Happy Sad Confused - Tom Hiddleston, Vol. VI

Episode Date: June 5, 2025

Of course Tom Hiddleston is back! His latest film, THE LIFE OF CHUCK, is earning rave reviews so the man himself is here to talk about it, plus his return as Loki, his Everest adventure, Much Ado About Nothing, and what his favorite project in his career is. Check out the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Happy Sad Confused patreon here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! We've got discount codes to live events, merch, early access, exclusive episodes, video versions of the podcast, and more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you're with Amex Platinum, you get access to exclusive dining experiences and an annual travel credit. So the best tapas in town might be in a new town altogether. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at Amex.ca. The twisted tale of Amanda Knox is an eight-episode episode Hulu original limited series that blends gripping pacing with emotional complexity, offering a dramatized look as it revisits the wrongful conviction of Amanda Knox for the tragic murder of Meredith Kircher and the relentless media storm that followed. The twisted tale of Amanda Knox is now streaming only on Disney Plus.

just shout Loki at me in the street or on airplanes. They just shout it. What do you do? You just get them all. Or they go, hey Loki and I go, I'm Tom. Nice to meet you. What's your name? And they go, Loki.

I go, your name is not Loki. What's your name? Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, sad, confused begins now. Hey guys, it's Josh. Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. We have one of our all-time great. of our all-time greats on the pod.

It's time to reunite with Tom Hiddleston. You knew it was coming. He's got a new movie, a celebrated new movie. It's called The Life of Chuck. Of course, I was going to catch up with one of our faves, Mr. Hiddleston, and he does not disappoint on this episode of Happy Say I Confused. Thanks, guys, as always, for listening or watching. Before we get into Tom, as always, let me remind you,

Patreon.com slash Happy Say I Confused is your friend. friend, if you want to dive into more things, happy, say, confused. If you want the early access, yes, you get all the episodes before anybody else on the planet. Plus, depending on the tier level, you choose, exclusive merch, autographed posters, opportunities to ask questions of our guests, all sorts of fun stuff. Check it out. See if it's for you.

And if you are so inclined, it helps us out on the podcast to make more of this for you. This is going to be the sixth episode with Mr. Hiddleston. And he, as I said, he never disappoints. He is a thoughtful gentleman. And look, if you've seen my work, you've probably seen my work with Tom. So you know that we get along. We know, you know we have a long history. And this was a great chat because he is in the middle of things right now.

And coming off of a West End run, I'm much to about nothing. which we talk about, going into, actually in the middle of production on this Everest film, which he does talk about, but also promoting in this small window, The Life of Chuck, which is a beautiful movie. I got a chance to first see it in Toronto last year at the Toronto Film Festival. It won the Audience Award there. If you know anything about film festivals, you know that is very meaningful. We'll see what this portends for award season, but often the audience of

Award winner is in the mix, in the mix. So we'll see. Fingers crossed for Tom and Mike Flanagan, who directed this one. It is a Stephen King adaptation, but think more. Shawshank Redemption, stand by me, Stephen King. This is not horror. If anything, this is the other end of the spectrum. This is a very sweet, thoughtful, earnest, at time, profound, very moving story of a

ordinary life told in three different sections. And Tom is indeed Chuck. It is an interesting role in that while he hangs over the entire film, he's actually not in the film a lot. Don't let that dissuade you. What he is in is fantastic. There is a huge dance sequence that doesn't reveal anything. I think it's in the trailers and the marketing. But as Tom and I talk about, long history of Tom Hiddleston dancing. Amusing all of us on the internet. I have personal experience with this. If you've seen my slumber party episode with Tom way back when, him dancing on a bed for me. So I know the power of Tom Hiddleston dancing. And now the world will see it in a dramatic piece. Yeah, so we cover a lot about the film,

about these new efforts both on stage, this Everest film, which sounds fascinating. His return to Marvel. Of course, we talked about Loki is back. Loki is back. So we tease a little bit of that. I also make Tom's brain explode and melt at the same time by forcing him to choose his greatest film TV project. Stay tuned for that one. It's a fun little piece of the of the conversation. So enjoy this. Most importantly, check out The Life of Chuck. Really special movie. I've always adored Mike Flanagan's work, and this is probably my favorite piece of his work. I mean, I've enjoyed some of the, you know, the limited series, but in terms of the films, probably my favorite, and I've seen it a couple times now, and it's just, it's moving and very unique.

So couldn't recommend this one highly enough, and I hope you guys get a kick out of my reunion over Zoom with Mr. Tom Hiddleston. Enjoy. Uh, hey Tom, how's it going, man? How are you? I'm so well. I'm sorry, I couldn't be there in person, but it's good to see you regardless. It's great to see you. Look, I mean, it's going well.

