Tom Hiddleston observed autopsies to prepare for ‘High Rise’: ‘I almost fainted’

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Tom Hiddleston apparently gave millions of new interviews while he was promoting back-to-back films at TIFF. I’ll be damned if I can really tell the difference between some of the interviews though – either different sites are running with the same quotes over and over, or Tom just gave the same quotes over and over. There is this interesting interview which Tom did with Uproxx about High Rise and only High Rise. Apparently, Tom (who plays a doctor in the film) did research for the part by observing a coroner/medical examiner perform autopsies. Of course, Tom is just full of so many words:

His ‘interesting experience’ filming High Rise: “The experience, there’s two parts to my answer: One is I take particular pleasure in creating an intellectual and imaginative context in which to place myself when we shoot… in some way, I’ve built a thematic scaffolding so then I can then be instinctive.”

On J.G. Ballard: “For me, it was about J.G. Ballard’s intellectual worldview. I read about his experience with violence and extremity in Shanghai. I read all the books: I read Conflict Island, I read Crash again and read some of his interviews about the obsession in the human race about technology and how that was going to create a new kind of mythology. That the industrialization of the moving image was going to become so deeply embedded into our culture that it would actually shift our psychological patterns. It’s all true; it’s all happened. He predicted Instagram and YouTube. He didn’t call them that…

Preparing for his role as a doctor: “I went a spent a day in a hospital doing autopsies with a forensic pathologist, observing autopsies….I didn’t have to. But I knew, when there’s the dissection of the severed head…”

Actually seeing autopsies: “I almost fainted. And my brain in that moment couldn’t handle seeing the human engineering, the flesh of it — to literally see a person opened up. And this highly skilled expert who is simply doing his job is deconstructing this body like he’s a mechanic. He’s trying to determine the cause of death. He suspected there was a brain hemorrhage, and he opened the skull and examined the brain. And he showed me that this is what he was looking for and there’s nothing physiology wrong with the brain. So, he’s going to have to find the cause of death probably in his guts and his kidneys. And he said this fascinating thing: Behavioral dysfunction is very rarely detectable in the physical matter of the brain. So if there’s something behaviorally wrong with somebody, whether they are prone to hysteria or schizophrenia or depression or all of these very genuine diagnosable disorders, it’s sometimes very hard when you’re examining the physical matter of someone’s head; it’s very hard to see it. The rest of it is just chemicals and nurture.”

[From Uproxx]

There’s actually a condition that some people have, where they literally faint at the sight of blood, death, maiming, etc. I don’t think I have that condition, but I get seriously queasy at the sight/sound/description of broken bones and extreme medical conditions or medical events. What I’m saying is that if I had to observe an autopsy, I would probably faint (and I would make Tom catch me). There’s a reason Tommy Hiddles is an actor, not a coroner! And there’s a reason why I’m a gossip blogger, not a doctor. *hork*

Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet, Getty.

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148 Responses to “Tom Hiddleston observed autopsies to prepare for ‘High Rise’: ‘I almost fainted’”

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  1. ncboudicca says:

    I’m just here to see these recent photos again. He looks great.

  2. Kate says:

    Tom, I love you dearly, and I never thought I’d say this, but I’m kind of tired of your blathering!

  3. Lilacflowers says:

    In preparation for High-Rise, Tom and II did play doctor a lot but he left the autopsy stuff at the hospital. Lately, we’ve been spending lots of time at the zoo watching the gorillas. Then he pretends to be a gorilla. He’s so very strong.

    Anyway, breakfast is served on the veranda and down in the meadow. The fray seems to have quieted down. Thankfully. It was getting rather anarchic down there.

    • Lilacflowers says:

      We’ve been watching the Indiana Jones movies a lot too, particularly the first one. We won’t watch the last one. Sorry, Cate, but boring and Shia. Any way, we watch the movies, then we play with whips. So much fun. And no horses this time. Tommy has done far too many movies involving horses. There’s even a horse in High-Rise.

      • vauvert says:

        Isn’t Indy the best? My first and forever crush. Nobody does it better than Harrison Ford. True, the last one was disappointing, but I would take a bad Indy movie over many of the current offerings without a blink. Cate’s accent was horrendous though. I know people hated Shia in it but I thought it was one of the very few times that d*bag actually did a good job – he was mostly playing himself so it worked.

  4. alice says:

    I think that’s the minimum for the role he was required to play. I don’t find it extreme because he was an observer, not actively participating. I think is more extreme in a very idiotic and showy kind of way what Ben Foster did to play Lance Armstrong: he said he took PEDs and steroids himself. That’s harmful for his health and he said that he’s just recovering physically now, after two years the movie wrapped. He also talked about how those drugs made him lose his marbles, and I’m wondering why nobody is making parallelisms between those confessions and the messy relationship with Robin Wright. If is true he had all those problems, he’s an idiot and I’m happy Robin dumped his little prick’s ass. On the other hand, his “confession” smelled to me so much like PR stunt for create buzz for a movie that’s so bad that still has no US distribution. I do believe him he took the drugs, is just weird that a serious method actor would spilled to the press himself. Tom’s High Rise is weird and I liked it very much.

