pointed out after any awards nominations. But as others' later posts have pointed out, he wasn't really high up at all in the feeding chain, and the competition is fierce. (Plus I suspect any actor would be better off having too many irons in the fire because of the number of projects that turn into vaporware!)
>>942 You're welcome, Whatsinaname! I think I actually heard about the Black List when I was first lurking on this board.
>>935 Ah, I didn't know that Ben C had recommended Tom to replace him in CP. So there's another role that potentially was just handed to him.
For Bond, agree that violating an NDA would put him on the old kind of blacklist. But how much did Tom really say about wanting the role other than that he'd be thrilled to play it? (I wasn't following him at that point, so I really don't know and am curious. I saw occasional articles that smacked a bit of "tall poppy syndrome" for his having even made that comment. There even was some interview where he hung his head when asked about it and said something about he wished that people would just stop talking about it.) And do you think his PR team was feeding the idea to the tabloids? I had more of the impression that the tabs were milking it themselves.
I think your last paragraph neatly sums up what he did to his image by associating with that pap-stunt-pulling, self-centered child last summer. Though he did already tend to hog the spotlight during promo tours, it wasn't to the point that he needed to be babysat. Unfortunately, it is now, and even having a sitter at the GGs didn't keep him from stepping in it! Someone must have read him the riot act and finally gotten through to him, because we saw that almost 180 turn in his behavior during the KSI tour.
>>946 Agree that the emails don't imply "famewhore." The first one does imply that he was still far enough down the ladder of HW success to be flattered (or that he should be flattered!) at the offer of a supporting role to Sasha Baron Cohen. As we know, TH has high need to feel loved/wanted, even for an actor.
The emails are from early 2014. Would he have been involved with Night Manager by that point as a produces?
The eclipse here was 75% - 80%. Didn't get all that dark, but the temperature definitely dropped a few degrees. And it really was cool to watch it, even if the glasses were dorky!
>>949 Last one, then I'm off to watch a leader of the free world who watched the eclipse today without wearing the glasses....
I suspect Tom's presence at that premiere was as much "would attend the opening of an envelope" as bit support for Josh W. At least I hope so. To me, Tom's feminist cred dropped a bit after his going along with (and continuing to use) the "mewling quim" line in A1.
>>947 I think you're correct, but that doesn't mean he wasn't dreaming about Bond, even as early as 2014.
>>949 If you have to say you're a feminist, you probably aren't. Whedon's fake feminism has been a story since the days of Buffy and Angel. I'm not surprised.
>>951 His people likely were feeding it. I remember there was a pap video taken of TH as he was walking near the cafe. The main topic of the pap's questions: Bond. Anon has told us that the neighborhood isn't really a hotbed of pap activity but somehow a pap showed up to chat with TH about Bond...just as he was getting his morning cup o joe... like paps showed up everywhere Tayto went. Neither was coincidental. If the paps milked it, it was because someone gave them the cow, stool and pail.
>>951 I think the media and internet read him the riot act. After the showmance and the GG, he couldn't continue with the piddling puppy act. Also I think about the cringe associated with Tayto down under. I recall both MR and CH having to answer Tayto questions, or dodge Tayto questions, during interviews and radio broadcasts. Not what you want from a colleague or from a work environment. That must be in the backs of people's minds.
And speaking of eclipses.... Dlisted tells me that - to no one's surprise - TS has posted to her SM. It appears to be a picture of a snake, so she's going to own that, I guess. I doubt she'll own her fakery as well. Oct. seems to be her usual album release month. Are we going to have SM hints and teasers through all of Sept. (Hamlet run) and then album drop and promo in Oct. (promo for/lead up to Thor in Nov.)? Does the universe hate TH that much?
Sept. will be all about speculation and Oct. all about dissecting the TH song (my new guess: Snake Charmer). Good luck with those two projects, TH!
Or am I exaggerating? Will focus fall on the new boyfriend and TH escape saturation mention?
