Several new Tom Hiddleston interviews came out yesterday and all of them were conducted last year, on the set of Crimson Peak, as they were filming the movie. Guillermo del Toro must have invited some friendly journalists and bloggers to the set and there was an embargo on printing these quotes until this week. Del Toro really knows how to keep the nerd-flame properly stoked, doesn’t he? Anyway, Collider and HitFix have basically the same interview (highlights below) which you can read here and here. Tommy talks about the “kink” of Crimson Peak and much more.

Signing on to the film after Benedict Cumberbatch dropped out: “Well, it happened very quickly. He called me, my agents called and said, ‘Guillermo Del Toro is going to call you in the next hour’ and he called me and told me the story and he said, ‘Don’t say yes, or no. But I’m gonna rewrite the script this weekend or tonight or tomorrow, and I’m gonna send you a new draft’ and like an hour later Jessica [Chastain] called me and said, ‘You have to do it’ [Laughs] ‘I want you to do it, and Guillermo wants you to do it’ and I was really excited I couldn’t wait to read the script. Then, it must have been like a day later, I got it and I read it immediately in one sitting and he had rewritten the role, so I got sort of my own draft, he had rewritten the part for me in a way. It’s just brilliant, it just is a brilliant screenplay, and I wanted to work with him, I knew that Jessica, and Mia [Wasikowska], and Charlie [Hunnam] were locked in and on board; and I love Mia and I know Jessica from before and I wanted to work with Charlie so there was just no possible way I was going to say ‘no’.”

Working with Guillermo del Toro: “He is amazing. I mean that probably isn’t a secret from anyone else who’s ever worked with him but he’s like this Great Mexican Bear of Passion and Warmth. He’s just so inspiring. He loves his job and I think his working experience and collaboration he’s one of the most inspired and inspiring people I’ve ever worked with.”

His character: “I think he’s the antihero…He’s certainly the most morally ambiguous or complex figure in the story because I think he’s genuinely caught in between people and in between conflicting emotions and is trying to find the best route through a very, very difficult tangle of what people need from him and want from him and he feels what his responsibility is to those people.”

The film is kinky: “It’s really kinky… there is a sexuality in the film which is expressed… And you think you know what it is and then you realize you’re only scratching the surface. So I really can’t reveal more than that. Thomas Sharpe has – and he’s not the only character in the film — but he has a history. I suppose the interesting thing about the film, the story is it’s about the difference between expectations and reality. And each character is sort of projecting certain things.”

Making a horror film: “It’s really scary and what I find is the most playful aspect of acting in a very, very spooky film is that you play against that so it becomes almost is the banality of – everything becomes incredibly normal. And in a way that’s more terrifying. Like I love it when I’m watching horror films and everyone’s acting like nothing is wrong and you know something is around the corner. You’re like, ‘Why is everyone acting like nothing is wrong? There’s clearly something wrong!’ So in a way that’s really fun is to play it very straight, to play it almost as if the action is every day and ‘What could possibly go wrong?’ It’s just an old house, you know, with creaky floorboards. Old house will make old noises.”

[From Collider & HitFix]

In Collider’s version of events, Tom is asked directly about what is “kinky” and he responds, “In my life, in my work, or…? Of course Scarlet Johansson would be ill equipped.” WHAT? God, I would love it if Tommy was that kind of guy. In HitFix’s version, Tom also makes special mention of del Toro’s daughters, saying that they visit the set all the time and they’re “a vital part of the way I function with the world.” They updated his playlists!

Ain’t It Cool also had a new interview with Tom – go here to read.

And here’s the international trailer:

Photos courtesy of PCN, Legendary Pictures.