    • Crocuta says:

      He took steroids because his character did? I believe Laurence Olivier would say ” Why don’t you just try acting?”

    • lunchcoma says:

      Yeah, I don’t find Tom’s research to be odd at all. Apart from wanting to see the process, his character is also a doctor. I suspect seeing the way that medical professionals behave around gory sights might have been instructive as well, since their calm and occasional black humor can seem odd to people who don’t work in those fields.

      I find that far different than feeling as if you have to engage in an experience – especially a harmful one like steroid use – to portray it on the screen.

    • meme says:

      what a dope.

  5. Maya says:

    Tom – you can observe me anytime you want for free and I can guarantee that you won’t faint;)

    That is of course if I survive your wife Lilacflowers jealousy and rage….

    • Lilacflowers says:

      No jealousy or rage. I share. But he must be available for me when I want/need. Otherwise, I will add you to the circulation list. I think he’s available for a two hour fling tomorrow morning.

  6. Sixer says:

    We do Jon Snow Says Words, but honestly, the Tomelette is worse to the power of infinity!

    But I will say, I watched a BBC series that carefully dissected parts of the human anatomy and felt the same fascination combined with a little bit of gut instinct revulsion and, in a weird way, quite a moving emotional connection.

    For the interested and strong of stomach, the episode on the hand is up on YouTube:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxxU2GlMJYk

    • NUTBALLS says:

      Mr. Balls is a chiro, so he took all the same coursework as a medical doc, sans the pharmaceuticals and is fascinated by all that stuff. He’s the only person I know who asked to stay awake during his colonoscopy in order to observe what’s going on up there.

      At least he foreshadowed his pleonasm with “…there’s two parts to my answer”. He really must be listened to, not read. “Thematic scaffolding”? So much Tom.

      • Lilacflowers says:

        My boss at my last job always asked to stay awake through his. I’ve had to have them regularly because of my cancer situation and they woke me up during the middle of one, even though I had asked not to be woken up, because they had found something and were going to remove it. It was really surreal but quite cool, watching an operation that was going on inside my own body.

      • Sixer says:

        Mr Sixer Senior stayed awake for his colonoscopy, too!

      • Miss Jupitero says:

        I plan to stay awake for my next one just because it is interesting. I have been told there really is no need for the sedation. Even if they remove something it isn’t painful.

      • Lilacflowers says:

        Well, I think light sedation helps considerably. I was really too out of it to react much to what I was watching. And the start and end would be just awkward

      • Lucrezia says:

        I had a cervical biopsy once, and the doctor made the mistake of showing me the tiny lump of tissue floating in a specimen jar. (By tiny I’m talking size of a pin-head.) Thank god he didn’t wave it around until after he’d removed the instruments from my vagina because I nearly fainted.

        Turned a 2 minute procedure into 20 minutes, because they wouldn’t let me get up until they were sure I wasn’t going to collapse.

        So I’ll stay asleep during my colonoscopies thank you. I’d also sleep through the prep part if possible. That liquid you have to drink is the worst.

      • Norman Bates' Mother says:

        And I’m sitting here all jealous that your doctors/clinics are considerate enough to sedate people during colonoscopy. I needed one, but chickened out because where I lived back then, they do it without any pain-relievers, not to mention a complete sedation and all people I know said it hurts like hell. If I wanted to do it under sedation, I would’ve had to pay a small fortune and travel to some far away city. My doctor decided to diagnose me without the colonoscopy and I’m pretty sure it was a bs diagnosis.

      • Lilacflowers says:

        @NormanBates’Mother, oh, I am so sorry.

      • Mary-Alice says:

        You get anesthesia for colonoscopy?? I’ve never heard such a thing. But why? It’s not even painful, especially with a good doctor, it’s such a thin gadget these days. I have regular ones and have never even thought of having anesthesia nor do I tnink I would get it but it’s also unnecessary, imo.

        @NormanBates that’s so untrue. It doesn’t hurt at all! It’s a tube/wire which is as thin as 1/6 of your pinky finger. Sorry but each time you go to toilet you expose your body to about 10 times stronger pressure. I have never had anesthesia and see no need for it. Last one I didn’t even realize when it was all over.

    • A.Key says:

      Equally fascinating and disgusting! Thanks for sharing 🙂

    • Eve says:

      @ Sixer:

      Really not happy with you ignoring me.

      *humpf*

  7. Konspiracytheory says:

    Vasovagal syncope – it’s a form of autonomic system disfunction that can run in families.

