Happy Sad Confused - Tom Hiddleston, Vol. II

Episode Date: July 21, 2021

How could we let an event like "Loki" go by without chatting with one of our faves, Tom Hiddleston?! Tom returns on this episode of the podcast for a deep dive into his beloved Marvel character, plus some geeking out about one of his favorite comfort movies, "Cast Away". Don't forget to check out the Happy Sad Confused patreon here! We've got exclusive episodes of GAME NIGHT, video versions of the podcast, and more! For all of your media headlines remember to subscribe to The Wakeup newsletter here! And listen to THE WAKEUP podcast here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Get after him or have you shot You mean blow up the building From this moment on None of you are safe New episodes every Wednesday Wherever you get your podcasts prepare your ears humans happy sad confused begins now today on happy sad confused tom hiddleston returns to talk all things loki plus his comfort movie castaway hey guys i'm josh harwitz welcome to another edition of happy sad confused yes mr tom hittleston back on the

podcast at long last of course i wasn't going to let something like loki go by without inviting tom back on the and thankfully he said yes. I got a chance to talk to Tom a couple times in recent weeks, one for MTV on camera. You can still catch that approximately 20-minute conversation, I believe, over on MTV News's YouTube page. That was a lot of fun. But that was at the beginning of Loki.

This time I got a chance to catch up with him towards the end. Now, not at the very end. We actually chatted right before episode six dropped, so there are actually, are not any spoilers for the end of Loki in this episode. So if you're worried about that, don't worry. We do talk a bit about some of the guest stars that have appeared through episode five. But that being said, my guess is if you're here for a Tom Hiddleston podcast, you've probably watched Loki. You might have watched Loki twice or three times.

So you're in the right place. Don't worry. This is another fantastic chat with Tom, who have obviously chatted with a bunch over the years. This is primarily about Loki, but also a bit about, you know, we always like to geek out about film around here. And especially with folks like Tom who know their stuff, his comfort movie choice was fantastic. A movie that I adore the great castaway from Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks in a remarkable performance, virtually isolated for at least half, if not two-thirds of this film, unless you count Wilson, another great performance. So you'll hear Tom wax eloquent about Tom Hanks and Roberts and Mex's great film a little bit later on. Other things to mention, if you haven't checked out the latest episode of Game Night,

my totally impartial advice to you is check it out. We're having a lot of fun over at the Patreon page. Patreon.com slash happy, said, confused. That's where you'll find the latest episode with Sam Hew and Karen Gillen and Jamie Alexander, 45 minutes of madness in the best possible way. I should say we also have some really, really cool episodes coming up to already in the can with guests, like, ginormous, crazy, ginormous A-list stars. It's kind of absurd that these folks are agreeing to my shenanigans, but hey, God bless them.

I guess everybody likes to have a good time, and I appreciate their time and their openness to just geeking out and being silly on Game Night. Other things to mention, well, I'll mention one thing. Nothing confirmed or set in stone yet, but I did get a chance to... to watch the Suicide Squad from James Gunn, the new interpretation of that material. Obviously, David Eyre had a take that was somewhat compromised a few years back. This compromise is not the word for this take. This is James Gunn, through and through.

If you love James Gun, Guardians, et cetera, you're going to dig this movie. Some great casting choices. I love Idris Elba in this movie, and I'm a huge Idris fan. And frankly, I think he has not been served well by his material that he's had. He's just not had great writing or films that he's been in for the most part. There are some exceptions. But I think this one really makes good use of Idraselba, like just awesome movie star. It's a good role for him, not to mention folks like John Cena, who's hilarious, and Margot, Robbie, and down the line.

So I want to recommend Suicide Squad, but I also want to say that hopefully we're going to have some cool stuff, perhaps on the podcast, perhaps over at MTV or Comedy Central, or on Game Night, maybe a combination, some things are afoot. with a cast that big, obviously attention must be paid, and I am certainly doing that. Last plug. Oh, I know what I want to mention. I mentioned this before, but you guys should really be checking out the wake-up. This is a great newsletter from my buddy, Sean McNulty, who does this daily digest, basically. And I don't know about you. I have trouble keeping up with, like, the entertainment headlines day after day.

