We actually have some interesting Tom Hiddleston news this week! I’m excited. I can’t wait for Lord Dragonfly’s Promotional Trails to begin in earnest. First up, I Saw the Light has a US release date – it will come out November 27th in America, which is a good time for an Oscar-bait release. Early November would actually be better, but I suspect ISTL will be coming to several of the late summer/early fall film festivals, possible TIFF and the BFI London Film Festival. Radio Times did a piece about how the “Oscar omens” are looking pretty good, and it does genuinely seem like Sony Pictures Classics (the distributor for ISTL) will be spending some money for a potential Hiddles Oscar Campaign. SQUEE! Still, it’s a little early to be calling Tommy Hiddles “the Next Eddie Redmayne.”
As for Crimson Peak, this tweet went out yesterday:
CRIMSON PEAK comic-con panel in Hall H will feature Guillermo Del Toro, @twhiddleston, @jes_chastain and Mia Wasikowska. Can't wait for this
— Steven Weintraub (@colliderfrosty) July 1, 2015
I suspect that this is true. I suspect that Crimson Peak’s presence in Hall H – the biggest “get” of Comic Con – is more about Guillermo del Toro than Hiddleston. Del Toro is utterly beloved by Comic Con geeks, so it’s going to be mostly about him. But Hiddles helps.
And finally, some weird/bad news. In a few months, Tom was about to start filming on Kong: Skull Island – which will serve as some kind of prequel to the traditional King Kong films we already have – and two of Tom’s big-name costars have just tapped out suddenly.
Universal and Legendary Pictures will have to do without an Oscar winner and an Oscar nominee. Because, thanks to a change in the filming schedule, both J.K. Simmons and Michael Keaton have had to leave Kong: Skull Island. That means Tom Hiddleston is, at least for the immediate future, the only person set to charter a voyage to the giant ape-inhabited isle, though the producers and director Jordan Vogt-Roberts are already out in the wilds with giant casting nets looking to capture two new co-stars.
The film finds a team of explorers venturing deep into the island’s jungles in search of its mysterious creatures and, most likely, getting much more than they bargained for. Universal, in turn, will be hoping that the presence of huge beasts lumbering around an island threatening to eat people will bring the Jurassic World crowd out.
Vogt-Roberts was originally planning to kick off production in the autumn, but that has now moved back a few weeks to closer to the end of the year. According to Deadline the film’s release plan (March 10, 2017 currently here) shouldn’t be affected. Both of the actors are in demand at the moment: Keaton (his voice at least) is on screens in Minions and he’s worked on Spotlight and The Founder. Simmons is in Terminator Genisys, which is just arriving now, and he’s part of Worlds Apart, The Accountant, Meddler, Kung Fu Panda 3, The Lake and thriller TV series Counterpart.
The thing about JK Simmons is that I will always believe that he’s a busy man, Oscar or no Oscar. JK works constantly and always has – he’s one of America’s greatest character actors and he has no ego about where and how he works (TV projects, indie films, studio films). I could buy that he had a scheduling conflict. But taken with Keaton’s departure at the same time, I have to wonder if it’s not so much about scheduling and more like this is a really troubled production.
Photos courtesy of Instagram, Fame/Flynet.
Why do they keep pushing it back? Is Jordan Vogt-Roberts lost in a jungle somewhere?
That gorgeous picture from The Night Manager just floored me. Hyperventilating here. HELP!
He just went through some more treatment for his burns. I think he has some imaginative areas for filming and may have to ££££ or wait to get into certain places. He’s spent a lot of time visiting Vietnam. I think he wants to film away from Hawaii which been done to death for skull island films.
Ah. Burn treatment is painful and can take a great deal of time. I do hope it goes well for him. He may end up with a completely different cast than he intended. They still have never named any female cast members.
I’ve enjoyed his Pine sneak peaks since those sneaky ones in Hartland, but the ones from Mallorca are a particular treat.
Cannot help. Am drowning. (Flails ineffectivly.)
Losing both actors (big names too) at the same time is odd and not a great sign. Keep an eye on this one, I see a “we are pushing it back to work on the best script possible!” coming. In reality it’s likely just not all that good.
I’m a tad skeptical about this project. With Jurassic World, Planet of the Apes and Godzilla we already have several monster movie franchises of late. Not sure if we need a King Kong one as well. Keaton and Simmons are both fantastic actors and their departure would be a blow I’m sure.
I know people who are really excited about this and they don’t care who the actors are. They don’t even care if there are actors in it. They just want King Kong and lots of King Kong. They complained last year that there wasn’t enough Godzilla in Godzilla and they really didn’t need Chris Pratt in Jurassic World because, duh, RAPTORS!!! Legendary has also generated rumors that they are working up to a Godzilla versus King Kong film and my great aunt, who is 86, says she planning on sticking around long enough to see it and then she’ll die happy.