    • Jenna says:

      Thankfully it doesn’t ~always~ run in a family, or at least hit ALL the family. My poor older brother has it. His first baby, he passed out halfway through and cracked his head hard enough to need stitches. Second baby was a c-section, dropped again like a rock, only this time they had to let him lay on the floor and bleed because everyone’s hand’s were a wee bit full – my sister in law told the docs to ‘just step around the idiot and get this baby OUT’, which to be fair, most would do the same in that situation. Last baby? Ignoring his protests of being ‘fine’ this time, they literally strapped him into a chair (at the waist AND under his shoulder blades) on wheels so when he passed out again, someone could just sorta kick him across the room if needed. It was needed. He can’t really even handle medical sounds. Mom is the same way – which is why I sadly ended up being the one doing all the first aide, even on myself, most of the time.

      • Lilacflowers says:

        I think my sister would change places. My brother in law took way to much interest in the surgical aspects of her C-section for her comfort level

      • Konspiracytheory says:

        Yikes! That’ll be my son, lol. Fourth grade field trip to a historical local church – I get a call from one of the moms on the trip saying DS had just fainted, they had no idea why. As I talked it through with her, she mentioned that they had just been doing a talk on Revolutionary War era surgery techniques – ding ding ding!

        Fast forward several years and I get a call from my 2nd grade daughter’s school nurse – DD had a tiny cut in her knee, nurse went to put a bandaid on it and boom – DD goes down for the count. Same school nurse in both situations – I think she thought I was nuts when I told her it sometimes runs in families. 🙂

      • Dara says:

        @Jenna – thank you for that story. The mental picture of an unconscious father being punted across the room made my day – was it a swivel chair? Cuz adding the twirling action might earn someone bonus points for style.

        Just to add my vote to the queasy/not queasy poll. I’m OK with blood – mine or other people’s, but anything to do with bones or teeth and I’m gone. Thankfully, I’ve never been confronted with guts or other organs in the flesh, so to speak, but I think the smell alone might put me on the ground. Mind you, on a scale of 1 to 10, the mental image of a disemboweling is nothing compared to a chipped tooth or dislocated pinky finger – those make me dizzy just thinking about them.

    • lunchcoma says:

      Sigh. Yes, I apparently have it. I got a workup for it after I fainted several times one hot summer (heat is my primary trigger rather than blood) and was concerned I might do so while waiting for the subway and fall on the tracks. Apparently, there’s nothing to be done other than sitting down when I feel dizzy, but at least I have an excuse for it when I have to do it in odd situations!

      My mother hasn’t formally been diagnosed with it, but she had to leave the room when we kids got immunizations or other minor medical procedures so she didn’t faint, so I’ve always assumed I got it from her.

  8. Miss Jupitero says:

    This is one reason I wish I were an actress: you have the perfect excuse to do stuff like this. I doubt a pathologist would spend a day with a mere poet and artist. Ah well.

    That said I once met a poet who was also a pathogist and we had a great conversation about the stuff you get used to, hearts and lungs etc., and the stuff thats more difficult, tongues and genitalia etc.

    • Lilacflowers says:

      I originally did disability cases for Social Security and Medicaid and I had to get past a lot of stuff that made me squeamish, especially eyes, tongues, the digestive system because I needed to be able to explain to judges why my client’s body problems prevented him or her from working. That said, I still get a bit nauseous with some pictures and would most definitely become ill during an autopsy.

      Yesterday, a co-worker told me about how he did an internship with the local FBI office while Kevin Bacon was doing research for Mystic River. He said Kevin would come in every day to work just like everyone else and it was cool.

      • Eve says:

        I can’t imagine a single scenario where Kevin Bacon wouldn’t act/look cool. He’s awesome.

      • NUTBALLS says:

        Yes to this▲▲! Did you see the sweet Intragrams he posted on his 27th wedding anniversary? I adore him.

      • Eve says:

        Nope. I avoid Instagram like the plague. But I trust your judgement.

        🙂

      • NUTBALLS says:

        I don’t follow him (or any other actor, fwiw) but it was all over the interwebs.

      • Eve says:

        Nutsy dear…careful with that jargon (interwebs). I’ve read somewhere that’s very scientology-esque.

        Or have they kidnapped you too? Are you typing from Xenu’s ship? Tell me!

        o_O

      • NUTBALLS says:

        What??? It’s slang for internet & web, look it up. Until Urban Dictionary tells me otherwise, Scientology doesn’t own it.

        ETA: I’m too recalcitrant for any cult. They’d drop kick me out the front door within minutes.

      • Eve says:

        Oooops, a misunderstanding just occurred (and my joke just fell flat). I know it’s slang for the internet, dear. I wasn’t criticizing you.

        But really, I think I saw it over Pajiba. Some poster saying scientos loving the use of that term. At the time they were all over the web, trying desperatly to save (mostly) Cruise’s reputation.

