We like to imagine Tom took to calligraphy for the first draft, then transferred his ink blotted thoughts to the keyboard. Mostly because we want to look at his hand grasping a pen:
The One Where We Start Simultaneously
Jamie: So, first let’s start with the Willy Wonka reference
Lorena: So first things first, I don’t know what Hans Gruber is and I forgot to look it up
Jamie: He’s Alan Rickman’s character from “Die Hard”
Lorena: Oh. I never saw Die Hard
Jamie: Which I haven’t ever seen
Lorena: phew! haha
Jamie: But that’s just one of those famous movie things
Lorena: Gotcha. It sounded familiar, but I just didn’t know it. Usually when that happens I just smile/laugh as needed and move the conversation along.
“People at my drama school used to say I look like Gene Wilder”
Lorena: So, back to Willy Wonka!
Jamie: Didn’t he sing the ‘Pure Imagination‘ song at something? He must love Willy Wonka
Lorena: He seriously must. I love that Charlie Bucket is his equivalent of unbridled enthusiasm in analogy world. He would actually make a decent Willy Wonka…
Jamie: He SO would
Lorena: Not that we desperately need a remake, mind you!
Jamie: Yeah seriously, let’s hold off on that
Hopes, Dreams, Epic!
Lorena: I also love that he opens the letter with “Joss,” like they are BFFs
Jamie: Right!
Lorena: I imagine when I write a killer script for him, he will send me a personal email that opens “Lorena,” then proceeds to tell me how grateful he is that I am epic for him.
Jamie: Of course he will. Hopefully he will use only movie references that you know 😉
Lorena: Haha! Thanks. As an email though, I can simply google search. By that time we’ll have google glasses or whatever, so it’ll be easier
Jamie: True, many embarrassing social faux pas will be avoided
Lorena: Okay, but can we just go to how this fragment flows so poetically:
utterances imprinting themselves like flash-cuts of newspaper headlines in my mind
Because I fell in love with him again at that point
Jamie: I like to think that he wrote several drafts of this email to get a phrase like that just perfect. And it was worth it, because he succeeded.
Lorena: I really hope so; otherwise I just need to be with him, always.
Jamie: “Need for Tom” is my constant state. We could drink tea and he could paint me word pictures with his masterful grasp of the English language
Lorena: When someone steals one of me or Tom’s phones and reads our texts back and forth, ones of mundane things like which parsnip type we need for the dish we’re planning for Tuesday, they will be mesmerized by our language usage.
Jamie: What lyrical grocery lists you’ll have
Lorena: This makes me a little like the Generation of ’98…Only in context to Tom though?
Jamie: Now I’m confused lol
Lorena: Basically they would write things so shrouded in double meaning that a random person picking up their poetry from the ground couldn’t really understand what they meant. AKA super pretension in Spain circa 1898
Jamie: Ok that makes more sense, because I was thinking 1998, and I was gonna say, I was pretty little then and I really only cared about the Spice Girls. Not quite as cultural.
I Like It When You Put Me on a Pedestal
Jamie: So, the part where he says that he likes how Joss puts Loki up on this pedestal and then tears him down was great for me, because I always loved that about the Avengers too
Lorena: Yes! And the Hulk slamming, like a sly reference to that, thrashing about or what not
Jamie: Because obviously we know our heroes are going to win, but for there to be any tension at all the bad guy has to seem like an actual threat
Lorena: Right, and he must have conviction and agency. He must have desire and original truth in his fervent belief of dominance. And My LORD is Tom full of conviction in dominance!
Jamie: Right, that’s what makes for an interesting, quality villain
Lorena: Indeed. A puny god
Tom’s Master Tongue
Lorena: God Tom. You do these things to me! Like this part:
It’s grand and epic and majestic and poetic and lyrical and wicked and rich and badass and might possibly be the most gloriously fun part I’ve ever stared down the barrel of playing.
….Is basically how I describe my imaginary future relationship with Tom to be. #normal
Jamie: hahahahahha YES
Lorena:
It’s high operatic villainy alongside detached throwaway tongue-in-cheek
aka as Tom’s essence of being…. Can we say LOKI’D!
Jamie: and
I may be biased, but I feel as if you’ve written me the coolest part
Lorena: I especially adore when Tom takes this grandiose series of Loki descriptors, and then contrasts it with that sentence!
