It’s a good day. Many sites are celebrating Benedict Cumberbatch’s birthday one day early (he turns 38 years old tomorrow) and we have some lovely new quotes ABOUT Tom Hiddleston. I realize there is a lot of (annoying) threadjacking going on when I try to do individual posts about said gentlemen. So, I give up. On this post alone, go ahead and discuss them both. Here’s why: writer/director/fan-boy-superhero Guillermo del Toro discusses both of them. Benedict was supposed to play a major character in del Toro’s Crimson Peak, but Benedict pulled out at the last moment and Tommy came in. This is how del Toro explains it:
“It’s pretty public that Benedict [Cumberbatch] was there. He came out. Then when I sent the screenplay to Jessica, I didn’t send it with any part in mind, but everyone was assuming she was going to read Edith. And then she read the part and said she wanted to play Lucille, which is the antagonist. I thought, smart girl! It’s a surprise. And then Emma [Stone] was in, Emma was out. Then Mia was the first choice after Emma. It’s been a blessing man. It’s like going out to take a spin on a Porsche.”
“Tom came within 72 hours of Benedict leaving. Benedict called me, Tom was my next choice, and we handed him the screenplay. I think he read it overnight, at least it felt like that for me. I had just sent it and he called back to say all the right things about the script. I needed people that could embrace the very perverse nature and the very humane. It’s a very dark but at the same time very human movie. It’s really beautiful but it’s full of really disturbing stuff. Charlie was on from the beginning, from Pacific Rim, I told him.”
Tommy saved the movie! Tommy was second choice. But a strong second choice and del Toro was very happy with him and Tommy “got” the script and what they were trying to do. Probably because Tommy could relate it back to Shakespeare somehow. “This is like the horror of Titus Andronicus,” Tommy said to himself. “Or perhaps the Scottish play.”
Meanwhile, del Toro was asked point-blank about Tommy’s Dragonflies and whether the Dragonflies will be able to handle their Dragonfly King playing such a gothic freak.
Yahoo: Tom Hiddleston has a very active young female fan base. How are they going to react to his character?
Del Toro: I think they will like him no matter what he does. [Laughs] My daughters could see him grinding puppies, they’d be like, “Oh, he’s so sweet! He grinds them so carefully.”
That’s very true. And it’s adorable that del Toro’s daughters are Dragonflies. I imagine there were a lot of “set visits” when Hiddleton was working.
Last thing: Happy birthday, Benedict! I think you might get an Oscar nomination for your 38th year.
Photos courtesy of Pacific Coast News, WENN.
Do not disagree! And Friday Hiddles is the best Hiddles.
My wish for the upcoming SNL season is for either Hiddles or Cumby to host. I think they’d be great since they can do live work and have charisma.
SNL would be great, but I’d like to see TH on DWTS first.
Noooooooo! DWTS is where actors go after their careers are dead!
He’s be so right for SNL, quick on his feet and up for anything.
I like DWTS but he’s WAY too big for the show. I like my little has-been, faded, ‘blast from the past’ entertainers and just less than current (for the most part) athletes!
I was just thinking about him dancing for weeks on end not about the status of his career. Must find another venue for that I guess. LOL.
@koko, since he’ll be doing PR for three movies next year, we can just have him dance somewhere every day for the fun of it.
How about they do it together. A modern day Bob Hope and Bing Crosby style hosting. The dark and the smooth, the bitter and sweet of SNL. Tommy can croon and swap insults with Benny.
It would be cool if they had Hiddleston as the host and have Cumberbatch do a funny cameo, like a Loki-hosted game show of some sort and have Sherlock be his game show champion nemesis. Something that would get them to have fun with both of their most famous characters. Or vice versa.
Kaiser…”Benedict pulled out at the last moment and Tommy came in”. That sentence was really all I needed. Thank you.
🙂
oh my word!
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. mental picture I can live with.
That is so loaded.😜
Literally AND figuratively. *giggle*
Well. Sh*t. I guess I’ve been bumping into slash fanfiction way too often lately because I *think* I found that phrase even MORE loaded o_O If I shake my head hard, fast and long enough, I’ll be able to unthink that, won’t I??
LMAO
Dear Lord…
good catch-
my gut feeling is that Ben could not “embrace the very perverse nature and the very humane.”” but fair enough if it is not his thing it probably would have come through on screen.
+1, MTE, and all that. I think roles like Frankenstein (both the Doctor and the Monster) and Sherlock (well, prior to the last season) have shown Benny his “willingness” zone–beyond which, perhaps, he’d rather not go? Not in any way implying he cannot, and he’s certainly got the talent.
But not so much the urge to embrace it that I think lurks behind our Dragonfly King’s shiny bright eyes.
(It draws me, like some darklight lamp.)
(Yes, I’m ready for the Victorian Gothic Tom now.)
(More than ready.)
(I’ll be in the Jag.)
@ TotallyBiased I think the monster role in Frankenstein and Sherlock are pretty traditional English roles with a slight twist where as with Criimson we are talking about the potential for sexual perversion and the humanity be hind it. He has the talent but I do not see it as being his thing. I could never see Ben playing the role Wishaw did in Perfume.I also think if you are not comfortable with a specific subject matter it shows in the performance.
Wishaw was perfect in Perfume. Loved the book, loved the film, loved him.
And yes, I think Benny is more comfortable with the humane side of things than the perverse aspects. Which is of course also good, but I have to admit, that his choice of roles is a part of what intrigues me about Tom. He’s always such a normal, nice and happy guy in interviews – but then he goes for characters like Sharpe or Laing. Or Loki who is maybe one of the most “perverse” and certainly complicated characters of PG-13 Marvel. Or even Coriolanus, who is not perverse but probably one of the Shakesperean characters that are more difficult to grasp.
Exactly!
Reluctance to “go there” =/= inability to do so, but will still come out in performance.
Whereas sometimes I think Tom is trying to find his limit still. Or maybe just experience/explore yet another extreme?
I am indeed fascinated by his ability to remain ‘normal, nice and happy’ in interviews even as his film roles zing off in these ‘perverse yet humane’ directions. Sometimes it seems as if we get to observe a lot of his growing-up process (speaking as a former Anthro major) that in a normal life are so deeply hidden. I do hope this all ends well.
I’m not sure what you mean with the growing up thing (and the “hope this all ends well”?), but I think him taking these roles just shows that he is a complex human being (as everyone of us to a certain extent, hopefully), interested in other complex human beings and willing to descend into things other people might shy away from. Personally I appreciate this, I think the perverse can be very interesting. So as an actress I might chose similar roles. However I’m not sure people would describe me as “normal, nice and happy” lol.
*clutches pearls*
“He grinds them so carefully” *ROFL* I can totally hear myself saying that. How embarrassing… 😀
I think I read this article with my serious hat on and missed all the innuendos but I did fall in love with Del Toro a wee bit.I love the way he expresses himself.
my mind just goes to the old meat grinders you use to attach to your sideboard but best not to pursue that image where puppies are concerned
Icerose, I think that is where GDT wanted your mind to go.
This isn’t the article people were talking about yesterday, is it? I was going to read that – for some reason, I don’t have a good feeling about this film at all – but clicked through to it and it was 10,000 words long. Sod that. I don’t care 10,000 words-worth.
*NEWSFLASH* TOM HIDDLESTON GRINDS A PUPPY.
*FAN RESPONSE* Who can blame him? The puppy was fan-shaming by barking at them. Tom always supports his fans and that’s why we love him.
@Sixer, it is a long article and it mostly about set design. GDT gave the media a multi-hour tour of the three-story house he had built for a set.