They just kind of flood by if I'm on my Twitter feed, hopefully I catch most of them. this newsletter is a godsend it's like comes in every morning and within a quick two three minute read you are totally up to speed on all the biggest headlines in media entertainment tv film streaming all of it so go check out the wakeup.substack.com free newsletter totally free of charge hits your email inbox and you are all up to date so that's my unsolicited plug of the week the wake up from my buddy Sean Anyway, let's get on to the main event. It's time.

Another chat with the man of the hour. We know him. We love them. We're obsessed with him in a good way, hopefully. Here's my conversation with Mr. Tom. It'll stay. Tom, it's good to see you, man. Thank you so much for rejoining me on the podcast.

Are you feeling happy, sad, or confused from the reception to Loki thus far? Happy. Happy. Is it a different experience? This must feel a little bit different than. I mean, you've had these quintessentially unique Marvel experiences, these global blockbusters. But there's something about the week to week, the interaction with the audience. Have you been enjoying that develop? Yeah, the week to week thing is so, it is so fun. Every Tuesday night, I get a bit nervous again. Every time, oh, no, another one tomorrow. It's sort of like, you know, the opening night nerves, I suppose. But it's, but to, I suppose, to understand, to really understand the engagement week by week and that people have, um, have engaged with the show.

With such, um, kind of curiosity and affection is, it's just, it's so, um, I never take it for granted. that I don't take it for granted. It's a wonderful thing. I feel very, it's very meaningful for me. We work really hard on this. We thought about it a lot. And this extraordinary crew worked through the pandemic,

through so many challenges, and keeping the goal of a great show in mind. So I'm really, it's a real honor. You're reaping the rewards in many ways, the good reviews, the fans just, reveling in it and finally at long last getting your own cereal congratulations oh goodness for those listening to the podcast i'm showing tom the image of loki charms which i don't know what genius in what board meeting came up with this but give them a raise sure yeah i'm yet to i'm yet to partake

You haven't tasted your own charms yet. I haven't supped or breakfasted on a bowl of Loki charms. But, you know, expect the unexpected, I guess. Yeah, I don't know if that's what I want out of a cereal necessarily. Like, whoof, you know what's in them. Can they be trusted? Can't they really be trusted? Like any local.

Exactly. Yeah. So as we tape this, there's one more episode to go, so we can't get into it. to full spoiler territory, but five episodes in, we've seen a lot of exciting surprises as we've gone, including the legend that is. We knew that Richard E. Grant was going to be in the show. I'm sure you, I guess, again, judging from our conversations over the years,

whether it's with Nail and I or his performance in Hudson Hawk, which I will stand by as scene stealing amazingness. Did you delight in watching Richard E. Grant, Don, the Loki gear, the quintessential, the old school Loki gear. A legend in our lifetime. Yes. I was so excited. I genuinely don't know what we would have done if he hadn't said yes. Because we sort of

It's perfect. It's like it was the only it was only him. And yeah, I think if I'm completely honest Richard is probably part of my unconscious kind of inspiration for aspects of Loki. You know, I first watched with Nail and I when I was 14, and it was, as that film already was, this enormous classic in British culture. And now, of course, I know it's beyond these shores. and he was so charismatic and unpredictable and funny and brilliant and he's just a genius and all of that sort of sense of all the sort of with nailish qualities are quite lokiish qualities or maybe they're just richardie grant qualities but but he's he was so he became so ready and so generous and so kind as everyone who's worked with him knows,

um, and funny and, um, just up, he was just up for it and, yeah, and committed, completely committed with,

with the whole thing. Um, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,

I think he really, he really enjoyed it. It really tickled him. Um, one of, one of, one of, one of our listeners,

