The Night Manager star tells the Mirror that fans can expect the new series of the critically acclaimed BBC show to be bigger, bolder and deeper – with more risks. He tells the Mirror what’s in store…
With his immaculate suits and impeccably pressed linens, he is the man currently making espionage look elegant on TV. But Tom Hiddleston, who is starring in The Night Manager, says plenty of blood, sweat and tears went into season 2 of the critically acclaimed BBC1 show, which comes a decade after the original. “We set a high standard for ourselves. We knew it had to be bigger, bolder, deeper and we had to risk more,” says Tom, 44. “We knew it would cost more in terms of spirit. It takes time to develop six hours of television.”
The result is a fabulously stylish spy drama that sees Jonathan Pine, a former soldier turned spy, using the new identity of Alex Goodwin and running a surveillance unit of ‘night owls’ watching high-end London establishments for a terror threat. But he is soon pulled into a live situation, infiltrating a perilous Colombian operation involving arms and the training of a guerilla army, posing as Matthew Ellis, a wealthy playboy financier.
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Tom – who famously bared his bottom in a saucy scene in the first series – says he was drawn to playing Pine, created by author John Le Carre, because of “the tension between his exterior and interior.” On the surface he is immaculate, charming, collected, capable and calm,” he says. “Like all great hoteliers, a great actor – so think about it the next time you are staying in a hotel!
“But he had also been a British soldier in the Army. There is this tension between the still water of this immaculate, pristine face and inside a heart that is on fire with moral courage and solitude and pain and trauma. Who does not want to play that guy?”
Describing the character as “stencilled into my brain,” he continues: “Le Carre was fascinated by the masks we wear. Spies have to lie to get to the truth and it is easy to get lost in the maze; one slip up and you are a dead man.”
Born in London and educated at Cambridge, this year looks set to be a busy one for Tom, who is a UK ambassador for UNICEF. As well as The Night Manager, he will be reprising the role of Loki in Avengers: Doomsday, which will also star Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart.
Scheduled to hit cinemas this December, Tom will once again slip into the horns of Marvel’s most charismatic trickster, set to create cosmic chaos. “It was very exciting to be back, but you will have to wait and see what happens next. The last time you saw Loki he was on a throne,” says Tom, who first brought the God of Mischief to life in the 2011 movie Thor.
“I revere Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, so it was amazing to be in that ensemble. On the studio lot you would bump into these people and they would be pinch me moments. It is a big cast.”
Having won a Golden Globe for The Night Manager and an Olivier award and Tony nominations for his theatre work, Tom says he likes TV, cinema and stage work equally. “I like all three,” he says. “There is no preference. I am so grateful I get to do them all.”
Rumoured to be lined up to star in a production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing on Broadway, he continues: “The camera captures the truth – it is so sharp. You can’t lie in front of it or a live audience.
“Vanessa Redgrave told a story that somebody tried to say making films was less, as she was a great classical actress, but she said she needed both as they feed each other. Me, I love the precision of acting for a camera, but I love playing a whole story night after night.”
Parenting duties are also making nightly demands on the actor, who had a second child with fiancee Zawe Ashton last month. The couple met while starring together in the West End in a 2019 revival of the play Betrayal and were engaged in 2022 – having their first child later that year.
Once describing becoming a dad as “the most important thing I will ever do,” Tom says he’s definitely changed more in the 10 years since the first series of The Night Manager than his character Jonathan Pine has. He says: “They have been a complicated ten years in the world.
“Who has changed more, Jonathan Pine or Tom Hiddleston? Probably Tom Hiddleston I would think. We have all been through those years, so we leant into it. So much has happened – the world is more fragmented and uncertain. There have been so many political, cultural and environmental changes and a pandemic.
“But as Jonathan Pine, we thought if you worked at the centre of the intelligence community, then those 10 years would also have been complex.” Tom, who dated Taylor Swift in 2016, first appeared on our screens in 2001 in an ITV adaptation of Nicholas NIckleby and cites Jack Nicholson as a key influence.
“I don’t think I would have played Loki without the film Batman,” he says. “The way Jack Nicholson played The Joker, it made such an impact on my imagination. I understood he was the villain, but he was having such a good time. He was so charismatic.
“When I played Loki, I consciously carried Jack Nicholson in mind.” A movie buff, he says The Shining is “the scariest film that was ever made”. “The funniest? I remember watching Ace Ventura for the first time and I cried with laughter all the way through,” he says.
His classic music choices are diverse. He can “recite” Mary Poppins and loves Die Hard. “It all comes back to Die Hard in the end,” he says. “I like salted popcorn too – I say keep it simple!” As for the future, Tom would love the chance to take a spin beneath the Strictly glitterball.
“I would do Strictly or The Traitors,” he confides. “We are big fans of Strictly in our house. It’s very wholesome and emotional – but I am a massive fan of both shows. Traitors is great. The version of it with celebrities …the entire country watched the finale, like 11 million people. It was like a sporting event – like the World Cup final or a Super Bowl. It’s really unusual for a piece of entertainment to do that.”
He is also looking forward to a third series of The Night Manager which has already been slated, despite John Le Carre’s death in 2020. “We went to the memorial service and his sons said ‘Dad loved the show and he would want us to do more’. It was him making a legacy to leave to all of us,” says Tom.
As for his ongoing fascination with the character of Jonathan Pine, he continues: “Pine wants to know the truth and understand the world and that is what I like about him. But the closer his feet are to the fire the more alive he feels. That is an interesting human characteristic.”
*Tom Hiddleston was in conversation at a 92NY event in New York
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Source: Mirror
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