That Part Where We Put on our Tweed and Serious Glasses
Jamie: Nobody loves Loki like Tom Hiddleston
Lorena: Ha! Are you quite sure about that? The two are too intertwined. His success is so wrapped in the success of Loki. It’s a fascinating dynamic.
Jamie: I think he takes what he does with the character super seriously. So he may rival even the fangirls. Because I think some of us talk about his character seriously (like us I think, not biased at all) lol
Lorena: Well it is true
Jamie: But not everybody does unfortunately
Lorena: I do give some of that credit to Kenneth Branaugh’s skill… he was the push to shove to get Tom to audition for Thor. He knew Tom’s capacity from their working together on Wallander and pushed him in the role.
Jamie: This is true
Lorena: Thor is truly about Loki’s journey of self-identity, even if the script itself isn’t about that
Jamie: Right! But I think sadly a lot of time it’s viewed as “girls only like Loki because he’s hot”….which I hate to say
Lorena: People say that?
Jamie: Not outright
Lorena: That’s a sadder statement on the state of public view on women. Don’t get me wrong, Tom is hot. But that isn’t what drew me to Loki. He’s so compelling. He says so much without speaking. It’s beautiful craft.
Jamie: It’s one of those things where the few crazies kind of bring everyone else down, like there are a lot of interesting things to say about the character, and sometimes it gets unfairly reduced to “he’s such a poor victim who’s never done anything wrong and we just want to give him snuggles and he’s our precious baby,” which is unfair to Tom who gave such a nuanced performance
Lorena: His first line is a manipulation! Right out of the gates he’s nuanced. Ugh. I’m annoyed with the crazies.
Jamie: Right, exactly. He does so much right from the beginning. And you’re right that it does kind of hurt the public view of women, because those select few become like the face of the fandom? :/ Even though they shouldn’t be
Lorena: No, no, I meant more to say that the public view of women is already in a sad place that they denigrate our gender’s ability to experience Loki’s character to just “Tom is hot”
Jamie: Well yeah, that too. Bad all around :/
Transatlantic Fist-bumps
Lorena: Let’s lighten it up for a moment!
Jamie: Yes!
Lorena: Can we talk about the close?
Jamie: About the transatlantic fist bump?
But really I’m just sending you a transatlantic shout-out and fist-bump, things that traditionally British actors probably don’t do. It’s epic.
Lorena: 1. Yes, what you just said, 2. “It’s epic.” Maybe everyone says epic, but I feel like I say epic all the time, like too often for normal.
Jamie: Yeah, I think it’s relatively common. At least I hear it a lot
Lorena: I’m just grasping, Jamie. It’s pathetic, I know.
Jamie: hahahahaha
Lorena: Still though, how do you think one does a transatlantic fist-bump? Did Tom actually fist bump the air in a generally southwestward direction? Did Joss fist bump the air back in a northeasterly manner?
Jamie: Oh man, we should try a trans-state fist bump right now and see how it goes
Lorena: I have to turn around, hang on
Jamie: Because I’m sure that’s exactly what they did
Lorena: BAM! Did you feel it?
Jamie: I DID, AND I DID IT BACK
Lorena: If Tom was fist bumping towards me right now, he would’ve fist bumped YOU in your return to me! Assuming he’s in the UK, of course.
Jamie: So that’s totally what just happened lol
Lorena: I’m going to tweet him a transatlantic fist bump. You should too! Let’s see what happens (nothing, like always)
Future Time for Tom Sneak Peek!
Jamie: I think he’s in the UK, filming that High-Rise movie.
Lorena: High-Rise movie? OMG how do you know so much more than me! (because you read, I know, I know)
Jamie: Yeah it’s a movie based on a book, and other than that I really don’t know anything about it
Lorena: Wow, so comprehensive a plot summary!
Jamie: hahaha yeah really… “It’s a book, and things will happen and Tom will be in it”
Lorena: I mean, that is sufficient for another Time for Tom
Jamie: Oh! haha yes. Closer to release
Joss Whedon… Meh
Jamie: So, do we care about Joss’ response back?