Kelly Fowler actually had a question. She said, did you give Richard any tips and had a manage the horns. Do you just let him fend for himself or do you... Yeah, I just let him go. I mean, do you give Richard D. Grant tips on anything? I don't think so. But, you know, there's a, there's a, I'll tell you a story about Richard is I remember I had been, there was a day, I had been wrapped for the afternoon. It was a Friday, I think. and it was about 2 o'clock in the afternoon

and I was in my I was at base camp in my trailer and there was lots of new pages and there was some admin I had to do and it was Friday afternoon I thought I could just stay here and do the admin and it would save me having to do it tomorrow morning but then I heard one of the assistant directors

the ADI said, is it Richard, is he, is Richard, what's Richard doing this afternoon? And it was a scene where he was confronting Eliath. And I suddenly said, can you let me know, can you just let me know when he's doing that? And he, and so there was a knock on my door and they said, just so you know, they're doing it now. And I ran over to the sound stage. And I'm so glad that I didn't do whatever admin it was that I had to do because I turned up. And there was about 25 minutes left. And it was Richard on this enormous sound stage covered in, you know, what looks like kind

of rather drab, English countryside. Lots of earth, lots of grass, lots of beautiful bits of design. With an extraordinary light show around him, orchestrated by Autumn Dural, their amazing DP. But it really, and a camera on a crane above, sort of down. around him, but it really was, and it was classic Loki's final confrontation with Eliath. But of course, as anyone who knows anything

about making these films knows Eliath, we were greatly assisted by our visual effects team in post-production. And so what I got to see was I had a front row seat to absolutely pure imagination from Richard. And it was incredibly moving. I can imagine, I got a chance to talk to him, I got a chance to talk to him a bunch on the can you ever forgive me kind of trained,

which I love that movie and I love that performance. And he was so enthusiastic about every aspect of that opportunity. I mean, he's been in the business for a long time and he's been through the ups and downs and just so grateful and just, I mean, filled to the brim with stories, his love of Barbara Streisand. Everything about him brims with just joy. And I can imagine seeing him at work, it must be the same kind of thing. and must be inspiring as another actor.

Pure commitment, pure commitment to the active imagining. You know, in that moment, there was nothing else to assist him. Right. But he believed he was classic Loki, you know, going up against Eliathan. And there was all of that sort of vulnerability in his resistance. It was just, it was actually an amazing afternoon. It was his last shot. I was really happy I was there.

Was it ever on the table for you? Was it ever on the table for you to portray any additional variance? We obviously saw President Loki by the time I've seen through episode five. I mean, I suppose there's an iteration of the show where you're playing dozens of variants. Were there any other specific ones on the table or ideas on the table for you to play additional ones? Yeah, I think so. We certainly wanted to maybe to suggest that the variant, that we're kind of running. we're running towards in episode two might be you might be you know might be

suggesting to the audience that this this loki could be coming up but in front of a mirror image of himself right and that he is as surprised as anyone when it's not it's Sylvie yeah or someone who is revealed to be Sylvie later on and yeah I think there were always there's that scene in the when B-15 and Mobyus are trying to explain to the team of Hunters and Minuteman about what, you know, the danger of this particular variant and there's a sort of some kind of presentation of all these different loki's and there's a loki who's like won the Tour de France and and a sort of, I don't know, there's all these, all these

images I hadn't seen, which made me laugh, of particular loki's with my face on it, which I think this loki, my loki, finds quite surprising. Right. But, you know, because up until this point, he thought he was unique. Turns out there's... Time a dozen. Yeah, right. It's a long road to humility, right?

It's a long road to humility. We've talked many times about Kenneth Brahma, who is in... extricably linked to your casting in this role and developing what you did in the first place. I'm just curious, have you kept in touch with him since, in recently? Like, has he caught the new, the new Loki? And I'm also curious if, like, you've ever explored, obviously he never returned tomorrow. Hasn't yet. It's a long career. Who knows? Have you ever discussed Brana returning to Helm or write any further Loki story? Do you know, the last time I was in touch with him, he sent a very kind note in honour of my 40th birthday.

And yeah, he mentioned it then. I haven't actually, I think he's been making something and I've been making something. So actually, I would love to check in. anyway. We kind of look each other up and catch up on things. And he's always making things. He's always, I mean, he never, he never stops. His creative engine is, is always running. I suppose it's the end and the yang, like, in the second, the second part of what I was talking about is, like, part of the joy over the years has been putting Loki in the hands of people like Kenneth or Tyca or now Kate and Michael Waldron.