The linked article (Yahoo News?) seems to be an excerpt from the 10,000 words interview (Collider). Though I don’t read the entire article, I remember that part. Del toro tends to be wordy, which makes me want to see him chatting with Tom.
A great click-bait headline, but the original Collider articles actually says “grinding poppies” – BIG difference.
http://collider.com/guillermo-del-toro-crimson-peak-interview/
Oh man, I’m afraid the chatting would go on for sooooo loooonnnng (since Tom doesn’t know when to shut up either) I’d probably fall asleep somewhere in the middle lol.
DelToro seems like a very happy, giddy man.
@ Ariana The Collider article did indeed say “grinding poppies”. I read the article yesterday and interpreted it as his fangirls adore him so much they would forgive him for making opium! I do think Del Toro probably did say puppies and he was just quoted wrong because the writer misunderstood his accent.
That is so cute that Del Toro’s young daughters are dragonflies! According to the article, whenever Tom would walk by them on set they’d say “awww”.
@ariana yes it did say poppies but I also assumed it was puppies. There were a few other bits where I think either Del Toro was having problems with his English or the reports had trouble taking it down.
Poppies opens up a completely different train of thought.
Can you imagine the level of enthusiasm and bounce that would occur if Del Toro and Hiddles were locked into a discussion. It would be like Tigger and Pooh Bear on speed. Where is Hash tag when you need her. It would be such a great image
@ Innie Outie. At least after epic long chat battle, they may learn why the soul of wit is brevity, I hope, if we can survive the chat.
@ icerose. I would glad to be quiet, timid, but happy Piglet beside Tom Tigger and Del Toro Pooh.
This writer’s been visiting CB http://filmrise.com/tom-hiddleston-could-be-seen-grinding-puppies-and-his-fans-would-still-like-him-claims-director/
I like him but if he grinded up anything except up against some CBitches who love him, I would not be ok with it.
That’s Bieber fan territory and isn’t a good look.
Well… I think there is not much difference between Hiddlestoners and Beliebers, unfortunately. But let’s see how many of them are left after his latest films are out and when he continues the serious actor route instead of being their best twitter buddy.
+1
@Isadora, I think he left the ‘best twitter buddy’ role behind quite some time ago.
@TotallyBiased: Yes, I agree, but quite a few fans are apparently waiting for him to return to twitter in full capacity – or at least that’s the tone of their tweets to him.
@Isadora: point.
Not sure WHAT he can do about that, though–I saw someone tweet FRANK GRILLO (Brock Rumlow in CA:TWS, presently the badass in Purge: Anarchy) the other day “I love U Pls Follow ME!”
😀
I read the whole thing and it seems his kids gave Tom the thumbs up. You have to love a director who understands fans so well and gives his kids the final okay on casting
@sixer I felt more inspired after reading the article if only because conceptually Del Toro seems to have it in hand but agree it is pretty hard to call. It has the potential tp be epic but could fail on so mayt counts. I do however have faith Tom’s taste in scripts and so far he has not failed me.
I agree it has the potential to be epic, but all this “kinky” and “perverted” nonsense coming out of the camp is concerning me. As if this is somehow new? As if sexual perversion isn’t and hasn’t always been a basic theme of the Gothic genre generally? I mean, I was writing essays about this when I was still wet behind the ears at school, for heavens sakes. What’s GDT doing? Taking a sledgehammer to the genre because he thinks we’re all too thick to notice what’s already there? Turning the wonderful source material into tabloid, like 50 Shades? I hope not.
GDT is uneven – he turns out some sheer brilliance but he also turns out some utter tat. I hope Crimson Peak will be great but I am reserving judgement.
Sixer I think he is just overrun with enthusiasm as this is one of his pet projects. . Basically he is combining gothic romance with the horror genre and what I am guessing will be a tragic ending, If anything he has given to much away,
His concept of perversion is as he admits is restrained in nature so I am not to worried about Shades of Grey. If anything I think he is slightly apologetic about it in slightly schoolboy catholic way. I also feel he still has some difficulties in expressing himself with subtlety when speaking English so he grasps at obvious images he thinks people can relate to.And remember this film is directed towards a wider audience than those schooled on Victorian novels.
The danger for me is the one he has owned up to and that is that it is his first adult story using the English language and he will be immersing himself in a depth of phycology that requires a more subtle use of the English language than he has acquired at present. But his strength is his visual conception and attention to detail
But as with all films until you them in clips or totality it is difficult to tell. So much depends on all the ingredients cast, script, production values and direction merging into something positive it and nobody has the formula for that as yet or the ability to predict success/failure with any reliability.
@Sixer, agreed, I have my reservation about CP, too.
I’m thinking that maybe GDT is trying to “position” the film – and what it has to offer – for the wider English-speaking audience that hasn’t seen his Spanish-language films (OR the younger audience that Hiddles and Charlie will probably bring to the film that doesn’t really know much about the genre). He also seems to be genuinely excited that he finally got a bigger budget and cast to do this kind of project, so he just can’t help blabbing 😛
EDIT: @icerose, our comments appeared almost simultaneously lol, and seems we’ve basically said the same but in different words.
I’m not convinced! But will read eventual reviews with interest.
It doesn’t really sound like a language issue to me, icerose. It sounds like a complete miscomprehension of the genre. “I’m going to make a kinky Gothic film!” “Oh really? What other kind of Gothic film IS there?!”
Having said that, it could turn out that miscomprehension or language issue or whatever, matters not a jot because GDT tells a persuasive and involving story. On the other hand, it could all turn out to be an unmitigated disaster of a pastiche.
Like I say, I’m reserving judgement!
Del Toro mentions ” kinky” or “perverted” mostly when he compares CP with his previous Spanish language films as an effort to position CP in his filmography. i don’t think he was discussing the genric conventions of literary gothic romance.
Like you I am reserving judgement because Del Toro has to address a number of aspects he has not delved into before and he has some less than brilliant works, after reading the long interview I feel a bit optimistic. Del Toro’s Spanish gothic horror works (Kronos, DB, PL) are all unique and he judges shrewdly and talks frankly about his own works.
@Sixer “Oh really? What other kind of Gothic film IS there?!”
Completely different from Crimson Peak, I know but when I read your question for a strange reason I remembered Alucarda o.0. jajaja
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcbWjdshbFE
@Gingerly I agree with you
@Sixer I wonder how we are defining if kinky is confusing the issue because there are lots of gothic films which I would describe as kinky, bizarre, abnormal etc but not is a sexual way. But from what I have read elsewhere I think he is more than likely referring to kinky with sexual connotations but I could be wrong..He has been involved in the genre before so I am surmising that when he talks of adult themes in relation to kinky is meant to imply an examination of more overt sexual perversions,
Some people might argue that all gothic films have sexual interpretations but I do not sign up to that theory,
I love ‘He’s so sweet! He grinds them so carefully’ hahhaha. So true. And I still want to know why Ben C dropped out. What are your theories?
Ben sounded quite done with the questions on that front. The creative differences response is as best as he’ll give.
Yeah I don’t think we will ever get many details or the full story, just wondered what other people thought, like the people who have already seen the early script. He said it was between himself and del Toro and it looks like Ben called him and said he wanted to leave for this or that reason.
My take: 1) original script wasn’t good at all; 2) Mr. Thomas Sharpe is too kinky/unsafe for Mr. Biopic King; 3) Ben was hoping to get a role in Star Wars which would’ve been announced roughly at the same time when Crimson Peak was filming, so he chose to keep his schedule free just in case (although probably no. 3 is a bit far-fetched lol.)
If original script wasn’t good, tho, why would he sign at the first place?
Perhaps there were changes and he didn’t like those?
