Well, this is pretty cool: Way back when Kenneth Branagh was getting ready to direct Tom Hiddleston in Thor, he gave the actor two movies to watch to keep in mind when he created the character of Loki — The Lion in Winter starring Peter O’Toole and Monster. Now you’re asking why we bothered to do a post about this, and here’s why: Monster was directed by Patty Jenkins, who will be directing Hiddleston in Thor 2. It’s a small world after all, everyone!
Speaking with MTV News, Hiddleston said that he recently met with Jenkins and was really impressed by her, even saying that Monster was one of his favorite movies. But it was his story about his previous Thor experience with Branagh that was heartwarming in a full-circle-appreciation kind of way:
“Weirdly enough, you won’t believe me, but this is God’s honest truth, before I started shooting ‘Thor,’ Ken Branagh gave me two films to watch. He said, ‘Listen, this is sort of not related, but I want a quality of vulnerability from your performance, which is similar to these two things.’ One of them was Peter O’Toole’s performance in ‘The Lion In Winter’ and the second was Charlize Theron’s performance in ‘Monster.'”
He said that Branagh wanted Hiddleston to tap into the same raw qualities of both characters. And indeed, Theron’s Oscar-winning performance as serial killer Aileen Wuornos is certainly what you would call raw. Visceral, even. But the fact that Branagh had this in mind for his movie was proof enough for the actor that Jenkins had a very good idea on how to take on Thor 2.
“She clearly has an incredible grasp of story and character and a very powerful emotional engine behind her, which I think is what we need … The thing about Patty is she has an innate courage and complete understanding of the muscularity of a character like Thor, but also a sensitivity and a nobility and things like ‘Monster’ and ‘The Killing’ which she directed, don’t shy away from darkness, they don’t shy away from murkier aspects of human nature and I think her fearlessness about all that will make ‘Thor 2’ quite interesting.”
At the end of Thor, Loki was thrown into the abyss, then saved by Odin. But then — SPOILERS, Sweetie — after the credits, he was seen whispering to Selvig (Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd) to take on Nick Fury’s directive to study some device that had some kind of power. And, as we know, Loki will be a major force in the highly anticipated The Avengers. Thor 2 will take place after The Avengers, so we don’t know yet what kind of mood Loki will be in for Thor 2. But it’s probably safe to assume that he will still be villainy.
(via MTV Splash Page)