Yes, yes. Letting them their own take filter through the Loki. Absolutely. Yeah. But I remember, so Kenneth Brown had directed a production of Hamlet in the summer of 2017, in which I played Hamlet, and we loved making that. It was just the most incredible honor to be guided through that play by him, who knows the play so well.

and he was so generous with me in opening up his knowledge of the play, but also understanding that it was also going to be my interpretation, and there were going to be things I discovered in the play that were my own. But during that process, of course, we talked a lot about. I think by then I had filmed the scene in Infinity War. I can't remember if I told him, but we definitely talked about Loki. We always do. And that first Thor film remains one of the most special experiences of my life.

Just was a very special time. And we all remember it. Everyone who was there remembers it. It's Ken, Chris, myself and Anthony Hopkins and Meno Russo and Natalie and Cat and Jamie and everyone remembers it with real affection. How many offers over the years have you received two affections? a wedding in the guise of Loki, you must get these outlandish bizarre requests. No, I'm not weddings, actually.

Really? I don't think I have. This is an unexplored revenue stream that would be very lucrative for you in your next decade. I mean, it's a gamble to ask Loki to officiate a wedding. I see. Well, look, marriage is a gamble. It's most people getting married. at least want the wedding to go well, you know.

Fair enough. It's a hell of an image. It's a hell of a tone to strike to say, you know, we're going to set out on this journey together with the God of Mischief in our midst. So, yeah, that's one that hasn't come my way thus far. But, you know, as always, expect the unexpected. Have you been keeping up with, I know you've been working,

but did you watch Wanda Vision and Falcon and Winter Soldier? Yes, I did. Yes, I did. I love them both. I mean, what I love is that there's this endless capacity for invention to take characters who are familiar and put them in different contexts and find new ways of exploring their depth

and all the complexity that they contain. Both very different, I thought. Very different in tone. I mean, the way, the way Jack Schaefer and the team on Wanda Vision sort of explored the nature of television through the prism of Wanda's grief and her mind and the nature of creativity in and of itself is just so clever and so enjoyable and so brilliantly performed as well by everybody And then I think, you know, what Malcolm Spellman and Guy Scroggland and Anthony and Sebastian did and the whole team on Falcon with a Soldier is really taking these two characters and understanding their loss and the whole that has been left by the absence of Captain America and what that means, what being Captain America.

American means now today and and and and really looking into some some very complex issues which I thought was was really interesting and yeah I enjoyed that enormously it felt like it had had weight absolutely yeah I mean it's if nothing else these first three shows show the risks that Marvel's still willing to take even maybe more so than ever and the goodwill, I feel like that Feige and company have accumulated. They're like, they're spending it in the right way, like by taking chances, which is so inspiring and exciting. If you'll indulge me, I asked you for a comfort movie, my friend.

And I've been asking folks in the last year, especially when we needed a lot of comfort in our lives for movies that they've returned to over the years. And, you know, I was guessing, you know, we've talked before about heat and Ghostbusters. You went a different way. I did. But in some ways. This film, I'm not surprised in many ways. Tell us what your comfort movie pick was.

My comfort movie pick is Castaway. And in a nutshell, yeah, what's your sell us on Castaway, as if it needs selling? So Castaway, Tom Hanks plays a very stressed and busy man who works for FedEx. And he needs to get this delivery on time and it's Christmas and he sort of, you know, absent mindedly says goodbye to his family, but he'll get back and see them soon. And he's flying across the world and the next thing he knows, he's, you know, washed up on a deserted island, bruised and battered and he's on his own. and hopes, sort of, within hours, to be rescued.

And the hours turn into days, and the days turn into weeks. And it really is a story about survival and isolation and perseverance and resilience and really finding meaning in the experience of being alive. And who better to carry you through those deep themes than Tom Hanks. And I, so it's a bit of history that I remember I was,

I can't remember exactly how old I was, but I was in my sort of late teens and I think during the holiday period I suddenly kind of got, I got rather ill. I got very, I woke up with a fever and had it, and felt very, very shivery and really unwell. And so kind of cancelled some plans and went to bed and on the sort of, as I was sort of coming out of that, it was nothing serious at all. It was just, you know, some winter bug that was just not bad timing. Right.