It's going well. Obviously, one of my favorite people, one of my favorite movies in recent memory, we had to podcast. We weren't not going to podcast. Absolutely, we did. Yeah, yeah. It was a, here we are. Here we are. So, okay, so you know I love this movie.

This is a very special movie for a number of reasons. This is a movie that asks profound. questions. It is, it wears its heart on its sleeve in a somewhat cynical age. I'm curious. I mean, you can't go through this experience of reading the script of making this movie without pondering the questions that Stephen King and Mike Flanagan are posing in this, in that, what is a life well lived? Yeah. What does it all mean? Did you kind of go through the motions and go through the existential crisis that, of that script in a sense? Yes. Yes, I did. And actually, truthfully, it's something that I think about all the time. Actually, I really, it's something I've often, I've long reflected on and thought about and always believed, but never expressed as eloquently and poetically and beautifully as this film does. Which is kind of like just being aware of the passing of time and that none of us. us are here for long and life is precious and fragile and and extraordinary and magical and full of

of struggle and loss and grief and pain that's true and the world is hard that's true but it's also full of joy and it's full of love and connection and you know my hunch is obviously I've been there yet but I have a hunch that in the last hours of our lives, it's the joy and the love that remains. And it's really the only, it's really the only game in town. And a reminder to embrace the joy and find the joy in the small moments wherever you can find them. Yeah.

And do the thing, do the thing that you need to do that gives you joy, whether it's like math or, dancing or playing the piano or running or painting or walking the dog or like whatever it is that gives you joy do that because joy is actually transformative it's as transformative a force as all the other things like you know they say that doubt is catching that if you you know doubts are sort of catching virus that people can and fear is catching but joy is also catching And it can transform lives.

But yeah, I remember the first time I read the script and I remember exactly where I was and the feeling inspired in me. And it was so, I was so moved by it. Because it seemed to express something I have always believed, which is that there's no such thing is an ordinary life and that actually inside the soul of every human being is an internal world of infinite possibility and that no matter how seemingly ordinary

the exterior of a person actually that person carries a universe inside them of connections of people they love of memories of experiences of of of of literature and music and movies and art and all of that is is completely unique and when that life comes to an end so does that universe and I just was so I thought narratively it was so it was it constructed in such a way that was thrilling as well because it speaks to so many of our contemporary anxieties about what's happening in the world but brings it back to you Yeah, to love and joy.

Yeah, without revealing too much, it's a very interestingly structured film. It is about a man, Chuck, who you play, who, yeah, by all counts is leading and unremarkable. It's not a, it's not, he's not going to be getting the headlines. He's just another guy. Yeah. And this is looking at his life in reverse chronological order, and we're seeing the beginnings and indeed the end. And, you know, you talk about endings and hoping that, you know, we all experience. love, and we all feel that, those special, you know, surrounded by love in those moments.

I mean, you have to go through without revealing too much. We do see kind of, you know, Chuck at his end. We see him in that hospital bed surrounded by family. Now, you're an actor, but you're there, but you're also, your job is to feel that. I mean, talk to me a little bit about what it's like to go through that, to feel that, to channel that. That's got to be a profound experience. Yeah, it was very surreal that day.

And it was, I had, I was, I was ably assisted by a really extraordinary team of hair and makeup artists who, who, you know, I went through the works that day and they made me look old and ill. Amy Fawcith and Katie Ballard and Addison Addison I've momentarily misplaced your last name but I know you have one that's middle age for you but it was after that looking in the mirror was really strange because I'd spent four days dancing

and feeling like athletic and athletic and agile and free. And then suddenly I was, I looked very, very old, much older than I feel. And it was really weird. It was a really strange, slightly unsettling feeling. And I felt my body started moving in a different way.

And yeah, it made me contemplate like the, this kind of, I had this insight, which of course we know, but we don't think about all the time, which is none of us, you and me, like none of us know the day or the date that our lives will end. And we live with that uncertainty every day. And every day we wake up and we do the best we can with what we have. And you put your best foot forward and try to live with honesty and clarity and generosity and purpose. I guess we're redefining that purpose all the time.

But to be playing that scene and inhabiting that moment was unusual. But it struck me that Chuck is very fortunate. He's surrounded by love at the end. And in that, he is a rich man. Yeah, it's all any of us can hope for. Can you cite any films? We talk films always, are mutual loves of different movies. Like, a film that kind of posed these questions for you, either growing up or in recent years, that kind of, like, made you, I don't know, ask these big questions of yourself of what life means, of what life well lived is, of mortality, of death.

