tv echo June 17, 2021 Share June 17, 2021 (edited) Sophia Di Martino REVEALS she found out she's playing Lady Loki when she 'was nine months pregnant' Written By Pinkvilla Desk June 17, 2021 https://www.pinkvilla.com/entertainment/hollywood/sophia-di-martino-reveals-she-found-out-shes-playing-lady-loki-when-she-was-nine-months-pregnant-779176 Quote At the Loki press launch, via Digital Spy, Sophia revealed why she was actually surprised to be cast in the popular Disney+ series. Martino explained, "I was nine months pregnant when they told me they had the job, so I was kind of like 'Are you sure?'" Moreover, the 37-year-old actress also shared how her onscreen adversary was unsurprisingly quite lovely to her on set, as expected of Mr. Hiddleston. "If you want to know anything about Loki he's the guy obviously. Lots of advice and he just really looked after me, so thanks," the Yesterday star thanked the 40-year-old actor. "He made sure I didn't trip over anything and made sure I had someone to sit next to at lunchtime," Sophia further gushed. Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson on Loki’s Surprising New Friendship with Mobius BY RACHEL PAIGE June 16, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/tom-hiddleston-owen-wilson-loki-mobius-friendship Quote “The friendship between Mobius and Loki, if you can call it that, is well-earned in that they really sort of put each other through things that are grueling and upsetting,” Wilson continues. “They test each other's patience and faith. Through all that, there is sort of a mutual admiration that emerges.” * * * “What's so interesting about Mobius is somehow, for the first time, he's able to sit with Loki, and confront him without judgment or without any kind of emotional investment that in any way makes Loki feel drawn into a kind of turbulence or conflict. It’s quite comforting for Loki that Mobius is there [when he arrives at the TVA].” * * * “Mobius challenges him, but it's not the same challenge that he's used to,” Hiddleston explains. “It's not the challenge of Thor, or the challenge of Odin, or the challenge of anybody, or the Avengers. Mobius is able to see Loki, and maybe that feeling is reassuring in quite an unexpected way for Loki." * * * Calling this situation and role reversal an “unfamiliar feeling” for the character, Hiddleston adds, “Mobius has all the information, and Loki has none of it. Loki's motivation is really curiosity and a desire to understand.” “It's always disconcerting for someone to know a lot more about you than you do about them,” Wilson continues. “That's the situation Loki finds himself in. He's completely a fish out of water, and yet [Mobius] seem to know things about his life. That kind of puts you on your heels.” What do Tom Hiddleston & Loki Have in Common? | Ask Marvel Marvel Entertainment Jun 16, 2021 Low-Key, We’re Loving These Loki Looks | Disney+ Disney Plus Jun 15, 2021 Tom Hiddleston Shares Career Tips (and Tricks) Inspired by Marvel Studios’ Loki | What’s Up, Disney+ Disney Plus Jun 11, 2021 Edited June 20, 2021 by tv echo 3 Link to comment
tv echo June 18, 2021 Share June 18, 2021 (edited) Hyundai and Marvel Studios have partnered in what is the first-ever co-branded creative campaign to bring in the 2022 Tucson SUV to new spots featuring Marvel characters from four different Disney+ series, Loki, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, WandaVision and What If... Question Everything with Marvel Studios, ABC, and ESPN | TUCSON | Hyundai HyundaiUSA Jun 16, 2021 Question Everything | Marvel Studios' Loki HyundaiUSA Jun 10, 2021 Loki: How The TVA Was Partially Inspired By A Coen Brothers Classic NICK VENABLE JUN. 17. 2021https://www.cinemablend.com/television/2569108/loki-how-the-tva-was-partially-inspired-by-coen-brothers-hudsucker-proxy-kate-herron-tom-hiddleston Quote Much like Marvel's first big TV series WandaVision was an inspired amalgamation of a multitude of classic TV sitcoms, Tom Hiddleston's Loki features lots of lovingly crafted homages to the world of science fiction. Considering the main storyline involves time travel aberrations and a mysterious organization of timekeepers, the genre self-awareness is right on point throughout the episodes released so far. But as Loki director Kate Herron revealed exclusively to CinemaBlend, the Coen Brothers cult classic The Hudsucker Proxy also played a big non-sci-fi influence on how the TVA was conceived. Loki's Time Variance Authority initially seems like an all-powerful, no-nonsense faction that guards the "sacred" timeline with an iron fist, it quickly becomes aware that the shadowy organization and its physical-esque headquarters are really just gussied-up extensions of office building drudgery. (To the point where I wouldn't be surprised if the TVA bought out the tech company Initech from Office Space.) Kate Herron mentioned how film noir and detective stories played into influencing the aesthetic, which is a subgenre Ethan and Joel Coen know extremely well. So it made perfect sense when she later namechecked the Tim Robbins-starring Hudsucker Proxy as another influence. In