        It was back (way way back) when CB herself asked us to help find sciento-trolls here on this very site. She noticed some strange activity on any sciento-celeb post here and asked us to report any comment that “sounded” like they’ve been posted by them (sciento-trolls).

        P.S.: I’m a total non-believer. And very cynical. No cult will ever get me.

      • NUTBALLS says:

        Interesting. I didn’t know that part of CB history since the only “old” posts I read were the ones you Thornfield ladies gathered at! Thankfully, none of the hot British men are into Scientology that I’m aware of.

        So have you seen season 2 of Blacklist? It just popped up on Netflix so the huz and I will start watching it next week when he’s back from a trip. I miss Spader.

      • Eve says:

        Believe me, it was huge. They were everywhere, trying to salvage whatever was left of Cruise’s popularity and charisma (which he lost after letting everyone know how deeply brainwashed he had been by that cult, you know…all that Oprah stuff and some more).

        P.S.: Little secret…for such a big Spader fan, I’ve been really lousy at following his work. I’ve never watched Black List…*hangs head in shame*

        In my defense, however, I haven’t watched ANY series besides the occasional HBO’s marathons of Game of Thrones.

      • Eve says:

        @ Nutballs:

        This exchange made me feel like I’ve been here for ever…

        I think I started posting here around the time Clooney was dating Elizabetta Cannalis.

      • NUTBALLS says:

        It’s been at least since 2012, dear Eve. You ARE an old-timer!

      • Eve says:

        Yikes!

        I started posting anonymously (though you can see it’s me from the avatar), then as “Eve”.

        P.S.: Makes that girl’s comment about me being someone else even funnier, don’t you think? LOL!

      • NUTBALLS says:

        Yes. The avatars save the day!

        I miss seeing Fanty’s here. I smile even before I start reading.

      • Eve says:

        That monkey-faced b*tch.

        Try the pentagram and saying her name five times. Works for me.

      • NUTBALLS says:

        Eve, good to have you back. Sixer’s had to carry the snark all on her own and I’ve tried to bring the smut in your absence, but there’s really no substitute for the original.

      • Eve says:

        @ Nutballs:

        Sixer’s snark is far superior, in my opinion. I wish I wrote/commented like her.

      • NUTBALLS says:

        Eve, I stand corrected. I just found a comment you made on my newly commissioned CB lover (see #17):

        Eve says: June 17, 2011 at 8:44 am

        50% Japanese, 50 % Swedish.

        100 % HOT.

        I’m not sharing this one.

        *casts a suspicious eye in Eve’s direction* *grabs box cutter*

      • Eve says:

        @ Nutballs:

        Don’t worry. I’ve moved on. Not like what happened with Cumberbatch, but I’m over handsome, tall Fukunaga.

        Careful with Oscar Isaac though. I’m predicting bitches will be all over him once Star Wars: Episode VII comes out (even his character’s name in the movie sounds sexy: Poe Dameron).

  9. vauvert says:

    I actually liked everything he said here. I think we have become so used to the three Hollywood types that when an actor speaks articulately about a topic and is actually capable of using vocabulary above a sixth grade level we automatically assume it’s a word salad. In this case, it’s not.
    (The three types, according to the vauvert gospel:
    1. Using foul language to up one’s cool, edgy factor – see KStew.
    2. Tossing words together in long rambling sentences – see Yeezy.
    3. Using “like” and “has tag” as a replacement for 90% of the dictionary – see any reality TV person.)

  10. feebee says:

    I bet he had the back of his hand to his forehead and everything.

  11. Luca76 says:

    I once had to go to a forensic lab for my schooling. The faces were covered and it was just each body opened up to show different layers of the body. It was so fascinating and I’m someone who can’t stand the sight of anything grizzly I won’t even watch a medical drama. The people at the lab had such respect for each body and I learned a lot. that being said the body fluids were already cleared from the bodies and they were preserved. I don’t think I could handle that.

    • Tiny Martian says:

      I think I would be fascinated as well. Which is funny, because I will indeed pass out if I hear anyone giving a graphic description of a horrible injury. And yet, I’ve dissected animals with no problem, and I’ve witnessed a couple of bad injuries and I was right there, taking care of them with no squeamishness whatsoever. For some reason the description overwhelms me, but the visuals fascinate me way more than they disturb me!

    • Lucrezia says:

      I lose it at the sight of my own blood, and I’m not good with anyone else’s either. But I did do the same introductory human bio courses as the doctors/nurses (I was studying molecular genetics at the time). I made it through with only one small near-fainting episode.

      Our cadaver labs were handled like yours. The first few bodies we were exposed to had their hands, faced and feet covered and what we could see was already sectioned into layers. It didn’t trigger the emotional “that was once a living person” reflex, it was just “science”. They left the bodies that were more recognisable as “human” until later on in the course.

      The thing that triggered my near-faint didn’t involve a human body at all. We were studying cow hearts, squeezing them to pump water through the chambers of the heart. My lab-partner squeezed too hard, and the cow-heart oozed a bit of red. Same as squeezing a steak I guess, but urgh!

