We’ll definitely have more Tom Hiddleston in the days to come, I’m hoping. Tonight he will appear on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and I’m hoping that there’s some kind of big screening for I Saw the Light this week, complete with premiere photos or something. Can a girl get a Lord Dragonfly pap stroll? Please? Anyway, we do have some new interviews with Hiddleston, mostly about High Rise and ISTL. From the NYDN:
Singing on stage as Hank Williams: “Pure white terror, it was just insane.”
What he thinks of Hank III’s complaints about his casting: “I completely understand the initial skepticism. Hank is part of the fabric of America.”
His ‘Night Manager’ butt trending on Twitter: “How do I handle that? With a resolution to stay off the Internet for at least a week.”
Yeah, the NYDN talked to him over the phone while he was filming in Vietnam, so that’s pretty much all we get from that outlet. As for his butt trending on Twitter… that was because of The Night Manager, as we discussed last week. And I’m glad Hiddles didn’t engage his fans at that moment, but still… he would have engaged two years ago, and I sort of miss that version of Hiddles. Meanwhile, The Telegraph was actually on the set during the filming of High Rise, and they published an exclusive about the film today. You can read the full piece here, and here are Tom’s quotes:
His High Rise character becomes volatile or something: “The impact of the building on his mind creates a volatility in him that’s very visible and dark.”
They shot the film quickly: “I think on the first day we got through 32 set-ups. You’re just gunning through it; there’s a great momentum. You don’t have time to get complacent – you’re on your toes all the time. Ben is so easy and good-natured, but you finish the day and you have this extraordinary amount of footage. It’s been astonishing.”
The crisp white shirt: “There’s a key scene when he walks out of his flat in a clean shirt, then thinks again, goes back inside and changes into a dirty one – which he feels better represents who he is becoming. It’s a sort of breakdown, I suppose.”He went to a real autopsy: “I watched them cut a man open. I couldn’t handle it. What overwhelmed me was the smell. I had to go outside and vomit. Then I went back in and found it fascinating to see the engineering of the human body. But you need a strong stomach for that stuff.”
[From The Telegraph]
I’ll admit that I want to see High Rise much more than ISTL. ISTL looks like a really boring bio-pic and I do find myself wondering why they even bothered. But High Rise looks exciting, weird and controversial. Also: Hiddleston’s resolution to stay off the internet for a week? I suspect he’s really trying these days. He doesn’t want to be so engaging online anymore, you could see the shift in his Twitter over the past year and a half. What’s weird is that this is exactly the week when he should be on Twitter constantly to promote his films. All we need is some selfies and sonnets, Hiddles!
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Given what’s happened in Brussels i think his butt will be a welcome distraction.
We. Do. Not. Need. Sonnets. From. LEGS.
Jus’ sayin’. I do not miss the Twitter LEGS. At all. I really want High Rise to be good. Love Wheatley. He is bonkers.
We just need more LEGS.
I totally agree. Please no Twitter!Tom! I get why he is retiring that.
I am waiting for High Rise to show up in Boston.
It will be available on video first but I do want to see it on a screen. Probably Kendall material, which is where ISTL will be showing
My Tom Hiddleston knowledge is not that impressive. What did he do on Twitter?
I mostly missed the Twitter! Tom! era, but I get the impression he didn’t do anything that any other young actor trying to make a name for himself hasn’t done. There were Songs of the Day (I quite liked those actually), plugs for his projects and appearances, the random inspirational literary quote. At times he would even reply to some of the more sane or amusing fans (gasp! the nerve!). I was all exceedingly upbeat, positive and painfully polite.
The only time he was vaguely controversial was when he hit the Twitter Daily Double – he not only spoiled the ending of The Avengers, but used a vaguely sexual adjective while doing so. He riled up both the comic book nerds and the prudes in the same tweet. It was awesome.
I never got the outrage over his twittering either. I do feel using Twitter is like a portal that allows people to go too far in their obsession. I can see why he left that behind. I remember seeing a girl tell him that he was the reason she didn’t kill herself. That’s just too much.
Where the hell has his butt been trending ? I swear he is so hyped about in random pockets on the internet. High Rise looks good. Wheatley is an incredible director.
British newspapers for the past week.
and all over the interwebs…
Yes, because no one has ever seen a butt before, and because our quest to make the movie “Idiocracy” a reality is almost complete.
@ennuiarethechampions It’s just a hot butt. Men have been appreciating those in women for millenia now, it’s not the Dusk of Civilization just because some male butt got some attention, for a change.
Tom will be on Kimmel tonight after Bernie Sanders and Kimmel isn’t the best at time management so let’s hope there’s enough time. He has been on Twitter in the last few days s he didn’t keep that resolution to himself.
The premiere of ISTL is tonight, Kaiser, so you should have pictures tomorrow and he’s on the Today show Thursday.
Bernie Sander is on Colbert tonight.
Jennifer – you and I must have seen the same list a few days ago, but I checked on Colbert’s official site and Bernie is no longer listed as a guest for Tuesday.
Sanders is on Kimmel tonight. They moved Kristen Bell to another night so they could get Sanders in.
I will definitely be recording Kimmel tonight then!
He’s 35 years old. It’s called maturity. We all grow and change. And it’s not a bad thing. He’s not here to fulfill every fans fantasy. He’s got a job to do. Just be grateful for what he has done and is doing.
I’m not the biggest fan of the Dragonfly but I agree that people grow and change, and I imagine a lot of actors adjust according to their levels of fame.
