A Dragonfly sent me this interview over the weekend, but this is the first time I’m really reading it. I wouldn’t recommend this Tom Hiddleston piece to anyone but the die-hard fans because there is A LOT of Tommy in this Telegraph piece. It goes on for like five or six pages. So, if you love him and want to treasure every word, go here to read the full Telegraph piece. I’m just doing the highlights – Tommy talks about Coriolanus, Loki, his daddy issues and how he’s a circus bear. Note: he does not recite Shakespeare to passing ducks in this piece, but he comes close.
His fame: ‘It’s mad and bananas and amazing. But I can handle it for the simple reason that it genuinely feels like it’s not real. You know when you go to a fancy dress party and everyone looks incredible and there are crazy things hanging from the ceiling? For about five hours or so, you enter into another world and then, when you come out of it, you are sitting at home with a cup of tea and a biscuit and you’re thinking to yourself, “Well, that was weird. Fun, but weird.” That’s exactly what it feels like.’
Tommy on his vulnerability: ‘I’m painfully aware of the fragility of things,’ Hiddleston admits. ‘Because the hard bits are always just around the corner from the easy bits.’
Wait, he went to the “Dragon School”??? Born in London in 1981, Hiddleston moved at the age of 10 to Oxford, where his father, James, managed a company that helped university researchers commercialise their work. Like his older sister, Sarah, and his younger sister, Emma (‘my best friends in the world’), Hiddleston was privately educated, at the Dragon School in Oxford and Eton. Cambridge University followed.
His “posh” label: ‘The labels that are attached to me are, I would hope, the least interesting things about me,’ he says now. In general, Hiddleston is much more comfortable discussing his present than he is his past. When the subject of his parents’ divorce – he was 13 and had just started at Eton – comes up, he looks pained. ‘I like to think it made me more compassionate in my understanding of human frailty,’ is the most he will say of this period when he first found himself drawn to the catharsis that acting offered.
Daddy issues: While his mother (to whose house in Suffolk he retreats ‘to keep my head straight walking along the beach, throwing stones in the sea, and eating fish and chips’) has always nurtured his career choice, his father was a little harder to persuade. ‘He was genuinely worried that I would be bored and unfulfilled,’ Hiddleston says. ‘Acting was completely other from anything he knew and he just couldn’t see that it was a real job.’
Daddy sees it differently now: ‘He’s seen that it takes six months to make a Thor film. I’ve described my working process to him; the fact that, some days, I get up at four in the morning and don’t get home until nine at night, and he’s absolutely acknowledged that that’s real work.’
His internet fame & Tumblr stardom: ‘What can I say?’ he says, grinning. ‘I just can’t say no. I’m basically a circus bear.’ An increasingly famous – and bankable – circus bear. Then he adds, almost apologetically, ‘Truly, everything that has happened to me has been beyond any reasonable expectations that I may have had.’
A potential Loki spinoff film: ‘Who knows,’ Hiddleston says with a smile. ‘I have certainly loved every moment of playing Loki. The first day of filming on The Avengers was definitely one of the great moments of my life; a bunch of fully grown adults, most of whom were stonking great movie stars, all pointing and laughing at each other. “Look at you in your Spandex!” “Well, look at you in your Spandex!”’ The best thing about being part of a hugely successful franchise, Hiddleston says, is the doors that it opens. ‘In the past, I would turn up at an audition and be told, “Great, but nobody knows who you are.” I don’t have that anymore.’
Deep thoughts by Tommy: For all Hiddleston’s excitement about his stellar status, in his darker moments he worries – as his father once did – that in his chosen career he is not contributing much of any importance to the world. But then he thinks about all the keys on a piano. ‘We have the capacity to experience every aspect of life, don’t we?’ he asks, looking intently down at the imaginary keyboard on the table in front of him. ‘There’s love, generosity, hope, kindness, laughter and all the good stuff. And then there’s grief, hatred, jealousy and pain. The way I see it, life is about trying to get to a place where you feel happy with the chords that you are playing. I’m lucky because I can experiment with all the different notes, via my work. And when I hit the right notes, I like to think that I’m conveying some sort of truth. That’s what, in my dreams, I’m hoping to do with Coriolanus; at its absolute best, a play like that can unite its audience. They can go into the theatre as strangers and leave as a group, having understood and been through something important together. If I am somehow contributing to that then surely my work is of some consequence.’ Hiddleston looks up from his imaginary keyboard and fixes me with his clear blue eyes and smiles hopefully. ‘Isn’t it?’
Tommy can be so needy. But it’s sort of charming, I guess. I mean, I think he would be a lovely friend to have, someone to gossip with, dance with, drink with, and I imagine a large part of the friendship would be stroking his ego and talking him off whatever imagined cliff he’s on. But as a boyfriend? Yeah, that neediness would be difficult to handle full-time. Which might explain why he hasn’t had a steady girlfriend in a while.
Photos courtesy of The Telegraph, WENN.
Tommy is my feel-good unicorn.
Mine too. He’s just lovely.
Endearing.
And hot! what more could you ask?