Yeah. You can't answer heat. Heat is not applicable in this scenario. I won't. I won't. Two films come to mind. Well, actually, a couple. And they're films I saw when I was younger, when I was at a very formative age.

And it won't surprise you, the first one, is the Shawshank Redemption, which is obviously also Stephen King's story based on Rita Hayworth and the Shoreshank Redemption. But I remember watching that at the age of 14 and I was at school and some friends and I, we'd gone to Blockbuster and rented it out and watched it together. And it was, it just, I was found it so, powerful and moving and especially the last 20 minutes or the last half an hour of that movie which is really about the redemption aspect of it and the journey that Morgan Freeman's character read goes on about understanding what's what matters in his life and who

matters and what's worth living for and it gave me a perspective on life that I think I hadn't ever really considered and it's still I and I find it incredibly moving and affecting and I long thought of it as one of my favorite films and then recently very recently I went back and watched it and I was I was slightly apprehensive and because I thought maybe my memory is distorting the quality of this piece of work and um but it was even greater than i remember and it actually i was even more moved i was just like i was bawling by the end the the way he talks about friendship and um yeah i think we've talked about it before haven't we this movie what you know what it's funny as you were talking about that it occurred to me we

haven't talked about shawshank you know what whom we have talked about that i bet you could cite too is Castaway. Yeah. Castaway, as we're talking, feels like in this canon. Yes. Yeah. I also think of things like,

like, you know, if they're both about, in a way, they're moments of isolation. And, you know, Red when he's released from Shoreshank and Tom Canks' character, I can't remember the name

of the character now, in Castaway, they're both isolated. And they're, and they're, and they had this sudden realization that they need connection

and they need to be with the people they love and the people who matter that actually that's all that matters is to be with those people. But yeah, that's one that I really, really think about. Another one, it was watched at a similar time was the remains of the day which I still find incredibly affecting

and that's a slightly different emphasis in the way that but interesting connections to chuck as you say it like a a quote-unquote unremarkable life right like the background player yeah that it lives the internal life as deep exactly still waters run deep but also the tragedy in a way of of um that that that character um is it stevens i think that's the name of the character um um uh uh the tragedy is all the unlived life in a way that he's been so dedicated to there's been so many multitudes contained in anthony hopkins's internal world and it's only later in life he

realizes that those multitudes haven't been expressed um but it's very poignant um yeah i think cinema can do this thing though it can it that's what i that's what lit my imagination when I was younger is it is it can talk to strangers in the most profound and intimate way about the biggest themes and questions and all these films have done that like the great beauty did this to me by Paolo Sorrentino sure this sort of that like you're a man in the in the autumn of his year looking back at the spring and realizing something and new about what life, what is life meant.

And there's another Italian film that I was going to talk about called The Sun's Room. I don't know that one. La Stanza di Filio, and it's about, it's made by an Italian filmmaker called Nanni Moretti. And I saw it when I was a student at university, and it's really about like Nanny Moretti himself plays a psychotherapist who has a wife and two children and a son and daughter and no spoiler because it happens so soon but he loses his son

and it's really about how he has to refashion and rebuild and reshape his life and his family life in the wake of this aching hole. And I found it, it's incredibly moving piece of work. It's so honest. It's so, it's quite simple in a way, but of course the subject matter isn't simple at all. But yeah, that life is, and I don't mean to be morbid, but that actually a contemplation of the end of life

can actually inspire and appreciate of the stuff of life and the business of living and an impetus to grab life with both hands and live with courage and live with heart and intention

and and to hold on to the people you love and the people who matter because that really is all we have in the end. And dance a little more. That's my lesson for this because I don't dance but maybe I'll dance a little more thanks for Tom.

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Oh, hi, buddy. Who's the best? You are? I wish I could spend all day with you instead. Uh, Dave, you're off mute. Hey, happens to the best of us. Enjoy some goldfish cheddar crackers. Goldfish have short memories.

Be like goldfish. I know you're talking a lot about dancing. Look, it did take up a lot of the work in this. Four of the five days was spent in this epic, inspiring sequence. Look, in a divided world today, there are basically three. I think the world loves, like, cute cat videos, Tom Cruise hanging out of planes, and Tom Hiddleston dancing. These are the things we can all, no matter, race, creed, whatever, we all come together and say we love Tom Hiddleston dancing. Okay, I'll take you a word for it.

Have you accepted this? This is not a new phenomenon. on. This was before Life of Chuck. You almost manifested this in a way. I don't, I mean, I think that, I don't know. That's very, that's, that's very, that's very, we'll have to do a poll. We'll have to do a poll to see if you're correct. It's going to be very one side. Okay. It's worth it.