her words: "I was really excited in creating the TVA and just kind of the bureaucracy within it. A reference, actually, that I have never said before is Hudsucker Proxy in terms of the hierarchy, because obviously the TVA does have a very clear hierarchy. So I would often think about that, actually, with even just the floors of the TVA and how this building, even though it obviously goes on into infinity, like how this kind of massive living office space functioned." * * * On the same side of the satirical office-oriented coin is Terry Gilliam's Brazil, which also served as an inspiration for Loki's Kate Herron. As seen in the video above, she definitely namechecked that classic satire alongside others, also explaining that she also wanted the TVA to have all the mundanity of a real-world office. "Beyond [film noir], I just wanted it to be like a kind of big love letter to sci-fi so, I spoke about before, but like Brazil, Metropolis, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I was drawing from loads of places, like our time doors are inspired by Dune, and the computers in the TVA, the text on those is a bit more like Alien. I kind of pulled from a lot of places and I liked the idea of the TVA having this kind of retro-futuristic technology because I've also worked in a lot of offices, and often the technology is not updated, and it is in need of an update. I thought, for me, that was really fun and exciting. Like, even the weaponry they have in some ways looks dated and basic, but then you actually see it in action and it's like, 'Oh no, they're very powerful, and not to be reckoned with.' And I think that was really exciting, and also just, I wanted someone on Earth, obviously, who worked in an office to be able to watch it and see things within the TVA that felt familiar to them like, oh yeah, I do recognize signs that are like 'Keep Your Desk Clean,' or those awful little paper foam cups that you sometimes have to drink from. I think for an office doesn't ever stop or sleep, that it felt messy and it felt lived in and real." Match | Marvel Studios’ Loki | Disney+ Marvel Entertainment Jun 17, 2021 Edited June 18, 2021 by tv echo 1 Link to comment
pezgirl7 June 18, 2021 Share June 18, 2021 7 hours ago, tv echo said: Hyundai and Marvel Studios have partnered in what is the first-ever co-branded creative campaign to bring in the 2022 Tucson SUV to new spots featuring Marvel characters from four different Disney+ series, Loki, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, WandaVision and What If... Question Everything with Marvel Studios, ABC, and ESPN | TUCSON | Hyundai HyundaiUSA Jun 16, 2021 Hyundai must have paid a pretty penny for that! Loki driving my car is definitely something I thought I'd never see! 🤣 Is that canon now? lol 2 Link to comment
tv echo June 19, 2021 Share June 19, 2021 (edited) Humble Loki | Marvel Studios' Loki | Disney+ Marvel Entertainment Jun 18, 2021 'Asked & Answered with the Women of Marvel': Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Wunmi Mosaku BY MACKENZIE CADENHEAD June 18, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/culture-lifestyle/asked-answered-gugu-mbatha-raw-wunmi-mosaku-loki Time-travel cops are almost always big stinky jerks By Samantha Nelson Jun 17, 2021https://www.polygon.com/22537327/loki-tva-time-travel-cops Quote Organizations that police time travelers or maintain the sanctity of the “true” or “original” timeline have been featured in media for decades, including in 1994’s Timecop, 2014’s The Adjustment Bureau, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. But Loki is part of a recent trend of delving deeper into the workings of the institutions that exercise that cosmic level of control. Portraying time-travel polities as simultaneously near-omnipotent and comically incompetent pushes protagonists to act independently, while also providing sly commentary on the nature of power, the law, and even time itself. * * * By the time Loki fully grasps the power the TVA wields, he’s been pretty badly abused by its agents — particularly infuriating to him, given his serious problem with authority figures. The organization is a perfect foil for him: Its tyrannical disregard for people’s free will embodies everything he claims he wants to accomplish as a ruler, and yet he finds it intolerable to be in the TVA’s hands. For someone whose primary motivation is the pursuit of power, there is no fate more terrible than being powerless. His humbling is key to the show’s plot, making a murderous god feel human as he’s faced with a flawed, intractable system. And the TVA’s mixture of strength and self-righteousness is pretty typical for fictional time-travel police across other media. * * * Time-travel stories provide an entirely secular way to ask questions about free will, destiny, and justice that would traditionally be in the realm of religion. As the animated training video the TVA shows its prisoners states, time breaches can be created by things largely outside of a person’s control, like being late to work, or because they made a major choice, like leading a revolution. That