‘I feel very humble about being allowed into the profession, because I started as someone in the audience, and I remember going to see a play at The National Theatre in London… It was an Ibsen play with Vanessa Redgrave and Paul Scofield, and it was about a family that was crushed under the weight of it’s own demons. And, I remember being in the audience, and all of us were strangers… but at the end of the play, we were all bound together by a universal and specific recognition of the truth of what was happening on stage. And to me, that’s where acting touching something great. It doesn’t matter if it’s your vulnerability or your joy, or your pain. If it’s real, it will be recognised by the audience. And then it becomes something amazing, and you realise it’s kind of a celebration of humanity. Even if it’s in a big, fun spectacle like the Marvel films. I think that’s what acting has to be, and the greatest actors - the ones I respect - I know that it’s them on screen… With their exploration of, not just their nature, but all human nature.’ ~ Tom Hiddleston

Tom Hiddleston on Creating Loki: Part 2 

‘However, if i’m sort of being asked to go up the board and someone says: “Come on! The water’s great!” and i’m kind of looking down, going: “I don’t know? I just don’t feel like swimming today...” I’ve just not got to go anywhere near it, because most acting roles are genuinely so challenging, and so demanding - in the best way - that unless you just love every second of it, it’s not worth it.’ ~ Tom Hiddleston on how he chooses acting roles

Thomas William Hiddleston™

‘With a lot of passion, and putting yourself ‘out there’ - being very open to how you approach life, and obviously how you approach your work -  does open yourself up to a failure of the standard you want to be at. And also it just opens you up so a lot of people can take shots at that. How do you slay that dragon, or you just don’t think about it?’

‘ As a teenager your life becomes a lot more complex and your curiosity about things changes, and you become interested in the complexity and the ambiguity of things. I find at most schools in the world, that kind of curiosity isn’t indulged to it’s fullest degree because they want you to behave… So [acting] is a way of exploring life in someone else’s shoes - and also entertaining people of course.’ 

‘Simply because I was good at it! But I did love it... I genuinely loved the stories. The Greek epics and their Roman - sort of - inheritors are full of gods and monsters. These huge stories of tragedy and fallibility and philosophy: that was the thrill for me. Reading about this ancient civilisation who seemed to live at a deeper, louder pitch than I did, and I found that very thrilling… I love big shapes, where huge characters rise and fall.’ ~ Tom Hiddleston on why he chose to study Classics at university

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