My theory is he made a practical decision: by that time The Lost City of Z would be shot in the summer, after Crimson Peak. He had short time to prepare a demanding character as Percy Fawcett. But who knows. Tbh I’m glad he dropped out the movie because Del Toro+Hiddleston+Chastain= Amazing.
@Crocuta, hmm, you’ve got a point. Lets then say that he might not have been happy with the script at the point when he dropped out.
@Innie Outiei agree and Del Toro may have increased the kink with successive scripts. Also Benny’s gravitas just does not lend it self to younger brother so he would have been the older sibling. Jessica and Tom make more sense as siblings. They have a similar refinement in their bone structure.
After seeing the effortless chemistry between Chastain and Hiddleston in the few candid shots from the CP set, I’m glad those two ended up in the movie. No matter what the final product is like, I’m sure those two will deliver on that front.
Whatever the reason it all seems fairly amicable, del Toro doesn’t sound ticked off.
Looking at Tom in costume, it really seems to suit him so maybe best decision all around?
Yeah I’m not unhappy about the replacement, it seems to suit him better than Benedict. I can’t wait to see footage, I think Tom and Jessica will be fantastic together.
Granted, I’ve lost track of who signed on when and then dropped out so my theory might be wrong – but might it be a case of needing actors that are better matches to the ages of the characters?
If Jessica was initially going to be Edith, then Benedict makes sense for Sharpe but once she was Lucille and Emma/Mia became Edith then the respective ages of each was an issue. Isn’t Lucille described as the older sister? I’m not saying Ben is ‘old’, but I think seeing him put the moves on a girl in her twenties might be a little off-putting for the audience who also have to contend with the fact that he is some sort of vampire-werewolf-demon-thingy.
I am now bracing myself for the inevitable comments about how Tommy isn’t aging well and he actually looks much worse than Benny… I say phooey to that btw, the boy looks just fine to me!
That was my thinking as well. A person doesn’t sign on after reading a script, then bail because of the script. One also doesn’t sign on to a movie, then quit it for another job that may or may NOT come along. You quit after you’ve signed on the dotted line, IMO. So the switch with actresses seems the more logical reason.
Oh and Tom isn’t aging well. That hairline is going north. See what I did there? Its usually ‘going south’. Is this thing on?
@delorb – I’ll agree his hairline is shifting, the running joke in my family is that someone’s forehead is becoming a fivehead – at this point I’d peg Tom’s in the 4.5-4.8 range…
I do think he’s got the bone structure to rock a chrome dome, and some of my fav actors do it with panache – Mark Strong, Bruce Willis, Patrick Stewart, Corey Stoll (who wears a wig in The Strain which ruins it for me), Kevin Spacey. Hell, look at Sting, similar features to Tom and he looks damn fine with little to nothing up top. I will miss the poodle curls, but I just hope he embraces it, cuts his hair super short as it starts to go, and remembers the sunscreen!
@delorb: “A person doesn’t sign on after reading a script, then bail because of the script.”
But that does happen if the script was changed in a way that doesn’t satisfy the actor/actress o_O Even here on CB a couple of weeks ago people were discussing an actor who dropped out of I think True Blood due namely to the script (which, as I understood, was changed to include homoerotic scenes or something of the kind). Even crazier things happen, look at all the mess with Marvel’s Ant-Man where the director (!) who’d been working on the film’s script for quite a long time dropped out in the end due to what was cited as creative differences over the script as well.
@Dara: chrome dome FTW!
Tom is very elusive where aging is concerned. In Coriolanus he looked about 25 at time and his OLLA look was under 30.Loki is almost ageless. I think the issues of receding hairline is easily dealt with cosmetics but it is also what allows him to age shift.
I don’t think either boys look perfect but I’d pick Tommy over poor Ben. His nose to mouth area and weirdly spaced eyes are quite awkward. Luckily we ladies aren’t shallow enough to judge that…or are we? :p
As for his hairline, he can sport some pretty lovely wigs.
Shallow? Us? No way, we’re deeper than Tommy’s earnest blue gaze in the bathtub shoot!
I’ve resigned to the fact that Ben and I have a physical incompatibility of sorts lol. His whole physicality feels strange to me, if you know what I mean. I love his projects, I love his acting and talent, but.. For example, have you seen Parade’s End? It’s excellent, especially its first half – I found the last two episodes much less satisfying due both to the storyline and to some elements of character development – and Cumby gives an amazing performance, very layered. BUT. I nearly wanted to strangle him, particularly in the last two episodes, because of how affected his facial gestures were. He kept doing that *something* with the lower part of his face that irritated the hell out of me. I admit that it might be part of how he read Tietjens, but there you are.
I know what you mean. I find him a very good actor but he seemed a bit affected in Parades End, like he was too focused on sounding right. I would have to call that role a miscast. He’s great in other things I’ve seen him in though.
@Innie Outie Interesting I thought Ben was better in the last two episodes of Parades End if only because he appeared to show a bit more emotion. What let it down for me was the total lack of charisma between him and his lover, The whole relationship was bland and anaemic.
I have seen photos in which I think he looks quite attractive but hey are mainly when he was younger or in his Sherlock mode. But he still does very little for me in a physically aesthetic way, His acting is good but he always seem to lack that ambiguous undercurrent that can make a performance more interesting and he lacks the electrical charisma of Ben Whishaw. But those are just my personal quibbles because generally he turns in a credible performance
@innie,
I think the article states that the script didn’t change, so that is why I wrote what I wrote.
@Dara,
Calling someone a five head is always funny.
@everyone else,
I didn’t like Parades End for many reasons, Benedict’s performance not being one of them. I just didn’t get the series. I thought he did a great job in playing such a repressed character, but the movie that surrounded him wasn’t up to par. IMO, of course.
@delorb, the article doesn’t say whether the script was or wasn’t changed prior to Ben dropping out. I think Ben signed on some time around spring 2013? I don’t think it’s impossible that some changes were added between then and autumn 2013. But of course, this is all speculation, and each of us can be both right or wrong!
@icerose: I have to agree about the absence of substance in the romance between Tietjens and Valentine. I think Ben might have been in a tight spot as to how to convey how deep Christopher’s feelings for Valentine were and at the same time keep the emotional restraint that so defines Tietjens. Perhaps somewhere along the line Ben failed to do it 😉 I believe that this awkward development of their relationship – together with how caricature-like some of the military characters turned out, and how everything felt somewhat rushed and far-fetched – is the reason why I didn’t like last eps.
I doubt we’ll ever learn much more than what’s been said. My guess would be that Cumberbatch had a take on the character that didn’t register with Del Toro or that the two men’s processes ended up not being very compatible. Del Toro’s shoots are supposedly sort of grueling, and maybe something about that doesn’t work for Cumberbatch?
I don’t think it was scheduling, because that’s the most tactful way of ending things and I think they’d just say so if it were the truth, and I don’t think it’s personal animosity.
@delorb……beating a dead horse…….we get it
@lunchcoma if you read the article Del Toro sent the cast members a character biography before filming started. He seems to have a specific take on how the characters are developed. He also has a pretty could take on the psychological background which drives the plot and characters, Maybe Benny thought it was to well defined or tragic in away he was uncomfortable with..
I love this quote
” It’s very Jane Eyre, Rebecca, I Walked with a Zombie. I Walked with a Zombie is Jane Eyre with zombies. It’s ultimately someone falling for this tragic figure. That’s one of the love stories in the film and another suitor, which is Charlie [Hunnam]. “
@icerose: Ah, that seems like an area where two perfectly nice, reasonable men (because I do like both of them) could differ enough to no longer want to work on a project together. Benedict may like to have a little more freedom in developing his characters than the materials allowed, and with plenty of work available for him and plenty of actors available to fill his shoes, decided to bow out.