Love him dearly after the circus bear comment. He’s riding his fame for all he’s worth. Good for him.
This is ALL I am seeing now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY8gZJEvXoA
Thanks to you, that’s all _I_ am seeing now. But it’s ok, I like that in a man.
To be fair, we all know he would rock that tutu
His prancing knows no equals.
Except I saw him as the charming, pretentious lemur….
Lol
Lemurs are my cousins. What are you saying LadyS????????????????
Only that lemur was pretentious. Zaboomafoo (PBS Kids show) was anything but pretentious.
Ha ha, I get that! I meant there was never too much Benedict in my world! That said it was getting quite intense there for a while. I’m sure there are many other sexy men deserving of our attention!
Sorry, computer had a major dummy spit today and was doing weird things that required me to threaten it with actual bodily harm. In revenge it has posted my response to V4real under LadyS’ comment.
I was wondering when Tom was going to make another appearance. I was on Cummberbatch overload.
Cumberbatch overload?? I don’t understand what that means.
I meant there’s a lot of Cumberbatch posts. At one time I believe at least three times a week there was a post about ole Benny.
Sitting here, he makes me want to slap him the face with a wet fish and shout yah boo sucks, you ANNOYING MAN.
But when I look at supposedly posh Americans such as Goop and that awful girl who isn’t annoying because she’s podgy with tattoos but is annoying because she’s so darn spoiled and entitled and nonsense-spouting, I suddenly think BRITS MAKE LESS ANNOYING POSHIES SO STOP BEING SUCH A MISERY GUTS, SIXER.
Then I think of Waity and Prince Lazy, and I change my mind all over again.
Ball gags. That’s all I’m saying. WITH CAPITALS. AND LONG SENTENCES THAT SHOULD BE BROKEN UP.
(That chords thing makes my teeth grind. Chords, schmords.)
The Telegraph “interview” was basically a “cut and paste” of stuff the “interviewer” found elsewhere. Subjects of articles can’t really control what the writer does with material. Pieces portrayed as interviewed should include the questions. Doing so would give a far more accurate read.
I doubt that the timing or addressee of Puddletom’s remarks would have any effect on the rate or intensity of my toothgrinding, to be honest. In this case, context is nothing. Sorry!
Good point re cut and paste.. There was very little new in it. Even the bit about his dad having come from a working class Scottish background who used his education to get to the point where he could afford to send his son Eton has been recorded elsewhere.
The trouble is that with out the questions a lot of the quotes can have a different interpretation dependent on how you feel about the man.
What this article really did was highlight the success of Coriolanus which has created quite a buzz in theatre land.
Its great that it has been extended even if only for 6 performances.
I miss his old interviews.
I don’t really want to hear about his school or his past works. I’ve want to hear about his current work and any juicy gossip from the set.
This is what he used to do. He’s sounding like a lovey now. Noooooooooooo he needs to be saved! Lol
This is not one, but many of his old interviews!
Great minds think alike. Especially about the ball gag 😜
It’s a pretty tedious interview with all of the old sound bytes. And yeah, the piano metaphor is so over. He needs something new. I’m not surprised he isn’t in a relationship, but I am surprised he isn’t booked with lead roles.
@ Lilacflowers: Or Tom recycled the same answers, he does that.
This interview happened, as said that the very beginning. It’s not like the journalist made things up and Tom’s people didn’t know what would be published. The fact that it doesn’t contain anything new and it seems more like a recap of his past works more than an interview about his future doesn’t mean Tom and the interviewer didn’t talk.
I wish there were news about his future projects, I read about the additional dates for Coriolanus and the Jaguar commercial for the Super Bowl. But nothing else.
HAHAHAHA!
The piano analogy…from the same guy who dry humped the air and kick-danced like an extra in an 80’s dance movie on the Alan Carr show.
Oh Tommy, never ever change.
*passes Sixer a paper bag*
Breathe, darling.
Tommy’s on a different plane to GOOP, and here’s why: GOOP is hawking an attainable lifestyle, if one is willing to pony up the cash, and put in the work. GOOP is as pretentious as hell, but in selling things, she’s implicitly acknowledging the artificiality of her position as arbiter of taste and class. TommyAnne’s ethos/lifestyle/philosophy/whatever, is being sold as something inherently his, and something deeply spiritual, to be attained by the gifted few who plumb the depths of their souls to discover the fine artistry harbored within one’s innermost being (have to snicker at that, as my kids are begging me to buy the Tinkerbell pirate movie). It’s privilege masquerading as the blessing of talent. Portrait of the artist as a young douche, if you will. Idris, god love him, may make my eyes water every time he opens his mouth, but he is at least real enough to recognize this as a craft that he hones, not a gift bestowed upon him by a muse.
Oh Fanty, I read that and heard violins playing too!
Well said, dear Fanty!
(In through the nose, out through the mouth, in through the nose, out through the mouth).