  12. Browniecakes says:

    What did he do (or who) to prep for the sex scenes?

    • Lilacflowers says:

      Me

      • Eve says:

        Correction: Us.

      • Eve says:

        @ Nutballs:

        :*

        Now that you mentioned them…where are they? Have they joined scientology?

      • NUTBALLS says:

        God, I hope not, but they usually show up later in the day, like “after work”. P’enny should be here for sure, icerose is iffy due to some health issues she’s dealing with right now.

      • Eve says:

        I actually have a penknife. Started carrying it around after I was robbed for the second time.

        I KNOW, it’s super dangerous. But I always react when I’m getting mugged.

        P.S.: A classmate (who’s a policeman) told me to watch out because a knife (any knife) *IS* considered a weapon by police force here thus allowing them (policemen) to confiscate it if found or detected. We call all it “white weapon” here.

        P.P.S.: Also own several box cutters. Cut my left index finger with one of them last month. Five stitches.

      • NUTBALLS says:

        Eve, are you still using your phone?? It’s kinda obvious from where your comments are showing up. I hate typing on my phone and you are sounding dangerous the more you write.

        I’m staying on your good side, lady.

      • Eve says:

        Yes, I’m typing all these comments with my right index finger so…lots of typos and misplaced replies. But I can’t muster up any courage to take my laptop upstairs (for some reason I don’t understand the wi-fi here works on my phone but not with my laptop).

        As for staying on my good side…well, just don’t try to mug me in real life.

      • NUTBALLS says:

        Hugs, not mugs. That’s my motto.

      • Eve says:

        So…you’re safe. Just don’t come from behind (you can hug me from behind, I’m referring to the first approach).

    • NUTBALLS says:

      Not just Lilac… me, P’enny, icerose… we all have our methods and means to keep Tom interested. P’enny and her ties, icerose and her clamps…. Sometimes Tom wants the inspiration of the natural world, so I giv him a thematic “mountain” so he could be instinctive.

      His instincts are spot on, I might add.

      ETA: *waves to Eve*

      Are you back on the Hiddles train??

      • Eve says:

        @ Nutballs:

        Not fully. I’m waiting for Crimson Peak.

        P.S.: I may need to sharpen my shanks after CP.

        P.P.S.: My phone is acting crazy.

      • NUTBALLS says:

        Well, I’ll be saving up for a suit of body armor, just in case. And doing some speedwork on the track.

      • Eve says:

        You’d better.

      • Lilacflowers says:

        @Eve, ahem, please leave the shanking over at Thornfield and whichever gentlemen are there. Here, we share peacefully. Let me know after you’ve seen Crimson Peak if I need to add you to the circulation list for my husband Tom.

      • Eve says:

        @ Lilac:

        Oh, you will know…you all will know when I’ve seen Crimson Peak.

        Beware of post-Crimson Peak Eve…

        *ominous music plays in the background*

      • Eve says:

        @ Lilac:

        Yesterday I was waiting for my appointment with my doctor when a woman and her daughter sat beside me and started trying to open a C vitamin bottle (the girl was trying to open with her teeth). They’re making such a deal that I decided to help the woman open the bottle. Using my penknife.

        True story.

      • NUTBALLS says:

        So you’re not just blowing smoke up our asses when you threaten a shanking?

        And here I thought EsCon was just being melodramatic.

      • Eve says:

        Posted my reply at the wrong spot. Scroll up, if you may.

        But…yup, I own a penknife and carry it (in my backpack or front pocket, depending on the situation).

      • Lilacflowers says:

        @Eve, no stabbing! And my husband Tom will protect me. With the help of a knife-wielding Jessica Chastain

      • Eve says:

        @ Lilacflowers:

        Ok. No stabbing. Yet.

  13. Veronica says:

    Haha, you don’t have to have a condition to faint at the sight of gore. Entrails are pretty gross, and dead or diseased entrails are even worse. (Ever seen a tumor in situ? Terrifying.) It’s fascinating, but at the same time, it’s a not so gentle reminder of the, ah, “earthliness” of our bodies if that makes any sense. Not everyone has the stomach for that.

    • Lilacflowers says:

      I had the ultrasound images of cancer-riddled breast. Not pretty, very angry looking. And that was in black & white. No need to see it in living color.

  14. Esteph says:

    It’s ok ladies, don’t worry about him too much. After his almost fainting spell I took him back home with me to get him better 😉

  15. Isa says:

    I saw someone pass out while observing a surgery during fieldwork. At that point there wasn’t even blood involved.
    the surgery didn’t bother me, but it was on the wrist. Idk how I would feel if there were guts involved. Wound care makes my stomach turn a bit but I haven’t seen anything too bad yet…I think seeing someone that’s been degloved might make me pass out.