implies the TVA exercises control over both small bits of bad luck and huge life decisions. That effectively gives them godlike power to determine the fates of everyone in the universe. Mobius shows Loki how his decisions led to his adopted mother’s death, but by the TVA’s standards, that death was inevitable. Had Loki done something different, he would have become a variant and been reset. That’s possibly even part of the motivation of the Loki variant the organization is hunting. Placing such power in the hands of humanity — or even “space lizards,” as Loki derisively calls the TVA’s leadership — means it’s used fallibly, and usually by those with a strong stake in maintaining the status quo. That makes these groups a perfect foe for flawed superheroes and repentant villains eager to buck any system, providing a novel power fantasy for anyone who’s felt infuriated by being told that’s just the way things are meant to be. These organizations may argue that they are creating the best of all possible worlds, but the question is “Best for who?” In all three of these shows, the protagonists have reason to feel like they’re being hurt by time bureaucracies, but those organizations also can make some reasonable arguments that they’re actually in the right. * * * Yet the organizations enforcing the laws of time always come off as infuriating jerks, because no one likes to be told what they can’t do. The passage of time isn’t something anyone in the real world can control, which is especially frustrating to humans who have gotten used to defying the laws of nature, through everything from space travel to life-extending medical treatments. The TVA, Temps Commission, Time Masters, and Time Bureau represent the oppression of bureaucracy and the indifferent power of a force of nature. That’s something everyone can agree to hate. 'Loki' Head Writer Michael Waldron on the Time-Keepers, Loki's Gender Fluidity, and the Multiverse War BY STEVE WEINTRAUB June 18, 2021https://collider.com/loki-gender-multiverse-michael-waldron-interview/ Questions asked in this interview: How much free will do people in the MCU have? Because you can make the argument that the Time-Keepers are deciding everything you’re going to do. What can he say about Sophia Di Martino’s character that is introduced at the end of episode two? Was the series always going to start at Avengers Tower in 2012? How many people actually work at the TVA? Do other types of people work at the TVA besides humans? How much backstory of the Time Keepers and their existence did they figure out? What can he say about the stones that are on the heads of the Time-Keepers? Can the Time-Keepers be killed? Are they Gods? How the first episode talks about the Multiverse War. How does this series open the door to what will happen in Doctor Strange 2 and Spider-Man: No Way Home? How old is Owen Wilson’s Mobius character? Easter eggs talk. How Loki’s sexuality is listed as fluid. Explains the reset charge which resets time. Was Hunter B-15 originally written as a black woman? Has he pitched Marvel on a Loki Season 2? What were the biggest challenges when making Loki? Edited June 19, 2021 by tv echo 2 Link to comment
AnimeMania June 20, 2021 Share June 20, 2021 The production work for all 6 episodes of Loki Season 1 is done and they are ready for airing. 1 Link to comment
tv echo June 21, 2021 Share June 21, 2021 New Character Poster Reveals the Loki Variant "This isn't about you." BY RACHEL PAIGE June 21, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/character-poster-loki-variant 1 Link to comment
SnarkShark June 22, 2021 Share June 22, 2021 2 hours ago, tv echo said: New Character Poster Reveals the Loki Variant "This isn't about you." BY RACHEL PAIGE June 21, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/character-poster-loki-variant Do we read any significance into the fact that it's an official Marvel site labelling her as "the Loki Variant"? Link to comment
Llywela June 22, 2021 Share June 22, 2021 6 hours ago, SnarkShark said: Do we read any significance into the fact that it's an official Marvel site labelling her as "the Loki Variant"? Well, it's what she's been referred to on-screen up till now, and whatever other name she might prefer to use has yet to be revealed in the show, so it could just mean they are playing it safe, for now. 2 Link to comment
