As the Thunder God and his arch-trickster brother Loki, Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston make for one of the superhero cinematic genre’s best double acts. Now after 2011’s inaugural Thor and last year’s Avengers extravaganza, the Aussie and the old Etonian have united once again for inevitable sequel Thor: The Dark World, which finds the bitter Marvel Comics adversaries forced to join forces against the impending threat of Christopher Eccleston’s nefarious Dark Elf Malekith. Stephen Jewell spoke to the actors at the film’s world premiere in London.
As ‘The Dark World’ is your third outing as Thor and Loki has their relationship become more complex this time around?
CHRIS HEMSWORTH: It’s funny because people have been saying that, but in our minds the first one had an attempt at that kind of complexity or back story, that meat underneath all the fight scenes or whatever we were doing. So it was great to then have it on the page on this one and to be able to explore it.
TOM HIDDLESTON: I agree. That’s always been the engine of these two characters; this brotherly relationship. We plotted it out across the two previous films before this film starts and there are actually only about five scenes where they share the screen – three in Thor and two in Avengers. Around those kind of milestones, we’ve always built a back story and coming into this film, it was nice to bleed some of that back story into the narrative.
Kenneth Branagh has been replaced as director by Alan Taylor, who has previously helmed several episodes of ‘Game of Thrones’. Did he bring a different sensibility to the project?
HEMSWORTH: What he did so brilliantly was to never come in and say ‘right, I’m going to re-do everything.’ He just came in with a fresh perspective and a fresh angle on it. It’s the third time we’ve played these characters and we’ve now worked with three different directors. Each time that has happened, there’s been a kind of threatening version, where you have to throw out what you’ve done before.
What Alan said was that we were chasing the throne in the first film and in Thor: The Dark World I wanted to explore the awareness that Thor now has of the sacrifices he’s had to make and the things he’s had to go through in order to embark upon that mission. It was a take on the throne and the darker side of that. I responded to that and instead of it just being a no-brainer such as ‘I’m going to be king and that’s my destination,’ I wanted to explore truthfully what that is actually like. ‘Is it an easy transition or is it almost burdening if you’re born into something where you have no choice as this is your destiny and your fate?’ Where’s the freedom in that, you know?
Tom, did Alan also impact on how you approached the role of Loki?
HIDDLESTON: I had a long conversation with Alan just before we started. We spent five hours together and talked about everything. He loved how the arc of Loki in Kenneth Branagh’s Thor was quite poignant. It was a descent into villainy as he was a prince who became a psychopath. Then Joss Whedon made him this kind of charming villain and he had to be the villain in that film. But what was distinct from what Ken did was that Loki was having a really good time in Avengers as he was enjoying himself. In this film, we felt it would be interesting to reverse that in a way. It’s an ascent as opposed to a descent. You start out with him right at the bottom and you then bring him back up.
In contrast, Thor’s world is darkening in a way with his maturity and he’s having to confront his father, which is a difficult thing to deal with. Loki starts out completely isolated – more solitary than ever – with his demons and he has to change. It’s just a way of keeping things spinning because in life nothing stands still and that’s also true of these characters.
Chris, do you really feel like you’re a Marvel superhero and a Norse god when you put on Thor’s wig and costume?
HEMSWORTH: It all helps as you can go ‘okay, I’m closer to it.’ But there are also plenty of days when it also makes you feel ridiculous, like you’ve walked out of a Halloween party. As for what makes me feel like Thor, Anthony Hopkins (Odin) said to me once ‘don’t try and compete with all this. Just make it truthful and keep it simple.’ You don’t have to constantly tell the audience that you’re Thor as that’s already been done in so many ways. The thing about royalty in cinema or a play is that it’s not necessarily about how you play the king. It’s how the people around you respond to the king and how they look at the king. I had the support of all the other great actors telling that story and in the way that they spoke to him. I then feel that I can try and humanise him and make him accessible.
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