  16. tschic says:

    I had to watch an autopsy during my internship in a court as a law student.
    It was quite fascinating but the smell is really bad and I almost fainted when I saw the fat of the body. I couldn`t believe how fat looks like. It was worse than flesh or the brain.

  17. et alors says:

    I posted this in the last TH post, but ICYMI, here’s a chance for Torontonians to see a special screening of Crimson Peak.

    https://twitter.com/mrwillw/status/644359242091249664

    Also, THE MOST STYLISH MEN OF TIFF 2015 (Hiddleston, Ejiofor, Michael Shannon, Fukunaga, Gabriel Garcia Bernal, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jack Kilmer). Kilmer looks so much like his mother.

    http://www.mrporter.com/journal/the-portfolio/the-most-stylish-men-of-tiff-2015/495

    • NUTBALLS says:

      Ahhh… I love both the picture and the brief interview.

      “Be kind. Be on time. Take the work seriously – don’t take yourself too seriously.”

      I think he really does live by this, based on what we can see.

    • NUTBALLS says:

      I’m developing a full-blown crush on Cary Fukunaga this season. Because of the obvious geeky good looks and this:

      Beasts of No Nation is a movie about child soldiers – and it’s very gruesome in places, isn’t it?

      This movie asks a lot of the audience. As a director, I ask myself: “What am I contributing to the world?” I’m not satisfied in just distracting people from everyday life, I like to lead people to something, to make them ask questions. I want people to still be talking about this film in 10 years’ time.

      What rules do you live by?

      I always stick to my word. If I say I am going to do something, I do it.

      That akin for foreplay for me. I know who I’m taking out to the mountains if Tom is busy.

      • et alors says:

        NUTBALLS, I’ve been banging the Fukunaga hotness drum since Jane Eyre, but none of my friends saw what I saw until True Detective came around.

      • NUTBALLS says:

        et alors I don’t have HBO so I haven’t seen it… but heard good things about the series. I’ve got BoNN on my calendar to watch the day it’s released. I’ve been meaning to watch his Jane Eyre, so maybe I’ll move that one up to the top of my list.

        Lainey seems to be smitten with him too. Two posts on the movie and her interview with him and Idris.

        Kaiser, feel free to put up as many Fukunaga posts as you want. I like looking at him and hearing him talk. 🙂

      • MI6 says:

        @nutballs :
        Fukunaga’s “True Detective ” is absolute, uadulterated, pure f****** genius. It’s worth getting HBO just to watch it on HBO GO. You are really missing something if you don’t see it! I will almost give you my password if you need it.
        How I would love to see Tom Hiddleston in a project directed by him! Heaven

      • NUTBALLS says:

        MI6, it’s $3 an episode on Amazon! I can’t afford that. But, I just added the disc plan to our Netflix (1 month trial) so now I can watch it for free! Season 1 is on its way…

        How is season 2 in comparison? I see that Cary didn’t direct it.

        TI just read that T Bone Burnett did the music. That gets me all kinds of excited.

      • MI6 says:

        @ nutballs:
        I’m so glad! You are going to love it and I cannot wait to hear what you think of it. An extraordinary experience in brilliant television. Unparalleled!
        Watch for the famous one -shot scene. It’s incredible. As is T Bone’s score. That had as much to do with the mood and the beauty of it as the direction, I think.
        I didn’t watch season 2, tbh. I tried and gave up. Like a lot of people.

      • NUTBALLS says:

        I do hope Eve is over Cary after her 2011 comment I noted upthread. I don’t wanna be fighting with pen knives and box cutters on Tom’s thread and have him and others start dropping to the floor from all the blood.

  18. Bianca says:

    I’d like to be in that photo with the Tom and Luke Evans. Then I’d faint and they both could catch me in their strong arms and Tom would carry me off the carpet whispering sweet soothing words in my ear while Luke holds and caresses my hand. End.

  19. browniecakes says:

    Upcoming for TH is Richard II directed by James Ivory. Did we talk about this already? Bless Kaiser for all the Hiddles posts but I cannot keep up.

    • MI6 says:

      Thank you for that info, Browniecakes. You just made my day.

    • lunchcoma says:

      What? He is? Yay!

    • et alors says:

      James Ivory has been talking about this for a while, but the project was just added to Tom’s IMDB profile under pre-production. I don’t know about Shakespeare in 3D, though…

    • NUTBALLS says:

      I know Lilac mentioned it a while back, but there doesn’t seem to be much out there as to when filming starts. We know the monkey movie is next and Thor starts filming next summer. Maybe Dick 2 in between?

      I can’t say 3D is the way I want to see Will Shakes but I’m glad to see Tom get back to Shakespeare.

      I also hope he’s got plans to get back on stage too — I’d love to see him in a Tennessee Williams play. Or a Wes Anderson film. I want to see Tom in a smart comedy especially after all these dark movies he’s doing.