@Ava,
I think that should be ‘bleating a dead horse’.
Yeah, I know horses don’t bleat, but its funny.
@ FroopWell I am sticking with Benny not feeling comfortable with embracing “” the very perverse nature and the very humane”.i think the no comments on both sides was very telling buiut at least it was a amicable departure. That has always been my gut reaction even before this article
@icerose,
But wouldn’t he have known about ” the very perverse nature and the very humane”, after reading the script initially? Or at the very least, when he signed on the dotted line?
The script wasn’t changed, his character wasn’t changed. The only thing that was changed was which character an actress got to play. Guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.
@delorb, GDT himself has said that he changed parts of the script from the original. Are you saying that BC didn’t want to work with Jessica Chastain?
Old or new draft or final script, these things are never set in stone. In the same 10k word interview GDT even said they rewrote certain scenes on the spot while filming, perhaps because what’s on paper didn’t translate so well on film. That’s the beauty in the collaborative nature of filming. If this film turns out good, I hope Cumberbatch fans can appreciate what it has to offer instead of hoping for the worst.
@thread, LOL
I don’t think it was her per se, but if you sign on to play opposite someone your own age and that person switches, then suddenly you look bad with someone younger or older. Not that this what ACTUALLY happened, only that it could be a reason to drop out.
There is a lot of crossover between the fandoms (I’m not one of them), so to say that we are hoping for the worst is an awful thing to say. I don’t wish ill on any other actor, regardless of whether or not I’d ‘do’ them. Jeez.
@delorb, I know you’re sensible, but from the glimpses I’ve caught of Ben’s fandom on IMDb, a bunch of people there consider Cumberbatch- and, by extension, themselves – above Hiddleston by several nautical miles, and would definitely be happy to see CP tank.
@innie
I guess I’m overly sensitive because I have critiqued Tom’s career status in the past and I was soon labeled a Tom hater on IMDB, which of course followed me here. No one seems to remember that I also I critiqued Benedict’s career and TV interviews in the past as well.
I know it was a joke, but that wasn’t funny.
Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids. He still looks like a deranged bunny to me.
Thomas Sharpe pictures! A happy start to the weekend.
Still don’t get the hype.
SMH…me, either.
I like both of them, but for what role would Benedict get an Oscar nom? These premature Oscar predictions annoy the s**t out of me.
It is for The Imitation Game. Weinstein is producing, script is said to be amazing and releasrle date is very Oscar friendly. But you are right, it is too early for Oscar predictions.
And Snowpiercer should win everything, even though Weinstein is treating it like his bastard child.
Everything might ne amazing, but we haven’t seen the movie yet. Just like Angelina’s Unbroken, the hype is so premature.
I think all the Oscar predictions are premature and that includes Benny’s. We have not even seen the Imitation Game. After the big Oscar build up for Assange I think it really is the kiss of death to go OTT over predictions.
Benny and Tommy’s Oscar time will come without the need to pre-empt it with false hopes.
[INT. NIGHT]
A MAN dressed in homely clothes and a butcher’s smock stands over a long table littered with cuts of meats and bloodied knives and implements. He’s tall and stoops awkwardly to work the sausage grinder at the end of table, his shoulders hunched and elbows protruding. He hums softly to himself while slowly turning the grinder, and plump sausages emerge from the other end. Slow pan from tabletop to scraps bucket near MAN’s feet. The bucket is full of tiny dog feet, tails, and on top, a little puppy face.
MAN
[to himself]
And that’s how the sausage gets made.
SMASH CUT
i’m typing with one hand because my other is stuck over the lower part of my face. ewwwwwwwwwww…. did you just make that up or did you quote it from somewhere?
Lmao.
Just made it up. Happy Friday!
Are we talking about Crimson Peak now or High-Rise?
My first thought was High Rise but I guess not.
@Joe spider — I think that’s in reference to GdT’s comments on how his daughters (and Hiddlestoners in general) would react to Tom “grinding up” poppies/puppies. 🙂
Puppy grinding..getting ready for High Rise?
I enjoyed Del Toro’s rambling style of speaking..can’t wait to see this movie.
So we can expect to see an industrial type meat grinder in Tom’s High Rise Apartment
“Grind”… definition please. I get two pictures when i think of grinding puppies, no matter how gently, they’re both a little off-putting.
Just hope both BC and TH can make the career decisions they want to in spite of fangirls. They’re both too good as actors to stay heartthrobs forever.
Tom seems to be choosing very varied roles so fangirls seem to play no part in what is offered or chosen. But he needs to do a Wes Anderson or Coen Brothers comedy soon.
This needs to happen stat.
I’ll sign that petition. Benny can be in that Wes Anderson thing too.
My fingers have been crossed for this to happen too.
They are not picking roles w/their fangirls in mind. Come on.
And yes to the Wes Anderson role.
ha, we know how fangirls love to feel entitled that all his career choices were made with them in mind!
Yep. I’m sure if he is ever nominated for an Oscar they (the fangirls) will say it was them who got him the nod due to them showing up at the movie and not his acting.
A Judd Apatow role would be nice. A thousand times yes to a part in a Coen Bros. movie. Or Kathryn Bigalow. Hiddles seems to like to diversify.
Yes, to a Kathryn Bigelow film, and the friendships with Chastain and Renner might help with a connection there, as the friendship with Tilda helped land OLLA, but he really needs to do something lighter first so the Coens or Wes Andersen first. Or Branagh finally lines up everything for his desired stage version of Much Ado with Tom as Benedick with a live broadcast of that.
Neither are picking roles with fan girls in mind. Tom is definitely exploring a range of life experiences which widening his acting base in ensemble pieces where he has a substantial part.. Benny apart from bios seems to be choosing support roles with high profile actors/directors which give him a presence in Hollywood. There are pluses for both choices
I hate to say this but it could be partly a case of what they are offered, not necessarily what they want to do. For Tom who is less well known especially. But I do like the variety.
@JoeSpider we do not know what either of them might have turned down apart from Crimson. Tom has said he has gone against his agents advice and turned down roles which he had been told would further his career because they did not interest him. I do think USA directors have trouble seeing the casting potential for both Benny and Tom. Benny has not been offered anything but supporting roles which is why he might have decided on a return to the stage and although he is good in them none of them have brought him above average critical acclaim. Tom is only being offered ensemble/lead parts in indie small budget films. They are no where near the likes of McAvoy, Firth Fassy in terms of casting potential.
@ icerose “Tom has said he has gone against his agents advice and turned down roles which he had been told would further his career because they did not interest him. ”
Haven’t seen that before.
I do believe he decided he didn’t want to live in LA.
“I do think USA directors have trouble seeing the casting potential for both Benny and Tom.”
I thought about this the last year during Thor: the Dark World promo tour, especially when I read comments like: “Tom is unemployed” “Nobody is interested on him” “This is the end of Hiddleston’s career”.
I wondered “What is happening?” In Mexico is very common to say “El/Ella tiene ángel” that mean a person has something unique or especial, so I believe “Tom Hiddleston tiene ángel” LOL so I didn’t understand why he wasn’t doing more films. Then I read Ben Wheatley interview in which he explained the reasons why Tom would be a great Dr. Laing and I felt better.
Probably Tom doesn’t fill (for now) hollywood standards but I think there is a new generation of directors, producers and writers that want to work with him because they know his talent just like Marc Abraham ( he saw him in Coriolanus and thought “He is my guy”). I’m sure other directors will say the same.
So, I’m crossing fingers for a successful career for Tom xD
Well said, Camil. Completely agree.
