No matter how talented they might be, actors are still reliant on other people to do their jobs. They need a writer to give them something to work with and a director that understands where they’re trying to take their performance. They need to be put into a position to succeed. Fortunately for Tom Hiddleston, he knew he was in for something special the second he read Joss Whedon’s draft of The Avengers. In fact, he was so amped up about the possibilities that he fired off an epic letter to the writer/ director.
The correspondence stayed with Joss Whedon following the movie, but it was published on Business Insider this week for the first time. Not surprisingly, Marvel fans are eating it up, both because it’s a great behind the scenes tidbit and because it makes Tom Hiddleston somehow seem even more charming.
You can read it in its entirety below…
Joss,I am so excited I can hardly speak.The first time I read it I grabbed at it like Charlie Bucket snatching for a golden ticket somewhere behind the chocolate in the wrapper of a Wonka Bar. I didn't know where to start. Like a classic actor I jumped in looking for LOKI on every page, jumping back and forth, reading words in no particular order, utterances imprinting themselves like flash-cuts of newspaper headlines in my mind: "real menace"; "field of obeisance"; "discontented, nothing is enough"; "his smile is nothing but a glimpse of his skull"; "Puny god" ...... Thank you for writing me my Hans Gruber. But a Hans Gruber with super-magic powers. As played by James Mason ... It's high operatic villainy alongside detached throwaway tongue-in-cheek; plus the "real menace" and his closely guarded suitcase of pain. It's grand and epic and majestic and poetic and lyrical and wicked and rich and badass and might possibly be the most gloriously fun part I've ever stared down the barrel of playing. It is just so juicy.I love how throughout you continue to put Loki on some kind of pedestal of regal magnificence and then consistently tear him down. He gets battered, punched, blasted, side-swiped, roared at, sent tumbling on his back, and every time he gets back up smiling, wickedly, never for a second losing his eloquence, style, wit, self-aggrandisement or grandeur, and you never send him up or deny him his real intelligence.... That he loves to make an entrance; that he has a taste for the grand gesture, the big speech, the spectacle. I might be biased, but I do feel as though you have written me the coolest part.... But really I'm just sending you a transatlantic shout-out and fist-bump, things that traditionally British actors probably don't do. It's epic.
It’s nice to see how genuinely psyched about the role Tom Hiddleston is, and it’s nice to see he’s willing to stop everything he’s doing to give another dude a "transatlantic… fist-bump". Most actors aren’t that humble, and most of them aren’t willing to hand over credit so easily. Clearly, Hiddleston is cut from a different fabric, and judging by his response, Joss Whedon definitely appreciated the letter.
He fired off a response to Hiddleston, and it too will be published in his upcoming book Joss Whedon: The Biography. You can check it out below…
Tom, this is one of those emails you keep forever. Thanks so much. It's more articulate (and possibly longer) than the script. I couldn't be more pleased at your reaction, but I'll also tell you I'm still working on it ... Thank you again. I'm so glad you're pleased. Absurd fun to ensue.Best, (including uncharacteristic fist bump), joss.
Long story short, if any of us could get in on this hyper-creative, comically nice bromance, I’m pretty sure we would. Hopefully for Marvel fans, they’ll continue writing each other sappy letters about how great their collaborative efforts are going decades into the future. We know for positive we’re going to get Avengers 2: Age Of Ultron, but most people are still holding out hope there could be a lot more where that came from.