      • browniecakes says:

        and Nutballs made my day with “Dick 2 in between”.

      • NUTBALLS says:

        brownie, I’m positively blushing!!

        I don’t know what happened to me today, but I can’t seem to muster up any filthy humor. I’m off my game.

      • Lilacflowers says:

        I want to see him in a Noel Coward play. Tuxedos and smoking jackets and martini so. Or Frankenfurter in The Rocky Horror Show. Corset, fishnets and platform shoes

      • NUTBALLS says:

        The Dentist in Little Shop of Horrors, perhaps? I always loved the way Steve Martin sang “I get off on the pain I inflict!”. I could see Tom singing that with a gleeful look of mischief.

        Too bad that song runs through my head when I’m about to get my own work done. #anti-dentite

    • Lilacflowers says:

      We talked about it but the only other person who has talked about it has been James Ivory and he has only done so in Italian magazines so don’t know what is happening. IMDB has rather loose rules about who can add listings.

      I think there may be time for something between Kong and Thor. I am hoping that he spent some time this past month doing another Will Shakes narration with the kids for next year’s Shakespeare week

    • Lilacflowers says:

      The NY Times style magazine did a piece on Ivory and his house a week ago and he told them that Richard II is his next project. So still no confirmation other than Ivory telling magazines while he’s being interviewed for other reasons

  20. et alors says:

    Lots of pictures from yesterday’s Googletalk with GDT, Tom, Jessica, and Mia. Pretty dresses! Also, if we could have Tom and Jessica do every interview together, that would be super-awesome. GDT, Mia, Jim Beaver, and the elusive Charlie Hunnam are welcome, too, of course.

    https://plus.google.com/photos/+talksatgoogle/albums/6195494274448537825

    Also, Tom plays Save or Kill with Collider.

    http://collider.com/watch-tom-hiddleston-play-save-or-kill/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=collidersocial

    • NUTBALLS says:

      Tom and Jess are so adorable. They look like they have a lot of fun together. Too bad she doesn’t date actors. I’d ship ’em.

      I hope we’ll get some video footage of this.

      ETA: Save or Kill was hilarious. Mr. Politician hates having to choose! It was funny how he felt the need to explain The Cap over Ironman.

      I was happy to see the majority of his choices were in line with mine. If he had chose FSoG, I might’ve had to go off him.

    • et alors says:

      Also, Crimson Peak B-Roll and behind-the-scenes. Might be kind of spoilery, so as Dr. McMichael says, proceed with caution. 1:43 is the cutest, though. “We’re making a movie!”

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKzvTT7m0EA

      • Eve says:

        Oh, noes! I’m “link happy”.

        I won’t click, I won’t click, I won’t click. That’s not a link, that’s not a link, that’s not a link. The letters are not blue, they’re not blue, they’re not blue.

      • Lilacflowers says:

        I can’t click either because I’m at work. All those things that look like links are driving me crazy. But I agree with Eve. They’re not really links

      • et alors says:

        @Eve, if you’ve seen the trailers, I don’t think you’ll be spoiled, but some people have a strong aversion to anything slightly spoilery, hence the warning. Here, have another clip with no spoilers. It’s the scene where Thomas carries Edith over the threshold.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VIAnvs8J_s

      • NUTBALLS says:

        “We’re making a mo-vie!”

        Those two… I love them together!!

        I’ve been so focused on festival films, I needed a reminder that this may be my favorite of his movies this year.

      • Eve says:

        @ Et alors:

        I’m not *that* zealous when it comes to spoilers. But it’s a horror movie (one of my favourite genres) and, slowly, along all these years, most horror movies I watch don’t scare me anymore. And I miss that. I miss the thrill, you know? That’s why I’ve been trying to avoid Crimson Peak’s potentially spoilerish articles and/or videos. I’m a huge Del Toro fan so I’m hoping CP will make me at least a little “tense”.

        In light of recent events, NOTHING scares me more than real life anymore. Nothing scares me more than humanity itself.

      • Kellie says:

        I hope the movie is better than clips I’ve seen now. Will be waiting for reviews on this one, I guess.

      • et alors says:

        @Eve, gotcha. Unlike you, I’m easily scared when it comes to thrillers or horror movies, though not as much in the moment as afterwards, when my vivid imagination starts playing mind games with me as I replay certain scenes in my head. I don’t think the video reveals too much of the scary moments except possibly near the end, but I’d avoid it if I were you to preserve the thrill. I don’t think GDT is going to disappoint, though.