Yep I’m sure there will be King Kong fans who will watch this movie, just like there are Marvel and DC fans who would lap up the superhero movies. King Kong is a longstanding and well-known franchise. I’m just less sure, outside of a hardcore fanbase, whether it can draw in the casual movie-goer as box office power largely depends on this crowd.
Though I’m also speaking as someone who is – generally speaking – skeptical of how long this trend of franchise/ multiverse/ reboot/ superhero/ monster movie-making can last. It will not go away completely, but would eventually crest and normalise.
Twitter post from: Jordan Vogt-Roberts @VogtRoberts · Jun 25
“The term “creatively aggressive” was used in reference to me today. Pretty sure that’s the nicest way of saying “difficult”.”
I blame V-R. I think giving him this project was a mistake. Simmons and Keaton probably had their first round table meeting at Legendary, looked around, and exited through the gift shop.
JK and Tom met with Vogt-Roberts and the screenwriter last December, and Vogt-Roberts has had nothing but good things to say about JK and Tom. IIRC, JK also spoke well of Vogt-Roberts during an interview on the BAFTAs red carpet in February, so I think it’s genuinely a scheduling issue for him.
https://twitter.com/VogtRoberts/status/569777911630159872
With Keaton, though, it’s been a little weird. I don’t think he ever directly confirmed that he was doing the movie. The only official word I remember reading from him was that he was only in discussions for a role but that nothing had been finalized. Obviously, he signed on if he’s officially backing out now, but that seemed strange. Plus, Vogt-Roberts never referred to Keaton on either his Twitter or Instagram that I can recall.
” JK also spoke well of Vogt-Roberts during an interview on the BAFTAs red carpet in February”
You honestly think a pro like JK Simmons would air grievances on the red carpet?? Not a chance. Those interviews mean nothing and are useless as evidence. They are company line; it’s how Hollywood works. Even if Simmons hated the ground this director walks on we will likely never know. He’s a pro.
No, I’m not naive, and I’m aware of the politics in the Hollywood game. I just provided examples of Vogt-Roberts’ and Simmons’ public statements on their collaboration, which seem to indicate that they didn’t have a problem with each other. Vogt-Roberts is somewhat unfiltered and kind of an ass on his Twitter, but he seemed enthused, almost fanboyishly excited, about working with Simmons in his tweets about him.
browniecakes – you’re not alone in wondering if they “exited through the gift shop”.
It does feel like the studio may have decided to dramatically cut the scope or the budget of this movie down or the director can’t get the studio on board with his vision. Both JK and Tom mentioned exotic location shooting, but latest word has it filming in LA with some 2nd unit stuff shot in Kauai. So much for VR’s grand tour through the exotic jungles of the world. Could be JK and/or Keaton saw the changes that were being made and decided to bail. The push in the shooting schedule was a convenient excuse and no one has to trot out the creative differences explanation as cover.
I’d like to blame V-R too. I know I shouldn’t judge someone or their creative talent by their Instagram feed but I’ve gotten a major frat-boy vibe from some of his antics and I wondered how he managed to land a gig on such an effects-intensive, big-budget studio movie. Disclaimer: I haven’t seen any of his work so he could be the next Spielberg for all I know.
@et alors – I was giving the director the benefit of the doubt too at first – based on JK’s comments and how excited he seemed at the prospect of working with him – but a lot can change in a few months. JV-R may indeed be a good guy and a creative genius, but there could be other things going on that would cause the actors to bail.
None of this is looking good, and I almost hope that Tom will back out of it. I agree with Lilacflowers that it is all going to be about the CGI anyway. Legendary WILL make it happen. There is too much money at stake in the franchise, and it is part of a larger plan.
I’d rather see Tom take on another indie before heading back to Marvel.
The delays in filming and now these two backing out? I don’t know anything about V-R, so I had no particular confidence in him either. I wasn’t excited about Tom getting involved in another franchise, so if this is a sinking ship, he’ll jump off as well.
I have so enjoyed his indies and Shakespeare projects and would love to see him do more of those (or a smart TV series) than any more big-budget franchises. At least not while he’s still tied to Marvel.
I would love to see him do a very small, very British indie comedy.
Legendary did Crimson Peak which TH has to promote thru Oct. so I think TH has this monkey on his back. Let’s hope Kong will be another Jurassic World success for Legendary. And not TH’s first bomb.