@Camil and @Dara DITTO
@Camil, the motion carries! @joespider, also during the TDW tour, Natalie Portman announced she was moving to France. All the interviews she did, people asked her if that meant she was abandoning her career. She, and Hemsworth in a joint interview, pointed out that very few films are actually filmed in Hollywood now and the world of film acting is international – they can live anywhere. Neither of them did any TDW scenes in LA as most were shot in England or Iceland. Thor 1 was in New Mexico. Most of the Avengers stuff was shot in New Mexico and Cleveland. England right now does have a very strong film presence and staying there allows actors to also do good stage work if they want. And I can understand why someone from London would prefer to live there over Los Angeles; they are very different cities.
@Lilac-you also have to look at the money issue. Most films (and TV) is being pushed out of California because either other states or countries offer tax credit. Vancouver, CA (Canada) is very popular for TV while Toronto is very popular for film. Vampire Diaries is filmed in Georgia while American Horror Story has been filmed all over the US. London, too, has that going for it, offering the tax credit. Plus, Hollywood is still afraid to make smaller movies so actors can find more parts in foreign films, which I think Portman has said one of the major reason why she plans on learning French, not only because she will live there but for she can also be in French films.
Oh, M.A.F., I’m well aware of the money issue since my state is giving generous tax breaks to films that come here. Yes, Black Mass belongs in Boston because Whitey Bulger terrorized parts of this city but American Hustle was supposedly set in New Jersey, yet there they were in the basement of the Citi Wang Center on Tremont Street in Boston, pretending it was an Atlantic City casino. When asked in one of his interviews why Avengers was filmed in Cleveland, Hemsworth smiled and said: “tax breaks!”
HA on the Cleveland response. When those situations happen, it annoys me. Don’t say Loki is in Germany then try to pass Cleveland off as Germany. American Hustle I didn’t know where it is suppose to be set seeing how I didn’t see it but I’m sure New Jersey would have loved for them to have film it there.
@M.A.F., I’ve never been to Cleveland but I knew Loki wasn’t in Stuttgart because I spent a summer in that part of Germany when I was a kid and the Stuttgart I remember was all built after World War II.
Such a sexy god. He can do no wrong. He can’t. Waiting for this movie kills me as badly as a sweet Hiddles smile.
Happy Birthday Benny!
Let’s not forget today is also Nelson Mandalas birthday!
a tribute to Madella Woolies and Soweto Gospel Choir: Madiba Tribute
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHHjP7XrBq0
This is the strangest post I’ve seen in some time. Grinding puppies? Birthdays? Shakespeare? Gothic Freaks? I’m dying laughing at all the comments.
Yesterday’s was pretty strange too.
OMG! I think I am over Hiddleston. I thought this would never happen.
I don’t know whether to be happy for you or sad.
It is a bittersweet feeling.
It’s ok dear. Crimson Peak will set you right again 😉
OMG CB! I love that there seems to be more Hiddleston posts because there was a lack of them for most of 2013 & earlier this year but my god. This is the third day in a row where he has popped up. Just keep the other threads open longer.
Still love you. 😉
It makes me happy. We get to be silly and joyful and gleeful.
Agree lilacflowers. After a rubbish week at work trying to deal with ” anti hiddles ” – no looks, no charm – it is nice to sit and have a gin ( Hendricks, scottish, lovely) and look at a hiddles post. Don’t care about the hairline – looks fine to me, natural blonds don’t tend to have very thick hair – or the allegedly cheesy car ads, it’s all good . Happy weekend dragonflies everywhere…can even forgive the cumberbitches their inexplicable taste in posh British actors
Toasting right back at you with a nice French Cabernet. Nothing finer than a Hiddleston Friday. I don’t understand the other attraction either but I welcome them as most seem nice.
Cheers to all of you all! After a week of dealing with an angry teenage daughter and a set of twin mean ass little boys I am enjoying margaritas and Hiddles posts. And bald men are damn sexy!!!
It was a terrible week, overall, had a huge technical localisation project, and was and still am struggling with shock over the Malaysian plane downed in Ukraine, we flew over Ukraine a mere week ago, my son and I. And I hate flying as is.. I just can’t =((( Many thanks to you ladies for friendly distraction and the much needed laughs.
Ah, that’s a cute quote. I think it’s more amusing when it’s specifically Del Toro’s daughters and not just fans in general.
YES! I loved that as well, that his daughters gave such an enthusiastic thumbs up to the casting. 😀
I love Tom, but if he did a Q&A, my first question to him would be, does every role you select have to relate to Shakespeare in one way or another? He’s a hottie and a versatile actor, true enough, but these Shakespeare references to every role he selects is beginning to become annoying. I know he can do whatever he wants because it’s his choosing, but geez.
LOL he didn’t say he took up Crimson Peak because it was in any way connected with Shakespeare, that’s Kaiser yanking our leg 😛
@Innie Outie & @Icerose,
It’s not Kaiser pulling my leg, Tom is always talking about him asking directors for Shakespeare reference points. When he asked Kenneth Branaugh about the link with Loki, I thought it strange. And then the country singer too, lol.
My second question in the Q&A session would be: When will we marry Tommy, because the engagement ring you gave me is getting lonely? 🙁
@ Leaflet
Williams was known as the hillbilly Shakespeare before Tom was even born.
And I think it was actually Branagh who came up with the Shakespearean references for Thor/Loki – which is not really a surprise considering it’s Ken Branagh lol.
Why do I think that? Because in interviews Tom often cites the references for his characters that directors give him – like the “Hamlet as played by Syd Barrett” quote by Jim Jarmusch. And considering parts of the storyline in OLLA the Shakespeare reference makes very much sense.
What I find more annoying is the way Shakespeare always pops up in interviews and fan Q&A, people just love asking him about Shakespeare (see NerdHQ for example). I mean, yes, Shakespeare very interesting and all. And yes, Hiddles IS a Shakespeare fanboy, very much so and he probably also loves answering those questions. But I hope he has a bit more varied tastes than just Shakespeare alone and I would love to see more of that.
@Isadora if you look at tom’s music, film and reading tastes and throw his educational background into the mix it probably reveals an eclectic taste in subject manner, I think what he lacks and what he seemed a little in awe of on OLLA was a street wise arcane interests that comes with either a more diverse background or age.
@icerose: ah, don’t get me started on OLLA. That movie was like a summary of all the things I love lol. (Jim Jarmusch, marry me!) But yes, I think Tom knows quite a few interesting things besides Shakespeare. I don’t know where, but he once mentioned that has a big collection of plays in his home and I’m sure he reads a lot. And he’s obviously a huge cineaste which is also great. I want to know more about that. 😉 (Not sure about his musical taste, though haha)
I have read and watched several of Tom’s interviews, and he truly watches a great many films, including works by less known Asian and European ones. I guess that though he was a humble cinephile at first, he consciously keeps watching various films in order to develop himself further as an audience and actor.
@Gingerly, I was thinking the same thing. The number of different films (from really varied genres) he references is astounding. Makes me wonder how someone so busy manages to find the time to see them all. Although judging from your comments on this post, I think you could give him a run for his money in the cinephile department. I’m impressed!
In the Entertainment Weekly article on the Avengers Age of Ultron, Mark Ruffalo compares it to Shakespeare. It is contagious!
‘@laeaflet no but it has to have daddy issues (joke).I think a lot of films can be distilled down to a Shakespearian if you are so inclined although Crimsen Peak seems to have its roots in Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.