  21. DT says:

    Sooooo sorry to bring this up again but there’s another pic of lizzie with marc and their arms around eachother, Tom is with them……. I don’t know how to do links but it’s on instagram. It’s a cropped pic so you can only see half of marc but the owner of pic said they did have arms round eachother. So the joke I made on previous thread about tom and marvel boys bein a distraction from EO and MA (I’m gonna call them MIZZIE) is looking more true 😂

  22. et alors says:

    OH. MY. GOD. Robert De Niro, Anne Hathaway, Kenneth Branagh, and Tom Hiddleston on the 10/2/15 episode of The Graham Norton Show.

    http://thisisthelatest.com/2015/09/robert-de-niro-anne-hathaway-sir-kenneth-branagh-tom-hiddleston-the-shires-for-the-graham-norton-show-on-friday-2-october-2015/

    • NUTBALLS says:

      The Thornfield ladies will giggle that TommyAnne is on the same show as Hathaway.

      That’s cool that he’s on with Branagh. I’m looking forward to watching it when it hits youtube.

      • et alors says:

        I just want to see Tom fanboy over Heat with De Niro and maybe throw in a Branagh impression. He did one for a GQ interview, but of course, it was a print interview.

      • Lilacflowers says:

        My immediate reaction was that I really want to see him react to DeNiro as well. He’s probably delirious over it, which may explain the sudden uptick in his use of social media over the last two days.

      • Dara says:

        I may wait for the reviews to decide, but I kinda want to see The Intern – it opens soon and I’m assuming that’s why Hathaway and DeNiro are appearing on the show together. The trailers are pretty entertaining, and Nancy Meyers knows how to make a beautiful movie. Even if the story turns out to be not that great (hello, It’s Complicated), I can still kill time wondering who makes the great lamp or chair that’s in the background. And I still dream about owning that Hamptons house that was in Something’s Gotta Give. I would have picked Keanu over Nicholson, but whatever.

      • Lilacflowers says:

        @Dara, I too would have gone with the hot doctor Keanu.

    • TotallyBiased says:

      FINALLY!!!!! It’s about TIME he was on Graham Norton!

  23. NUTBALLS says:

    Tom needed to loosen up to sing the blues, ’cause he had a “stick up his ass”, according to Crowell.

    twitter.com/maryxglz/status/644615295013908480

  24. NUTBALLS says:

    Who’s going / went to see Black Mass tonight?

    • Lilacflowers says:

      I did. Thought it was good. Good performance from Depp. Very good performance from Edgerton. It bothered me that they didn’t show much of the city but I understand that way too much has changed since the 70s and 80s. They showed several shots of the waterfront in which they blotted out several major buildings that didn’t exist in the early 80s, although they couldn’t do much to hide the fact that the highway that would have been there back then isn’t there now. They used City Hall and parts of the Lindemann Center a lot so it looks like much of the city consists of brutalist architecture. The building where the FBI was at the time is a beautiful old courthouse building but it is in private hands now and they probably couldn’t get access to it for filming.

    • NUTBALLS says:

      I enjoyed it as well. Depp did a great job as well as Edgerton. Cumby & Dakota’s accents were distracting.

      Engaging story.

      Made me miss Boston.

      • NUTBALLS says:

        Where did you see it, Lilac? My friends were at the Somerville Theater. I would have enjoyed seeing it there. #noparkingissues

    • Janie says:

      Critics were all over on what they didn’t like (mostly praise overall though). Some loved Depp and Cumberbatch’s accents, some didn’t but most of them at least liked their performances. No one liked Johnson. A few thought Edgerton was miscast. It was wild reading 🙂

      I liked it quite a bit, could have lived with slightly less makeup on Depp.

      • Lilacflowers says:

        The makeup on Depp, particularly the contact lenses was overdone. Cumberbatch’s accent was atrocious; distracting; difficult to understand what he was uttering; and enters the pantheon of worst attempts at a Boston accent.

  25. Sue says:

    he reminds me so much of David Niven, an actor from the past!

  26. I Choose Me says:

    “The experience, there’s two parts to my answer: One is I take particular pleasure in creating an intellectual and imaginative context in which to place myself when we shoot… in some way, I’ve built a thematic scaffolding so then I can then be instinctive.”

    I love you Hiddles but you’re such a pretentious boob sometimes. So. many. words. when he could just say, ‘like every other actor I have my own way of getting into character.’ There done. Shhh.

    As to the rest of his comment. If I were an actor I’d take the opportunity to research all sorts of professions too. I’ve got a strong stomach and wouldn’t mind seeing an autopsy. I’m fascinated by the whole process and the flesh and viscera part of it doesn’t faze me.

  27. Lilacflowers says:

    Tom and Jessica will be doing a Crimson Peak Q&A on Twitter tomorrow.

  28. Goodnight says:

    I never really got the whole ‘autopsies are so gross’ thing, because when you open up a human being it looks exactly the same as what you buy at a butcher.

    I do get that some people can’t take a step back and see humans as an animal just like cattle or sheep or goats or whatever and it’s the idea that it’s the body of a human being that freaks them out, but autopsies aren’t even bloody because the blood has coagulated. Roadkill you see on the side of the highway is infinitely more gorey than an autopsy.