I think the last time we wrote about Tom Hiddleston on the site was my review of The Life of Chuck, the Stephen King adaptation from Mike Flanagan in which Hiddleston stars. I might be wrong, I frequently am, but it is consistent with covering Hiddleston less than we did ten years ago, a reflection of the way in which Hiddleston reshaped his career following the explosion of “Hiddleswift”, which is nine years old this summer.
I revisited Hiddleston’s rough go circa 2016-17 here, but nearly a decade on, it’s easy to see how he recalibrated his celebrity in the wake of that period. He goes to ground more frequently and for longer periods, he’s settled down with actress Zawe Ashton and their child. Another reason Hiddleston keeps a much lower profile these days—his fans have not been normal about him being in a relationship with a biracial woman (much as Robert Pattinson’s fans weren’t normal about his relationship with FKA twigs, white fangirls tell on yourselves less). And it means that unlike ten years ago, it feels like an occasion when Hiddleston shows up.
Here he is at the premiere of The Life of Chuck alongside filmmaker Mike Flanagan, and his co-stars Kate Siegel, Mark Hamill, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benjamin Pajak, Mia Sara—80s queen! Live on!—Karen Gillan, and Carl Lumbly. I really enjoyed the film at TIFF, where it won the People’s Choice Award. It’s sentimental without being sappy and given how f-cking bleak the world is most days, its message hits even harder now than it did nine months ago: dance when you have the chance, and enjoy the moment you’re in, because none of it is guaranteed tomorrow.
I am a little surprised by this June release date (the film opens in select theaters this weekend before expanding next weekend), though. I suppose they’re looking at it as summer counterprogramming, with enough big names involved to pull focus from Ballerina and Wes Anderson this week, and How to Train Your Dragon and Materialists next week. But Chuck feels very much in the same vein as The Phoenician Scheme and Materialists—charming yet adult-oriented films—and I feel like they’re going to end up cannibalizing each other.
The distributor is NEON, who is on a run in recent years, with reigning Best Picture winner Anora, and Parasite before that, plus other awards season heavy hitters like The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Anatomy of a Fall, Triangle of Sadness, and Spencer.
Obviously, they’re onto something over there, but I can’t help but feel June is the wrong time for The Life of Chuck. I hope I’m wrong, it’s a great film and people should see it.