It's, I don't know, it's really weird, like, it's really interesting. My history with dancing, it's like, I think we all come into the world, like, born to dance. Like, I really believe that, like, it's a language we understand before we understand language. All children dance. And it's like a language that maybe we forget with the arrival of self-consciousness. But as long as I can remember, I've loved dancing, I've loved music. It's music, music is the point. And dancing is the body's response to music.

And I don't know, I just, I loved, I grew up watching an old VHS of a production of the Nutcracker by the Royal Scottish Ballet. And there are sequences in that that are imprinted on my imagination forever of like incredibly what I realize, powerful athletes defying gravity and leaping through space to the strains of this iconic music. And even in like there's an animation of The Snowman by Raymond Briggs where the child character

dances with the snowman in Lapland on Christmas Eve. And those are like really like at the back of my brain, These are early, early, early influences. And now, I don't know, I sort of didn't, I loved, there was a fun culture I grew up in of, at least I gravitated towards as a teenager, where like a lot of popular music was remixing amazing Nile Rogers' disco classics from the 70s

and like these kind of French DJs were doing kind of fun stuff with it, based out of Paris. And I just thought that I just was like, this is the coolest thing ever. And it was one of those, that music was something I discovered for myself. And we all have something like this in our lives

where no one's told you to like it. No one's. You found it for yourself. The secrets that you only have. Yeah. And it's like, that's the best. And it's magic. And you're like, I just love this.

I can't explain why. I just love it. And I, you know, my, I was with friends who, you know we used to just go out and and listen to music and dance and stuff and um used to dance with my sisters and cousins at uh family events and all that sort of stuff but i've never really um danced professionally i it's not something i have done like um it's not you know somebody actually stopped me in the street during the pandemic because this is a really And I was like walking around in London and in the park

and somebody stopped me. It was just as things were signed to open up again and said, hey, you're the dancer. And I was like, no, no. I think you're confused me with someone else. I'm an actor. No, no, no, you're the dancer. I've seen you dancing.

I was like, really? Okay, but I haven't really, I haven't danced in anything. I'm like, you know, this is my commitment to makes a film. Anyway, there was something, he'd seen something online. And it's really, it's just really curious that it's something that's associated itself with me. Well, if you're going to be associated with anything, again, an expression of joy. This is a good thing. It's something I've always loved.

And this particularly, I would say, was like, and was a new challenge because I never had the training that Chuck had. So I actually didn't have, I have, I didn't as a child. you know, have the training and the techniques and styles and rhythms that he knew. So learning that was so thrilling because it gave me, first of all, immediate humility in meeting my limitations, but also extraordinary appreciation for dancers and the athleticism and precision that these styles require. In preparation with Mandy Moore and Stephanie Powell, I did jazz, swing, the Charleston, Bosanova, Salsa, Samba, Samba, Polka, Quick Step, I'm probably forgetting some now,

I remember the cha-cha, like the moonwalk, you know, all these things I've never done before. And the genius of the composition actually is that it's like, because it's a spontaneous his explosion of joy, but it's also a tribute to everything that he ever loved. So it's all the Gene Kelly movies he watched as a child. It's the moves his grandmother taught him. It's Fred and Ginger. It's like, you know, so I was learning so much of it. And yeah, it was such a thrilling challenge to just try and get closer to the combination of total freedom.

and precision that dancing can sometimes entail. As someone that's been immortalized and gifts with you of clapping like an idiot while you dance on a bed in front of me, I feel like this is validated or stupidity. This is, and now we can't use a pro. Yes. Well, maybe you steered me towards it, Josh. I'll take one percent credit, sure.

Because people are saying, well, you know, it's like you can take a horse to water and this horse drank it all down. There you go. Me and Graham Norton can take some credit. I'll take it. I'll take it. Good company. Not to mention, look, I have no question here,

but it's a cool note that your character, basically your grandfather is Luke Skywalker. Your grandmother is Sloan from Ferris and Euler. This is pretty awesome. Yes, it is. It is great as someone born in the 80s that's not lost on me. Yeah, it's amazing.

yeah this whole company is like unbelievable yeah it's such an ensemble film it's and and everyone gives such beautiful performances in it i think it's remarkable yeah i've gotten to know a little bit of the flanagan crew and they're they're all fantastic give them all my love please i want to talk to you a little bit since we do have some time and uh you've had some you've had an adventure recently i want to talk about briefly on stage i we never talked about that and i do want to talk about your adventure you're currently on or about to go on which is a big one. You are doing this this Everest film, this

true life story. Yeah. About Tenzing Norgay and Henry. The more I read about it, the more fascinating it is. This is from a documentary filmmaker who's now doing a narrative. Yeah. And just talk to me, this has to be as much an adventure as an acting exercise for you.