That and I think he got burned by over zealous and entitled “fans” in the past so he took a step back
I think he took about 23 steps back, took a deep breath, chewed his fingernails to the quick and then slowly navigated forward more cautiously… Until Bora Bora…
It’s also possible that once Hiddles garnered enough fans with his ridiculous baiting via Twitter (I’ve been a fan long enough to remember those days) he decided he didn’t need to use said platform anymore.
He got what he needed.
I’m more inclined to see the original Twitter nonsense as a means to an end. Having achieved the end (an established fandom) he withdrew from the means. I mean, even HE couldn’t be that Hallmark in real life. Nobody could. I think he played it right and got what he wanted out of it.
ETA: posting as Kate was. I agree.
This was pretty much my take.
As much as Hiddles can seem like an out of control puppy (I think he is well aware of how much his fans like that) I think that everything he does in terms of PR is carefully thought out with specific goals in sight. He was in fact watching his Twitter numbers and even posted a happy selfie to celebrate hitting the one million mark. He needed an established fandom. He has it now.
Luke really does work hard for him. The same goes with all of these Bond articles and his butt trending– I see the Hand of Luke hard at work.
At least Luke is more behind the scenes these days. Being glued to Tom’s side every event or appearance there for a while was over the top and creepy.
He also posted a humble brag when he passed the 2 million mark. I think he’s very aware of the public’s perception of him and I have no doubt he stays abreast on what’s being said online — either seeing it himself or getting the daily “highlights” from Luke.
Gotta agree with Dara and Keeta. Most all young actors use twitter to promote their work and feed the fans. But you have to have fans to begin with and if you just ignore them they’ll just move on.
I don’t think it’s fair to say he got what he wanted and now he’s off especially since he has an extrovert personality. I think he enjoyed playing around on twitter like a lot of people did until it gets old and overwhelming. Like @Keeta said, he’s older and because his career is taking off he obviously doesn’t have the time to always be on social media.
In a promo junket he said it’s become a distraction to him, and come on, Twitter, FB and gossip site are distractions. I bet less than 30% of social media users really use it for professional or constructive purposes.
https://youtu.be/ZxpdlzkKGM4
You got that right. Tom even in recent interviews has called social media a distraction from the work.
What if he’s so extra on Kimmel that we can’t stand him? I worry about these things.
He’s the second guest so there won’t be much time. Especially not if Bernie Sanders goes long. Olsen got about 5 minutes last night. Just time enough for her to gush about Harrison Ford, explain that she got snow blindness on the film she is doing now with Renner, and oh yes, to remember that she’s actually promoting a film in which she portrays a woman who sings even though she can’t. They didn’t even have time to show a clip.
I only saw the snowblindness clip and she is as dull as ever. Best to keep her appearances short imo.
It’s too bad that Tom will probably be allotted the same 5 minutes, though.
Let’s hope he’ll get a full 5 minutes.
Why did her time get cut, for Harrison Ford? Lame.
Lilacflowers, to be fair it wasnt her fault ISTL barely got covered. Kimmel led the conversation to irrelevant topics and she actually did take the time to explain the film and plug it a bit to the audience (it’s a classic country biopic, we’re all proud of it, it’s about Hank and his life – all of which Kimmel failed to introduce really) before talking about the singing. Its like when Tom was on The View and got asked a load of irrelevant stuff.
I think actors have a tricky balance when they’re in these tiny time slots. The audience and host want funny anecdotes and high profile project references (I’m surprised he didn’t ask her about CA: CW too) but they’ve also got to promote the film. She’s actually had some very good print interviews and the press junket clip Dara posted on her thread is interesting.
@N, oh, I wasn’t criticizing her. Kimmel has poor time management skills and the whole first 30 minutes were wasted before Ford came on and got two segments and then she was jammed into just a few minutes
I hope for all business now. I like hearing about projects and characters and what it over the other stuff.
Is it me? Or is Tom aging rather quickly? He’s 35 but he looks like 42. It must be when really fair people enjoy the sun too much. Or something.
or taking up smoking again…
I don’t know if he’s really taken up smoking (again?) aside from what he had to do for the movie ISTL. There’s been no pics of him smoking, and it would be in contradiction to his running regiment.
I’m with @Boston that it’s too much sun exposure which he got a lot of as is evident during TNM filming.
Remember how he made a remark about the mistake of smoking during ISTL and what a stupid idea it was in light of his New Years resolution of “No Smoking”? I suspect like most thespians, he smoked at one time and ended up picking up the habit again after doing so for the film.
I think Tom is very careful to keep the smoking out of the spotlight along with clear evidence of his casual affairs and one night stands — things I expect a single, attractive actor with a measure of fame to enjoy. You won’t see it, as it doesn’t jive with the image he has carefully crafted. But he certainly hasn’t been celibate the last five year outside of SF and JA.
Yeah I remember that comment or resolution he made last New Years, and I thought the same thing. But I also thought maybe he was just lamenting about having to take up smoking (again) for the movie. I decided the latter seemed to make more sense to me after poking around and never finding a single pic or even anon gossip to support it. Plus like I said, he’s a runner.
I do agree that he looks aged a bit which smoking does to people, but so does too much sun especially if you’re fair skinned.
The New Year’s Resolution came AFTER filming ISTL because he started smoking while filming ISTL. Film wrapped in December, resolution came in January and in the interview months later, he explained why he made the resolution and that he had broken it in the months since but included no details on what was involved in breaking the resolution, be it outright smoking regularly or a cigarette here and there. BTW, smoking in High-Rise involved fake cigarettes and Luke Evans said he even had a reaction to those.