Ok, being serious for a moment and a topic of conversation in our house last night. My favourite posh British actor is…. Chiwetel. He’s properly posh. Ok, not as posh as Hiddles (no-one’s as posh as Hiddles) but as posh as Cumby, say. But he largely gets a pass on it (if to say a pass is even something we should be doing, which is debatable). Is that because, even in supposedly class-obsessed Britain, race trumps class in terms of identity? Or is it just latent racism because it doesn’t even occur to talk about black and posh together? I don’t know; I’m just asking.
BTW – you could equally use Steve McQueen for Idris there. I grew up in his neighbourhood, although he’s a few years older than me, and a goodly number of people from my junior school went to the same school as him. Actually, I think McQueen probably does have some kind of internal muse, but it’s all his own, not passed on. Turner Prize, staggering films. I love that man!
He is? I didn’t know that at all, and I’ll bet it’s because of race. People simply don’t ask him about it, because they don’t put race and poshness together. I do think Race is a huge issue in England, but people don’t acknowledge it, because class is more obvious – and a problem that oppresses white people, and that will NOT be tolerated. My first boyfriend was black, and I didn’t think that anyone around me was racist until that point, and then it all came out, from people I had previously respected. England, in many areas, is also more segregated, so it doesn’t need to be acknowledged.
Point B: Yes. I’m not saying that inherent talent doesn’t exist. Undoubtedly, some people are more gifted than others, and some people do have a need to express themselves that is unexplainable, and goes way beyond craft. That said, TommyAnne is branding himself as an artist, and then resisting the recognition that it goes hand-in-hand with his entitlement (not employed in a mean way). He romanticizes the aimless, ponderous life of the artist, and that’s only something you can do if you don’t need to work: “It’s extreme privilege to believe your life is too valuable to waste” (http://www.vice.com/read/filthy-lucre). This article is full of that nonsense, and it’s a different kind of entitlement.
In conclusion: pass the ball-gag, missus.
@ sixer
I think your remark is probably true.
“Or is it just latent racism because it doesn’t even occur to talk about black and posh together?”
Would Hiddles trump Cumby in the posh stakes?!
I’m so used to reading people snark at Cumby for Harrow and being posh (admittedly because he said some daft things a couple of years ago) that I often assume him to be next in line for the throne.
I think the former to be honest. People think posh Etonian/Harrow boy and the mind instantly jumps to a cookie cut out of Hiddles or Cumby. There could be some sort of inverted fear that by drawing attention to Chiwetel’s poshness you are implying that it’s surprising that he would be as posh as them…maybe I’m over thinking things in these PC crazy times.
Chiwetel was in a Richard Curtis movie ffs, granted a small role but he married Keira Knightley and lived in a gorgeous looking house in a posh part of London. It’s a per-requisite to be posh in his movies.
I have a long response, but I’m being adjudicated, so it isn’t up right now. In the meantime, out of curiosity, I wanted to ask if you’d seen Benefits Street? From what I can tell, it’s sensationalist Daily Mail crap transferred to TV – is that true?
@ Lindy, What you get in Love, Actually, is mostly upper-middle. It’s very confusing to bounce from UK to US class systems. What the US would call middle class, we call working class. I would argue (and Sixer may correct me), that middle class is a more flexible, primarily socio-economic bracket – as the daughter of a typist and an mechanic, I started working class and have (through pursuing education and securing a nice, white collar job) have ensured middle class status for my family (even if I remain ambiguous, mostly because of the way I talk). However, upper-middle is money AND family, and that’s something that Hiddles and Cumby both have in spades. My understanding is that Cumby might be lower, because of his family economics and choices (i.e., to eschew Oxbridge), but there isn’t much distinction at that level. Maybe there is to them, but not from the commoner’s position, anyway!
@ Fanty – I can see it. Chiwetel went to Dulwich College. His family were wealthy Nigerians who lost everything in the Biafran secessionist war, I think (another cringe to British post colonial involvements), and came to Britain. They’re elite people (I don’t mean that in a pejorative way). I wonder if it’s something to do with African vs Caribbean (slave) heritage? I don’t know.
Not seen it but there has been SUCH a fuss, I have been thinking of watching on 4OD. I will report back if I do. I am frustrated at the welfare picture being painted generally – the vast majority of welfare in the UK goes to a) pensioners and b) the working poor. I think it’s something like 7% of the budget goes on unemployment – yet that’s the only aspect with traction. Presumably, those people don’t vote.
@ Lindy – Yes, Hiddles is posher than Cumby. Aristo posh. I think it’s better to discuss this stuff rather than fear a morass of intersectional political correctness, you know?
@ AG-UK – I’m not sure myself, but I do think it’s an element at least.
@Sixer,
Honestly, I think whatever was there originally, in terms of prejudice, has been exacerbated since the rise of the EU. I think that globalization (which did arguably begin with the rise of the EU), erodes the sense of nationalist boundaries, and as a result, people are looking to other avenues to qualify their “Englishness,” the first of which is colour and religion. Of course, that’s a massive simplification of a long and drawn out process, but I think it’s a large contributor to how acceptable it has become to verbalize such hatred.
England is also odd, because beyond the African/Carribean example you mention, there’s such an assimilation of Indian culture in England.