What's it been like so far? It's absolutely that. So we're about halfway through and it is the adventure of a lifetime. And again, I'm just kind of so grateful for the opportunity. I have been obsessed with Everest all my life. It's just the figure, the idea of it has always compelled my imagination. And I remember my dad telling me about like,

about Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary when I was really young and the altitude and stuff. And the experience, is so new and so thrilling because I'm doing things I've never done before and I think we're telling a story that hasn't been told before in this way and it's so extraordinary to think about that in May of 1953 a group of people a group of extraordinary individuals came together and achieved the impossible and went into the unknown and after which it became known and possible and the it takes such imagination and courage to do that because nobody had

been that high before no one knew it was possible and the detail of the of the expedition and the the relationships between the different characters you know it was a British expedition that was essentially sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society and Nepal had only been open to to essentially to people traveling from the West to explore it for three or four years before that I think it was 1949 1950 and all previous attempts on Everest had been from the Chinese side, the Tibetan side. And so this was completely uncharted territory

and was led by a British colonel called John Hunt. And there were, I think, 20-odd Western climbers, many of them British, two of them Kiwi. And the extraordinary inclusion, of Tenzing Norgay, who had climbed, nearly summited with a Swiss climber called Raymond Lombair in 1952, and he knew Everest better than anyone and had more experience on the mountain. And he was also in charge of the Sherpas who were, there were many, many Sherpas who were, and the Sherpa community were from the Himalayas.

they were rooted there as a community as a culture. And they were brilliant and natural mountaineers. And our story really centers Tenzing and centers the contribution of the Sherpas. And Jennifer Piedom, who's directing it, has such deep, deep, deep experience and knowledge of, she directed a documentary called Sherpa. And is, if you haven't seen it, is absolutely brilliant.

Really about Everest and about how the, you know, approaching the idea of Everest and the mountain has changed over the, over recent years. And, yeah, and Tenzing's journey towards being that man in that moment on that mountain with those people. and those relationships, and yeah, it's hard to, we haven't finished it yet, so we. Yeah, no, no, I get it, I get.

But you're surrounded by some interesting, William Defoe, right? Willem DeFoe is playing, John Hunt, yeah, Katrina Bauff is playing Jill Henderson, who was really influential in, in the selection of the team. She was someone who was based in that part of the world at that time.

If you need any outwander, talking points. The only person I might have been to give you more than you is Katrina Bob. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I, we, we, we, we had to, we did spend some time together as a group. I didn't, I got to say my talking points didn't incline in that direction. I get it. You have more to talk. You have some climbing to talk about. You got some other stuff. But it is an amazing. I have to say, it's like there is an ensemble of about 15 of us. Yeah. And we're really closely bonded. And the thing that, the extraordinary thing that Jen has done is she's put us all in the environment. So we've actually just spent a month in Nepal.

And I've spent some time in the Khunbou Valley and in the foothills of Everest and in the Himalayas. And it's so inspiring. It's like, it's really humbling because you walk through that landscape. And it's not possible, it's impossible not to be struck by the timelessness of these mountains. And they are these giants that have been there for hundreds of years and will endure for hundreds more. And it's sort of like, we're only here for a brief time to walk amongst them. And so, yeah, we were all really, really bonded. Yeah, we have miles to go.

Amazing. Literally. Metaphorically and literally. Yeah, yeah. And Hillary was an extraordinary character. Like the more I learned about him, he was just like really, really, really, really remarkable man. And also uniquely placed at that exact moment in time to be there. Yeah, really extraordinary guy.

We have time to talk about that one. You still have to finish the movie. I don't want to do the press junket now over the movie. Okay. The white chocolate macadamia cream cold brew from Starbucks is made just the way you like it. Handcrafted cold foam topped with toasted cookie crumble. It's a sweet summer twist on iced coffee. Your cold brew is ready at Starbucks.

Hey, Michael. Hey, Tom. Big news to share it, right? Yes, huge, monumental, earth-shaking. Heartbeat sound effect, big. Mait is back. That's right. After a brief snack nap.

We're coming back. We're picking snacks? We're eating snacks. We're raiding snacks. Like the snackologist we were born to be. Mates is back. Mike and Tom, eat snacks. Wherever you get your podcast.

Unless you get them from a snack machine, in which case, call us. Speaking of doing press for movie that hasn't been shot yet, you were returning as a character we talked about once or twice Loki in Avengers Doomsday. I am. We can say that. I can't. There's the director's chair.