tv echo June 22, 2021 Share June 22, 2021 (edited) Loki’s Gugu Mbatha Raw Was Inspired By A Particular James Bond Relationship Working With Owen Wilson ERIC EISENBERG JUN. 21. 2021https://www.cinemablend.com/television/2569320/lokis-gugu-mbatha-raw-inspired-by-particular-james-bond-relationship-working-owen-wilson-mobius Quote Speaking with the actor earlier this month during the Loki virtual press day, I asked about the fun back-and-forth that Renslayer and Mobius clearly demonstrate in the show’s first two episodes – and while she couldn’t speak for Owen Wilson’s perspective on the matter, Gugu Mbatha Raw noted that she feels that the Time Variance Authority investigator is the 007 to her character’s M. Said Raw, "Personally I always looked at it as a sort of version of the M/Bond dynamic, with me being M and Mobius being Bond, this sort of rascally agent that just is a bit maverick. And my character sort of appreciates him for the fact that he takes off on these maverick challenges, but also kind of has to have him toe the line as well." * * * Of course, the relationships aren’t exactly perfect facsimiles of one another, and there definitely is something special about the bond (sorry) between Ravonna Renslayer and Mobius that is different from M and cinema’s most famous martini drinker. Teasing a bit of what’s to come from the characters in upcoming episodes of Loki, Gugu Mbatha Raw said, "I sort of looked at it a little bit like that, but then I think there's a slightly different chemistry going on. I think they have a longstanding friendship, and there's layers to their history." Edited June 22, 2021 by tv echo 1 Link to comment
tv echo June 24, 2021 Share June 24, 2021 (edited) This is a great interview with GQ, in which Tom talks about his Loki character in depth, on a movie by movie basis... Tom Hiddleston Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters | GQ GQ Jun 16, 2021 Thor (2011) -- Tom Hiddleston: "Thor. 2011. Directed by Kenneth Branagh... Four months of auditioning, I think, in 2009. A big leap - a big leap for me, um, from making very small films in the UK and working in the theater, and suddenly in the next Marvel Studios picture after Iron Man. It was a moment of adjustment... I felt like I'd won the lottery... The whole thing had a very special atmosphere." -- TH: "I had worked with Kenneth Branagh before. We had acted together in a television series on the BBC called Wallander, and we had also acted together on stage in London in a Chekhov play called Ivanov. This was my first time being directed by him, but we had a - we had a kind of understanding as actors. And I felt very grateful to him that he had - was able to somehow support my casting to the studio. It was a kind of amazing and extraordinary and unprecedented process of working on a project of this scale - working with a stunt department and working with visual effects on blue screen and green screen, on sets the size of which I had never seen. But I was a fan of these movies, too... It was such a joy for the first time to be inside the process... Rather like any process of making a film, in the end it comes down to, um, the atmosphere you create together as actors and, um, trying to tell a story and trying to tell it... which is interesting and complex and sort of recognizable emotion, and hopefully it's funny and it's moving and it's touching... and it kind of connects with people." -- TH: "I could see from the first scripts, the story was really - there were two stories almost. One was on this epic, spectacular canvas - Asgard, a shining city in the sky, with a rainbow bridge and a kind of intergalactic energy that connected it to other universes, that transported characters to new worlds... and this was a world of gods and monsters, a world from myth and legend. And we knew the film had to deliver on that scale. But inside it was a very small drama about a family, about the father and two sons. Ken Branagh sitting us down and saying, 'Actually this is what the film is, is it's about this family, and a father, two sons, their mother, and there're all sorts of fractures. If that happens to be the family, uh, the royal family at the top of the universe, there's a very, very high stakes. But ultimately they'll still have the same very relatable, very accessible family dynamics as any family on the planet. And so that became a very interesting, psychological thing to explore about a triangle of Odin and his two sons, Thor and Loki, and Loki's sense of being marginalized or less favored than Thor, and why that should be. Was it just because he's the younger brother and therefore won't inherit the throne and all that responsibility? And then Loki finding out halfway through the film that he's actually adopted and wasn't even supposed to be there, and then feeling very betrayed... and upset. And it gives way to all kinds of vulnerability and anger and grievance and grief. ... And that's when he becomes an antagonist in a way, and that's when Thor and Loki fragment and split off and become adversaries. ... And all that was really rich material, um, to get into, especially with these actors." -- TH: "I remember that day when Loki finds out he's adopted, and it's a scene in the weapons vault... Really it was a very small scene in terms of its kind of structure. And on the day Kenneth Branagh and Anthony Hopkins, and I was there going, 'Oh my God, working with Kenneth Branagh and Anthony Hopkins.' ... I also remember them kind of not able to talk to each other about how much they admired each other, so they came to me, which was quite sweet. (Laughs) ... And Anthony Hopkins telling me how much he admired Kenneth Branagh. And Kenneth Branagh saying how much he admired Anthony Hopkins... I felt like I was vessel for their kind of sheepishness about being able to be honest about that... But it was a big day of big emotion