Well, you started a very long conversation hereabouts! To sum up, in answer to the question what marks you out most as British (I got told off by Sixlet Minor for saying English and blamed you, Ms Fanty), we have:
Mr Sixer: my ability to cook a stellar roast dinner and my default position is to dislike the French, when I don’t really dislike the French.
Sixlet Major: I am soppy about animals.
Sixlet Minor: I know that football is the best sport whatever anyone says.
Me: I spend too much time criticising things and not enough praising.
Not sure what this has to do with the price of eggs in Brazil, but y’know. Thought I’d report!
@ Lindy79 and anyone else curious
Hiddleston is upper class and listed in Burke’s Peerage.
Cumberbatch would be upper-middle class but can’t go higher unless he marries in. His dad’s family fell out of the upper class decades before his birth.
Either way, neither can help what they were born into.
Does this mean he is going to put his dancing shoes away and now travel the world playing his “air piano” at interviews?? I could see it turning into a stage show. “2 hours (plus intermission) of silence as Tom plays the air piano”. Its sure to unite the audience in a totally “WTF did we just see?” kind of way, and isn’t that what he wants to accomplish?
I would probably go see that… Just because I love WTF moments!
Except that we’d never actually be able to get tickets because rabid fangirls would gobble them all up within seconds and then they’d all have massive freakouts about whether or not they would have the chance to meet him at the stage door. And whichever theatre had the misfortune to host the Hiddles Air Piano Extravaganza would be inundated with nasty tweets from fangirls about how bad their ticket sales system is.
PLEASE let it look like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUp4408Ry54&feature=youtube_gdata_player
I was thinking more “Casio on his lap” kind of performance! Every time he “air played” a note, he would look up at the audience (i.e. fangirls plus Luke) expectantly and they would sigh at his sheer talent. His encore would be the rock and roll air piano so he could dance his little dance… Awwwwwww…
Air piano comment is the best comment on this board so far. Lol
I agree with @janeite that nobody would get tickets because of the fangirls that have to see him 50 times *rollseyes
But at least he won’t be singing again. Whoever told him he was good at it needs shooting 😉
🙂
I think a little harsh re his singing talents! I have heard professional singers do a hell of a lot worse when put on the spot and asked to sing live and unaccompanied. What he lacks in talent, he makes up for it in enthusiasm. Plus he can sing rings around me (I refuse to Karaoke EVER because of my horrid tone-deafedness).
However I’m sure his air piano (and he’s learning air violin I’m sure) will be superb!!
Oh god, he reminds me of a guy I dated for six months my Junior year of high school. This guy was so damn needy, he called me constantly and seriously texted me every twenty minutes because he was worried when I wouldn’t take his calls. Nice guy, needy as hell. Apparently he was absolutely devastated when I broke up with him too, I heard he was quite teary eyed. Now all I see when I think of that guy is Tommy boy here.
He really is the grown up version of that very earnest first “twu wuv” middle school/high school boyfriend, isn’t he? Lovely and adorable but there’s just so many FEELINGS ALL! THE! TIME!
I think we’d all rather see him date someone that he’s into rather than to prove a point of some kind. He might be one of those people that are pushed into a relationship and end up unhappy because it’s not really what they wanted
*Comes in with a large pot and commences boiling water*
I found Bunny!
You’ll ruin the velveteen if you cook it, dontchaknow.
The intensity of my love has turned it into a REAL bunny, and now I’m cooking it for dinner! Then I’m going for a ride in my new Jag, the reward for my nobility and inspiration!
But what about the leetle cheeldren? They might see.
I seek to rid myself of these leetle cheeldren with their ^&$^$ flower crowns, mudpies, and dubious photoshopping skills! Always chewing on my cables and vaulting over the locked gate of my precious Belsize Park arteest’s studio!
They are worse than all these commoners who call me “posh,” put wrinkles in my golden knickers, and CONTINUOUSLY tease me about the ducks! The ducks listen! The ducks CARE!!!
I will sacrifice Bunny, smear the gates with blood, and eat her with sauteed leeks and braised young kale on my finest wedgewood if that is what it takes!
Tommy-omelette. I think you’ve blown the image, right there.
I’ve fallen out of fan-girl love with him again.
He’s really the main reason I watched Thor 2.
Siigh.
Me too, but mine was more about hoping Marvel would bring the original Norse mythology Loki back into the fold. This Hollywood version of Loki is too gosh darn sweet. I need to see blood on those hands! Loki is a real b@st@rd and they could have had a lot of fun with that. Instead they made him a little bit mischievous, nothing a slap on the wrist and a time out in the corner wouldn’t solve. ARGH!
yes but this is a marvel film not a movie focused on Norse mythology and in the comics he covers a range of roles
TERRIBLE analogy. Those animals do not have a choice. Their lives are misery and hell.
Thank you. I clicked on the article only to say this.
he’s flattered. And i love him for it…I see him @home looking in the mirror, like THEY LOVE ME< THEY REALLY LOVE ME!!ha im sure he does (it).
Hiddles will be in a Jaguar commercial during Superbowl. “Do YOU come with the car?”
http://jezebel.com/a-tuxedo-clad-tom-hiddleston-will-visit-you-during-the-1501242867
I love that the Jezzies are also Dragonflies.
