Washington DC [US], June 4 : Actor Tom Hiddleston gets candid about working in 'The Life of Chuck', a science fiction drama film written and directed by Mike Flanagan.
It is based on 2020 novella of the same name by Stephen King. The film stars Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, Jacob Tremblay, and Mark Hamill.
The film, which won the audience award at TIFF last year, follows three chapters in the life of an ordinary man named Charles Krantz (played in part by Hiddleston), whose death coincides with the end of the world, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"I've never danced quite like this before, and I had some steps to dance, some miles to go before I felt skilled enough and practised enough to pull off some of the techniques and styles that Chuck pulls off," said Hiddleston at the film's Los Angeles premiere. "I have a great affection for movie musicals, I was thinking about them a lot in making this, thinking about Swing Time and Singin' in the Rain and Cover Girl."
He continued, "I've always loved dance in movies and it's not actually just those, if you think about Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing or Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz in The Mask or Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 500 Days of Summer or Little Miss Sunshine, dance is a part of the DNA of movies." And as for if he'd ever star in a musical himself, Hiddleston said, "No one's knocking on the door yet but I'm always open."
Co-star Karen Gillan teased she had seen Hiddleston dance before so she knew he had moves, but seeing him in the movie "was a whole other level. I was blown away by what he did in this film." His dancing even played a part in him getting the job, as director Mike Flanagan revealed he saw Hiddleston grooving on a late-night show and "it wasn't the dancing that made me say, 'That's him,' it was the joy on his face. It's that regardless of if he was nailing the steps, he was feeling and channeling this incredible happiness. I said, 'That is exactly what this movie needs,' and he's perfect in it," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The film is a stark change from what King is known for, and the same can be said for Flanagan, who has mostly worked in the horror genre. But, the filmmaker said, "I think Steve, kind of at his heart, he's an optimistic humanist. Even in the darker stories, that's always there for him."
"This feels more Stephen King to me than a departure, this is who he is," Flanagan added. "This was a special thing to work on together. I'm so grateful he trusted me with it, and if it makes people a fraction as happy as his short story made me when I read it, then we're onto something."
After reading the novella during the pandemic shutdown, Flanagan also commented on releasing this film in this current climate. "It gave me an enormous amount of hope and comfort at that time; I feel like I need that now, maybe more than I did then, and I think unfortunately for us, we're all going to need it, we're all going to need reminders of that," he explained. "So I hope, as dark as things may be, people feel some of the love and optimism and the comfort that this story has in it," according to The Hollywood Reporter.
'The Life of Chuck' won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. The movie is set to hit theatres on June 6 via Neon.