We saw it. First time there's been that kind of confirmation. It's actually such a relief to be able to say, yes, I'm in the film. When did you know? We obviously did the whole press tour at the end of the last season of Loki, which could very well, again, like several times before, wrapped it up. He could have been there forever holding the timelines together, but now we know we are going to see him again. Did you know back then that there were plans? No, I didn't know that. So I was sincere in my conviction that I thought

it was the end. I wasn't lying to you, I promise. I'm used to the wise. It's okay. No, I didn't know then. I didn't know what the plan was. And then, yeah, then I'm trying to think how long I've known, it's all kind of various periods of time have merged into one. But it's very exciting. You're happy with what you get to play in this one, whether you've seen the finish. The script is a moving document on these kind of things. I get it. But you're happy with what you know about Loki and the story? Yes. Or do you not know anything still? No, I do know some things I know some things and yeah it's it's like you know I still feel like I can't it's an extraordinary privilege to still be on the team and tick and there's more there's more

stories to tell and you know this but like I feel like the character has grown as I've grown and it's a genuinely an honor to still be like you know this but like you know this but you know, in a squad. Just don't let them kill you again. Look, if you're going to go out at this point, just ride off on a horse, go on vacation. We can't have another Loki death. I can't do it.

Okay. I'll tell the Rousseau's. As one former Avengers Big Bad to another RDJ, what do you think about Downey coming back as Doom? This is amazing. It's remarkable. Yeah, it's absolutely extraordinary. I didn't know that until the rest of the world news.

that. That was something. I think that was something that was completely under wraps until it wasn't. So you were just at home and then you see it blowing up on your phone. Yeah. And I texted Kevin Feige here with just like exclamation marks. Right. And then I thought I better qualify that. And I said, R.D.J. Question mark, exclamation mark. Just to clarify, I'm always excited to talk to you, Kevin. But this is one. Yeah. No, it's, you know, he's, he's, he's, Robert is like synonymous with the MCU. He's at the center of it. And I think it must be very thrilling to come back

and play with some different colors. I was never able to make it to London to see you on stage. I'm bummed about that. I don't know if there are plans potentially to bring it to New York. But it sounds like it was a very special production. You and Haley, I've seen a lot of what Jamie Lloyd has done, including betrayal, but also what he did at the Sunset Boulevard

and this guy is remarkable. Yeah. Sounds like a very joyous, special experience. Yeah, I've always wanted to do that play. I've always wanted to be in much to do about nothing. It's interesting. Years ago, I was making the hollow crown, and Simon Russell Beale was playing Falstaff in Henry the Fourth Part 1.

And to my mind, Simon is the most accomplished Shakespearean that I've ever seen. and I'm such an admirer of his and have seen a lot of his work with Shakespeare on stage and I at one point I said so you know Simon come on which was your favourite one which was the best like which was the most which which did you find the most kind of meaningful I think I sort of half expected him to say

like Hamlet or King Lear or Eago or something like that and he said Benedict in much of to do about nothing. There is a magic in that play that is completely eternal, especially in the theater. Don't let it pass you by. And I never forgot that. But I've always loved it, and he knows this,

because I've told him, but I remember going to see Kenneth Browner's film when I was a teenager. And just feeling so, like, it made me so happy. It was just so warm-hearted and so fun. Such a beautiful looking film with Patrick Doyle's score. It's just like a romp. Yeah, it's just joy. It's so much joy.

And he had also said that there's a particular magic to doing it live because there are, and I said this to Haley as we were doing it, and we both felt it. It's where you're rehearsing the play, it's like being on a roller coaster that's 400 years old. and you're like coming around the bend and you're like, this is really funny. Wait, this has been funny for 400 years. This is just cast iron funny, it's just gold. And there's something about the magic of the conceit of the play,

which is two characters who, you know, sworn off the idea of romantic love and marriage, partnership, it's not for me, you know, Benedict's saying, I've got nothing against women. I just don't want to marry any of them, especially not that one. And her saying, I've got nothing against men, but I don't want to marry any of them, especially not him. And then all their friends conspiring to help them realize that actually they've been destined for each other the whole time. And the structure of it is so complete and so satisfying.

And then the folly they both have to endure on the way there. I find so endearing, and it was such a joy to play it. I did so many stupid things. I'm so sad. I miss it. Is New York possible? At some point? I don't want to say it's over because it would be too sad.