When I saw this I thought no Tommy no! He needs to move away from Loki. Stop using Loki as a front and be the actor that we know he is.
Just say no for Loki for now
that would be Noki then????
The reason he got the commercial is that they are making a wry comment about the way Hollywood likes to cast UK actors s villains. Loki and his rising profile is the reason he got it, From the synopsis he one of a gang of Villains led by Ben Kingsley. It’s going out during the Super Bowl so I guess it is about exposure and the money.
What a lovely person he is. It’s so refreshing.
I adore him. Always.
The more he speaks the less I like him. As handsome as he is, he just needs to shhhh.
I VOLUNTEER! I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!!!! Lol
Dragon School. Eton. Cambridge. RADA. That’s…wow. That’s a golden effing path laid to a golden effing future. His privilege is privileged. I’m a big Hiddles fan and a total apologist, but with that on his resume he will never escape the labels. I understand wanting to be recognized as more than that, but the other side of that coin is understanding why it’s inescapable. To his credit, I think he does try to be humble about it, but it’s always going to come up. Very few people get to walk that path.
Good points, Algernon. It is incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to escape labels. I wish that weren’t the case but I do think it will haunt him forever. And not just him, but also all of the other British actors who have been slapped with the “posh” label. Fair or not, people will make all kinds of judgments and assumptions based on their backgrounds.
Being someone not from the UK, I wonder, why would you want to hide that?
That really is a brilliant effing education, he can only be proud of what’s on his resume, but it’s like he’s ashamed of it?!
Why do people who’ve gone to the best schools feel like that’s a bad thing?!
If I had the money for Oxbridge/Harvard/whatever, I’d shout it from the rooftops!
This attitude is insane and frankly downright ungrateful.
So he was born with money and lucky enough to get the best out of life – own it and appreciate it! Don’t undermine it like it would’ve been better if you’d been born poor and on the streets!
Jesus.
“Being someone not from the UK” explains you view I’m afraid, and I’m not being rude to you)
It is considered “bad form” in Britain to brag about have been sent to the top schools by rich parents, or to brag about how rich your are. But the “current crop” of public school educated actors keep having it thrown at them at every interview.
Hi Kelly,
I think a large part of the problem is that the judgments people make when they find out that someone comes from a background of wealth/privilege are overwhelmingly negative. That “poor little rich girl/boy” perception is thrown around so much at anyone with money in their background as though just the mere act of having money is a bad thing and you are not allowed to have the same fears, problems, insecurities, or issues as everyone else.
As someone who comes from a background not wholly unlike Hiddleston’s, I completely understand the urge to downplay it. I was in a job interview once and the interviewer asked me how I had paid for my education (which had NOTHING to do with anything). When I answered that my parents had paid for all of it, he told me that made him seriously question my motivation and willingness to work hard. I’m older now, and more experienced, and if a question like that came my way now, I would deal with it differently. But I cite this as an example of some of the resentment and labeling that goes on when people find out you’ve come from what they perceive as a privileged background.
I was just writing that Kelly, you sound VERY American with your answer.
From what I gather (and this is true in other countries not just the UK) it’s very rude to rub your ‘silver spoon origins’ in other people’s faces. In most other countries (and more true in the US than most people want to believe) it is difficult to change your circumstances and social status.
I think, at least in Tom’s case, it’s what Janeit references about how people perceive the drive/ambition that goes along with that kind of background. I don’t think he’s not proud of his educational accomplishments (getting in is one thing, staying in and doing well is something else altogether), but maybe he is aware people will see him as a dilettante. “Oh, he’s posh, he doesn’t have to work, of course he became an actor (eye roll).” Like it’s just something bored rich kids do. When really, he’s passionate about it, he’s lucky enough to be innately talented, and works hard to deserve the break he’s been given. We tease about how hard he shills, but really, there’s nothing wrong with being an enthusiastic representative of the company that is paying you an actual fortune to go out and sell their product. And I’d rather deal with his breathless enthusiasm than the eye-rolling, over-it set any day of the week.
Well said once again, Algernon.
I also have a similar educational background to Puddletom – a very good public school and a degree from a top five UK university. And I don’t deny that this privileged education can cause hostility in some quarters.
But I like to think that I retain enough self-awareness to acknowledge that for every opportunity (unfairly) denied to me because of my background, dozens upon dozens have been (unfairly) given to me.
For every public school alumnus that has lost out in a job interview because of their background, hundreds, if not thousands of poor kids would not have even made it to interview, equally because of their background and its attendant poorer education.
For every posh actor denied a gritty role because of their poshness, a non-posh actor could offer tales of not being considered for anything other than TV soap or procedural parts.
That Tommy can’t see past any of this is what is annoying. Not that he is posh, per se.
Sixer, I wouldn’t necessarily assume that he can’t see past any of that. He may be acutely aware of it for all we know.