And it was on, I'm ashamed to say, I didn't see it at the movies for the first time I saw it on television at home. coming out of this illness. And it was, I was just completely, I was completely emotionally overwhelmed by it. I found it so moving because it's about holding on. And not that I, I'm not drawing any analogy between my state of health

and where Tom Hanks is. It was just sort of, I just felt very, had this very private connection to the film. I watched it on my own. It's so touching that it's about finding ways to carry on when the going gets tough or when you find yourself in impossible circumstances and you're looking for something to carry you through. And I still think the way that it's handled is just really moving.

No, it's very primal, it's very basic. and like some of the speeches he talks about is you know just like the sun rising and falling breathing in and out every day just taking it one day at a time and just well there's something he learns about life you know he he he had a his life was busy and it was probably over busy and um and relentless i think he talks about it at some point the character talks about being relentless and and i think he probably a lot of life passes him by because he's not paying attention And it's this period of adversity which teaches him to pay attention. But also those who he carries in his heart are the things that keep him going. And that there are two things to say, really. The first is the relationship with Wilson. You know, like we all, I don't know anyone alive who doesn't love that relationship. It's just so, it's so touching and it's so sweet.

And, you know, one of the packages that's washed up on the shore is this little football. And it's made by Wilson and he's like to, and somehow he projects his own kind of, in effect, there's some rage at his ineffectuality because he's, you know, he's hurt himself or something. And he's picked up this inanimate object and thrown it across the beach. And then he realizes he left a handprint and it looks like a face and he decides that he can externalize these terrible, tormented conversations he's having with himself and have them with his other character. And you become, how does he do this, I don't know, how does Tom Hanks do this, that you

care so much about this inanimate Wilson and when he's trying to build that raft and trying to get past the reef and he realizes in his confusion that Wilson was away I mean I defy anyone not to just to burst in ball it's one of the most heartbreaking scenes yeah because you realize it's been the thing that's been whole it's been like a his adoptive thing the thing that's been given him meaning and purpose and it's and it's floating away and the second thing to say is the when he's finally reunited with his wife who who had who long ago has had had has had to you know has not to move on yeah and he's able to to integrate that

into his understanding and say and say that you know all it mattered that mattered that you were there because I what is it what's the quote I had to keep breathing because the next day the sun will rise and who knows what the tide could bring that's it yeah and for anyone who has ever gone through a hard time any challenge or any difficulty and sometimes those experiences can feel extremely isolating and extremely lonely that is that is a lifeline and it's um yeah it just is a beautiful tribute to that capacity doesn't surprise me in addition to everything you just said it checks other boxes that that i you know innately know about you it we talked about the hanks performance it has one of

the great, like, just screen performances. Yeah. It has, it's directed by the director that I'm sure means a lot to you from the 80s and 90s, Robert Zemeckis, who just, by the way, one of the amazing facts behind the making of this film, as anyone that's seen the film knows, Hank's goat undergoes this remarkable physical transformation, which necessitated them shooting it, basically a year apart. And in that intermediate year, Roberts Mekas made one of the great thrillers, what lies beneath, which is a very underrated, great piece of pulp.

entertainment. Not to mention the one other thing I'll mention that I thought of when I thought of you picking this is it features a great I know you love a great film score and Alain Silvestri's score

is so moving and is you know it's the cliche to say it's another character in the film but with a film where there aren't that many characters Sylvester's score really carries a lot of the weight. Well Sylvester's score in that moment when Wilson floats away

is yeah will tear your heart out. Yeah. And in a way, maybe Sylvester's score is Wilson, too. And Wilson is a co-creation by Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis and Alan Silvestri that we believe in Wilson because they do. Yeah. Tom Hanks obviously is maybe the quintessential movie star,

every man actor of the last 20, 30 years in cinema. When you look at his career, is that the role that, like, if you could like, dip your toe in and give a swing at a Tom Hanks performance? Is that the one that jumps out? I mean, there's probably a few. There's only one, Tom Hanks. He's the original T.H. Tom H. I don't know.