>>955 Her new single will drop this Friday the 25th. It's called 'Timeless.' Allegedly. I say she missed an opportunity not dropping it as the eclipse was happening yesterday.
>>955 So it's coming down the pike quickly. I wonder if this is 'his' song, or if that will wait until the second single in about 2 or 3 months when you know who's you know what comes out. TH had better hope that this CD has a (surprise plot twist!) positive, forward thinking life spin and keep it about the new beau.
>>950 The Blacklist article/transcript was very interesting. Thanks again.
The first official "I don't want to review Hamlet" article: https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/2017/matt-trueman-whats-point-reviewing-tom-hiddlestons-hamlet/?utm_source=newsletter1&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter1
Not I thought a particularly powerful argument against reviewing. He says (1) I have to make a critical choice and reviewing this pushes out a review of something else (come on, do you really see plays every day? And you write for an online publication so are they honestly short of space); (2) it is sold out and plays to a small capacity theatre (but he concedes he will review sold out plays or those in small venues); (3) he doesn't review charity events (except when he does).
What it really comes down to seems to be his last few sentences: he doesn't have any real interest in the Hiddleston Hamlet. Why he feels like this he doesn't choose to analyse. I think it comes down to good old-fashioned pique: his view is not considered relevant by Branaghston, and he knows it.
>>958 It does sound like "Well, I probably wouldn't have reviewed it anyway so there HA!"
Care to bet that this fellow brings this up the next time he reviews TH or KB?
>>959 I meanly thought when I saw his pic that he looked a bit like TH only....not quite. I bet he is sick of taking women out for dinner and then asking if he has met TH (or other hotties) in his work as a theatre critic!
Tom, photographed out in the wild, wearing his uniform.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYGs6ZvlS7q/?taken-by=tomhiddleston_daily
>>939 I think depending on the type of story, Tom could do a lead role. He can do vulnerability and antagonism really well, and a modern mystery or a quiet psychological thriller would be a good fit. I can see him doing roles like Edward Norton in Primal Fear or Jake Gyllenhaal in Zodiac. Traditional Tom Cruise/ Bruce Willis type action roles or even romcoms are not Hiddlebum's forte. He can fit in a Wes Anderson comedy pretty well too.
>>944 Credibility with the public is part of it as well because of is the actor worth the hassle in $$$ when it comes to production costs. That's why some actors with serious substance abuse issues will keep getting good gigs even though they pose a huge insurance liability, because the public adores them and studios/ producers feel it's worth the risk in $$$. Tom is an idiot with how he blew his chances. That tanktop was nothing compared to how he arrived in Oz with Taylor and turned the entire Thor3 shoot about himself and Taylor. I'm pretty sure Marvel had to spent extra to ensure the privacy of the closed set, and Tom must have gotten some sort of warning about not allowing his relationship circus to follow him on set.
>>951 Even if you give Tom the benefit of the doubt and say TNM provoked the Bond rumors, if he was truly in consideration for the role, he immediately would have shut it all down because of the NDA. That's why you never find out about actors auditioning for whatever movies until it's about to go into pre-production. Likely scenario is what >>954 said. Tom wanted Bond and thought if he put it out there in the media that his Pine makes him a viable candidate for Bond, he would get noticed by Broccoli and company. He could have landed some other role in the Bond universe if he had networked instead of leaking and stunting.
>>965 That's what I think about Bond. He wasn't in contention but he wanted to be (as is evident from his glowing blushes when denying it). So his people leak it after TNM, he then quite truthfully says "I'm not in talks" but all the while hoping the buzz will force Broccoli's hand to consider him - the People's Bond.
>>958 He really struggled to try not to shit on the idea of charity plays but still ended up doing it anyways on RADA, and shit on Tom's acting potential as well. There will be some who will use this as an opportunity to gratify their Hiddleshate.
PS He used to know all this. He mentioned doing a chemistry audition with EO many years before they worked together, and he was very careful not to say what it was for. He also I think didn't say he turned down Grimsby - people got that from his indirect comments only after the Sony hack.