Kelly you are so right, I wonder all the same things while reading these discussions about his ‘poshness’, privileges and whatnot. Why should people be ashamed of being lucky to be born into wealthy family, especially if they use it to their advantage , to get the best education possible, to make something of themselves? There are so many Paris Hiltons in this world, why should people who know how to appreciate their privileges make excuses for themselves or for not being poor?
I’m also not from UK, but bragging about ‘silver spoon origins’ isn’t ok anywhere, it’s got nothig to do with nationality, just common courtesy.
But you can be proud of your origins without bragging, and it seems to me that whenever TH or anyone else mentions their origins it is percieved as exactly that and they have to excuse themselves.
Squeeze the bunny! Squueze the bunny drier than the Sahara! The bunny would be a husk by the time I’d finished with him! :-}
I adore him but I couldn’t read this whole thing. I just imagine his soft spoken deep and wonderfully arousing voice going on and on in that way he does and it just makes me very happy indeed.
I still find him adorable, but my goodness, he gets a lot of mileage out of divorced parents and some initial paternal skepticism about his career choice. Unless there’s considerably more there than is being said, those are not the most unusual life challenges.
I’d rather read about Coriolanus or Jaguar or the Del Toro movie.
Hi Lunchie.
Interviews are weird things because there is no way to know what was discussed that was edited out. For some reason, it seems like reporters love to keep flogging the same issues over and over again with Hiddles.
You just beat me to it, I do wish they would try to be original.
It’s the same with BC too.
It almost feels as if journalists are afraid to open up new topics. Which is rather weird IMO.
Hi Janeite! I do agree that interviewers tend to harp on the same old topics sometimes, with other actors as well. I assume it’s laziness and lack of originality? You’d think they’d want to try to think of some new questions to see if they could get some interesting quotes. Hiddleston is a bit of a talker, so I can’t imagine it would be that hard to find some other topics he’d be up for discussing.
I agree, Lunchie. Everyone is assuming that it’s Hiddles who wants to rehash the same old stuff all over again but that is not necessarily the case. There is no way to know what else the reporter did or did not ask about and no way to know what was not included in the interview that made it to print.
I get the feeling that he would be up for talking about plenty of other things too. Perhaps in future interviews, he should just call a halt to all of the questions about his education and family. I know nothing about how interviews work so I don’t know how kindly a reporter would take to that but I do think it’s time for them to move on from all of that.
I wonder if what might work better would be to give some sort of short, bland answer, “Yes, it was a bit tough, but it was years ago,” or something of that nature and save the long answers for other questions. I do think that part of the problem is that he tends to go on enough about those topics (perhaps because they sting a bit, perhaps because he gives long answers to most questions) when they’re brought up, giving the interviewer something worth printing. Avoiding giving any sort of an interesting quote might have the same practical effect as not answering.
I would actually like to see a real interview with Puddletom, rather than these endless PR-placed puff pieces, which, as everyone is saying, do little more than rehash soundbites and old quotes.
He is a little old to be continuously carping about these things. It’s time to update your suitcase of pain, TommyAnnE. Get something serious in there. You’ve been to Guinea. Surely you have some perspective and can come up with something.
I feel the same annoyance at how he tries to take credit for his father’s “working class” origins.
Is he the one carping or the interviewers? And taking credit or stating fact?
To be fair he is not taking credit for his father’s background. He is just putting things into perspective.Interviewers never seem to move past Eton and Dragon School rather than looking for more interesting aspects in his background. He came from parents with two very contrasting backgrounds and that probably has more impact his character formation than his education.
I knew of the company his father was involved with before I even knew who Tom was before he even became an actor and it was well respected within my area of work. He was man who not only used his education to change his lifestyle but used it in an area of work that benefitted many. His grand father was the manager of the Aldeburgh festival but we never hear about that. To me its lazy journalism ad very obvious but it is certainly not Tom’s fault.
oh come on, he is the one who brings this up and it is a self conscious attempt to change the conversation. Other interviews he has given (e.g., the one with the ducks) make this very clear, and also make clear that what troubles him is only the fact that his privilege is brought up as a talking point– not the problem of privilege itself. He has not even begun to unpack that suitcase.
@icerose We never hear about his grandfather being the manager of the Aldeburgh Festival because he was from his mother’s aristocratic side and we can’t be having any discussion of that. Luke would never allow it.
I see it slightly differently. I read an interview once (possible on this site, but sorry I don’t remember) where he said one of his favorite movies was “Ace Ventura – When Nature Calls” and I got the feeling he enjoys taking his “privileged private education” coat off and just being “one of the boys” who enjoys a good laugh etc. However he seems too polite to ask people to stop harping on about his education and upbringing.
Being an actor is not a standard privileged class employment choice, so I think despite his education, he really does still respect the working class roots from his father’s side of the family. Can’t deny the boy seems to like his career choice and does a good job of it.
Froop it is pretty common knowledge about his paternal grandfather
I’m with you, Secret Squirrel. I’m also not going to attempt to psychoanalyze someone I don’t even know and/or make any assumptions one way or the other about whether he does or does not bring up his background in interviews. I like the guy and I enjoy his work. That is all.