I’m remembering what he was quoted to have said in that Guardian interview. Someone may have had their timeline wrong as it was tied to ISTL:
“Back at the pub, we’ve wandered on to Tom Hiddleston’s new year’s resolutions. The ones he hasn’t kept: “No smoking” (“I did a bit when I played Hank. A stupid idea”)”
Not that any of it matters really. Just proffering a possibility as to why he may be aging faster.
I think he’s professional that he doesn’t smoke in public. Many atheltes smoke so I doubt being a runner means he doesn’t, I’m not going to be one of those crazy fans that is going to make excuses because he does something I don’t like.
If anything it proves he’s human not some Disney prince that he’s got a habit that he can’t kick.
Funnily enough, I look as Fassy and thing he looks more than 4/5 yeards older than Tom. With Tom I think it is when he has let himself get a sun tan.
Well fassy is older than Tom. He’s about 38 years old.
@ Tia I know but people are saying Tom looks old for his age, but so does fassy I believe.
Sorry, I know it is off topic.
Well, Fassy’s a chain smoker and we know what smoking does to someone by the time they get to their 30’s… it’s doing the same to Katy Cambridge. Lines aplenty.
There were new snaps on Twitter from yesterday’s press junket and he looks really tired. Dude needs a holiday and some sleep.
He just flew halfway across the world a few days ago, (probably Friday), is still living out of a suitcase as he has since early January, and was working on a photo shoot Sunday and more press stuff yesterday. The guy’s lucky if he knows where he is at this point.
I concur, dude needs a nap. I appreciate his work ethic and willingness to promote his projects but at some point he’ll need a decent break (and sleeping on a 12-hour international flight doesn’t count).
I thought he’d get some down time in April, but I keep seeing more promo stuff for TNM added to the calendar. Take a vacation Tom! We don’t want you old and burned out before your time.
Well hopefully he will have stopped promoing before the end of April and the next Thor doesn’t start filimiing until June, so hopefully he will get a break.
If he’s smart, he’ll disappear in late April – early May for a long holiday.
At some point, he needs to get home
I can’t imagine having his insane work schedule. Does he even get a full 8 hours of sleep daily the past year? I doubt it very much. Not with preparing for roles while filming.
Easter is coming up so he might head back to his mothers house and gauge on chocolate eggs whilst watching crap TV like the rest of us.
The night manager is so mediocre. Predictable , cliched and with hammy acting. Olivia Coleman is good but that’s about it.
Wish BBC would get their act together. They only seem to be good at costume drama or factual stuff these days.
I agree about TNM for the most part, but I think the BBC has some great police dramas — Happy Valley and Trapped in particular were excellent. I also enjoyed Dickensian and Shetland.
I have been really disappointed lately. All these spy dramas are so predictable. And the casting generally tends to be the equivalent of click bait. They just seem to cast people who are considered male eye candy on tumblr or something . Tom Hughes that Norton guy and they are clearly showing hiddelestons body as much as possible in TNM to garner attention. In the case of the night manager I think a few people are woefully miscast to draw an audience. It’s just not believable. With stuff like this and that horribly hammy dr foster they are pandering to the daily mail type of audience.
For a good political spy drama I recommend Deutschland 83 on channel 4.
Second D-83 recommendation! Nutballs: is like The Americans but betterererer!
Thanks for the recommendation. I’m getting into international drama and that sounds just up my alley.
I hate how a good story and performances are being sacrificed for sexy, click-bait scenes with Hiddles in TNM. I don’t need bad art to objectify Hiddles… a charity video will do just fine, thank you. No need to sacrifice art for low-brow entertainment.
While he does nothing for my lady bits, I absolutely loved Norton as Tommy Lee Royce and thought he gave a very nuanced performance. Wainwright doesn’t use men for eye candy like Bier does.
Bier is a pretty good serious director at least in her Danish language films. I have a feeling the Hollywood casting and gratious nudity are as much a BBC thing these days. They seem to be trying to keep up in a world where TV has been revolutionised by the likes of Netflix. They are getting the ratings but the quality is poor in my opinion.
If you’re into foreign language stuff Check out channel 4s Walter presents its basically a collection of handpicked foreign language drama
P.s I like Shetland but in an old comforting sweater kind of way. It’s sort of very old school and feels a bit dated compared to scandi noir and hbo dramas.
I like Shetland for that very reason, Hannah! Nothing edgy or particularly original, but I have a boner for all things Scottish and latched on emotionally to Perez & Tosh, so I’m a card-carrying member of the fan club.
I also like the scandi noir dramas too, tho’ I confess until I tapped into the BBC website a couple of months ago, I had only seen their American/British versions, such as The Killing and Wallander. Now I’m hunting down the original scandi ones as that’s my catnip!
Hi Nutballs! I was wondering where you saw Dickensian. I’ve been looking for it. 😉
Hi EsCon, I watched it on BBC iPlayer when it was airing a couple of months ago, but now I think the episodes have expired. I’m not sure where else it can be viewed, but I really enjoyed it and since they ended with the appearance of Oliver Twist, I presume there will be more. Stephen Rea is wonderful as inspector Bucket and Pauline Collins as Mrs Gamp.
Nutballs – did you watch the start of Follow The Money? The new one replacing Trapped? I recorded the first two episodes but haven’t had time to watch yet. The third series of Line of Duty (police corruption drama) is starting this week and the first two were excellent. I think S2 might be on iPlayer, actually. Will also be watching tonight’s first episode of A Word (Christopher Eccleston. Hurrah!)