>>966 He really needs to mature up. I can't believe he has the agents and management that he does and then pulls juvenile reality star level media stunts like that.
>>968 It's basic actor 101. It'd be worrisome if he didn't do it. I don't know what happened to make him do the stuff he did last summer. It was all very juvenile, something someone very green with rookie management would do. Not someone like Tom with the representation he has.
TS's new album is called Reputation, and is being advertised with a b&w pic of her superimposed on newsprint.
Tom, girl, you in trouble!
>> Is he ever! It drops Nov. 10 - two weeks after T:R's UK release and one week after the US premiere.
Awww, the rite of passage of every TS ex: the album drop, the liner notes, the anxiety. I'm sure Harris will come in for the really stern stuff; he didn't play along. TH has been proactive with his praise of her and his brokenhearted act so she might have needed to be gentle with him or risk backlash. I don't think she can go with the story she used about the break-up, i.e., he was the one pushing for a more public relationship.
So we are going to get a build-up that runs parallel and then converges with his schedule. He must be kicking himself.
Remember last June when her tumblr fans were introducing themselves to his fans, and talking about weddings? Oh how the world has changed.
>>971 Good lord, I just saw that cover. Talk about the victim act on steroids. Tbh, I don't know how the general public will react to her lambasting the media when real journalism is under attack. Her fans are loving it but I don't know if this new rebranding (is it really rebranding though when it's the same ol' victim act?) is going to go down as successfully as 1989 did.
This article sadly articulates what I think is true about the fakeness of TS. Wow. Ouch.
https://medium.com/@DevinR127/we-need-to-talk-about-taylor-swift-for-a-moment-349905905110
Anyone else think that these quotes from an "exclusive insider" sound like a plant from Tom's PR team? This is some major preventive brown-nosing.... http://hollywoodlife.com/2017/08/24/tom-hiddleston-taylor-swift-album-fears-diss-track-reputation/amp/
>>976 I don't know about that. Didn't her publicist or "insider" say immediately after the breakup announcement that he was using her for publicity (which is true) and her fame (also true) and that he wasn't falling in love with the real her, just the illusion of her. Pretty much calling him a famewhore. That doesn't scream "i'm gonna write a loving song about our barely 2 month relationship together". I think they broke up in early August during the rumored fight they had and then announced their breakup in September, but they were long over by then.
HollywoodLife is not exactly a reliable source, but if that is indeed a plant of Tom's well he sounds like a pathetic wimp. Just take it like a man Hiddleston. It's a song, that's all. And it does sound like something he would say in an interview. It has the same tone as the infamous GQ interview where he was spilling his fake broken heart for her. No one messes with Taylor and leaves unscathed.
Also there was a Blind item that he and his friends called Taylor a c**t. Her team probably saw this. Not going to end well but Taylor is trying to rebrand herself just like Tom, so these two fakes can suffer for all I care.
>>976 It's Hollywood Life so I wouldn't take it seriously. Their stuff never sounds like any publicist calls them. If he is actually scared...grow a pair, Tom. Also, if TS's new single is any measure of what her new album is all about then last year's famewhore label and TS tanktop were the worst of it lol I didn't think it was possible for her lyrics to sound more juvenile as she got older but she showed us all.
>>978>>976 Hollywood Life can be described as just clickbait. The release date of Thor 3 is too close to the TS album release date for Tom's PR team and Marvel not to prepare in advance for a strategy. Please let Marvel protect the brand, and let Tom hire some crisis PR firm. My first impulse is that maybe Tom won't be insulted in a song, b/c a "Tom" song would bring up pics of the fauxmance, in which she took equal blame. TS seemed to label Tom w the famewhore narrative, and then she ditched him in the tabloids. It wouldn't help her brand to be associated with Tom anymore.
