Tom Hiddleston recommends running away if you’re ever in a bar fight

Celebrities Are Seen Leaving BBC Radio Two Studios In London

I keep seeing the same clip of Tom Hiddleston in Monkey Movie: Apocalypse Now, But With Monkeys. The clip is of John Goodman’s character trying to convince Tom’s character to join the mission to an uncharted and Kong-filled island. I can’t find the clip now, but they keeping showing a few seconds of it during Tom’s junket interviews. Anyway, apparently the “bar scene” also features a bar fight, and that’s what USA Today asked Tom about, because I guess no one is allowed to ask him about Taylor Swift and the Glorious Tiddlebanging of 2016. Here are some highlights from Tom’s USA Today interview:

His advice for anyone in a bar fight: In Kong, we meet Hiddleston’s rugged character James Conrad in a seedy bar, and Conrad quickly dispatches foes with deft use of a pool cue. Hiddleston, who trained with former members of Britain’s Special Air Service and a retired Navy SEAL for the film, was told by a tough, British ex-paratrooper: “If you get into a bar fight, the best thing to do is to pretend you don’t know what you’re doing and run, get the hell out of there,” says Hiddleston. “That’s what he said. You don’t want to get yourself in trouble.”

What to do if someone cuts ahead of you in the bar: “I’d say very politely, ‘Excuse, I’ve been waiting X amount of time.’ Usually people are pretty good about that. That’s kind of social protocol. You don’t break that rule. People are like, ‘Okay, you go ahead.'”

Doing his first big action movie: “Action has always been a part of me. In the Marvel films, it’s hidden in the playfulness and mischief of that character. But actually, there’s several one-to-ones with Captain America and Thor where the action requires choreography. But (Kong) puts all of that center stage.”

He thinks he’s the hero of The Monkey Movie: “It’s like, this is the guy you want on the ground in a jungle,” Hiddleston adds of his Conrad. “It’s lovely to be a hero.”

[From USA Today]

I haven’t even seen the movie, but I can tell that Conrad/Hiddles is not the hero. The hero is KONG. Kong is always the hero of the movie. Samuel L. Jackson might also be the antihero and I think John Goodman is the villain. As for what Tom says about bar fights… I just realized that I’ve never even witnessed a bar fight that involved punches being thrown. If I did witness it, my first reaction would probably be to just stand back and watch. But if someone cuts in front of me at the bar or anywhere else? I’m not polite.

Celebrities Are Seen Leaving BBC Radio Two Studios In London

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

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76 Responses to “Tom Hiddleston recommends running away if you’re ever in a bar fight”

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  1. Clare says:

    “I’d say very politely, ‘Excuse, I’ve been waiting X amount of time.’ Usually people are pretty good about that.

    PEAK BRITISH (also too true – seen this happen ALL THE TIME.)

    • Sixer says:

      Not in the pub though! We are mad-polite queue-ers, but in the pub, you just elbow everyone else out of the way and shove your £20 under the nose of the barman. Nearer to his nose than everyone else has shoved it. You’d never get a drink if you kept saying excuse me. Or perhaps I only frequent spit and sawdust pubs!

      • Jaii says:

        Spoken like a true Brit sixer , lol I don’t think tom frequents the same pubs as us common folk!

      • shelley* says:

        I don’t know so much, usually the Bar person has a good idea of who got there first.
        Blatant pushing in could lead to ugly scenes in pubs I go to. If someone tries to get in front of me they get the sharp elbows treatment.

      • Clare says:

        I think I may be frequenting toffee pubs like our pal Tom…where people nod politely at each other, wear bow ties (after formal) and let ladies cut in front of them. (Can’t help it, I live in Cambridge, and I’ll only go to pubs I can walk to)

      • Sixer says:

        Our village pub is a bit more sedate. The original owner put it up for sale because she couldn’t make a profit – as with many pubs up and down the country. So now it’s run on a community, non-profit basis. The group you’re with does a whip round and puts the cash behind the bar, then the bar staff (who are all actually neighbours) let you know when it’s run out.

        How polite is that?!

      • Spiderpig says:

        Ha! Maybe the Aldeburgh pubs? Although the only place in Aldeburgh I’ve ever seen queues is this one chippie that is locally famous. Very polite queuing protocol observed there always!