Oh Sixer, I was too embarrassed to say I planned to watch The “A” Word as I was afraid it will get all sappy and sentimental! But it hits home for me as my son was diagnosed with high-functioning autism when he was five. I may have to keep the hankie handy…
I need to download Follow the Money to watch it as it buffers too much to watch it straight off the website and they haven’t made it available. I did see Line of Duty and will check that out as well.
ETA: I’ve been catching the old episodes of Shetland on the Drama Channel and my crush on Dougie grows with each one. He’s my kinda copper.
I agree with you and Hannah about Shetland. Not groundbreaking. But lovely. Plus Dougie.
The trailer for the A Word is distinctively unimpressive but I like the subject matter and, well, Eccleston. Plus, Auntie has form in putting out awful trailers for great dramas. So y’know. I’m hopeful.
If you are iPlayering, there is a fabulous documentary on autism on there right now: BBC4 Horizon called Living With Autism. Presented by Uta Frith (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uta_Frith). I recommend it.
Thanks for the heads up on the autism doc, Sixer. I just added it.
I think the big reason I didn’t latch on to Hinterland as I did Shetland was that I never got invested in the characters, even though the shows seem very similar. I was so excited to watch something Welsh and never quite got hooked on the series. Now I have too many other dramas competing for my limited time. I’m having a hard time sticking with Thirteen and Murder as well.
Perhaps I’m just a picky bee-yitch.
Too much telly and not enough time! I try to make time for two shows in the evening and if anything factual comes up that I really want to see, it buggers my drama queue for days and days!
I hope you like the doco. I think it got across well the richness of the autistic mind, while being neither cold nor sentimental about it.
I’m a bit miffed – a year or two back I watched the first series of Gomorrah on Sky Atlantic and thought it was great. But now the second series is going to air I, of course, have swapped to Virgin who don’t have Sky Atlantic in their packages. 😥
I watched that Spidey! When is season 2? I have Sky, sorry! Romanzo Criminale is my favourite Italian drama.
Is the monkey on the branch? Sorry. Couldn’t resist after the Izzard thread
@ Sixer Gomorrah is coming back 10th May. I really enjoyed, particularly the second season, of Romanzo Criminale too.
After I took early retirement from full time work – 16 years ago 😯 I studied Italian for about 7 years so it is nice to try to see how much (or little!) I can understand without cheating on the subtitles. I may have to buy the Gomorrah dvd in due course.
You might want to bookmarked this page:
http://www.geektown.co.uk/uk-air-dates/
Thanks for the link, Spidey! Mr Sixer and I do that. His Italian is better than mine (mine’s passable). His German is better than mine (mine’s me Tarzan, you Jane at best). I win with French!
Lilac is a cheeky monkey (not on a branch)!
Driving a bus at 55 mph?
I agree so much. TNM is all flash, no substance. Beautiful sets, people and even opening credits but the story is blah and slow moving and frankly not really believable (they changed the plot a lot from the book). And the acting is VERY over the top and hammy. Hiddles stands around smiling and laughing at (but not responding to) to Hugh Laurie’s expositional monologues. The intelligence community folks are so cookie cutter baddies. Ugh. I’m more disappointed with each episode after what I thought was an excellent start.
I don’t blame him for staying off the Internet, period. My research indicates that some of the sh*t written about him is downright scary.
I got castigated for saying this on an earlier thread, but promoting a project based on a man’s “bare butt” is just plain sophomoric, lowbrow and smacks of misandry. It didn’t work for Crimson Peak and it isn’t necessary for an actor of TH’s talent. If the nudity isn’t gratuitous and advances the story, it’s art. But if it’s being used to sell tickets or get clicks or ratings, it’s just plain gross and no better than what we women have been dealing with since time immemorial. The double standard is just plain hypocritical.
Preach!
MI6 agree over the bare butt. No problem with nudity in films/tv if it accords with the plot. But in that instance it came over as “for the sake of it” and rather tacky to be honest.
@Spidey – I haven’t seen TNM yet so I am reserving judgment. I like Susannah Bier (Check out “After the Wedding” on Netflix; she’s immensely talented and tells a beautiful visual narrative), but the fact that she’s “a woman director” doesn’t justify the (implied) sexual exploitation of her admittedly genetically blessed male star. That doesn’t advance feminism; it’s the flip side of the same old coin.
@Nutballs: Amen!
Agreed.
I agree. The first thing that came to mind was: why didn’t he wear dark knickers. The second was that he is not that good with this type of scene. Only my opinion, of course.
knickers? 😆
He wore dark boxer shorts in episode 2 😀
@ MI 6
I *loved* After The Wedding. That began my Mads Mikkelsen problem, years ago.
+1
@KTE – That was a wonderful little movie, beautifully shot, complex characters (although I think the daughter’s arc could’ve been fleshed out a bit more – I wasn’t quite clear on her motivations). What a subtle, nuanced, sensitve performance from MM (not unlike our Mr. Hiddleston). I’m sure you’ve seen “A Royal Affair” then? I love Alicia Vikander and I thought Mikkelsen was superbly understated in that role as well.
Hopefully I am not developing a problem. I have enough of those 😉
Oops @Kate sorry 😯
Ive never seen Tom in anything or know anything about him. I just like reading people’s comments about him.
Try it sometimes, you may enjoy the show.
Good way to get your entertainment.:-)
Don’t think there are any spoilers here.