and, um... I remember that scene became the anchor for the whole characterization." -- TH: "Loki was, yes, a comic book villain and somebody with magical powers... And someone who had these emotions had to read on a big scale, but also, if you boiled it down, there was also something very - very kind of human about his - about the things he was - his grievances." -- TH: "And last but not least, my first film with Chris Hemsworth, with whom I made a very fast and firm friendship, because we were playing brothers in this enormous thing and it felt like we were brothers by the end in some way. He was the only other person who understood what the experience had been like. He was the only other person who - I came back and friends of mine were like, 'How was it?' ... It was always hard to explain. And there's always one person who knows, and it was Chris... We've always shared that really, because it's kind of a life-changing moment for both of us." The Avengers (2012) -- TH: "Avengers. The first one. 2012. And it was the very first team-up. Superhero film. And I remember reading the script and I was like, okay, there are six of them. Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, Hulk and Hawkeye. And there's one of me. And the way this film is structured is, the Avengers have to win, and we all want to root for the Avengers. And it was so brilliant because it was almost that Loki's superpower - which is his mercurial shapeshifting and his capacity to manipulate situations, his wit, his charm, his sort of strategic intelligence - is used to turn these individual characters against each other, um, initially, so that he has the upper hand. And then in the second act, they actually all unite as a team to stop him. And I remember thinking, I've got to really lean into my - I've got to really lean into being a pure antagonist in this one, um, because the balance of the film needs to be such that you just need Loki - Loki need to - yeah, I wanted the audience to cheer at the end when he gets Hulk-smashed, and I think they did." -- TH: "It was an amazing experience because it was the first one and I think there was a sense of - with Robert and Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans that they were kind of almost relieved to share the responsibility for carrying the film and - and a kind of uncertainty about whether we could all pull it off. When, I guess, the following spring in 2012 when the film came out and it kind of became what it became, we were all so honored, I guess, we were all so honored that it seemed to work and it seemed to connect. And that was a very special experience to share with them, because the Avengers suddenly took - occupied a position in the culture, which they went on to - you know, they carried on to the second film and the third film - and the Avengers are this team that everybody in the world has heard of... And I was really honored that I was there kind of for the first - the first go-around... It was a fun team to be around. And what I've been amazed by it - because I had a little break from the MCU for a little bit while it expanded, and it seemed to get - the MCU seemed to get braver and the films seemed to get bigger and more ambitious... with Doctor Strange and Black Panther and the - the characters from Wakanda and Ant-Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy... And I was sort of watching from the sidelines, going, I'm so proud of all these actors and what they're doing. This is great. Watching with my popcorn on the opening night and, um, it was really fun to just feel a part of it in some way... And it kind of culminates with Infinity War and, uh, and Endgame, where you see all these individual films and the threads of the Infinity Stones - it all kind of crystallizes in - in this moment of - of all the Avengers against Thanos... It was just such an extraordinary experience to be a part of." Thor: Ragnorak (2017) -- TH: "What I used to say was like, Taika [Waititi] took everything that had been built before and just added all of his own kind of sense of humor and style and, um, the bells and the whistles and, you know, there were fireworks... He was able to respect what had gone before and say, this is my reading. And it was so playful and so irreverent... It was just so fresh. ... My first conversation with Taika was, um, look, three movies and Loki's always somehow manages to, you know, pull the wool over Thor's eyes and get him to trust him and then betray him. What if Thor was on to him? ... What if Thor wasn't going to be fooled, you know, fooled again and it was actually Loki who was on the back foot? ... So Thor's, you know, like, okay, Loki, I get it, you get me to trust you, then you betray me. Fine. You can keep playing the same tune, if you like. I'm gonna go off and do this. And Loki's almost non-plussed by that. It's like, what? So the shtick isn't working anymore? I'm going to have to think of something else... And that was really new, so in a way like Loki becomes the straight man and Thor becomes like off - and Thor's playing off that, um, and Loki has to think of like another