      • Dani says:

        Sixer! Tell me the best pubs to take my husband to on our ONE day in London this summer pleaseeeeeeeee! I love everything England but my husband is such a jerk and doesn’t ‘get’ it. Must prove him wrong!

      • spidey says:

        @ Spiderpig I was at the one in Aldeburgh last year – but was civilied and dined sitting down upstairs, on the biggest portion of fish and chips ever. Delicious and the restaurant was packed. Yummy.

        https://www.theimagefile.com/?Action=VF&id=7762586402

        I guess this and the one at the end of the road are owned by the same people?

      • teacakes says:

        My main interest in pubs is for the pub quizzes – I’d love to do one in London, but I’d be terrible at it, not knowing much about anything local and all.

      • Clare says:

        @ Dani LOL try and Churchill Arms in Notting Hill – it is very ‘British’ – also the Marylebone Tup on Marylebone High Street is nice. For a more Olde World feel, try the Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street (apparently the oldest pub in England?), and the Old bank of England, by the royal courts of justice, where apparently the Demon Barber used to drink.

        /spent too much time in London pubs in my youth.

      • Tina says:

        @Dani, I agree with all of Clare’s recs. Also v good are the Old Mitre just off Hatton Garden (hard to find but worth it), the Crown Tavern in Clerkenwell (where Lenin used to drink), the Viaduct on Newgate Street which is the last surviving Victorian gin palace in London, and the George Inn on Borough High Street, London’s last remaining galleried inn. (These are all historic pubs).

  2. Lightpurple says:

    Tom and Idris on the same Monday morning. If we get some Keanu too, it will bode really well for the week.

    Nothing good comes of a bar fight. RUN!

    • Nanny to the Rescue ( ex-Crox) says:

      One of my relatives likes to fight with “friends” and then throw punches. It usually happens in a bar because there’s alcohol involved. And it’s not pretty. I agree: run if possible. It usually is possible. Keeping your pride and ending up in a hospital (or even worse) is stupid.

    • Mike says:

      I just end posted an article from another Navy Seal who also says to try running away first. His advice was run, hide, fight. In that order. Bar fights sound fun until it becomes a homocide or somebody gets maimed

    • Cranberry says:

      And soon we’ll have no health insurance in US. So another reason to avoid bar fights.

      Hey Lightpurple, I responded to you in the last TH thread. Late I know, but I did.

      • Luna says:

        I’m sorry you’re losing your health insurance, Cranberry — but “we” aren’t — I mean the United States isn’t. I think the Republicans might be pushed into using some kind of political magic for catastrophic medical conditions.

        Is a bar fight considered a catastrophe?

      • Lightpurple says:

        At Luna, if you read Secretary Price and Speaker Ryan’s proposals, I, and millions of others, will lose health insurance completely. High Risk Pools, no protections for pre-existing conditions, Medical Savings Accounts, Lack of mandated benefits, buying across state lines, all of which Trump has embraced, are NOT viable options to keep a single person covered.

    • Emmet says:

      WHOO HOO Ladies!!!
      Tommy will be on Live with Kelly tomorrow morning (3/7)!
      That’s out of NY and he should be on by 9:30AM.
      (It will probably be available on You Tube within 24 hours)

      Was hoping for a Tom tidbit so I could post this – thanks Kaiser!

      Release the dancing bear!!!

      • Beth says:

        Thanks for telling! I never watch that show,but I just set it to be recorded tomorrow. He can run away down to me anytime he wants! Yummy

      • Cranberry says:

        *commanding echoing voice:

        ” RELEASE the KRAKEN . . and Dancing Bears “

  3. SusanneToo says:

    I’ve never been in a bar, but it sounds like good advice to me.

    • spidey says:

      You’ve never lived! The lounge bar is considered more civilised than the bar in a UK pub.

  4. Lucy says:

    A guy I know unintentionally (or maybe not so much) ended a fight in a bar once. He just approached one of the two men involved and asked for a cigarette. Just like that.

  5. Kiki says:

    Oh Tom Hiddlestone. You had me a polite bar fights. I love you for this “SO VERY BRITISH OF YOU”.

  6. Sixer says:

    WHERE IS THE SOMBRERO?

    • Lightpurple says:

      That IS the question of the day. The giant sombrero is just so much MORE than talk of bar fights Tom has never had.

