Marvel supervillian, accomplished thespian, internet catnip ... Tom Hiddleston’s swift and varied career has already seen him collect both MTV and Olivier awards.
As he continues to impress on the small screen in BBC thriller The Night Manager, and before he continues to cement his blockbuster credentials with roles in franchises Kong: Skull Island and Thor: Ragnarok, he’s front and centre of Ben Wheatley’s divisive new JG Ballard adaptation, High-Rise.
In it, he plays a doctor who moves into a socially segregated tower block that descends into chaos. Here are his career highlights so far:
Unrelated: Hiddleston found an early collaborator of some measure in writer-director Joanna Hogg, whose naturalistic work brought out the best of his underutilised ability to play, you know, regular folk. As the arrogant son of the family whose Italian holiday is startled by a troubled guest, he gives a confident performance that doesn’t betray his relative inexperience.
Archipelago: Hiddleston reunited with Hogg for her next film, another tale of a family struggling while on holiday together. Again he plays the son, but this time he’s undergoing something of a quarter-life crisis and offers up an impressive performance that rings true in an entirely different way. He worked with Hogg once more in 2013’s Exhibition and one hopes they collaborate again in future.
The Deep Blue Sea: While Rachel Weisz generated a deserved Oscar buzz for her devastating turn as a woman debating suicide while reliving a doomed affair, Hiddleston’s equally impressive performance went rather overlooked. His rakish, temperamental cad was simultaneously charming and odious, perfectly encapsulating a lover who always seems just slightly out of reach.
The Avengers: Marvel’s reinvention of the superhero genre has been largely successful, offering up wit and vibrancy alongside the usual spectacle, but one common complaint is a lack of nasty or interesting villains. The one major exception has been Thor’s insidious wronged brother Loki, a character which, in the hands of a broader actor, could have been played for ham. Thanks to Hiddleston, he’s a compellingly evil presence.
Only Lovers Left Alive: Pairing Hiddleston with Tilda Swinton in a tale of centuries old vampires is one of the smartest ideas that Jim Jarmusch (or any director) has ever had. They’re a transfixing pair, each dealing with their immortality differently and Hiddleston’s gothic turn is better than his later work in Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak.
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