Agreed. I think he’s committed to the Monkey Movie for better or worse – the only thing that might take priority is if the schedule could potentially interfere with a Marvel project, and from the Deadline article it sounds like Legendary is pushing hard to get it going before the end of the year which avoids Thor3 conflicts in 2016.
I do wonder if some of the scheduling moves may have been in part because of Tom’s other commitments to Legendary. CP is their big fall movie and it will likely have a lot of promo work for its release. Once it was clear shooting on the Monkey Movie couldn’t start this summer it had to be pushed back until after CP’s release date.
Could ISTL and SPC contribute to the delay too? Maybe the contract with Legendary requires they make room for any work Tom needs to do in support of ISTL – which pushed the Skull Island date back even further once SPC set their release date for November. I have no idea if that’s even something that can written into an actor’s contract, but I’m dying to know. I really need to find an entertainment lawyer I could ply with alcohol until they reveal their secrets.
Actors drop out of films all the time due to schedule issues, neither have said ‘creative differences’
There are plenty of good actors who can take over from both of them.
Keaton never publicaly claimed he was on board anyway.
Tom works well with strong directors who clash with producers, shows they have spark and vision & not afraid to stand for up for what they want. Takes a lot for directors to do that.
I mean, it does sound awful though, doesn’t it?
No not really – my cup is half full 👍
JK Simmons makes me look lazy. Just sayin.
@Tiffany – I know right? There was a twitter or instagram photo (I forget which) of him showing up for his regular exercise class at the crack of dawn the morning after the Oscars. I really do love the guy, and am seriously bummed he left Skull Island.
Yeah, JK Simmons is one of my favorite actors. It is great to see him finally get some award recognition.
Me too. I can do without MK, though I like him but the loss of JKS, makes me sad. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him in Whiplash and I appreciate that he still finds the time to do Farmers commercials. You can be a big star and still reach the “little” people.
I love how JK stays busy, produces great work that supports his family, keeps himself out of trouble and is grateful for being able to stay employed in a very difficult business for decades. I was thrilled to see him get the recognition he got last year.
Actors who strive to be leading men could learn a lot of life lessons from the guy that claims to enjoy supporting roles so he can spend more time with his family. He seems like a happy guy in the side role.
Aww, you have the great pics and the great IStL news–and you lead with that negging headline? Makes it sound like Tom is the producer; it isn’t *his* production!
That said, I’m with the folks who are more disappointed in JK Simmons’ dropping out than MK. I’ve enjoyed Michael Keaton a lot over the years, but was never sure what he was going to bring to this movie other than extra name recognition.
The date changes trouble me as well, in part because it looks like he will have a VERY crowded late fall. If he’s filming in Vietnam, how will he promote IStL?
And regarding IStL–wondering if Sony (SPC) isn’t behind the squelching of High Rise, which should also be hitting festivals in the fall (since it wasn’t ready for Cannes) but of which we’ve heard nothing recently. They might not want another awards-bait Tom role splitting attention with Tom-IS-Hank storyline!
I don’t think its a Snowpiercer situation of a studio buying it just to bury it so it doesn’t compete with the studio’s chosen candidate. The film really hasn’t been seen by anybody at all yet. Siena Guillory did tweet last week that post-production is almost complete and she’s looking forward to attending festivals in support of it.
I’m just not used to a director throwing himself into making a new movie before post-production is finished on the previous.
@totallybiased
I think Wheatley has washed his hands from it, the official High Rise twitter feed keeps saying RPC are in control now.
It smells of being in the hands of an editor, and Jeremy Thomas. Jeremy Thomas took ages getting OLLA onto the cinema [very limited] cinema circuit.
@TotallyBiased Coriolanus will be have repeat live broadcast widespread repeat live broad casts (by popular demand ) across UK cinemas and arts centre-identical to Benny’s expanded format
There are also tickets still available on the dine and wine schemes with travel included
@’p’enny, although Jarmusch wanted very limited distribution for OLLA. High-Rise also isn’t a very mainstream friendly story but I can’t wait to see it.
ah damn. I was really there for Keaton and Simmons. Now? More like DVD.
I just want to comment on the beauty of the bottom night manager picture….sigh…
Stunning, isn’t it?
I think its been close to being announced Beetlejuice 2 was a go and would start filming late this year, so if this got pushed back theres no way for MK to do it. What a shame though
Well, that makes a lot of sense–can’t make a Beetlejuice movie without MK!
From Rob Bullock:
“After 16 weeks, four countries, river deep and mountain high…it is a wrap. #TheNightManager.”
And from @hearnesque :
“Best things at BFI today, clips from High Rise by @mr_wheatley”
hurry up!!!! i am dying to see this movie #woof
Looks like Tom had another bromance to add to the growing list:
https://twitter.com/hughlaurie/status/617289814371659776
I can think of another place Tom can plant his studly flag now that he’s done filming…
Well. Um. Yes, indeed. 🙂
(though it has occurred to me that this might rather be a touch of old-school British snark.)