@icerose, and from reading the GDT interview, I gathered that the mommy issues are even worse than the daddy issues in this one.
at Lilacflowers yes but he says the father is also to blame “This is the guilty party of everything that happens.(refers to portrait of mother) And the father is guilty, but you’ll see. The father is in absence. The father is in the house in a negative space, I’ll show it to you “” There is no escaping daddy issues with Tom
I was really surprised to read about the parent issues for the brother/sister in the haunted house. at first I thought they were on about Jim beaver’s character but they are not. That interview nearly gives too much away.
Bates Motel relocated to 19th century England.
To @Isadora when you come to the thread, dear! I wanted to answer your post with that OLLA vid with Tom reading She Walks in Beauty but never managed to. You’re right, it’s a pity that some viewers tend to appreciate only their fav actor even when he/she is obviously a part of an on-screen couple/ensemble that work off each other. Cue: Loki AND Thor 😉 And it’s delicious when there’s a chemistry as intense as in OLLA. Hiddles generally produces good chemistry with his partners (except perhaps Peggy in Cranford Christmas Special, I thought she was way too bland and their sudden love not particularly credible, though in all honesty William was quite a cliched character, too), so I’m dying to see how he’ll work on screen with Jessica and Charlie (he and Mia already showed they can be blazing together lol)
Yes, chemistry is really his forte. I haven’t seen Cranford, so I can’t say anything about that, but Loki and Thor is a perfect example. It’s always great to see when an on-screen relationship just works, but I have to say, sometimes when I see (slower) gifs of a scene afterwards and see how everything an actor does (minute changes in his expression etc.) contribute to this strange thing called chemistry, it’s amazing. It really shows what Tom once said in an interview, that you really have to be that character in front of the camera.
The chemistry between Tom’s Adam and Mia’s Ava in OLLA crackled. They were like little siblings trying to push buttons to drive one another crazy. Peggy was bland in Cranford. I wanted fewer Peggy scenes, (okay, the first train right scene was cute) and more scenes yelling at Jonathan Pryce, chatting politely with Judi Dench or even playing badminton with Michelle Dockery, especially because she seemed like a murderous badminton player.
And let’s not over look the chemistry with the Cookie Monster….
Anne tommy, I need to go watch that again.
I don’t do horror movies, so as much as I love my beloved Dragonfly King, I don’t know if I will ever see this. I will rely on the folks here at CB to tell me how scary it is. Maybe if it it isn’t too scary, I’ll give it a shot.
Typically, Del Toro films aren’t really scary. Either just violent or spooky. Or both.
and intriguing and innovative, They do not always go where you think they will or have happy endings.
I so seldomly watch horror movies (and probably only the bad ones lol) that I’m not even sure if I get spooked easily by them. I’m totally okay with Sleepy Hollow horror and Mary Reilly British spookiness. I just don’t like extreme violence and gore. I will never ever in my life see Saw or something like that.
So actually I’m not sure if CP will be too gory for me, but I’ll give it a shot. At least I like old houses. *g*
I saw a photo of Hiddles in a suit. Does this mean they’re filming the beginning first?
Are you talking about High Rise? That seems to be the thinking I’ve seen on online. Some people thought they might film it backwards if the actors lost weight first then film the beginning last so the actors can slowly gain the weight back.
I need to get this book before the film comes out. It is not my normal read but I can branch out a bit.
I wonder if they need to do weight loss with that cast. Most of the cast is already very thin, so lighting and makeup and acting might be more than enough to make folks look a little hungrier.
@lunchcoma I have visions of them being starved as part of a method approach. Ido not know how Wheatley directs-whether he goes for lots of intense improvisation before filming or leaves the acting up to his cast
Some directors deliberately set actors against each other to build up the tension. Sam Pekinpah was good at that.
@ellen.
not necessarily because Dr Laing made three visits to his place his work through the book. Although don’t want to spoil it, so who knows??
The book is written from Laing’s perspective as he looks back but if they take out the narration they could just take it from when he moves in so perhaps. Also they always leave the apartments in their work clothes if they do go out.
Since this is a Tommy post….
I recently saw Deep Blue Sea. Although TH was pretty decent, and the husband as well, generally, I thought the movie was awful. I was pleading at the chick to just off herself in the end so I could stop watching. I realize it was supposed to be a throwback to the 30’s/40’s, but geez. Melodramatic, awful score, hammy, pauses so big you could drive a semi truck through them, no plot whatsoever and don’t get me started about the last 2 minutes. I normally love Rachel Weisz but she was terrible. So cliched. I hope it was just the directing.
I’m on the fence w/that movie. I think I’m also in my own camp w/both Hogg films although Unrelated is a little better than the two IMO.
I really like all 3 of the Hogg films. I’m just back from seeing Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood” , excellent film, and like Hogg he has a gift for making mundane happenings interesting I think. Ethan Hawke is great in it Btw.
I think my main beef w/Hogg is her lack of camera movement. She just sets the camera on a tri-pod & doesn’t move it in the frame. I feel so much is lost in a scene by not seeing the actors full reaction because the camera doesn’t zoom in or doesn’t pan across the frame.
@M.A.F., I just feel completely lost in her films. Is something, anything going to happen ever? But I think isolation may be her point. I was okay with Unrelated, I think because I liked the scenery, both natural and human, but the lead character annoyed me. Why is she hanging out with the kids all the time instead of with her friends? I couldn’t figure out what was going on in Archipelago, other than it was like a vacation in Hell.
@lilacflowers. That’s the beauty of Hogg’s movies. Kinda like jarmusch’s ones, in the sense that we don’t get much of a plotline. It’s not a story, rather a look at one or two weeks of a character’s life as it goes on. In Unrelated, my take was that anna finds out that she can’t have children and that’s a turning point in her relationship with her partner. She ends up kind of landing in the middle of her friend’s vacation because she needs her company. But rather, she ends up befriending the young kids. Multiple factors might be at play. She feels isolated from her friend who seems to have her life figured out with her husband and their kids, which compared to her newly found status of infertility is a point of difference. The kids have this not a care in the world attitude which is helping her to live in the moment which partially takes her mind off her personal problem whereas the olds lead a life which at this point feels very unexciting to her. Also there is the fact that the newly legal handsome boy is paying her loads of attention and making her feel desirable, to the point where she musters up the courage toto ask him to stay the night with her. I get your point that you don’t understand why she spends the time with the kids instead of her friends. I think Hogg captures that perfectly when even the friend gets angry that she spending so much time with teenagers
As for Archipelago, i think it’s the story of almost every middle class family where all the members, despite having all the love in the world for one another, becomes overbearing. We have this young man who is maling a life changing decision. His family, with all good intentions, decide to take him on a holiday but end up making it miserable for him. His ideas are different from his family (e.g. asking the help to join them for dinner) and being a typical family instead of talking openly about it, they decide to let it slide and let the more dominant member win just so that they can avoid conflict. Hogg’s films interested me because of the fact that there is no story, no ending or beginning. We experience a particular chunk of a character’s ongoing life.
Nice summaries, Pretzel.
@pretzel brilliant summary
I WANTED to like this movie, but had the same reaction to Rachel’s character. Just couldn’t feel any sympathy towards her at all, and that surprised me. I actually felt some for SRB’s character, but then kept getting mad at him as well. Freddie is normally the type of male I’d like to just slap and then write-off, but for some reason (hmm…could it have to do with my name? ) I felt more for him than the others. As in, he was truly trying NOT to hurt her any more than he already had, but he also had to protect himself. Still not a good guy, admittedly, but but still understandable somehow. Perhaps it’s the vet thing.
So, overall, I suspect it was a combination of issues I would have had with the play and choices made by the director that caused me to throw things at the screen and vow I would never watch the entire movie again.
You should be a reviewer pretzel, nailed it. Great performance by Kathryn Worth in the lead role in unrelated, she should have a higher profile, and the theme of childlessness recurs in Exhibition.
