Tom Hiddleston’s first visit to the Graham Norton Show did not go over very well. I mean, the Hiddlestoners loved him and defended him, but even those of us who like Hiddles in a general sense thought he was too puppyish and try-hard. That was last year, and Hiddles has been making some great strides since then. He’s like a whole new person, no longer so eager-beaver and dorky. It’s a more sophisticated, less playful Tom. A “cool” Tom. And Cool Tom got to go on Graham Norton again this weekend. The episode has already aired in the UK, obviously, and if the BBC America schedule is the same as always, that means America will get to see the episode next weekend. Check your listings!
This time, Tom was helped by the fact that it was a really great, playful and funny couch. Tom was seated beside Samuel L. Jackson, who Tom knows from the Marvel films and from Kong: Skull Island. The other guests were John Malkovich (who is lovely and funny) and comedienne Sara Pascoe (who is really, really funny). Here’s the full interview, there’s a lot of good give-and-take. I hope you take the time to watch the whole thing because the last Red Chair story is INSANE and hilarious. I love that Tom won’t let Graham toss the woman right away.
Tom was really, really great here. This is the new and improved Hiddles, the one who can tell a story on a talk show and not have to go on and on for ten minutes. Yes, he yodeled, but I feel like… once a performing circus bear, always a performing circus bear. And it was fine.
PS… My mom has been watching The Night Manager and now she’s a Hiddlestoner. She was asking me if I knew if Tom was married. I didn’t get into the whole Jane Arthy issue with her! But I did tell her that Tom’s probably dating Elizabeth Olsen.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
He was so cute and charming on the show. This is the new and improved Lord Dragonfly.
Happy Mother’s Day (US version) to all the Dragonflies. Brunch is served on the veranda and will be refreshed throughout the day. Now, I simply must decide what to wear as I invisibly accompany Tom to the BAFTAS this evening.
I watch Graham Norton religiously and that was one of my favorite episodes. The red chair story and Sam Jackson explaining it to John Malkovich is just fantastic!
Tom’s having a drink this time, I think that helped take the edge off and make him a bit more relaxed. And I am seriously in love with the way he says Graham.
Could I have cake and not bother watching? I’m bored with the Norton show. Please say yes, Lilac. I have Zodiac and Hollow Crown to watch before Sixlet Minor gets back from cross country and makes the tellybox go all sporty until BAFTA time. In return, I will say, sight unseen, that LEGS was inoffensive on Norton. Deal?
Just skip to about 32 minutes in and just watch the second Red Chair story, you won’t regret it!
Oh dear God, LOL
Oh my god. Debbie. LMAOLOL. I am just..I need to find Debbie in SE London and have many drinks with her and listen to her stories.DYING
It was a great show. You should to watch the “two cats & a rabbit” bit too around the 28 min mark.
You know the other times he’s subdued? His radio interviews. Last night, I posted the link to a video of the one he did with Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode that is up on youtube. Jammy, I posted it particularly for you because of the angle of the camera.
This being Mother’s Day, I hope to wrangle a couple hours to myself and watch Hollow Crown too.
His radio interviews were all delightful on Friday, but I wouldn’t say they were subdued – he sang and played in them – I’d say he was more relaxed than he had been. It made quite a difference to his singing, I thought – he sounded much better than he did than the times he sang on American TV.
Maybe it’s sleeping in his own bed that makes the difference?
@nuttballs, oh my! sorry for the delayed response. What a beautiful nose!
Of course you may! Have all the cake you want. No new territory is covered on the Norton episode – although there actually are quite a few smutty moments and they all have to explain a sexual position to John Malkovich. But there, you have the basics. Time for cake!
Mexican – if there is time later, just for you! I just think the show needs a bit of format refreshment, you know?
Lilac – I shall refrain from asking which position – tempting though it is to ask – and just start stuffing cake. I thank you.
Sixer i have been saying that for ages.GN is at its best when there is genuine discussion and humour within the framework and the guests. And as funny as the red chair was last night I find it hard sometimes to watch people do just about anything for two minutes fame whist the actors sit back laughing.
Last night I noticed there were where times when Graham seemed over controlling but I guess when you have stars who seem to have little rapport with each other he has to move it along.
Just recite your multiplication tables by THREE and you’ll figure it out in two seconds, dear.
icerose – yes, it’s all got a bit by numbers for me.
Nuts – John Malkovich didn’t know THAT? But he looks as though he knows naughty things. I am disappointed.