There have been multiple articles about TNM in the Guardian with comments allowed. There are some people who have loved picking holes in it to the extent of nitpicking but are there still watching it at episode 5! There are a lot of implausibilities of course, but then there are in all these sort of programs, or the hero would be dead in week one, and as for James Bond……… And some of us just sit back, watch, go with the flow and get a lot of enjoyment out of it.
I also have to say that in Eps 4 and 5 I have been a bit on the edge of my seat, and I’ve read the book!
I’ve enjoyed watching the suspense build over the five episodes so far. I’ve particularly enjoyed Coleman and Hollander and the scenery has been delicious and the whole thing is pure escapism for a Sunday evening I’ve been watching it on my computer screen so I do look forward to seeing it on my much larger television screen next month.
The Guardian and another British paper have both done pieces in the last few days over what is/isn’t plausible. I’ve had no problems with the changes. I do find many of the comments I see after the recaps hilarious as people lament the changes but the parts they find wrong are usually straight out of the book and they are still watching five episodes in. There was much more sex in the book and plenty of clunky dialogue and Jed’s character never made sense. But will Burr nail Roper before Drumgoole shuts her down for good? And will Pine get out alive?
You haven’t seen the pirated episodes then? No, neither have I.
No, and I won’t watch anything pirated like that.
But is it piracy if the DVD company messed up and shipped it early to paying customers and the folks uploading it aren’t profiting from it?
Before you jump all over me, I’m not defending the practice, just asking the question. And as long as we’re talking piracy, wouldn’t bypassing the geo-blocking function on a website so we can view online content from another country also be considered piracy in a very narrow sense? And yet that seems to be an acceptable exception to the “no piracy” rule. Technically, all the non-British folks watching the series are pirates because we haven’t paid our yearly license fee to the BBC.
Dara, I would think that even if you own the dvd and put it online that might well be illegal, because apart from the shaky handheld taken in the cinema uploads, most of them are ripped from dvds which someone must have bought originally.
Regarding the geoblocking, then I would guess that is breach of copyright.
We need to ask our resident lawyer. 🙂
The legality is unclear from what I’ve seen — The geounblockers say it’s perfectly legal and the studios harp about it. I think if it truly was illiegal, you’d see lawsuits shutting these sites down.
Here’s how I look at it: As long as I’m not taping or rebroadcasting whatever it is that I’m watching, it’s fine. I’m already paying for Netflix content and supporting PBS. If I don’t want to wait for a BBC show to hit Netflix or PBS, I’m not taking money from their pockets by watching it early online. If it never comes to Netflix or PBS, then I’m simply accessing what is paid for by others. To me, it’s no different borrowing a friend’s DVD series. They paid for it, but I get to enjoy it free of charge. I have no issues with those outside of the US enjoying our programming via the same means. It’s paid for and ridiculous to keep foreigners from being able to enjoy it too.
Part is my stubbornness on this is my belief that art should be available to all. If the BBC or anyone else is going to cut me off from it and there are legal ways around it, then I’m going to take full advantage of entertainment that available. If it matters so much that every viewing of a show be paid for by the viewer, then the studios/distributors need to come together to create a solution that works for all.
ETA: the BBC announced last fall that they will implement a US subscription service to boost their revenues. That’s fair and I have no issues with that. However, if every cable company does this, it will no longer be cost-effective against a cable subscription (many of us dropped cable for Netflix) and it may backfire.
Don’t misunderstand me Nutty, I’m not scolding anyone for the practice, just pointing out that the term “piracy” gets thrown around a lot, even when the situation doesn’t really meet the standard for what is legally considered piracy. Spidey’s right, infringement is a better description, but even that has shades of gray to it.
I think media companies in general are behind the times – anyone, anywhere should be able to legally access programming from anywhere in the world that interests them. If that means a pay-per-view scheme, or a subscription service, or some other practice would probably depend on the situation. And it kills me to see a show or a clip promoted on a global scale (on the web or social media) only to find myself unable to view it because “this media is not accessible in your region”. It’s maddening, and counter-productive. My frustration over not being able to view The Night Manager has made me very sympathetic to those folks in other countries that figure out creative ways to view US shows they can’t otherwise see in their own markets.
I hear ya, Dara. There are shades of grey but I don’t consider it to be piracy, such as viewing any of the leaked TNM episodes.
I’ll say that the more good European drama I’m enjoying the more frustrated I am everyone can’t enjoy it too without using a VPN.
Ripping the DVD and uploading it to the Internet for other people to download is technically breach of copyright, aka piracy. It doesn’t matter that they’re not making money from it. Copyright is there to protect the ability of the rights holder to make money from their intellectual property – if a third party is giving it away for free, obviously that impacts on the money the rights holder will get from selling it.
Watching iplayer in a region where it should be geoblocked doesn’t involve making a copy of it, so technically isn’t piracy – though it is freeloading. Though at least if you’re watching via iplayer you’re being counted in the ratings, so you’re contributing to the perceived success of the show.
Of course, where you stand morally on both of those activities is up to you. The long-term risk is that they become so widespread as to stop foreign networks buying the rights to BBC programmes, and individuals from bothering to pay the license fee and/or buy the DVDs, which would then threaten the ecosystem creating the content. While the numbers of people doing it are small, in comparison to the numbers watching via legitimate means, it’s probably pretty harmless. It’s hopefully fairly unlikely that enough people will watch the last episode online before Sunday to affect the official ratings.