You should be a reviewer pretzel, great stuff. Great performance by Kathryn Worth in the lead role in unrelated, she should have a higher profile, and the theme of childlessness recurs in Exhibition.
You’re not alone, Sighs. I thought Deep Blue Sea was awful, truly awful. And I can’t stand the Hogg films either – static, constipated affairs which send me to sleep in seconds…
… at least I liked OLLA!
Don’t bother with Exhibition. It’s even worse than her previous efforts.
It was originally a play written by a gay British writer back when homo sexuality was still illegal and some have argued it was a gay relationship analogy if that is the right way of putting it, I very much like it as a film but it was very theatrical but this very much reflects my own tastes. Racheal was beautiful and translucent in it whereas Tom’s character is the hardest to warm to in many ways.
I had watched Unrelated prior to even knowing who Tom and Hogg is an acquired taste ,She focusses on a specific British class culture but the restaurant scene in Archipelago spoke volumes to me,
But all three films have a uniquely British indie feel to them which can make them less accessible to some audiences,But then I rarely watch 3/4 of the films that come out of the USA as they have little appeal for me. It will be intriguing to see what Wheatley does with High Rise and what audiences make of it,
That restaurant scene!… I have never been able to calmly witness one person putting down another person. Even if the latter utterly deserves it, I always, involuntarily, even against my better judgement try to ease the tension by offering some support. So… it was almost impossible to watch.
I studied theater. I enjoy indie films. It should have been right up my alley. I immediately saw where it would be better as a stage play. I get the whole british class thing, but it’s almost like everyone was a caricature of a real person. I actually enjoyed. Freddie. At least he had some life to him. Although that scene where he flicks the coin at her was completely ridiculous and over the top. I realize they were probably highlighting the differences, but it was so unsubtle as to be unbelievable.
And the last scene? She’s been this fragile little butterfly the entire movie, he leaves, she sobs for about 30 seconds and then is totally fine, sun shining, birds singing. Give me a friggin break.
I’m glad you liked it, ice rose. I really wanted to. I just couldn’t. Perhaps if they had edited it down to about an hour….even then, meh.
Edit: I thought Simon Russell Beale was great. He was the only one i didn’t roll my eyes at when he came on.
@ icerose. Hogg seems to me an indie director who aims to be Ozu or Haneke but has not yet achieved the depth and strength required to to make the aesthetically anti-dramatic, emotionally cruel films more bearable. Koreeda Hirokazu, for example, is superb in treating this kind of subtle closet drama. But Koreeda is an established director who already made a good many feature films and he mixes dramatic and non-dramatic, almost documentary like elements much more skillfully.
I agree that her presentation of a certain part of British class culture is interesting. Some moments in Archipelago made me scream, literally, though I have to confess during the first 1/3 of the film I kept yawning (I was tired and that movie stubbornly refuses to engage audience).
I watched “Unrelated” before I knew TH existed, so to speak (yes, it’s possible, as it turns out), because I’d watched “Third Star” and “Wreckers” that week (and yes, I had a bit of a crush on Benny, more acting-wise than anything), and what I came away with from those was an excitement for British indies, which Joanna Hogg’s first feature effort almost flatlined. There, I said it. I understood the main character’s emotional drama, and I could still feel myself getting old for all the wrong reasons (all of them having to do with how lifeless the movie seemed). I love-luuurve-love HiddlesWiddlesBiddles (also Simon Pegg’s petname for him), but Joanna Hogg’s “uniquely brilliant film style” and “Shakespeare as the greatest humanist writer” will forever be points on which we disagree.
And it’s Terry Pratchett, sweetpea.
I think that was my problem with DBS, icerose – great ingredients of source material, Terence Davies, and cast. And yet the eventual product was so tone deaf and blunt and unsubtle. I thought Weisz was the only decent thing about it. It should have been great and it wasn’t.
I’m REALLY looking forward to High Rise.
I’m very excited to see High Rise as well.
@Sixer I agree The Deep Blue Sea could have been adapted to make it easier for a modern audience but I think Davies was intent on embedding it in the 50’s and maintaining the feel of that era. The funding came about as part of Rattigan’s centenary celebration so it was always going to be a close facsimile. I think what would have been far more interesting would have been to reverse it back to the gay relationship the play was based on.
@Gingerly .I have not seen any Koreeda Hirokazu films at least not to my knowledge, For many years I was a regular attender at a film club and saw a multitude of foreign films but I have not Tom’s wonderful memory and have forgotten who half the directors were. I think Haneke, is more thematic and dramatic in his approach
Hogg focusses on realism saturated in unspoken emotions and the story is secondary to the atmosphere and emotional undercurrents. I have watched both her films at least three times so I guess the pace does not worry me. I find action films far more irritating.
I do agree re the music in DBS and agree re charm. One women’s charming man is another women’s sleaze ball so it’s not surprising it was not everybody’s cup of tea,
@Anne tommy Boyhood is definitely on my must see list
@Sighs I think the characters were similar to a class of people who did exist at that time but I also think it was typical of many plays back then. I watched Coward play recently and the characters had the same slightly out of time feel with faux witty dialogue similar to what you saw in the pilot scene. The flicking of the coin worked for me-it was his way of making the break.. Re the ending.She new the relationship was over ,hence the anticipatory grief and the suicide attempt. By the time he did leave she had run the gauntlet of despair and heartbreak and was ready to move on. This does happen in relationships and was something I could totally identify with.
@icerose, @Sighs and @Gingerly: re: DBS: watching it was an interesting experience to me. It felt as if every time I was ready to get sucked in through the fourth wall and get truly engaged with the chars and the film – the utter theatricality of it would push me out, not least of all due to the dialogues. By the end of the film I thought that this pervasive over-the-top-ness was Davies’ conscious creative choice, his take on the period and the source material. Very much a take it or leave it thing. At least the it was stylistically cohesive.
@Innie Outie, I think the director had finished what he had to say when he finished all the close-ups of Rachel groping Tom’s naked bum. The camera angles on that scene were definitely a conscious creative choice. Once he got that out of the way, the rest of the story was on its own.
@Lilac, naughty you! 😀 The bum deserves all the creativity it could garner though, I agree.
I’ve been wondering for some time now how such scenes are filmed, by the way. Do actors wear some sort of invisible underwear/supports or something?
@ innieoutie – yes they do sometimes – it is called a c**ksock – google it to learn more. 🙂
@innie, I’m not the one who chose that particular camera angle. The cameraman could do colonoscopies on the side.
Though I think Terence Davies’s use of Samuel Barber’s concert is very beautiful and songs like “You Belong to Me” and “Holly Molly” convey the mood of the period and present the relationship between the character quite effectively, I can understand well audiences unfamiliar with Davies’ other works might be annoyed or at least embarrassed.
DBS is a work by two Terences, if anything, more by TD’s, and I somehow liked the overly melodramatic tone of the movie. While I don’t think his adaptation of literary classic works such as The House of Mirth and DBS are tremendously good, to me they have their own charm.
I am barely catching up with the thread.. I need to come more often to CB, unfortunately my work has mysteriously firewalled the site *rolleyes*… and by the time I get home… anyway..
It seems that the jaguar add is on its way to China!! so I’m sure Tom will feel much better about that. Huge audience and they love English boys…Speaking of the other favourite English boy..
An update on Hamlet:
It’s set as a 12 week run only. (It was longer if I remember correctly) and ticket dates have been released.
Priority online/telephone booking for Red Members: Fri 1 Aug, 10am
Priority online/telephone booking for Orange Members: Mon 4 Aug, 10am
General on-sale: Mon 11 Aug, 10am
All GMT times.