He may have been pretending not to know!
Having experienced the presence of Malkovich in person – the man is pure sex – I’m rather certain he knows naughty things but he didn’t understand her telling of the positioning in her story and the fact that he asked seemed to stun everyone else and all of them – the three band members, Sara, Sam, and Tom all trying to diagram it for him while Graham tried to shush them was hilarious.
I also think they were slow to pull the lever on her because she began by announcing that she was a mother and they were all waiting to hear how her kids fit into this story.
@Lilacflowers- I thought that was odd, start off by saying you are a mom (with one who is under 18) and then go into sex-gone-wrong story?
@Sixer I think you’d enjoy Tom’s bad review story, which is bound to be floating around as a clip.
I still enjoy the chatty interview style on GN, but have never been able to bear the red chair bit – it just makes me cringe. I end up half-watching from between my fingers or channel-hopping in and out of it.
Ok. I looked that up between listening to Tom Hanks do crying on Desert Island Discs and moving onto the Hollow Crown. ‘Tis funny and you could hear me saying the too RADA bit! But a man must’ve written that because even the naysayers like me think the effete/non-masculine thing is an intrinsic part of whatever charm he has. Lose that, you lose LEGS.
You know I disagree with the effete thing, but that’s because my strongest impressions of him have been when he was oozing stage presence and you could practically taste the testosterone in the air. I think the courteous, careful, self-effacing manner hides a bit of a beast. Rawr!
Of course, that perfectly describes quite a few of his characters, too. It’s certainly a contrast that he is particularly good at portraying.
Non-masculine, sure. Effete? I would not use that word to describe Hiddleston. His charm seems to benefit from Both energy and lack of pretension.
Noname. It’s not my word to describe LEGS. It’s Joss Whedon’s word to describe LEGS. He just meant it to describe the certain British stereotype that LEGS represents. The non-action hero with posh breeding. It seems to annoy people. I’m not sure why. I think it’s a) accurate and b) a funny word, so I intend to continue using it.
Yes, and Joss was confusing his actor with his character.
i think effete if you look at the definition is fairly insulting and not a term i would be inclined to use about anyone use about anyone but by all means use it if that is how you perceive him.I wonder about the comment Josh referenced it. I know Josh at one point was upset because he had to use LOKI as The villain in Avengers and he did not feel he was a strong enough villain.
@icerose, I have never heard that Whedon upset about Loki being the villain of Avengers. In fact, from the things I’ve read and heard out of Whedon it seemed the opposite. For one, as soon as he knew he’d be directing the Avengers, he knew Loki was going to be the villain. Joss is probably the BIGGEST comic geek of all time, seriously. Not only did he understand that Marvel wanted the Avengers film to be faithful to the comic, but Joss seemed to be a big supporter of that too.
Anytime I’ve seen him talk about it he seemed excited about the character Loki and about working with Tom. He’d seen and had been impressed by Tom in Othello back in 2008 and said he was looking forward to working with him because of that as well as being able to see some of the dailies from Thor.
@Cranberry and icerose, I actually looked up the full Joss quote last night, but couldn’t be arsed to post it. It goes:
“But I definitely felt like, ‘I’ve got Earth’s mightiest heroes. I’ve got four of the biggest, baddest, toughest guys out there and I’ve got one effete British character actor.’ They believed very strongly that they didn’t want to add any more mythology, I think was the thing. But it took me a long time to accept that because I was like, ‘they need someone to hit,’”… However, “the ace in the hole is Tom Hiddleston because he’s so compelling and commanding and gracious about it that it became, ‘Oh it’s about how he gets in their heads – it’s going to be fine. But it took me a long time to accept that because they need someone to hit!”
From http://www.comicbookmovie.com/avengers/update-joss-whedon-qa-teases-future-marvel-villain-might-have-beens-for-a71520
He tells this story about thinking Loki wasn’t enough villain on the director’s commentary too, but ends it ‘…and I was *wrong*’, though he doesn’t say ‘effete’ there – I’m pretty sure his intention with that was to contrast his incorrect first impression with the actual outcome in the film.
I agree with icerose. If you look up Effete it definitely has an unfavorable description and would seem like an insult or slight. I’m surprised Joss would choose to used it. I know he thinks a lot of Tom.