I think he brings up his dad’s background to try to just dispel the myth that only the privileged go to good schools. The truth can also be that parents work hard and did not inherit anything and can still give the best for their children. My parents were piss poor and still managed to put me in prestigious private institutions.
I think it is down to the interviewers who constantly bring it up a s he said himself his past is probably the least interesting part of who he is. But it this country private education is still very contentious and Eton seems to bring it even more to the foreground. That’s why so often when Tom comes up here to often it ends up in a discussion re his background and class.
It’s ok sniping at Tom, but if the interviewers keep asking the same old questions, they are going to get the same old answers. He is probably too polite to tell them to think of some original questions and then come back to him.
They would never think of going on about the educational background of the vast number of British actors who didn’t go to public schools, would they? And it didn’t happen so much before the current crop of crumby public school boy MPS got into office.
And I don’t think there is much wrong with him admitting that he wants to give performances that people will remember, which is basically what that last bit means.
“Look at you in your Spandex!” “Well, look at you in your Spandex!”’ … dear god, how I would love to be among them and see it..also so funny.
That last paragraph was pretentious (and I’m a fan).
I believe he’s mentioned that his sisters ridicule him about and keep him grounded. They must have been slacking for this interview. They really need to step in because my crush has started to wane after this interview and I’ve really enjoyed it thus far.
Admission of your addiction is the first step to recovery, Tom. You CAN get help.
It’s like night and day here. I read the same interview and saw nothing wrong. He didn’t come off as pretentious or try hard. He’s not a cynic (unlike many here). All the “tooth grinding” and “ball gags” are not needed.
I understand your frustration, jammypants. But the beauty of CB is the vastness of the opinions and widely differing points of view and I would not want to see that changed. I find it easier to just skim past what I don’t agree with and I don’t let it bother me.
I’m with Jane. People are allowed to feel how they feel and post what they feel. Why argue with someone about their opinion. Unless of course they present their opinion as fact. Then they deserve to get called out.
Nah ladies, I’m just offering my perspective/opinion. Don’t let me stop you from swooning/teeth grinding. Carry on! I’ll always offer a differing view of course 😉
Greetings, Jammypants!
If you’re going to quote me and take issue with what I’ve said, could I ask that you do it in a reply to my original comment so that I am more likely to notice it? I don’t say this to deter you from taking issue with my remarks – I like to be taken issue with! Otherwise, it’s all too easy to hold complacent opinions.
Truly, I WANT to like Puddletom. He’s hot. He has marshwiggle legs. He likes poetry and Shakespeare. He’s clearly committed to his work and not brattish or difficult on set as so many actors are. I wouldn’t consider him among the best of his peers, but he is certainly accomplished and not without talent.
But I find the gushing grating and the refusal to acknowledge privilege (nobody’s asking him to apologise for it, just to acknowledge it) infuriating. That’s not cynical. It’s a personal observation.
Why are you infuriated with him because you assume he refuses to acknowledge privilege? I’m not sure I understand why that even matters. And for all you or I know, he may have acknowledged it plenty of times and in plenty of ways that don’t make it into what are most likely heavily edited interviews.
Doh, I’ll sort of rehash what I posted upthread:
Nah ladies, I’m just offering my perspective/opinion. Don’t let me stop you from swooning/teeth grinding. Carry on! I’ll always offer a differing view of course.
Sixer, I guess I take him a bit less personally (like what he says in harmless interviews don’t bug me the least), so I get a bit taken aback when I see comments with very personal reactions or feelings. He comes off as so non-offensive to me haha. I get it though for people who do take offense or certain things he says personally. It’s human. If he talked carelessly about race, I would take issue too, just like people who had certain sensitive educational/economical upbringing would if he discusses his background.
I honestly think he does acknowledges his background. He’s said in some interviews I’ve seen that he is very lucky and privileged. His parents gave him the best education, and he really used every bit of his energy to do very well in school. It shows. I came from a very poor background, but managed (through very frequent threats to get kicked out due to unpaid tuition) to stay in and did very well in school. I didn’t really take offense to what he says. I actually find what he says makes sense. If truth be told, it IS the least interesting about him (anyone). My educational background is boring as can be. I was poor all the way through, but I went to the most prestigious schools, even for uni! Yet, I think it’s the least interesting thing to talk about at dinner parties, haha :p Just the same as relationship statuses. It’s so mindnumbing to talk about (to me). I like talking about work and the passion for it however, which might be boring to others.
This goes back to my “night and day” point. Different strokes for different folks.
There was ANOTHER article in this week’sSunday Telegraph about the current crop of public school British actors. Why can’t they just talk about whether they are talented or not?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/10565842/Hollywood-beckons-for-former-public-school-pupils.html
There have been some great articles around the current sell out shows in the West End which star Tom, Matt Smith, David Tennant and Jude Law and how it fits into the panorama of West End Theatre which are far more interesting and relevant but they seem to get very little attention.
To be fair to them all, the journalists seem to bring it up constantly. They seem to have a set list depending on who they’re talking to regardless of relevance.
If they say they don’t want to talk about it, they’ll get criticised ir called divas.
