Tom Hiddleston Breaks Down His Dance Moves in ‘The Life of Chuck' and If He'd Ever Do a Musical

After building his career on dramatic roles and as Marvel's Loki, Tim Hiddleston is trying out a new title in his upcoming movie The Life of Chuck: dancer.
The film, which won the audience award at TIFF last year, is adapted from a Stephen King novella and 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. Along the way, it also features plenty of dancing from the actor.
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'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 practiced enough to pull off some of the techniques and styles that Chuck pulls off,' Hiddleston told The Hollywood Reporter at the film's Los Angeles premiere on Monday. 'I have a great affection for movie musicals, I really 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 joked, '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.'
The uplifting, emotional 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 really is,' Flanagan added. 'This was a really 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.'
Flanagan also commented on releasing this film in this current climate, after initially reading the novella during the pandemic shutdown. 'It really 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.'
The Life of Chuck hits theaters on Friday.
Tiffany Taylor contributed to this report.
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