So it's like we're just, it was such a happy experience for all of us. It was so joyful, and the audiences who came to see it were amazing. And Jamie Lloyd and his company, you know, they supported us with the most kind of joyous production. It was, you know, we were, the curtain opened and the theatre Royal Drury Lane was strewn with pink confetti. And that's, and at one point of enormous inflatable heart, was flown in because really that's what the play is the play is has a huge heart in the center of it and it's about what happens at parties um and you know parties are full of like celebration and optimism and then oh something's gone a bit too far over there um and silliness

and mistaken misunderstandings and then hopefully like um happily ever after and you know it is the it is the purest play in that way um yeah um yeah there was some very um it was something you'd have approved of i think that like there was some talking because you're getting me more upset insane and foolish antics in it um i've got i've got a challenge there was lots there was some there was lots of dancing in it um there was some physical comedy there's going to be dancing in every project it may i don't know how you're going to get it into the Everest project I guess. Good luck. You never know. You never know. Hey. I'm sorry you didn't see it. You would have loved it. Yeah. I'm sure I would have. This is a rapid fire thing. I know you hate rapid fire. You're too thoughtful a man for it, but I'm going to challenge you anyway. Not only that, I'm going to pose your own films against each other. I've been doing this with actors with impressive filmographies. This isn't saying which one's better. This is just like gut. Like what you would today just choose off the shelf. Okay, let's just see. Choose off the shelf.

Saving the, save in the great fire. Okay. Yeah, whatever we say. And we're going to just picking one over the other. Yeah, it's a tournament. You're going to see how this works. So first of all, we're going to go Loki the series or Kong Skow Island. Loki.

Okay. Midnight in Paris or War Horse. Woo horse. Okay. Night manager or I saw the light. Oh, you're killing. at me. That's so hard. Oh, God. You can do it. It's not binding. Don't worry. Okay. Actually, my heart is slightly broken by that one. Mission accomplished. I don't know

what to do. You can do it. I can't take them both, can I? No. Today, just today it's going to be one. Tomorrow's going to be the other. Today it's going to be I saw the light. Okay. And Crimson peak are only lovers left alive. Oh my God, Josh. I know, I know. We're almost there, I promise. Only love is left alive. Okay.

But these are all by a hair. I mean, this is all a photo finish. I get it. You know those amazing, like, 100 meter finals at the Olympics where they're like, we don't know who won this. We're going to have to get an x-ray machine. We're going to have to put the still under an x-ray. to work out whose earlobe was in that this is where we are don't worry gyrma the

toro won't be upset it's going to be okay uh now we say i saw the light or only lovers left alive we're building to the top why are you doing this to me i know jack black had the exact same reaction if it's any consolation he his brain melted uh what was the choice i can't blocked it out uh i saw the light or only lovers left alive Poor Tom. What am I doing to my friend? I'm so sorry. I saw the light.

Okay. And Loki or Warhorse? We're almost there. We're anointing the champion for today. Loki. Okay. Now for all the marbles, I guess it's Loki or I saw the light. You can do it, you can do it, you made it this far.

This is, this is, I didn't expect to feel like a spiritual pain today, but I'm feeling it now. I've broken you. Loki. Okay. It's not binding. We love I Saw Delight. We love all of them. We do.

This is a testament to you. Okay. Yeah. But Loki won today. Yeah. I suppose so. I suppose so. Yeah.

I had to say Loki because I just poured my heart and soul into that show. And it's like it's sort of like where I. where I always wanted to get to and where I did I sometimes didn't dare to dream I would be allowed to get to do you know yeah um yeah and like what am I going to do just put him on the shelf no you can't you can't come to this is my guy I feel like I've given yeah I feel like I've given you material for your next therapy session I'm so sorry yeah he's like you know he's my companion he's my yeah you know he's uh my my, he's my other self. He's your ride or die. He's my ride or die. I love that guy. People don't know.

Have you had more people, people don't, some people just shout Loki at me in the street or on airplanes. They just shout it. What do you do? You just, I go, or they go, hey, Loki. And I go, I'm Tom. I'm Tom. Nice to meet you.

What's your name? And they go, Loki. I go, your name is not Loki. What's your name? We can do this all day if you want. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's at least important for me to know the decision.

distinction. It's fine if they don't, but I have to make, I have to make, I have to make them help them understand. So what's the ideal to our general directive to the public at large? What's the best way to catch Tom's eye and a nice, polite, positive way? What do you want to hear? What's the interaction? What's the perfect fan encounter? It's usually not like loud. That's, that's like, quiet is better. draw than 10 other people. Then I'm like, huh, help. Um, um, um, um, uh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. So like, like, actually, yeah, somebody at the other day, uh, on the way here actually was super, was super classy about it. Um, just like really quietly sidled up to me and said, I'm so sorry to disturb

you. Um, I just wanted to say hello to you because, um, my wife and I are big fans. And, um, I didn't want, like, I wanted to be able to tell her that I had told you today. It was, like, so cool. And he was, and he said, my name is Mike. And I was like, oh, my name is Tom. And it was really nice. It was a really nice, it was a really nice cool interaction, yeah. I'm going to let you go on this.