How does one geo-unblock? I am reluctant to install anything on my machine that might be virusy, which is why I stay away from anything actually pirated.
I think it’s a bigger issue for Netflix than it is for the BBC, due to the sheer volume of TV shows that are available in the US. I know the amount of content available on Netflix US is substantially greater than their available content in foreign regions so in places like Australia, my provider (unblock-us) is quite popular for accessing US content.
Miss Jupitero, I researched before selecting unblock-us and have had no issues with it. You simply change your DNS settings and you can always change them back. I had issues with Hola Unblocker messing up my computer so paying $5/mo is worth it to me.
I don’t have an issue with it and I’m the mug who has to pay £150 a year for the BBC whether I watch it or not.
Times have changed.Delivery has changed. Consumers are more savvy. TV companies need to supply for the market that exists, not the one that used to exist and they wish still does.
Music went through this and now TV has to do it, too. Not our fault they’re living in the past. People can access anything and so that’s what they do. It’s up to the TV company to find a way to monetise it.
I can access anything I want to watch legally so I don’t cheat on anything. But if, say, there was some big US show that I wanted to watch and nobody here had bought, I would just find it and watch it for free online.
@Dara, well, it depends on where one is. On the US, yes, both are piracy. In countries that don’t respect copyright laws, no.
I am not scolding anyone either. I just don;t want to be billed every month, and I avoid anything that looks like it might plant something virusy on my machine.
Spidey, I watched two episodes that were streaming, but couldn’t find any of the other episodes available for streaming. Argh.
I’m reporting all of you even if you’re innocent. ;-D
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/online-piracy-ring-jailed-17-7036743
He’s so overrated. He’s got average looks. In TNM he just plays himself. The way he walks and talks is exactly like you see him on talk shows. People really are suckers for well spoken English boys these days.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm — but would you say he’s try-hard? How about thirsty?
::waits expectantly with marker poised over Dragonfly Thread Bingo card::
LOL
:: also waiting expectantly:: I’m so close to winning a new washer/dryer set – I’ve already marked “looks old for his age”, “losing his hair” and “fan-baity”. All I need now is “Eton-educated” or “peach-like bottom” for the win.
Ooh, @Dara, I need “peach-like bottom” on my card too! It’s in the B column, of course.
I’ve got privileged posh boy on mine!
According to Hoyle’s Rules for Hiddlesbingo, “milky-white arse” is an acceptable substitution for “peach-like bottom” so I fully plan on taking advantage of that loophole. Of all the Hiddlesbum discussion of late, his Cambridge classmate staking a small claim to fame on Twitter has to be my favorite.
His Cambridge classmate is one of my favourite historical author/tv presenters at the moment.
I win if “wooden” or “lacks charisma” appear
Wait: “peach-like bottom” is bad now? I don’t get it. Anyways, I’ve got “You only like it cause English” (nevermind I’m not a native speaker, and I can hardly tell apart a standard American accent from a British one, but, oh well).
Don’t forget “well connected” poshy cause you know he only got to where he is now because of all his connections.
He just plays himself Tia? Wow, who knew Hiddleston was an ex-Army officer turned hotelier, who has infiltrated an arms dealer’s outfit and murdered at least one person. Combining that with acting must be tough. I am enjoying TNM. It’s not life changing high art, but it’s entertaining and has a great cast. Sometimes that’s enough.
Anything Tommy does has to be perfection to the naysayers OR ELSE! *nose upturns*
@ lilacflowers – don’t give up the day job!
Is it written in his contracts that he must be half naked in every show these days?
I found him to be quite awkward in the sex scenes (TNM) theres also a half naked shot by the pool that was cringe worthy.
It was only the wall one that I found cringy, and unnecessary.
The one scene where he gets out of the pool and shakes his wet hair in a long lingering shot was embarrassing too.
Wall-banging is in the book, but with Yvonne, not Jed.
There is also a “Pine gets out of the pool” scene in the novel. My point being that much of what people are claiming is gratuitous bareness for the Tumblr ground actually exists in the novel that was published more than two decades ago. Unless Yvonne and the strip club appear in episode 6, the series has been cleaned up considerably
I do think that some people have an over-inflated view of how much programme-makers care about tumblr-fans. In terms of publicity, getting the folks who still read the papers in a bit of a flutter is far more important.
In any case, you have a series set largely in a beautiful villa in the med, featuring attractive young people getting themselves in a pickle because of their attraction to each other. It would be kind of odd if we didn’t see them around the pool not wearing very much or having sex. It’s not gratuitous when it’s integral to the story.
Now, Pine showering in a waterfall in Cornwall, that was gratuitous! I’m not inclined to complain though, since Jed-in-the-bath was equally so, and in 2016 we really do deserve equal-opportunity eye-candy.
Yes, shower in Devon, gratuitous – although, I am going to check the book. Jed’s bath was in the book although her skinny dipping scene was not. Still less than the strip club.
You’re right about people assigning too much power to the Tumblr crowd, just as they assign too much to the behind the scenes PR guy. Many of the British papers post recaps of popular shows within an hour of airing. So, within an hour of Episode 4, they had all posted about the wall-banging butt scene. Within 5 hours, they had all done follow up on public reaction to it. Luke didn’t have to lift a finger. Newspapers need to attract readers and they will do so by writing about actors in successful shows, with or without input from a publicist. Doubtful Luke had anything to do with the Daily Mail’s piece describing Brie Larson as a secluded shut-in while Tom charmed the hotel staff
Hugh is the draw for Britons in TNM rather than LEGS, who really is still just an internet boyfriend here. Good move for LEGS – do some good quality telly and get noticed by the mainstream UK public by appearing with popular national treasures in Laurie and Colman.