way - a sort of a way of reinventing himself because it isn't working. And there's a great scene where - they sort of need each other to get out of the palace ,um, the Grandmaster's palace, uh, played by Jeff Goldblum. And, um, it works for a while and they form this kind of unstable alliance and Loki betrays him again. And then Thor goes, it's not gonna work like that. And then Thor betrays Loki and then sort of stands over him and says, you know, you just - you just never change, do you? You're just the same over and over again. And Loki is so shocked by it. ... Yeah, it was fun to kind of - to send up some of the things that I had played with such sincerity in the previous films. And Taika is - you know, he comes from a, you know, background of independent filmmaking and comedy, and we improvised a lot. And I was really aware on that set of how kind of bonkers and funny this film was going to be and - and Chris was so released as well by - because, I mean, everybody knows by now, but Chris is hilarious and he always has been, ever since I met him... He felt so free because Thor was kind of silly and, you know, there was a lot of - a very endearing, very endearing goofiness to what he was doing... Just joining in in that atmosphere was really fun." -- TH: "It sort of sets [Loki] on a road to kind of maybe setting down some of the old tricks and some of the old ways of doing things, and reflecting and thinking, well, maybe, you know, if I can't provoke my brother anymore, maybe I should join him. I really enjoyed that - that ultimately the death of his father and the threat to his home - he's like, you know, I'm going to miss - who am I without Thor? .. If Thor is destroyed and Asgard is destroyed, I don't know who I am. So maybe I should be there. I should help them. I think it's really touching, I hope, in a very unsentimental way." Loki (2021) -- TH: "What I love about Loki, the series, is it's the Loki you know in a world you don't know. This is the Loki who's mischievous and witty and charismatic and, um, playful and transgressive and disruptive, and broken and vulnerable and angry and betrayed and jealous and fractured, and all these things, the whole cocktail. Someone who you can't trust. Ever the trickster. But he's always someone who's somehow been in control. And he's suddenly in a world where he has no control. He's in an institution, a bureaucracy called the TVA, the Time Variance Authority, and they are an organization who have been tasked with the order of time. Reality unfolds as it should, according to its predetermined decisions." -- TH: "Loki's a character who basically inhabits the idea of chaos. And he's up against a bureaucratic institution that inhabits the idea of order. And you put those two together - and that's where we start. (Laughs) ... So (Makes exploding sound) ... Therein lies the drama." - TH: "I love that about him. And so you strip Loki of all the familiar stuff - Asgard, Thor, green, gold, helmets, magic. It's all gone. And you put him in a world where he's out of his comfort zone and destabilized and completely confused... I really enjoyed seeing how he's almost confronted with having to find a new way through. And I hope that, um, everyone is as excited by it as I was." Superior | Marvel Studios’ Loki | Disney+ Marvel Entertainment Jun 22, 2021 Warning: video includes mild spoiler shots...Meet Sylvie Featurette | Marvel Studios' Loki | Disney+ Marvel Entertainment Jun 24, 2021 Edited June 24, 2021 by tv echo 7 Link to comment
tv echo June 25, 2021 Share June 25, 2021 (edited) FYI... ‘Loki’: The Meaning Behind ‘Love Is A Dagger’ Rachel Paige June 23, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/loki-love-is-a-dagger-sylvie Quote Even Tom Hiddleston agrees it’s a pretty bad comparison to make. “It's one of those things that Loki comes up with spontaneously,” he tells Marvel.com. “They were having a talk about love and trusting other people, and not being able to either love or trust for whatever reason, and Loki thinks he's come up with something profound.” * * * But in fairness to Loki, this “imaginary dagger” has honestly been his experience in his relationships so far, with Hiddleston continuing that, up until this point, this “is Loki's experience of love, I suppose. He certainly feels like it's not been something he's been close to. It has been some sort of illusion that he has trusted and been let down by.” Surprisingly, the line actually does have a romantic bent to it, as head writer Michael Waldron was busy working on the episode just before his own nuptials. “I wrote that really, really quick,” Waldron explains. “I remember I was revising Episode 3 in the two weeks leading up to my wedding. It’s interesting because that's probably the most romantic episode. At that point, Loki is a little bit drunk. That freed me up, where it was just like, ‘Don't think too hard about it,’ which is sort of my first thought that Loki would think here.” Doesn’t exactly make sense? For Loki, it doesn’t need to make sense for him to be convincing with it, and Waldron relied on that. “I just ran with it, ‘Love is a dagger,’” shares Waldron. “And fortunately, like many of Loki's metaphors, it almost works.” Loki’s half-baked explanation of his reasoning also gives viewers a glimpse into Sylvie and how she’s not just about to buy what he’s selling. “It’s a chance for Sylvie to burst the bubble of Loki's pomposity,” Hiddleston says with a laugh. “He's always coming up with things that he thinks are profound, but actually, they're not particularly profound.” Edited June 25, 2021 by tv echo 3 Link to comment