I can only think it was a poor choice of words because it’s hard to describe these traits today, especially in US culture. There’s not many common words today to use that don’t have negative connotations i.e. ” non-masculine”, “dandy”, “delicate”, “prissy” etc. I think Joss tried to use something that at least didn’t sound as bad as those words what people tend to fall back on. Most people are not familiar with “effete” and they would then tend to just infer a neutral interpretation.
@ sixer, I know you’re stuck on it because Joss used it, but I think it’s confusing even more than if you just used delicate, dandy or better genteel (although to Americans = “gentle”). IDK, it’s a hard one. There’s just no positive or neutral way to describe non-overt masculinity, neutral characteristics for men. You’re either a man or you’re a p*ssy (i.e. a woman).
@KTE, wrote this before I read you’re post. Still, I think Joss overstated or misstated his meaning in reference to Tom.
@noname Agree. Effete doesn’t describe Tom. It seems like pure insult as opposed to a neutral way of saying non-masculine. I looked up effeminate and unmasculine synonyms and the only things that came up aside from straight out derogatory words like effete and feeble were words like womanish, girlish, womanly, etc. The only word that has a neutral definition is ‘effeminate’ which unfortunately still sounds derogatory because it’s an adverb of ‘feminine’.
In American a lot of time ‘European’ or ‘British’ is used to describe neutral sex, non-masculine characteristics. But it still may have a slight derogatory association, meaning the assumption that Euros and Brits are gay or culturally more gay.
He is a fast learner and this time De Niro is not present. I think that’s all. I love Kermode and Mayo interview most among TH’s several interviews which poured out simultaneously on Friday.
Fingers crossed for Lord Dragonflies’ next Shakespearean project. May it be Much Ado about Nothing.
I am with you 100% on Much Ado. I pray that he’s Benedick…I have a special place in my heart for that play.
The two plays that turned me into a confirmed theatre addict were Othello at the Donmar Warehouse – in which Tom played Cassio – and Much Ado at the National Theatre, which starred Zoe Wanamaker and Simon Russel Beale. I saw them within a week or so of each other, and was hooked.
I don’t know how I’d cope with a production f Much Ado starring Tom. I may completely take leave of my (few remaining) senses and have to be carted off to the funny farm before the curtain call.
@ KTE, I don’t mind Hiddle’s playing Iago. You saw his Cassio! Lucky girl.
Very lucky, as I didn’t know who he was at the time. He made quite the impression!
Iago is so on-the-nose for him I almost hope it’s not that, though it does seem likely.
Yes, Tom as Benedick is my first choice. And a sassy leading lady to play Beatrice. He needs more comedy i his repertoire.
Gingerly This will be amazing if it comes off -now this is worth a trip to Lndon,
Oh, I agree completely with him as Benedick! Fingers crossed that will happen.
Sara Pascoe! I love her, she’s amazing. And John Malkovich! I will watch this episode.
I like the GN show, and watch it ocasionally, but I never watch the red chair segment. It’s usually too cringey.
Sara Pascoe was the best in my book I wish she and Tom had been sitting next to each other because they looked like they could have had some rapport
But then we would have missed Tom and Sam poking and hitting one another.
I caught that too. And Sam saying ‘pole dancing’ a second after Tom, as the mental image clicked into place.
I would rather have had dialogue/discussion/humour than punching but what ever floats your boat.There was a couple recently which have been far more spontaneous with Olivia Coleman and another with the new Star Wars actor
Not that i did not like the actors -it was just a bit restrained and took along time to warm up.
I did wonder if the check out the background of the red chair guests for because some of them are beginning to look like they might have mental health issues and their have been issues about this on UK TV before
I hope Tom is gonna do “Much ado..”. As Benedick. It is Shakespeare AND a romantic comedy!
Maybe it´s gonna be a film version of a play…
With the success of Bendy’s Hamlet, I wonder if the Barbican is going to have Tom headline an NT Live production. It’s just as possible that Branagh has been cooking up something with him that will be shown worldwide, like he did with Winter’s Tale.
Branagh hasn’t announced his schedule for this year yet and he did mention a while back that he did want to do another version of Much Ado and he would love to cast Tom as Benedick. So, it wouldn’t surprise me, especially as Branagh’s play season would align with the end of Thor: Ragnorak filming. I also wouldn’t be surprised if he were to play Iago in a version of Othello because Tom himself seems to have mentioned Othello several times during interviews over the past promotional whirlwind.
Of course, it could be something different altogether or he might not be doing Shakespeare or he might not be doing a play at all but it does seem that he has been heavily hinting that an announcement of a Shakespeare play is coming soon.