Wow. Tickets are going on sale a whole year in advance? And 12 weeks sounds about right, August through the beginning of October.
thanks for the dates I am running with general on sale tickets. I looked into their membership schemes but was not that impressed and I am already signed up to a few other schemes so will see how quickly tickets sell. I thought it was always going to be 3 months which is quite a substantial run.
I think the year advance sale notice is an indicator that they are anticipating high volume of ticket sales. Good on Benny!
Hi my lovelies.Any reports on how BC spent his birthday?Wonder if he cavorted naked through the streets of London with a procession of Cumberbabes behind him?….
Or if his ‘secret girlfriend’ made an appearance….
someone twitted that he was in Dublin saturday night with Colin Firth…. mmmm
And someone twitted that Hiddles was on the town in Belfast Friday night in a place called Spaniard.
Maybe Hiddles drove in his Jag to Dublin and hit the Guinness, Jamesons and the jigs with his ol’ matey and told Cumby what to do for Comic-Con next weekend. 😀
SOMEONE on tumblir said Evans and Tom ate at the restaurant where her friend works. Advised he to keep on going with an acting career and tipped her £80 which seems a bit steep
@icerose, it seems steep, especially since some amount for service was probably included, but it would depend on what the bill was, wouldn’t it?
Wasn’t CF at the woody Allen event on Saturday? Someone would of taken a photo If hiddles was out with him. Smells iffy to me although the Spanish resterant story could be true. I can’t see him driving 3 hours to Dublin on his only day off just for dinner
no Ellen, rumours was Cumby was spotted in Dublin with Colin, but nothing has come from that twitter. Not buying it TBH
Hiddles out on a dinner with Luke Evans? sounds bit sedate for those two single notorious clubbers. mmmm maybe they were on a date 😀
The Spaniard specialises in high end alcohol and one of the best selections of rum around -it also has a DJ space as well but no mention of them dancing. The wine stars at £20 a bottle so I guess the bill could have been quite high.
@’P’enny – you are wicked! And there’s no reason why you can’t go to dinner before hitting the club. Although, if you’re not careful, things could get ugly later on in the evening if your stomach is full. On second thought, that would be a waste of a perfectly good meal. Nevermind.
@icerose – the Spaniard has some bourbons that look worth trying also…what can I say, it was a slow day at work and I did a little Google-ing at lunch. I read one review of the place that said it was VERY small, and if you stood outside at closing time it looked very much like one of those circus clown cars where you couldn’t believe that many warm bodies could fit into such a small space.
@Dara, the rums looked interesting. I couldn’t get the food menu to load. Now, I’m intrigued.
@Lilac – I had the same problem. I wonder if the menu fits with the rum selection. Can’t picture rum being a good match to the usual pub offering of fish & chips or some sort of roast beast with mushy peas. Blech. I did roll my eyes a bit at their idea of premium vodkas… Grey Goose, Ketel One, Stoly. Those are worth calling out on your website? Really? A bottle of all of those has rested comfortably in my freezer at one time or another. Middle or top shelf to be sure, but surely there are more interesting vodkas out there at the moment.
I realize that comment makes me sound like a boozer of the first order. Not really, I just try to do it right when the occasion arises. Life is too short to settle for bad hooch.
@Dara, it says it is a tapas menu so unlikely that it is a typical pub menu. I sensed that vodka was not the star attraction on the beverage side. And I have all three of those products in my freezer.
@lilac – I knew there was something about you (and your freezer) that I liked! Za Vas!
Tapas you say? I’ve spent a lazy evening browsing restaurants in Belfast, and I’ve accumulated quite a list of places I’d like to check out if/when I ever get to NI. Plus, the Antrim Coast looks spectacular – and just the place to put a hot sports car through its paces. Anyone know where I can get my hands on a Jag?
@Dara, with all the rum and vodka sampling, it would be best to have a driver. Mark Strong will swing by to pick you up soon.
Back to CP and Benedict – CP (or Tom’s part) was filming Feb-May. What was Benedict doing during that period?
Most speculated Star Wars, but now who knows. I’d peg it down to creative difference like Ben says at this point. I think it’s just the media that constantly drags this up.
I know that Cumby was pretty busy with lots of little projects and appearances. Cumberbatchweb has an encyclopedic list of appearances so you could check there. I personally don’t think that work prevented benedict appearing in CP I remember an interview with BDT around the drop out where was saying that he wastweaking the sscript to make it more intense. I wasn’t surprised when BC bowed out.
I read something like that as well which is why when he dropped out I came to the conclusion he was not happy with the role any longer.
Sorry-Cumby. Darn spellchecker!
@Lilacflowers or anyone who’s interested and is still reading the thread: Weinstein explains the situation with Snowpiercer http://blogs.indiewire.com/thompsononhollywood/exclusive-harvey-weinstein-explains-how-snowpiercer-became-a-gamechanger-we-crunch-theater-vs-vod-numbers-20140721
Well, a film cannot be a success in theaters if it is only shown in a handful of art houses for a very limited amount of time; which is what Weinstein has done to Snowpiercer, and it is very doubtful he will be pushing it for awards, despite its stunning visuals and compelling story.
I agree. It’s one thing when Wheatley releases A Field in England simultaneously in theatre, on VOD and on DVD because it’s a VERY niche film. In Snowpiercer’s case imo Weinstein simply misjudged its potential. He’s now giving these explanations to save his face, but truth remains the same.
I am sure though that he will be promoting and hyping TIG to hell and back. I just honestly hope it won’t backfire on Cumby.
And GDT has announced that Jessica Chastain will accompany him to SDCC to discuss Crimson Peak.
Wow! Go Jesus I want plenty of tom gossip! Why did u pretend to slap him mmmm?
That did look like it was an interesting exchange, didn’t it?
I was a bit distracted by Dara’s warm bodies and small spaces reference In the context of this post…my brother has lived in Belfast for decades, it’s a fine city and the countryside in Northern Ireland is spectacular, the North Antrim Coast just one example, well worth visiting. I had thought of visiting for a bit of hiddle hunting but it’s undignified in a woman of my age…
@Anne tommy – I’m glad I was able to provide some (hopefully pleasant) distraction. The more I look at ‘Norn Iron’ the higher up on my travel to-do list it goes. There are really some stunning places to explore.
Good on you for resisting the urge to hiddle-hunt. I think I would be very good at it but also resist. I’ve never really felt the urge to meet a celeb in person, especially someone whose work I really admire. I have such a hard time suspending disbelief in the first place, it would be that much more difficult if I’d actually seen/interacted with that person – even on a superficial level.
I really have nothing else of substance to contribute to the discussion – I was just so surprised to see the comments are still open that I feel compelled to type something merely because I can!
Dara,
LOL, me too! Late to the party since I’m just getting back from a business trip so this was a pleasant surprise!
Amazing, isn’t it?
And even the prior Tommy thread about the banning of the Jaguar ad is still open too! Let’s hope this trend continues!
I thought the same thing haha
I think only Jessica and Charlie are going to comic con is because Mia and Hiddles are working at the moment. Can’t see either directors letting them stop filming for a few days and fly half way around the world (in hiddles case) to not even promote another film.
Indie-Wire has him at Comic Con on Saturday with GDT and Jessica and possibly stopping by one of the Marvel panels, but not seeing that news any where else.
@Liliac Benny has been spotted at LAX airport. Hiddles however has been spotted yesterday in Belfast
@Ellen, the GDT and Marvel panels are not until Saturday. That’s plenty of time to fly from Belfast to San Diego. But, as I pointed out, I haven’t seen that news anywhere but Indie-Wire, so there is no confirmation.