According to Rolling Stone the new track is going for Kanye (http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/taylor-swift-new-song-look-what-you-made-me-do-apparent-kanye-west-diss-w499090,) though with its hackneyed lyrics and "poor me" attitude, it is hard to ascertain any particular target narrower than the world at large.
It is of course at number one - she has got 102m followers on Instagram after all - but whether it will be a critical success, or its message approved, remains to be seen. A number of commenters have already observed that "look what you made me do" is the defence invoked by rapists and child molesters everywhere. I think the tide turned last year for her as much as TH, actually. There is a greater willingness now to dig below the surface to interrogate the problematic messages she puts out about personal responsibility and her everlasting blonde victimhood.
One tweet I saw: Thought it was about Katy Perry. Or maybe John Mayer. Or maybe Tom Hiddleston. Or maybe Harry Styles. Or maybe Jake Gyllenhaal. Or maybe....
In the same way some can multi-task, she can multi-victim, playing the innocent, injured party to several 'cruel bullies.'
You made me do it. Nothing like the abrogation of personal responsibility.
I've not actually heard the song or seen the lyrics but the title could be perilously close to the truth for TS. Tayto seems to have been a response to Kim and Kanye's decision to speak about TS's knowledge of and agreement to his song's lyrics. They really did make her do it!
>>981 People are really dragging TS b/c the images from the new video seem to copy Beyoncé in Formation. The song has been bashed by critics, including the guardian, and by power ballad song writer Diane Warren. The album will be released on the anniversary of the date of the death of Kanye Wests mother, which is just insensitive, since the diss song is about Kimye. I refuse to link the video. But the lyrics cartoon video for the new TS single has an image of of a tall skinny cowboy in a suit and western hat, with a woman holding a gun like a Bond girl. Tom fans think that it's a sly reference to TH as Hank Williams in ISTL. As long as the general public doesn't pick up on it, there aren't any cruel songs about him on the album, and TH doesn't go on the same late night talk shows as TS does when promoting Thor, he can just relax as TS has to handle this complicated PR situation.
>>977, >>978, >>978 Oh I know that rag is ridiculous even for a tabloid. But to me, their article sounded so much like PR (or something lifted from one of the nannies' tumbles) that it amused me. I was thinking today that it almost sounded meant to provoke a "debunking" on Gossip Cop. And what did I find when googling Tom just now? A denial on Gossip Cop!
>>983 You were right on the money. Luke Windsor has officially learned how to contact gossip cop in a new emergency situation. Bless his heart! And I think TH's describing of TS not as an ex gf, but "as someone with whom he shares a history" is the new blow off line. Cold. Aggressively protective of TH's brand. Identical to what Team Beyoncé just did. Luke Windsor, congrats. Cheers to you, sir. Parabens. Keep it up. Keep up the fight.
https://www.gossipcop.com/tom-hiddleston-taylor-swift-reputation-album-diss-song/
Luke Windsor still sucks for approving TH to get with her in the first place. Both of them, TH and LW, knew of Swift's reputation with boyfriends yet they went along with it because Tom is an impulsive, impatient idiot that can't stand that his peers have been nominated for Oscars and have quality projects coming along compared to him.
Also, while I think TS is a sneaky whiny woman-child i doubt she release her album because of Kanye's mom death date. She mostly releases her albums around that time anyway. People are reaching far too much for their hate for her. The only thing she'll have against Kanye is songs against him, that's all, which she has done with the release single. I doubt Kanye's mom has anything to do with the equation.
>>981 Hmm...someone just said that what some Tom fans perceive is a Hank Williams based "cowboy" figure in the cartoon video for "Look What You Made Me Do", actually looks like a drawing of a 1940's film noir Sam Spade-like private investigator, and Swift would be the dangerous femme fatale with the gun. So in that case, Tom wouldn't be involved at all. I guess we'll see when she releases the video tomorrrrow.
