The Amazing Way Tom Hiddleston Helped Prepare Loki's Cast And Crew
It's not easy being Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Sure, being a god of mischief sounds glamorous, but it's not all it's cracked up to be. Loki's boss is Thanos who, as we may recall, ultimately murders him. And even before that, Loki has a strict stepdad (Anthony Hopkins), a brother with a hammer and very large muscles (Chris Hemsworth), and the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) has a tendency to toss him around the room like a rag doll. No wonder he's blue (in the sense that Loki is a Frost Giant and they are literally blue).
All those things combined could theoretically make Loki a hard character to study. So, what do you do if you're writing/directing/producing a TV series for Disney+ called "Loki?" What's the best way to properly write the character? Talk to Tom Hiddleston. After all, the actor has been playing the constantly-evolving trickster god since 2011's "Thor."
It turns out, that's exactly what the team behind "Loki" did — and Tom Hiddleston was only too happy to oblige in sharing his decade's worth of expertise. What did they dub this crash course?
Owen Wilson graduated from Loki School
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, some of the creative team behind the upcoming "Loki" Disney+ series spoke about "Loki School" and what it brought to the series.
"I got [Hiddleston] to do a thing called Loki School when we first started," explained director Kate Herron. "I asked him to basically talk through his 10 years of the MCU — from costumes to stunts, to emotionally how he felt in each movie."
However, the real benefit of the education seemed to be for Hiddleston himself and the actor playing his boss, Owen Wilson. Apparently, during the process, Wilson asked Hiddleston what it was exactly that he loved about playing Loki.
"And I said, 'I think it's because he has so much range,'" Hiddleston explained. "I remember saying this to him: 'On the 88 keys on the piano, [Loki] can play the twinkly light keys at the top. He can keep it witty and light, and he's the God of Mischief, but he can also go down to the other side and play the heavy keys. And he can play some really profound chords down there, which are about grief and betrayal and loss and heartbreak and jealousy and pride.'"
That's an apt explanation for Loki. In the last decade, he's spent equal time lording over the mewling quim of humanity, grieving the death of his mother, and getting into constant rows with Thor to hilarious effect.
Apparently, Wilson was touched by Hiddleston's description. "He said, 'I think I might say that in the show,' explains Hiddleston. "And it was such a brilliant insight for me into how open Owen is as an artist and a performer.'"
"Loki" begins streaming on Disney+ on June 9, 2021. Notebooks and pens will not be required.