Tom Hiddleston, Marc Abraham & Lauren Helling on the set of #ISawTheLight Source:lhelling519 *Instagram. Interesting! pic.twitter.com/ijw0vGjSiE

— Tom Hiddleston Page (@Loki_Page) August 21, 2015

You guys asked for a non-Duggar post, so here you go. There were also some requests for Idris, Tom Hardy, maybe even some Fassbender. But those guys aren’t up to much, although Idris is going to be at the Toronto Film Festival in less than a month and it’s going to be awesome, I’m sure. Especially if he can find a way to party with Tom Hiddleston! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, after much hand-wringing and worrying, Tommy’s I Saw the Light will definitely be coming to TIFF. It will have a “special presentation” and I guess TIFF will be the North American premiere? And Tom will be at TIFF for High Rise as well. After TIFF, ISTL will also open the Calgary International Film Festival on September 23rd. God, I hope we get lots of photos.

Meanwhile, Entertainment Weekly had a nice little write-up about ISTL. The director, Marc Abraham, defends his use of an English actor to play an iconic American, and Abraham ends up comparing Tommy to Vivien Leigh. Perfection.

The Hank Williams biopic I Saw the Light covers the country-music legend’s rise, his volatile relationship with his wife, and his struggles with substance abuse and spina bifida — all before his death at 29. “He was really the first rock star — and the first rock star to go down like that,” says director Marc Abraham (Flash of Genius), who also wrote the script.

Tom Hiddleston stars as Williams, and Elizabeth Olsen plays his wife, Audrey. To play the troubled singer, Hiddleston honed his singing and guitar skills with Grammy winner Rodney Crowell, even moving into Crowell’s house outside Nashville to practice all day, every day. The result? “Every note, every line, everything is Tom,” Abraham says. “He’s crazy talented. If you didn’t like him, you’d be jealous of him.”

Instead of aiming for a perfect imitation of Williams’ signature voice, Abraham says their goal was for Hiddleston to capture the singer’s emotion and authenticity, adding, “I knew that Tom Hiddleston or anyone was never going to sound exactly like Hank Williams.” Still, Abraham says Hiddleston nailed it — even if he isn’t exactly from the south.

“When people ask me, ‘Why’d you get an Englishman?’ I say, ‘He’s the best actor I know to play the part,’” Abraham says. “Who’s the most famous southerner ever portrayed in the movies? Scarlett O’Hara. Who plays her? Vivien Leigh.”

[From EW]

I’m looking forward to the reviews from all of Tom’s films, mostly Crimson Peak and ISTL. It feels like Hiddleston is on the cusp of making time for an awards push, but no one really knows if the films are going to be critically supported. He doesn’t have Harvey Weinstein backing him, like Benedict Cumberbatch did last year. Tommy needs “buzz”. And he needs gossip too, which is why this Elizabeth Olsen thing might be heating up.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet, Twitter, ‘ISTL’ stills.