>>984 What I find interesting about this GC denial is that it only denies that HL had a good source. Unless Team Tom's other denials to GC in the past, it doesn't call the actual content of the story ridiculous or use some similar putdown. I think that it, like the original story, are subtle shots across the bow to TS's team. The messages: Tom will continue to take the high road of only speaking well of her (in public, at least), which could make her look childish if she does do a diss song. Also, that his victim act (he'll be "crushed and hurt" if she does) is more appealing to the GP at this point, thanks to the GQ article, then hers is.
>>986 The film noir reference could be correct. I've seen a still from the full video with her made up like a dame from one of those movies (full lips, 1940s/50s hair, etc.)
Meanwhile, IRL, RadHam started tech rehearsals on Friday.
OMG! The male back up dancers in the real TS new video are all wearing the I heart TS tank tops in black, mid drift versions! She is so mean. Why does she need to reference Tom? He was ridiculed, not her? Cruel and unnecessary.
The effeminate male dancers in the TS music video wearing black midriff tank top shirt saying I heart TS.
>>989 http://variety.com/2017/music/news/taylor-swift-look-what-you-made-me-do-music-video-vma-1202540101/
>>989>>990 And she's selling I heart TS tops in the merchandise store as of now. Will Tom get a cut of that? No. Plus the video has a car chase scene where the paparazzi chase her to her death, just like Princess Diana, on the week of the death of Princess Diana! And she copied Whitney Houston and Beyoncé music videos where they stood next to versions of themselves, who are wearing costumes from all of their other music videos. I can't believe it.
>>989 etc - so much for Team Tom trying to steer her on to the high road.... This is all over the web and twitter now. Let's hope it dies down just as quickly so he can open RadHam in peace.
So evidently she's pissed that (a) the world mocked him for wearing that shirt, (b) he felt he had to explain it equals (c) disrespecting her because he wasn't proud to proclaim his love by wearing the squad uniform/official merch?
Did Taylor Swift just call out Tom Hiddleston in her new video clip?
We think so.
Following her surprise song release last week, the only thing Taylor Swift fans could look forward to more than the album (which is dropping on November 10) was the release of Look What You made Me Do’s video clip.
Premiered during the MTV Video Music Awards — which were hosted by Katy Perry, none the less — the video was everything and more. But perhaps one of the more subtle references, hidden between the Kanye West allusions, was Swift’s poke at former boyfriend Tom Hiddleston.
In a Formation-esque scene, Swift’s back-up dancers are seen wearing ‘I [heart] Taylor Swift’ T-shirts, eerily similar to the shirt Hiddleston wore at Swift’s 2016 Fourth of July party — yep, the one that made headlines for being as cringe-worthy as it was sweet.
So was it a dig, or are we reading too much into this? Considering the entire song is a play on Swift haters, we’re going to assume it’s the former.
The tumblr meltdown is going to be EPIC!
The not being mocked Tom can't come to the phone right now...he's dead.
Silver lining: she didn't make him wear the midriff version.
Too bad Michael K isn't posting at the moment because this needs his commentary.
Taylor Swift Threw Major Shade At Tom Hiddleston In New Music Video & It's Intense
http://elitedaily.com/entertainment/celebrity/taylor-swift-reputation-tom-hiddleston/2055344/
No one is safe on Taylor Swift's Reputation album. If you crossed her, she's coming for you. In true Swift fashion, ex-boyfriends are fair game. If you have followed every T. Swift relationship as closely as I have, you picked up a lot of subtle shade from the “Look What You Made Me Do” music video. If not, let me enlighten you. Tom Hiddleston in “Look What You Made Me Do” video seems non existent, but he's definitely there.
etc etc blah blah rehash blah blah
>>996, >>997 So on tumblr, the "toxics" are saying "told you so!" (That she'd go after him.) Meanwhile the nannies are claiming that it's meant to mock the media, not Tom. Too bad for them that every media outlet and random twitter person sees it as - a dig at Tom....
She didn't need to make him wear the midriff version - it was so many sizes too small that it showed his abs just fine! But really lucky for him that high heels weren't the right footwear for that party....
Closing out the thread...
