It goes without saying that Tom Hiddleston is one of the most adored actors in the Marvel Universe, thanks to his portrayal of Loki. But many fans may not be aware of the hilarious and somewhat out-of-the-ordinary way he won over Kenneth Branagh, the director of Thor, before his casting as Loki.
As soon as Branagh revealed he was directing the $449.3 million film Thor, he dashed into his dressing room with an empty water cooler and pretended it to be Thor’s hammer.
Jon Favreau’s Iron Man, the first film in the MCU’s Phase 1, set the tone for the other films in the series and made way for the other heroes who would guide this interconnected universe. The fourth entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Kenneth Branagh’s Thor (2011), starring Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Tom Hiddleston as Loki, debuted to positive reviews from critics.
Tom Hiddleston Revealed the Story Behind Loki’s Casting
Tom Hiddleston opened up about how a “sheer coincidence” working with Kenneth Branagh helped him land the role of Loki in Thor. In an interview with Vanity Fair, the 42-year-old actor detailed how the director cast him in the role of Loki:
“I spent 2008 as a sheer coincidence working as an actor alongside Kenneth Branagh; we did a television series for the BBC called Wallander and after that, I did [again with a complete coincidence] a play with Ken. So I had this experience of working with him as an actor.”
He also recalled how, as soon as Branagh announced he would be directing Thor, the actor ran into the director’s dressing room with an empty water cooler, assuming it to be Thor’s hammer:
“It was during the run of Ivanov that Kenneth Branagh announced that he was going to direct Thor. and I remember running up into his dressing room and I had an empty water cooler in my hand and I said ‘it was a way of congratulating’. I was pretending it was Thor’s hammer; it was completely absurd.”
But eventually, as luck would have it, Hiddleston was cast as the God of Mischief and brother of Thor. He once shared with Jimmy Fallon:
“I auditioned for the first Thor film 10 years ago in 2009. And I just thought I was auditioning for a movie. You know, an interesting part in an interesting movie. Back then, the Marvel Universe was—they’d just made Iron Man. And I thought, ‘I’ll have a go.’ I didn’t expect to be cast at all.”
Loki’s ‘Life-Changing’ Impact On Tom Hiddleston
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Tom Hiddleston shared that the role of Loki in Thor had a “life-changing effect” on him and that the casting came from the film’s director, Kenneth Branagh:
“It had a life-changing effect on me. It happened quite organically, almost by accident. He saw me in a Shakespeare production in a theater in London, he then asked me to perform with him in the television series Wallander for the BBC.”
According to the Unrelated actor,
“We then did a Chekhov play in the West End, and then he cast me as Loki in the first Thor film. So actually we ended up spending about 12 months working together in different media.”
Hiddleston, who co-starred in the film with Natalie Portman, Stellan Skarsgård, Chris Hemsworth, and Anthony Hopkins, expressed gratitude for his supportive cast:
“At the end of that experience I had learned so much from him. But then I realized that he used to look up to Derek Jacobi and Anthony Hopkins. And when I was playing Loki for the first time and Anthony Hopkins was playing my father, [Hopkins] told me he used to look up to Richard Burton.”
Loki made its debut on June 9, 2021. As part of Phase Four of the MCU, its first season aired for six episodes and ended on July 14. Positive reviews were given to it, particularly regarding the performances. Phase Five included a second season of Loki that ran from October 5, 2023, to November 9, 2023, with six more episodes.
Both seasons of Loki and Thor are streaming on Disney Plus.