It's one of those ones. I mean, I think maybe it's a childhood question I always had of, of we all, I think we all would be intrigued to know. how we would fare on our own on a desert island it's one of our great it's one of the great kind of existential questions we all have if you know if faced with that challenge how would we measure up you know there's this terrific um radio program that's been running uh in this country on the BBC for like desert island discs you know if you could take music onto a desert island what would it be and I think this idea of the durability of the human spirit is

something that will always think about and if you if you actually if you took away all the things that make that were familiar to us if you if you took away home if you took away community if you took away family and friendship if you had to fend truly for yourself and be returned to to the wilderness and that wilderness was was hot and sandy and full of strange predators and you know how would you get on and they were all intrigued by that question it gets out a little bit and we remember we talked about this when we were talking about betrayal and i asked you about at that time kind of like you stepping back from social media yeah and you were talking about

like kind of getting back to reality getting back to like what's important and that what you were talking about before really reminds me of that it's it's just another mechanism and or a way of stripping back and just accepting what's real, the real stuff of their lives. And I think in the film, that's what happens to Tom Hanks, is so in the, in the, in the, in the, he experiences so much loss, but also he, he, he, he, he discovers who he is. Yeah.

Um, perhaps in a way that he never would or never would have. Um, if he hadn't undergone that experience. Um, I'm hoping it's not an experience I have to get my life to find out who I am. There are other ways of challenging oneself. You know what? This will be gold as a podcast if by some horrible stretch of fate you end up on the Desert Island, I'll be able to at least say, look at this crazy conversation we had.

Yeah. Tom Hales that is missing on the Desert Island. Well, can you, you know, can you, can you just keep, just don't stop looking, Josh, okay? I think you know of all the people in the world. Just come and find me. top 10 of people that will keep looking for you, my friend. Come and find me. Just leave.

I won't be doing very well out there. You know, I won't be doing well. To quote Daniel Davis and Lastin Mohicans, I will find you. Oh, that's another, there you go. That was one of the choices for a comfort movie. It really was. I almost, I actually almost, that's our unconscious transmission right there, because I almost picked, I almost picked that film,

and I did watch it in lockdown as well. the last 15 minutes of that film again no dialogue music is one of the great pieces of film ever yes um betrayal was our last like lengthy chat before all the madness we talked recently recently of course about loki but i'm curious if that my sense is that experience you know it's always the cliche like did this change you as an actor is it fair to say that that experience doing the play in london and in new in new york um based on the material and the and just the way it was done do you feel like that has some lasting changes on you as an actor whether it's the actual acting or the priorities or whatever uh certainly yes um i've never i've never performed something that's for that many

performances and for that length of time we did i think we did 272 performances across one year and the privilege of doing it was almost bound up with the discipline of doing it was something was going was knowing that every day you go in and and excavate that material often twice a day and that the the audience coming to see it on any given evening, has never seen it before, and deserves as much commitment and as much rigor as the first night audience. And the discipline of that is real.

And I find it really part of the commitment of being an actor, which is you've got to turn up and give your best and throw your shoulder to the wheel and open your heart part and and um it's a it's a it's a privilege to do the job it really is um and um i felt very because of it i went straight from betrayal into loki and felt very um i don't know i felt very fresh i felt very um like all the all the tools have been sharpened somehow maybe i don't know do you think you'll be producing more you produced on night manager you produce you're an

executive producer on Loki, is there a desire to develop your own material? Does that feel like something that's important? I mean, it seems like you're obviously getting the opportunities you want and need, even if you're not self-generating them, but is that something you think you'll prioritize at some point? I hope so. I've really enjoyed what the role is on both Loki and the Knight Manager. Because for me, what it really was was the privilege

of being included with a place at the table of the collective imagination. As it's a, it's just more comments, you have deeper conversations about the work much, much earlier, and it runs through the whole project and you keep having the conversations still much, much later than you would if you were simply an actor for high. And I love being an actor and I would continue to do it.

