Read Tom Hiddleston’s Enthusiastic Email to Joss Whedon for ‘The Avengers’ Role

Tom Hiddleston was so grateful to Joss Whedon for casting him as supervillain Loki in his The Avengers movie, he sent the director a touching email expressing his gratitude.

Hiddleston made his debut as the comic book baddie in Kenneth Branagh’s 2011 release Thor, alongside Chris Hemsworth as the titular Norse god, but his character also played a prominent part in the first The Avengers outing in 2012, and he was ecstatic when Whedon asked him to reprise the role of Loki for the collective superhero movie.

In a lengthy message he sent to Whedon, he refers to children’s classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, writing, “I am so excited I can hardly speak. The first time I read it (The Avengers screenplay) I grabbed at it like Charlie Bucket snatching for a golden ticket somewhere behind the chocolate in the wrapper of a Wonka Bar.”

Of his role, he continued, “It’s grand and epic and majestic and poetic and lyrical and wicked and rich and bada** and might possibly be the most gloriously fun part I’ve ever stared down the barrel of playing. It is just so juicy…

“I might be biased, but I do feel as though you have written me the coolest part.”

The flattered filmmaker responded to Hiddleston and joked, “Tom, this is one of those emails you keep forever. Thanks so much. It’s more articulate (and possibly longer) than the script.

“I couldn’t be more pleased at your reaction… Thank you again.”

The email exchange is featured in a new book about the director, titled Joss Whedon: The Biography, in stores today.

See the full exchange below:

Tom Hiddleston’s Email to Joss Whedon

Joss,

I am so excited I can hardly speak. The first time I read it I grabbed at it like Charlie Bucket snatching for a golden ticket somewhere behind the chocolate in the wrapper of a Wonka Bar. I didn’t know where to start. Like a classic actor I jumped in looking for LOKI on every page, jumping back and forth, reading words in no particular order, utterances imprinting themselves like flash-cuts of newspaper headlines in my mind: “real menace”; “field of obeisance”; “discontented, nothing is enough”; “his smile is nothing but a glimpse of his skull“; “Puny god.”

Thank you for writing me my Hans Gruber. But a Hans Gruber with super-magic powers. As played by James Mason … It’s high operatic villainy alongside detached throwaway tongue-in-cheek; plus the “real menace” and his closely guarded suitcase of pain. 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. It is just so juicy. I love how throughout you continue to put Loki on some kind of pedestal of regal magnificence and then consistently tear him down.

He gets battered, punched, blasted, side-swiped, roared at, sent tumbling on his back, and every time he gets back up smiling, wickedly, never for a second losing his eloquence, style, wit, self-aggrandisement or grandeur, and you never send him up or deny him his real intelligence. That he loves to make an entrance; that he has a taste for the grand gesture, the big speech, the spectacle. I might be biased, but I do feel as though you have written me the coolest part.

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.

Joss Whedon’s Reply to Tom Hiddleston

Tom, this is one of those emails you keep forever. Thanks so much. It’s more articulate (and possibly longer) than the script. I couldn’t be more pleased at your reaction, but I’ll also tell you I’m still working on it … Thank you again. I’m so glad you’re pleased. Absurd fun to ensue.

Best, (including uncharacteristic fist bump), Joss.

Photo Credit: Marvel