That could be destined to be true.
I did not get an epic-bromance vibe from that tweet at all…
I read that tweet as more neutral, but it’s possible there was some jealousy underneath it. I don’t know anything about Hugh other than his portrayal of curmudgeon-y House, though. Is he known for his public snark towards colleagues?
Reading it again, it was an odd tweet to confirm the wrap of filming. Nothing overtly positive about the experience or Tom.
Oddly neutral is what I took from that tweet. Granted, it was a long-ass shoot which I doubt was a walk in the park, and everyone concerned is probably just glad the thing is done shooting, but he was more effusive in his praise of a hotel in Morocco than he was of the production itself. “For better or worse”? What the heck does that mean?
I see no snark or bromance in that tweet. I see no jealousy at all. For better or worse, the actors have done their jobs and it is up to the editors and producers to pull together the final product. The actors have no more control. And I suspect a fair amount of teasing, which probably carried over from their relationship and the Pine part, in the tweet about Tom. The two have extremely similar backgrounds and interests and earlier comments indicated respect.
I didn’t expect gushing praise from anyone or for anyone involved in the production, but this just sounds so oddly ‘meh’. Why did he even bother if that’s all he’s got?
Hugh referred to Tom as “wonderful” in an interview, and he and Tom attended a concert together near the end of filming, so I don’t think there’s anything amiss.
OT.
http://collider.com/tom-hiddleston-crimson-peak-poster/?utm_campaign=collidersocial&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
I like that his has a skull and what seems to be a letter or note written to Edith imprinted on it.
They’re all interesting though.
Looks like there are a couple more opportunities to see Tom at SDCC. No confirmation on who exactly will be participating, but the Crimson Peak cast will be at the signing booth on Saturday. Also, Tom and Guillermo del Toro have just been added to the 10:30 PM Nerdist podcast with Maisie Williams on Saturday.
http://nerdist.com/nerdist-podcast-at-sdcc-adds-tom-hiddleston-and-guillermo-del-toro/
Maisie has no filter so the combination of her and GDT and Tom should be hilarious. Tom might not be able to get a word in edgewise or all three of them will talk over one another
Yeah, I don’t see ANY shy, retiring wallflowers (or people who need copious quantities of gin to face an live audience, as I would) in this lineup!
Gwendolyn the Tall will be at SDCC too
Yes, and she’ll probably be on several panels (Hunger Games, Star Wars, GOT). They’re promoting her for the Fierce Women panel in Hall H, which is either right before or after the Legendary Hall H segment
And maybe she can reunite with TH. Now THAT was the definition of hooking up.
Ugh, looks like we may not be getting any additional videos from the Letters Live event. This was posted on the YT page for the compilation video.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132569366@N06/shares/T48gtd
While I’d love to see the readings from Tom and Benedict, I was also looking forward to seeing Juliet Stevenson’s Marge Simpson, which was apparently a big hit, and Toby Jones.
That’s a load of bull-pucky. No one would care so much except THEY teased further material from the event. I seem to recall the Letters Live staff SPECIFICALLY mentioning ‘more video of Tom Hiddleston’. And now suddenly we get ‘we want to preserve the live nature of the event’? There’s something else going on here.
I can’t get that link to open wide enough so I can read it. Does it give a reason? There can be numerous legal reasons, including failure to get permission from the artists or from the rightful owners of the letters to broadcast the performances/materials. They shouldn’t have claimed they were going to do so if they didn’t have the rights
@Lilac – the email says they have signed releases from the performers, but they “don’t want to release video content from the actual events as we don’t want to ‘kill’ the live element to them. Letters Live is first and foremost a series ‘live’ events” or some such – it’s not an exact quote but that’s the gist.
I agree with @TotallyBiased – that’s a load of rubbish, they’ve released video of performances from prior events haven’t they? Didn’t they say they would be doing it again and now a sudden about-face? Ugh. The inconsistency of the LL support staff is maddening. Someone needs to tell them to get their act together. From all accounts, the nightly events themselves were fantastic but the PR and media work surrounding them has been amateurish at best. It’s doing a disservice to the whole enterprise if you ask me – not that anyone has.
I agree that is a load of rubbish. Why go to the trouble and expense of: drafting the legal paperwork; having the performers sign the legal paperwork; hiring a cameraman; and filming the event if they aren’t planning to use it? At the time of the event, there also seemed to be a great aversion to inviting professional critics – and that’s on the part of the organizers, not the majority of the performers.