    • Justme says:

      He was so charming and fun this weekend in Mexico City. Spent lots of time with fans, spoke Spanish, wore the sombrero. And wore a salmon pink shirt (which looked great!)

    • Sixer says:

      I still haven’t seen it.

      • Cranberry says:

        Oh dear, hang in there Sixer.
        Quick, someone get Sixer a Hiddles sombrero fix. Stat!
        Or something equivalent. stat. stat.

        How many days has it been Sixer since your last chuckle at Legs ? (or any larf worthy celeb)?

        stat stat stat

      • Cranberry says:

        I will describe it to you. It looks like a Mexican flying saucer on a smiling bean pole.
        It’s so big all you can see is his smile. haha

        But I will say it compliments the famous Dragonfly jacket perfectly!

      • Sixer says:

        Vis a vis celebrity gossip, including internet boyfriend gossip, if it doesn’t turn up on CB or my Twatter feed, I don’t see it. I certainly don’t go the effort of googling. Lightpurple told me of sombreros and I fully expected to see them here today. CB has let me down. But I don’t care because Idris had a hot dog.

      • Lightpurple says:

        I will find it and post it for you later tonight

      • Cranberry says:

        I love hot dogs.

    • LA Elle says:

      Agreed! I was banking on sombrero pictures today!

      Given all of the insane stuff happening in American politics at present, Tom Hiddleston in a sombrero giving sensible advice is exactly what we all need.

  7. Adrien says:

    Politeness won’t work with linecutters in China and even in Hong Kong, especially in bars. Tourists often get into fights with Mainlanders because of the locals’ barging practice. So Tom, if you ever get to encounter rude queuers in HK Disneyland or in a Shanghai buffet table, ditch the line too. No feelings hurt from native citizens just from foreign visitors.

    • Fluff says:

      I’ve experience that in China, and became adept at simply nonchalantly putting myself back in the right queuing place.

    • detritus says:

      I found this so confusing.

      There was a giant line for a bathroom and one woman just barged right up and on through. A second lady physically grabbed her and a giant scream match started. I thought it would end in blows, and almost did. The pushy lady got manhandled to the back of the line, but I have no clue what was said.

      Is this old and new cultures clashing? Is it just general pushiness being rewarded?

    • LA Elle says:

      It’s becoming an issue in parts of LA as well with some of the newer Chinese immigrants. A friend’s Chinese grandmother blames Mao and the rise of Communism, that people had to fight for basic necessities and rights and it’s obliterated basic human decency. I should mention that the grandmother was raised in US (her family left China prior to Mao), is somewhat of a snob, and is pretty dismissive of recent Chinese immigrants. So take with a grain of salt, but the theory makes sense to me?

  8. Becky says:

    Tom did a phone interview with an Aussie radio show over the weekend, and they did ask about TS. Int starts at about 30:30 mark:
    http://www.nova969.com.au/podcast/fitzy-and-wippa-podcast-6-march-2017

    • Justme says:

      Tom sounds very . . terse shall we say? “Yeah we’re friends”. Not worried about winding up in one of her songs. Yeah. Let’s move on to talking about Chris Hemsworth – the warmth returns to his voice! Now Chris he loves 😊

      • Becky says:

        Justme, that seems the general conclusion from fan comments I’ve seen. He’s like yeah whatever, then the subject turns to bestie Chris H and he’s all enthusiastic again.

      • Lightpurple says:

        He is also there to work, not promote his personal life, AND whatever it was ended seven months ago. They’ve moved on, other people should too. It is rather nasty to go on and on about an ex with strangers months after a break-up.

      • Sheanna says:

        I cant believe its been seven months already. Winding up in those songs hasnt seemed to hurt anybody including Jake Gyllenhaal who has gone on to a very artful career. If anything it barnishes all gay rumors and gives you free publicity. So I’m sure he is not worried. Besides, didnt he already know about this certainty when he first took her on their rock sitting date?

      • Becky says:

        I agree, the radio show asked so they’d get publicity for their show, unfortunately that’s the way it works.

      • milibili says:

        @justme so does chris 😉
        hiddlesworth is the true bromance
        https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ibr7fTGGqdE

        Chris Hemsworth’s personal trip on Tom
        Hiddleston ahahaha… this vid is freaking hilarious.

    • spidey says:

      Tom has moved on, quite rightly and normally. Everyone who hasn’t should GET OVER IT. It has become very boring.