But it was something about being in the engine room where you're generating stories and having time to... Because sometimes when you're filming, we often have time, but not a lot of time to invent and create new things. Right. But some of that time, the true creativity of like, let's just spend a couple of hours talking about this and having ideas and discussing them

and going down avenues that maybe lead to extraordinary opportunities or going down that avenues and go, well, that's a cul-de-sac. Ignore me, pretend I didn't say it, you know, often, in my case. And saying, is that the right way of doing this, of transforming this particular idea? Is there some other way of getting this in? Do we need to put a bit more of this flavor in this scene? Do we need to dial up this scene? Do we need to refine this or simplify this or make this more complex?

And so being a part of those conversations was just hugely, was a huge privilege. And it felt like there was this incredible, and it's quite rare, so worth saying. But this incredible team of people whose watches were completely single. synchronized. And there was so much respect. And that's Kate Heron, Michael Waldron, Kevin Wright, Stephen Broussard, of course, Kevin Feige, Louis di Esposito, and Victoria, Alonzo. But really, sort of the five of us on the ground in Atlanta, just constantly... In the trenches, just digging into the material. And that must be just, yeah. And you have the tools, you have the budget you need. And it's just like, oh, we can.

can really we can create we can we can create yeah but a lot of it is is um is sitting around a big table um much of it as a social distance so this so take we've got more tables in to sit further apart um and uh opening up the scripts and and say what's saying what do we think yeah for hours on end and having you know some really interesting discussions um a lot of Two for two. I was going to say two for two so far on your executive producing. If all the projects you produce are as good as Night Manager and Loki, forget the acting. Just produce, man. You're making amazing material. Here's my ulterior motive. I want you to produce because let's just get the next

real collaboration between you and Benedict, the two-hander film that like we, like, here's what I wanted. I'm bummed. There's a face off two sequel. Face Off Two should star Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hylston. I'll let him know. I'll let him know. You know, that's an eye. That is an idea. Wow. Do you need... That's a nice way I'm saying it's a bad idea. That's it.

It's definitely an idea, Josh. It's an idea. It's an idea. Look, you know, he... Yeah. You're opening... My mind is suddenly kind of exploded with ideas and opportunities. We could go really matter with it as well.

Have a bowl of Loki charms. That fuels my creativity. Okay. have a bowl of loki charms and lie down and stare at the ceiling and picture the scene imagine the ceiling is a movie theater and everything will become clear that's my creative process um thank you as always my friend i know you know we talked recently about loki but i appreciate you taking the time for a bit of a deeper dive and it's it's always a pleasure to have you on the podcast and um i have a feeling hopefully next time we'll we'll meet in person and that will be that would be that would be so nice. That would be, I can't wait for that. That would be really, really nice. Yeah. Don't get on any sketchy FedEx planes. I don't like to lose you in the Pacific. I won't. I wrote, even if it's to see you, that would be tantalizing. Don't take that risk. Imagine if I, imagine if I just sent you a quick note. Hey, Josh, I'm on my way. I'm coming to see you.

And then you turn up and be like, is it on, what happened? Where's Tom? It's like, well, my heart can't take it. You've got news for you. That's the horrible way to end us. He was traveling on it. There was a cargo plane with some extra. There were some Wilson balls. Not even secreting that into the universe. We're going to see each other, and it's not going to be in those circumstances.

Yes. Thank you, buddy. I appreciate it. Thank you, sir. And so ends another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm a big podcast person. I'm Daisy Ridley, and I definitely wasn't pressure to do this by Josh.

I'm Amy Nicholson, the film critic for the L.A. Times. And I'm Paul Shear, an actor, writer, and director. You might know me from The League, Veep, or my non-eligible for Academy Award role in Twisters. We love movies, and we come at them from different perspectives. Yeah, like Amy thinks that, you know, Joe Pesci was miscast in Goodfellas, and I don't. He's too old. Let's not forget that Paul thinks that dude too is overrated. It is.

Anyway, despite this, we come together to host Unspooled, a podcast where you talk about good movies, critical hits. Fan favorites, must-season, and case you miss them. We're talking Parasite the Home Alone. From Greece to the Dark Night. We've done deep dives on popcorn flicks. We've talked about why Independence Day deserves a second look. And we've talked about horror movies, some that you've never even heard of like Ganges and Hess. So if you love movies like we do, come along on our cinematic adventure.

Listen to Unspooled wherever you get your podcasts. And don't forget to hit the follow button.