HIDDLESTON’S SWIFT MOVE
Actor plays spy in Kong remake
Tom Hiddleston may have one more thing he’s famous for besides playing Loki in the Marvel movies and dating Taylor Swift.
The 36-year-old stars in the reboot of the creature feature Kong: Skull Island. In the action film directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts, Hiddleston plays a former British special forces operative who leads a 1973 expedition to a mysterious island. Joining him is a post-Vietnam Huey helicopter squadron led by an aggressive Lt. Colonel Preston Packard (Samuel L. Jackson) and a group of scientists (including John Goodman) searching for the possibility of extraterrestrial monsters. Add to the mix an antiwar combat photographer (Brie Larson) soon to be the beauty to the beast.
Naturally, the hunters find more than they can handle, including the gargantuan Kong, presented as a vivid state-of-the-art combination of digital and motioncapture designs.
Some in the industry have already labelled the film Apocalypse Kong, a reference to Francis Ford Coppola’s classic Vietnam War movie Apocalypse Now.
Despite the nostalgic association, Hiddleston says he thinks the film has a connection to the present and the polarizing administration of Donald Trump.
“It’s set in 1973, which is quite a long time ago, but back then it was an uneasy time in Washington,” he says. “And we’re all familiar with what that feels like now.”
Add to the Apocalypse Kong connection the fact that the cast and crew filmed key sequences in and around the Vietnamese city of Hanoi.
“Vietnam is absolutely breathtaking,” Hiddleston says. “It is an area of such natural beauty, and I think the landscape of Vietnam became this central visual template for what Skull Island looks like.”
More important to Hiddleston was his invitation to star in the Kong remake two years ago while filming Crimson Peak in the Toronto area. That allowed him to jump into the process of helping refine his role, making his character less a super spy and more flawed.
“I wanted him to be someone who starts off in a world-weary place,” Hiddleston says. “His experiences on the island give him a new humility in the face of the wonder and power of the world which I think Kong represents.”
Certainly, the updated film has lots of references to the original 1933 King Kong created by writer Merian C. Cooper. Over the years there have been at least six other Kong flicks, including a 1976 flop and Peter Jackson’s 2005 revision.
The latest Kong flick may have a modern look, but it still features lots of quintessential bashing and crashing monster fights.
“I’ve loved King Kong since I was a child, and to be in an iteration of the Kong myth was so exciting to me,” Hiddleston says. “I loved movies where people went on an adventure to an unknown land. I think that’s something right at the centre of storytelling that people love.”
In the 21st century, he could add superhero pictures to the storytelling list. “I just wrapped doing Loki on Thor: Ragnarok in November,” he says.
The third Thor instalment is set to open in the fall, but he can’t say much about the plot other than Loki has become “the god of mischief.”
The former stage performer will discuss working with New Zealand director and former comedian Taika Waititi of the Thor film.
“I think as a director you can’t help but leave a fingerprint on the film you make,” Hiddleston says. “And Taika is a very warm-hearted, generous spirit who loves to make people laugh, so I think you’ll certainly see humour in (Thor: Ragnarok).”
Meanwhile, what’s next for Hiddleston is a long break, maybe even for the rest of the year, though he would be up for another Kong film.
The tentative plan — if Kong: Skull Island does well enough at the box office — is to release the Godzilla sequel and follow it with a Kong-versus-Godzilla film.
Hiddleston must be signed up for a series of Kong movies. “But I can’t reveal that information,” he says.
Will there will be a love interest in the tentative Kong-versusGodzilla movie?
“I have no idea,” Hiddleston adds, smiling. “At first, I thought you were asking about a romance between Kong and Godzilla.”
I’ve loved King Kong since I was a child, and to be in an iteration of the Kong myth was so exciting to me.