I think we can guarantee that his next stage appearance will get an NT Live broadcast.
He’s on record as saying he prefers smaller, more intimate theatres so hopefully it wouldn’t be the Barbican – that place is a barn. The Garrick would be much more his style, though I wouldn’t rule out the Donmar – though that would be a proper ticket scrum.
@lilacflowers
Tom has once appeared in Othello – as Cassius, in a Donmar Warehouse production. He would be a good Iago though – although if he wants to show more range as an actor, going for Benedick would be better than playing another villain.
As long as it is broadcast over here in the States like the last time, it makes no difference to me (but I would love to see Much Ado…).
i read the reviews from the 4th HC episode and apparently they have the camera following Ben continually .He plays him pretty much as Shakespeare wrote him so nothing innovative there.They have also removed a lot of dialogue and they altered/removed / modernised the syntax and vocabulary ,
It was described as a series to help bring Shakepeseare to a younger audience.I am going to watch it this morning
I was talking to friend who was an actor involved in the judging the Olivier two or 3 yrs ago and said it has all changed.It is now producers and not actors or other artistic professionals who do it.It is all producers who push their own shows to the for front,
Very disappointing that artists are no longer involved
TH did NT Live in Coriolanus.
It was very good…
Kaiser–I went through the same thing with my mum!
Had me at complete point non plus for a moment I’ll tell you.
Turns out one of Yahoo’s little info boxes (she’s a Yahoo email user, so it automatically is her homepage and pops boxes up based on her activity)
ANYWAY
The info box, which is otherwise apparently a straight wiki entry, still has Tom listed as married to Susannah Fielding! That wildly inaccurate info that bounced around for a few months in late 2011/early 2012 STILL hasn’t been eradicated from the net!
So, crazy as it sounds, I had to explain JArthy AND SF. Who my mom remembered from Wallander, and that just made everything more complicated.
KTE if it is with Brannagh he tends to go for small venues and casts which are my favourite as well but the only mentions I could find in the press were very speculative re Tom being involved and broUght up by the person interviewing KB.Let me us know if you find anything more definite
defintionofeffete for those whose have not looked it up affected, over-refined, ineffectual, artificial, studied, pretentious, precious, chichi, flowery, mannered;
or
Full Definition of effete. 1 : no longer fertile. 2 a : having lost character, vitality, or strength b : marked by weakness or decadence c : soft or delicate from or as if from a pampered existence <peddled
…
I think think this could apply to John Malkovich but his talent belies it.
My mother, sister and neice have joined the Tom fan club since Night Manager. My mother said separately his features shouldn’t add up so nicely but they do. He’s infecting the female members of my family. My other sister is holding out but I think one more episode will bring her around.
Loved the video. I used to watch GN a lot several years ago before his disastrous American version aired but haven’t in a long time. This reminded me how naughty and funny he can be.
BAFTA Television awards – Navy tux with black labels. Stunning. You have been warned.
I am watching live. Gah. It’s Graham Norton. Did Stephen Fry flounce again? Anyway. Anyone who says that Grayson Perry doesn’t win the red carpet is WRONGER THAN WRONG.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ch8rf0UXIAEwXt4.jpg:large
Love those striped gloves!
Does Fry usually do both the film and tv?
I can’t remember! I just tune in to these things expecting a Fry bonanza.
Oh noes. Idris has lost his voice!
But he looks spectacular! And, lost voice means the ball gag is not necessary.
AND he got to announce Michaela Coel as winner. My night is MADE! If you ever get a chance to see Chewing Gum, do. I love this woman.
I loved her dress. I had to leave to do Mother’s Day stuff just after Idris and returned home just in time to see Tom so I didn’t have to watch all the in-between stuff. Just the pretty stuff.
And the next Bond, Helen McCrory!
i missed Fry -can be so funny on a good night
Ooooooh, he looks purty.
Totally agree with you Lilac. He looked damn fine. But the Bond questions hasn’t stopped yet it seems….
And the Navy tux with black labels was bespoke Burberry.
Could someone fill me in on the whole “he secretly married Jane” theory?? Sounds so intriguing!
I think it’s just an enjoyable running joke because LEGS likes to keep his romantic life on the down low. It’s a question of making stuff up or getting bored because there’s nothing to talk about. I loved JArthy, so I enjoy messing about pretending it’s true.
Aaaah gotcha 😂
Tom said he didn’t have a girlfriend in Esquire. Funny how you won’t cover that.