You've been very busy, but have you watched anything? Have you been able to watch a film? I tell you, my funniest thing, hang on. Okay, go. I was flying to Kathmandu to start Everest. And I was on a flight, and we had to go. I had to switch planes at one point. And the flight attendant, so sweet.

Halfway through the flight came up to me and really, really quietly and generously said, Mr. Hilton, it's so, I just wanted to say, like, I don't disturb you, I know you're on an airplane, but it's, you know, I'm such a fan of your work and it's such a pleasure to have you on our flight. And I was like, oh, that is so kind of you, thank you so much, you didn't have to say that.

And it was really generous of him, and he did it in such a cool way. And just said, I just wanted to come and say, you know, that we just thank you for your work. And I was like, what a lovely thing. And there was a guy across the way who'd had a few, it's fine, he was enjoying the hospitality. And the flight attendant walked off, and he looked at me and called across. He said, am I supposed to know who you are? I went, no, no, no, I'm not, I'm no one, I know, are you a rock star? No, I'm 100% not a rock star.

I'm just, why are you going to DePaul? You're playing a gig? I reiterate, I'm not a rock star. I'm actually going trekking in foothills of the Himalayas. Are you? Oh, you'll love that. Are you a rock star, though? And it didn't stop.

And at the end of the flight he said, I bet you're a rock star and you're not telling me. I'll find out. And I was like, okay. and we had a really interesting interaction for the next five hours where he just kept looking across with kind of skepticism because he thought I was a rock star but I thought that was a good opener. Am I supposed to know who you are?

To be fair, you kind of are a rock star to all of us, Tom. You're very sweet. But I loved that. I did love that. I thought it was a great conversation starter. I know who you are. I'm going to do that next time I see you. I should?

I know you. And I say, no, you really. shouldn't. There's no, there's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't. It's, I'm, in fact, I'm happily anonymous in your universe. And yeah, so there you go. That was a fun. I have to let you go, buddy. What were you going to say is, have I been watching things? Was that your question? Yeah, I don't want to overstay my welcome. But yeah, if you, anything that you've loved lately, film or TV, I know you've been busy, but. Ooh, I actually have been, I haven't watched anything. I can't remember the last thing I watched.

It's been a busy time. I really haven't watched anything. This is awful. What's the last thing I watched? You're behind on your severance and White Lotus and the pit and all these. I am so behind. My head is in all the Everest books.

I get it. And there are so many of them and they're so cool. I guess, like, you know, I've watched Conquer. The film they made about it. There's a wonderful old film, which is so sort of strange. They had a member of the expedition was up there, and he was shooting on film, and they released it as a movie.

It's called The Conquest of Everest. I think you can find it somewhere online. It's on one of the streaming platforms. But it's so interesting. The footage they got and the way it's put together. Um, yeah, that's the last thing I watched. Sorry, it's all going to be waiting for you when you get back from your adventure. Don't worry.

Don't worry. There's a lot. Thank you, buddy. I know, look, you, you, you have a, a busy press day and you're only out from production for a little bit. So I appreciate you making the time for me. Always. Always. Thank you.

Thank you, buddy. Uh, this is a very special when everybody seek it out. Tom Hiddleston, the life of Chuck, uh, to be continued on our 25th podcast, hopefully soon, but. Okay. Enjoyed the rest of your adventure. What number is this? Is this seven? This is six, I think.

This is six. Nice. Do I get a hat for that? Well, you got the five-timer a hat. You don't get a hat every time. Okay. Getting greedy. Okay.

I have to wait for 10. I'll wait for 10. Yeah, exactly. You'll get that. All right. I'm happy to see you. Come up here to see you. See you soon.

See you soon. And so ends another edition of happy, sad, confused. Remember to review, rate, and subscribe to this show on iTunes, 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.

Goodbye, summer movies, hello fall. I'm Anthony Devaney. And I'm his twin brother, James. We host Raiders of the Lost Podcast, the Ultimate Movie Podcast, and we are ecstatic to break down late summer and early fall releases. We have Leonardo DiCaprio

leading a revolution in one battle after another, Timothy Salome playing power ping pong in Marty Supreme. Let's not forget Emma Stone and Jorgos Lanthamos' Bugonia. Dwayne Johnson, he's coming for that Oscar. In The Smashing Machine, Spike Lee and Denzel teaming up again, plus Daniel DeLewis's return from retirement. There will be plenty of blockbusters to chat about two. Tron Aries looks exceptional, plus Mortal Kombat too,

and Edgar writes, The Running Man, starring Glenn Powell. Search for Raiders of the Lost Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Thank you.