Lorena: I mean, no and yes. It is Joss’ biography
Jamie: But I mean, his response is essentially, “Thanks, I’m glad you like it, but I’m also still working on it” lol
Lorena: Right. I imagine his response was more like, “OMFG TOM HIDDLESTON IS SO EPIC AND I LOVE HIM FOREVER! KEEP IT COOL, JOSS!” Because when Tom writes me the email I keep forever (as a writer, of course!), I will actually take a photo of it and text that to you, go for a long walk around the park/block/river wherever I live, and then reply.
Lorena: I do like that Joss writes “Absurd fun to ensue.” I feel the V.O. would come in there and say, “And ensue it did.”
Jamie: Oh it most certainly did. How could it not?
Lorena: Ha, then a montage of absurd fun!
More Fist Bumping in the Night
Lorena: Did you tweet Tom your fist-bump? 😉
Jamie: I did not. He could feel it, I know. I don’t have to bother haha
Lorena: You are probably right. It’s only 2am there, no big deal
Jamie: If he was asleep, I’m sure it woke him up
Lorena: OUCH! That’s an intense bump!
Jamie: He would have been woken up by the force of the emotion behind it, not necessarily the physical force, don’t worry
Lorena: Okay, this is comforting and logical
Whose…Ellipses?
Lorena: There are so many ellipses… I wondered your thoughts, Tom’s doing, or edits?
Jamie: Yeah I was wondering that too. He may just use those, or it was most personal/detailed stuff that was edited out? I’m not sure. I want to say Tom. That’s just my gut feeling
Lorena: Okay. This just triggered a new discovery: the James Mason reference. A hero of Tom’s?
Jamie: Perhaps. (I had to google him, I have to say)
Lorena: (me too)
Jamie: hahaha ok good
Lorena: But Tom would have to google things about our occupations, so it’s fine.
Jamie: This is true.
Lorena: Siiiigh
Jamie: I just can’t even handle this letter
Lorena: I really didn’t think I could fall in love with Tom again, not like it was fresh. But this letter. I just. It just happened.
Jamie: So, was Tom the only one who emails Joss, or was his just of the highest quality?
Lorena: Ha! Perhaps the only one Joss felt obligated to keep forever.
Jamie: Was RDJ just like “Cool!”
Lorena: RDJ was like “NBD! See you on set.”
Wear Your Costume to the Club #normal
Lorena: I think everyone is now feeling like, “Why couldn’t I have been on the Avengers set?!”
Jamie: I certainly think that. I wish I could have been there, can you imagine?!
Lorena: Maybe people like Tom because he is fun, absurdly fun?
Jamie: There’s an interview somewhere where he talks about how much fun it was to rehearse with Scarlett Johansson for their big interrogation scene. So on and off set, just fun all around. AND he said that they all went out to a club one time and there was some birthday party going on, and the guy whose birthday it was must have been like “What the hell, the Hulk and Black Widow are having a dance off right now”
Lorena: Ha ha! They went in public in costume together? I mean, in NYC people may not question it, to be fair
Jamie: No, not in costume, but still lol
Lorena: I wish. That would be me, “Tom, no, take the horns with you! Just sneak ’em out!” He so would too…God of Mischief
Marvel has a Plan. It’s Epic.
Jamie: It’s a shame he couldn’t be there with all of them again for Age of Ultron. I mean that’s the way acting goes.
Lorena: Right! But we did chat about this after Thor TDW, how he might be in the third Avengers and that might be our Loki movie
Jamie: Yeah I’m sure Marvel has a plan for what they’re going to do. They know what a popular character he is.
Lorena: Joss Whedon is prepared. #forever
Jamie: Absolutely
Lorena: It’s epic 😉
Jamie: Epically epic. Which is what you should now begin saying because it’s SUPER COOL
Lorena: Um, yes! That’s beyond. It’s happening. I just started doing it
Jamie: I’ll do it too, and then it’ll become a thing
Lorena: Clearly. And now it’s on TN, so it’s already a thing
Jamie: We’re trendsetters for sure
Lorena: (nods) Trans-state fist-bump!!!!!!!! I went lefty this time!
Jamie: Fist-bump returned!!!!
What was your favorite part of Tom’s letter to Joss? Do you imagine Tom writing you with loads of ellipses interspersed with his lyrical language? Were you also unable to handle this letter?