Mr Sixer had never heard of him despite my saying, “You know. LEGS. The annoying posh boy who’s still fanciable. That one. You have heard of him. He’s an internet boyfriend of mine.” “No, sorry, I don’t know who you mean.” (Sorry, gals, but that’s how the conversation went!)
And the Sunday night slot ALWAYS has sex bait. Musketeers. Poldark. And now the buttocks of LEGS. It’s always been housewives’ choice on Sunday nights! Seriously: it has!
And we all know that writing about what some people said on Twitter is the easiest form of “journalism” there is. You can bang that story out in 20 minutes, and half of it will be embedded tweets.
It’s why Twitter-chatter is given such undue prominence. There really weren’t that many people commenting on his bum, it was the usual chatter from a double-handful of fan accounts. But within hours the papers have all written increasingly-exaggerated stories about them and he has been teased about it in an interview, so suddenly it’s A Thing.
@Sixer, indeed – didn’t people complain that the last BBC adaptation of Lady Chatterley’s Lover wasn’t sexy enough?
That’s what we Brits like – classy smut on a Sunday night!
Mr Sixer needs a good talking to. Get with the zeitgeist Mr S! It’s all about the Hiddlebum these days.
KTE – exactly. BBC1 Sunday 9pm. The thinking woman’s crumpet slot! It’s the law.
Anne tommy – he *does* know who LEGS is, you know? He’s looked over my shoulder enough times when I’m posting here to be bound to have read half of what I say about LEGS. The Sixlets have forced multiple viewings of Marvel on him so he’s seen Loki. But that’s what I mean – nothing’s made the identity of LEGS stick in his head. And I’d say that’s pretty much the case for most of the TV watching public. They know most of the TNM cast by name and sight more than they know LEGS.
That awkward moment when you learn the general prudeness over male desirability is now more BACKWARDS than it was 2 decades ago. 🙁
Sixer, The only recentish thing he has been in on British tv before TNM is The Hollow Crown, and although I think he was great in that, unfortunately Shakespeare does not draw large tv audiences on a Saturday night.
@Sixer, and that is why the press is following up all their episode recaps with puff pieces explaining who he is and what he has done. He isn’t as known as some pretend he is, nor does he have the PR clout others insist. People are watching because of Laurie and Coleman and even LeCarre and then asking: “who is that guy?” And the GuardianMirrorTelegraphIndependentFail answer the question because they want the readers.
Yes, my parents finally know who he is. I’ve only been telling them for the past few years, but they’re not into Shakespeare or comic book movies, so this is the first sustained role they’ve seen him in. Dad thinks he’d make a good Bond.
KTE, my 70-ish parents sure aren’t into Marvel or Willy Shakes but they will be TNM on AMC next month. His exposure is growing beyond pre/menopausal women to the senior set. He’s moving up in the world…
EXACTLY, Lilac. He’s not been on the radar of the British TV-watching public at all. That’s why I think TNM was an excellent choice for him. People know someone like Tobias Menzies more than they know LEGS, if not by name, by sight. And Laurie, Colman, and Hollander are all beloved TV actors that people *would* tune in for – so a perfect cast, a big budget, a prime Sunday slot, and a US collaboration.
This isn’t AT ALL a Hiddleston vehicle. It’s a Hiddleston rung up the recognition ladder.
But he was definitely cast as the Sunday night crumpet!
@Sixer, to me, it’s an ensemble with some names: people like to watch Coleman, Laurie, Hollander, & the LeCarre title; some familiar background faces that appear in lots of stuff: Tobias Menzies, David Harewood, Alistair Petrie, Douglas Hodge, Neil Morrissey; and the crumpets who will get lots of recognition from this: Tom and Elizabeth Debicki.
And what a lovely crumpet he is.
It’s in my contract with the universe that TH be half-naked in everything from now on.
Sorry guys. It’s pretty ironclad.
But which half?
The left half.
The Night manager really shows up his limitations as an actor. He has zero charisma and can’t sell the character at all. The show is a pile of old nonsense and the character is poorly written but even so I expected to see more life from him. He’s like a walking/talking cardboard cut out.
Kind of agree. I think he’s terribly bland in the night manager, competent but bland, lacks leading man charisma. I really couldn’t care less about his character, not good for a protagonist.
Ironically, I never found him that attractive but I have found him very hot in The Night Manager. But what I can’t get over, especially in the later episodes, is how his one “acting” schtick seems to be to stand there and be pretty and just laugh or smile broadly. Seriously, that is ALL he does. Hugh Laurie goes on and on prosing about dumb stuff and Hiddles just giggles back to him and poses all sexily.
I don’t know what the hell series are you watching. Me, I’ve been watching The Night Manager. But Tom standing next to Hugh giggling and posing sexily? I would watch that too. That checks plenty of my slash boxes.
LOL @Bay. Same.
@ennuiarethechampions With Corky Stamp of Approval.
I would not say he doesn’t have charisma, but it might not make up for the writing or the nuances of this type of character. Many times pretty hero roles are boring.
If someone wants to follow the ISTL’s red carpet , just follow this twitter account.
Last year, Grace did the same with Crimson Peak and it was fine.
@disneycastle88
Tuesday March 22, I will be Periscoping from the red carpet premiere of #ISawTheLight hoping to see #TomHiddleston.
Arrivals start around 5-6pm.