I don’t think TommyAnne comes across as needy just very whimsical. He needs someone who isn’t in the entertainment business at all so they can bring him back to reality when he goes off on one. He’s very ambitious and career minded and I don’t think he sounds like he’s over his ‘daddy issues’ he’s got a lot of things to address before he gets into a serious relationship and he knows it.
To me Tommy always comes across as very lonely. Again he needs friends not in the entertainment instustry. I bet he’s very quiet when not performing.
yes I get that impression (that he is quite lonely). The only people he mentions as being close to are his family, which is great in itself, but makes you think he doesn’t have a lot of friends. His interviews are usually either embarrassing or depressing to read, and sometimes both. Would still hit it though, if I could keep him from talking
He probably has real friends but they have their own life. I just get the feeling that he knows his industry friends don’t want him for who he is. He seems to attract fake people and you can tell he’s not happy
I also get the impression he has to constantly prove people wrong.
(Btw the way I’m a training to be a child councillor which is why I’m noticing these traits- not an over anayalising fangirl! Lol)
TH would come off as a name dropper if he mentioned his pals. We know he’s friends with Benedict.
@Luna – He has said that he has a tight circle of friends from before his career took off and they protect his privacy and accept him as himself.
“I also get the impression he has to constantly prove people wrong”.
Uh oh, I have to constantly prove people wrong too. What does that say about me?? Will you be my personal councilor and analyze me??? Please!!
@secret squirrel. I can’t anaylez someone’s behaviour if I don’t have enough information on them and I’m only in training at the moment 🙂
Tommy isn’t my case study but its hard not to analyze everyone at the moment.
I didn’t say he didn’t have a close circle of friends. But being in the profession he’s in it’s probably really hard for him to see them as much as he wants to and need. That’s when he turns to the ‘fake’ friends.
Everyone tries to prove a point even if its based because one one is getting to the truth.
Retread interview quotes but I DON’T CARE! I love him with deep abiding, impure love.
I didn’t see anything wrong in the interview. It’s hardly his fault if he keeps getting asked the same questions. “Look at you in your Spandex!” is a line I feel I need to use one day! It’s brilliant! I have to say for all of his extrovert tendencies, Hiddleston strikes me as the quiet type when he’s not “on”.
I agree.
Coriolanus got extended by another week. Wonder how that works with TH’s Guillero del Toro movie commitment. (Messes with my birthday plans for him a bit.)
Per Mark Gatiss on Twitter 13 Jan: “Our dressing room is like a miasma of January diseases at present. No-one wholly well. #Coriolanus”
Can’t wait for the Jag commerical. I’m sure they must make TH look more like Loki than himself as Kingsley and Strong already look like their bad boy characters.
Yes, I bet Tom had it all planned out to have the closing party carry on into a birthday party!
He would be working on his birthday and the day after so I doubt he’d party on a work night. This means he won’t miss the baftas but it also worrying that he doesn’t need to be on set for his next film straight away. Confirmation he has a small part.
Mind you. Poor Tommy needs a rest and time away from people that need a piece of him
I thought TH had a small part too, but the quote from del Toro is: ‘Tom has a timeless leading-man quality,’ says the Mexican director Guillermo del Toro… ‘He is simultaneously vulnerable and magnetic.”
So time will tell if leading man quality is leading man in his film. It is a horror movie after all, they probably all die!
Froop I often wonder why this never comes up in interviews and suspect there may be no discussion embargo on it which is maybe why the press constantly focus up his education..His grand father however was a business man not a member of the peerage and his appointment was not seen as figurehead role. Still visits I would find an interview discussing his visits to Aldeburgh far more interesting than the constant references to Eton,
Apparently at the Coriolanus Q and A he talked about how different Roman towns/architecture was to the way it is presented now. My feeling is that the most interviews in the better papers make no real use of his knowledge and education they just parrot what is out there already. I understand it when he is out there promoting Thor but tend to expect more from papers like the Telegraph.
I think to be fair I’d suspect the Aldeburgh Festival isn’t really something the average man on the street knows about to be fair, I think there are a lot of people who don’t know about it which is why it isn’t raised (and dare I say, also maybe not care about it?).
And re: his intelligence, I always think he must get so bored with being asked similar questions all the time. Never gets the chance to discuss much interesting, or get into a meaty discussion, just the same old, same old. Must be mind numbing.
As someone who grew up very much opposite to Tom (read: Piss Poor), I have to say I far, far prefer someone who downplays his privilege without denying it than someone who tries to completely bury it, and tries to pretend they grew up on the mean streets , putting on fake accents and trying to pretend they had it tough. A few actors have done this but I can’t think of any examples right now (people like that always seem to set off that song Ill Manors by Plan B in my head) . I respect Tom for staying true to himself in that respect. He doesn’t pretend to be anything but what he is.
Bless his over eager, needy heart. When he talks like this, it’ so easy to forget that he’s actually a really good actor.
tom is the real reason for adults enjoying avengers, even the story makes me cringe, but it so worthy.
And I just can’t say no to him. He’s my cute baby boy, and that’s it.
New vid New Vid http://youtu.be/Kr8yfOfU2Wc