      • third ginger says:

        Sir Thomas will address this trifling dalliance in his best selling memoir some thirty years in the future. Dear Spidey and I will not see it. For the rest of you, enjoy !!

      • spidey says:

        Hang on, we only have to be 94 and 99! 😆

    • spidey says:

      @ milibili and just in case you didn’t leave that one running:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23FSeJxWhBI

    • spidey says:

      @ Becky imagine the twitter meltdown if he had said “no we aren’t still friends and yes I am terrified she will write a song about me” 😆

  9. Skins says:

    Bar fights are not a good idea anymore. Too many mma trained guys running around wanting to beat people up.

    • LA Elle says:

      My brother briefly – we’re talking maybe two months – worked as a bouncer at a big LA club when he moved to LA. The number of stories he has about violent, drunk idiots wanting to start something still amazes me. And our Mom remains happy he didn’t tell her these stories until after he left the job.

  10. spidey says:

    Ian Botham (for the benefit of non-Brits), a very famous former England cricketer who lived up to his nickname of Beefy, would totally agree with this advice. He has said that there was often someone who will come up to him in a pub and try to pick a fight and he said he always chose to run.

    Thing is you may get hurt – and getting glassed would not be the best thing for an actor in particular, and would who get all the bad publicity – not the brain dead ape who started it, that’s for sure?

    I’m being sensible again.

  11. Fluff says:

    The only bar fights I’ve seen have involved girls screeching at each other but I’m guessing Hiddles don’t hang in Tiger Tiger much.

  12. milibili says:

    Real tough guys with dangerous ability do follow this protocol. They don’t need to show their capability. They know it is better to walk away. So I’m not surprised he gave tom that advice.

  13. lucy2 says:

    Anyone else see this headline and hear the Monty Python “Run away, run away!” in their heads.

  14. jetlagged says:

    Did anyone else catch the interview where he said his schedule is mostly booked up for the rest of the year, but he couldn’t really say what he had going on?

    If we assume at least a short bit of filming for Infinity War, maybe some re-shoots for Thor, followed by the promo for Thor, that still leaves a good chunk of the year unaccounted for. I’m looking forward to what comes next, Tom hasn’t had a proper new project (non-Marvel) announced in quite a while.

    • Lightpurple says:

      Well, he was working on Early Man and his UNICEF documentary. I suspect he can’t say that he is working on Infinity Wars because that might give away some Thor3 plot points – like another Loki is dead but not really cliffhanger. During one of the London premiere interviews, he hinted again at an unannounced theater project.

      ETA Some actors have said the Infinity Wars schedule is a nightmare

      • jetlagged says:

        @LP, I should have qualified my statement about new projects. I guess I don’t consider voice work to be quite in the same category as being in front of the camera or on stage, no matter how anticipated the project is. It takes far less time too, I’d venture that his work for Early Man is mostly done.

        Just thinking about what goes into scheduling something like IW makes my head hurt. I’ve completely given up trying to figure out who might be doing what and where.

  15. Ninette says:

    I think Tom will only do Marvel projects for the rest of the year, maybe after the promo tour for Thor 3 he will start on something new. So he will have more time to relax.

  16. teacakes says:

    I’ve witnessed a bar fight, and he’s right – you get the hell out of there and don’t get involved.

    (that goes double for anyone female)

    • Lightpurple says:

      Yes! I was walking through a bar one night and suddenly a guy tackled another guy and threw him on the floor right in front of me and a bunch of other guys started pushing around me. A helpful guy reached in, grabbed me by the arm and pulled me out of there. Very scary

  17. MI6 says:

    Maybe he did learn something from dating 🐍 after all.

  18. spidey says:

    Skull Island holding up well on Rotten Tomatoes 83%

    Finally, after several disappearing attempts and for Clare above:

    Cheshire Cheese London 1538 rebuilt after the great Fire of 1666

    Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem Nottingham 1189 (named for The Crusades?)
    Ye Olde Salutation Inn Nottingham 1240

    I win! 🙂

  19. lunchcoma says:

    Unsurprising advice. I have a friend who served in a special forces unit, and he gets semi-regularly what he’d do in various confrontations. His advice is pretty much always that you should avoid getting into any kind of physical confrontation if you can possibly help it. I suspect it’s less tempting to glamorize fights if you’ve been in some.