And in other good news – the ISTL website has a list of where the film will be shown… and there are two theaters that are an easy drive for me! Woo-hoo! I had despaired it was only going to be shown in the small, hard-to-get-to arthouse theater I generally don’t like going to. Is it April 1 yet?
http://www.sonyclassics.com/isawthelight/dates.html
I wondered if it would hit my little town outside of Denver and I see it on the list too. Everyone is getting it on 4/1 here.
Dara, sending a virtual wave as I arrive in Skagit Valley this week to see my kinfolk up there.
Not in Boston. Cambridge and some random suburbs but not in Boston.
@lilac, what a bummer.
@Nutty, you have perfect timing, the tulips are early! I hope you have a good trip. Do you visit often? We generally avoid the crowds and go up at a different time of year but it’s a fun place to spend a day or two playing tourist. We usually start the day in B’ham (Fairhaven), cruise down Chuckanut Drive, make a quick stop in Bow/Edison and then hit La Conner. Mt Vernon has a great old theater that shows interesting films (it’s where I saw Coriolanus).
Dara, I’ve enjoyed visiting Fairhaven in past years, but I wasn’t aware of anything artsy in Mt Vernon. My bro lived in Burlington for eons before moving to the coast. I’ve actually never been up there during the tulip festivals, just at Christmas and not for years now.
Since we’re surprising our parents for their golden anniversary, we’ll be doing one of the San Juan cruises this time around. I do love that region and sad I just missed the Chuckanut 50k trail race that is run near B’ham each March.
Welp, no dates for Australia unless it makes it to the Sydney Film Festival in June.
Well he’s finally growing up. We all know it takes men longer to do that.
Talking of male sexual objectification:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/taylormiller/25-behind-the-scenes-photos-of-butts-becoming-easter-eggs#.ummJ2lJOV
Tom at Red Carpet now:
periscope.tv/disneycastle88/1jMJgaROkRwKL
Lizzy looks like she’s wearing a red mumu.
EO looks really beautiful, and her hair and makeup look great. But bless her heart, I don’t know wtf she is wearing.
Yes, she looks lovely from the neck to the head.
Unfortunately, i can´t say the same about her dress . Well, i think that “thing” is a dress, right?
Why Lizzie why?
Yes, she looks great from the neck up. The best thing I can say about the dress is that it looks comfortable.
@allegra, either that or she has rolled herself up in part of the red carpet.
Ditto for Maddie. Loving her shorter hair, but not loving the dress.
I can’t say I’ve liked many of her red carpet ensembles, but there was a white number she wore @ Deauville Film Festival that looked great. This one, nope.
Okay, Sixer, need your help here. Jimmy Kimmel asked Tom if Brits were laughing at the US because Drumpf, and he (Tom) said something about just have had elections not that long ago and that you guys had your own issues (not his exact words.)
Anyway he mentioned some guy named Nigel and I couldn’t catch the last name. Surely you would know whom he was talking about?
Okay, I’ve done a little research and think I have it: he mentioned Nigel Farage. Who seems a nasty little piece of work, unless one votes UKIP. But then again, I have relatives voting Drumpf–so I can’t talk.
Yes. He would mean Nigel Farage. He’s not a demagogue like Drumpf but he is an Islamophobic, anti-immigration xenophobe. And we shouldn’t underestimate UKIP appeal. They have only 1 MP out of 500 and odd in parliament, but that’s because we have a first past the post system. That party got several million votes at the last general election.
I’m afraid to say that we *are* laughing at the US over Drumpf (as well as pooping our pants). But people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones! We have our own fools who are liked by an uncomfortably large number of people.
I half expected he’d mention the guy who…er…shagged a pig? If I have that right? But no, he took the question reasonably seriously.
I love the way he handled the inevitable Bond Question: he pointed out “who will be the next Bond” is a top British pub conversation, along with who’s going to win X Factor, is the English Side ever going to live up to their potential, and should GB stay in the EU.
I hope you can watch it on YT soon–I know links are up already, and personally I consider the segment short enough to fall under fair use.
Just really curious as to your opinion on how the fellow did, as I do believe this is his first BIG-TIME evening talk-show appearance.
@TB allegedly re the pib. Not saying it didn’t happen, but the author of the book said she had not seen the alleged photographic evidence but thought the story was funny so included it anyway!
hope this link works:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYx79PPQdL4
And when Kimmel asked about Farange, he quickly answered that Farange did not deserve more air time and they moved onto the next question
I just checked: UKIP got 12.6 % of the popular vote, which is scary – but worth bearing in mind that since the Lib-Dem vote collapsed and UKIP didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of forming a government, they were the go-to ‘protest-vote’ party. Not everyone who voted for them would actually agree with their ‘policies’, such as they are – or so I tell myself.
They’re very like Trump in claiming to be a ‘man-in-the-street, anti-establishment, anti-PC’ party. Farage gets a disproportionate amount of media coverage by saying outrageous things.
So because hidds is wearing red socks and Lizzie is wearing a red dress thing it must mean they’re dating?! Hold the headlines lol
Tom in a suit and RED socks. 😆
I’ve heard that he often wears crazy socks with suits but I doubt it’s to match that questionable dress lol
@Kitty
I’ve never seen him wear crazy socks or even poorly coordinated socks like these until now.
Re Tom smoking:
https://soundcloud.com/hiddlestonersargentina/one-cigarette-tom-hiddleston
….erm…. I like Lizzie´s dress…
It’s a lot better than what she usually wears.