'The Life of Chuck' Interview: Tom Hiddleston

Moviefone speaks with Tom Hiddleston about 'The Life of Chuck'. "It was a very special experience and a film that's very close to my heart," he said.

Tom Hiddleston stars in 'The Life of Chuck'.

Opening Stephen King’s 2020 novella of the same name.

The film stars Star Wars’).

Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with Tom Hiddleston about his work on 'The Life of Chuck’, his first reaction to the screenplay by Mike Flanagan and the way he adapted Stephen King’s source material, and the challenges of preparing for and shooting the massive dance sequence.

Related Article: 20 Best Stephen King Movie Adaptations in Honor of 'The Life of Chuck'

Tom Hiddleston stars in 'The Life of Chuck'. Photo: Neon.

Moviefone: To begin with, can you talk about your first reaction to the screenplay and the way Mike Flanagan was able to adapt Stephen King's source material?

Tom Hiddleston: I it so clearly. It was Easter of 2023 and I read it in a single sitting. In the UK, the Monday after Easter is a public holiday, so it's a day off. Bank Holiday Monday, we call it. I was so moved and inspired by what I read because initially I felt like, I was so intrigued by the first act. It felt like a film about the end of the world, but with such tenderness and such truthfulness about the uncertainty of that experience through Marty and Felicia, the characters played by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Karen Gillan. Also, because I had the letter from Mike, I knew he'd asked me to play Chuck and just like everybody else, I was like, well, who's Chuck? Who is this guy? Then when it was revealed, what was happening, in of the narrative, and I don't want to spoil too much. But when the stars started to be extinguished and I understood what that meant for Chuck's life and how it turned into a meditation on joy and an exploration of the magic of the ordinary life of every human being, that none of us are one thing. We all contain multitudes, which is to say that inside the soul of every ordinary human being is an internal world of infinite possibility. That infinite possibility can create a universe in every life, a universe of connections, of people, of experiences, of memories. That when that life comes to an end, so does that universe. It sums up the way I think about life and that sometimes the small moments aren't small at all, and they end up, in your mind becoming the big moments, in your memory. Really, in the last hours of our lives, all we will carry in our hearts and our minds are the people we loved, the memories we shared with them, the connections we made. That is all that matters. I was so struck by it and so moved by it and so inspired by how Mike had put the film together, and I just immediately wanted to get on the phone with him and say, please, can I do this with you? It was a very special experience and a film that's very close to my heart.

(L to R) Annalise Basso and Tom Hiddleston in 'The Life of Chuck'. Photo: Neon.

MF: Finally, can you talk about rehearsing for the dance sequence and how many times did you have to shoot it to get it right?

TH: Well, I had, in my own life, less formal dance training than Charles Krantz had. I've always loved dancing, but I've never danced like this. I had about five weeks and the brilliant, extraordinary Taylor Gordon on the drums and Annalise Basso. We shot it consistently across the same stretch of time so that the light matched, essentially. So, it was between about 11am and 3pm across four days. We just did it from every angle. Every camera was wide, it was high, it was dancing with us, it was Steadicam, and it was on a crane. But I will say, the very last take we did, because we'd do the whole sequence from start to finish every time, was on the fourth day, the Thursday. We went back to a setup we'd done before. It was almost an homage to the great musicals, which contained the entire thing. It wasn't close-up; it wasn't a mid-shot. It was both Annalise and me and the drum kit and Taylor and the crowd. We played it from start to finish. It was a moment I will never forget. It was a kind of magical take, and a lot of the sequence is from that take. Mike knew it. I knew it. Annalise knew it. The crowd knew it. Mandy knew it. It was like a perfect thing. That's where we stopped.

The Life of Chuck

"Every life is a universe all its own."

R1 hr 50 min Jun 13th, 2025

Showtimes & Tickets

In this extraordinary story of an ordinary man, Charles 'Chuck' Krantz experiences the wonder of love, the heartbreak of loss, and the multitudes contained in all... Read the Plot