tv echo June 26, 2021 Share June 26, 2021 (edited) Shop Marvel Must Haves: ‘Loki’ Episode 3 Rachel Paige June 25, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/gear/shop-marvel-must-haves-loki-episode-3 Edited June 26, 2021 by tv echo 2 Link to comment
tv echo June 27, 2021 Share June 27, 2021 (edited) At around the 4:24 mark, they show shots of Tom's screen test for the role of Thor (he has long blonde hair and he's swinging a hammer, there's also a shirtless shot)... Tom Hiddleston Breaks Down His Career, from 'The Avengers' to 'Loki' | Vanity Fair Vanity Fair Jun 25, 2021 Quote Tom Hiddleston takes us through his legendary career, including his roles in 'Nicholas Nickleby,' 'Thor,' 'War Horse,' 'The Avengers,' 'The Night Manager,' 'Betrayal' and 'Loki.' -- TH was doing a play, Ivanov, with Kenneth Branagh when he learned that Ken was going to be directing the first Thor movie. He remembered going to congratulate Ken with a water bottle in his hand, which he swung like a hammer. TH: "Months later, the word got out, I suppose, that they wanted to find an unknown or two unknown actors for the lead roles. And the casting directors, Randy Hiller and Sarah Finn, who - to whom I am forever indebted, um, called me in because I was 6 foot 2 and had blonde hair... There were all sorts of roles in this that I might be right for. And, um, I remember I was well known now that I did a screen test for the role of Thor, but at the end of that long process, they just decided I would be better suited for the role of Loki. And it was the most life-changing moment for both myself and Chris Hemsworth. Two weeks later, we all - we were in the same room and, um, reading scenes together and laughing and, um, and then Ken sent us off to go and train. He wanted to spend some time with Natalie Portman, working with Jane Foster, so he said, 'Chris and Tom, go and train together. There's some tree trunks, um, in the garden for firewood.' So we were lifting these tree trunks. And, uh, it was summertime. We went for a swim. And I remember, it was when we were swimming, we both - Chris and I looked at each other and thought, wow, we are two of the luckiest guys, um, in the world. And we became first - firm and fast friends. And it was the beginning of a long and extraordinary adventure in the world of Marvel and Asgard and the MCU." -- On shooting the first Avengers movie, TH: "It was an extraordinarily ambitious idea, and kind of breathtaking in its daring and in its vision. The experience of making it was - a long summer in 2011 - what felt like an extraordinary relay race of people doing a lap of the track and then handing the baton on to the next actor, who would do a lap of the track, and all of us wondering and hoping that our best efforts would coalesce into something that would feel fresh and exciting. I remember there were some very exciting days on set when everybody was together. And I thought, wow, look at these actors in these costumes, and they've got such different energies. The actors themselves had such different energies, which was so exciting to see in contrast. And to see Robert Downey at that time, where he was with Tony Stark, and Chris Evans, where he was with Captain America, and they would face off. Or to see Mark Ruffalo invent the Hulk in that particular way. And Scarlett was taking Natasha and Black Widow in a direction that maybe hadn't been explored before in Iron Man 2... And Chris Hemsworth, too, coming straight off the back of Thor, and feeling really confident about - maybe both of us feeling more confident about - about how Thor and Loki were... And I remember when it came out, and seeing it for the first time and thinking, this is so fun. And the structure of it, it just seemed to work. It was that - that - that shot of the six of them when it tracks around them, and the Hulk roars, and I remember watching it, I think at a screening in New York, and the people just cheered, spontaneously. And I remember thinking, phew, okay... it works. And then also cheering when I got Hulk-smashed, which is very satisfying." -- On the Loki series, TH: "Well, you know what's interesting about Loki is, every time I've played him, it's almost like playing a chord on a piano and then it goes out into the world and it echoes around the audience and the readers and the fans, and - and it kind of comes back, and it comes back with new tones in there and maybe it's a few extra little grace notes... So what Loki means to people continues to deepen and change... What I found so interesting about playing him is that my first encounter with him was as a younger brother in a family who felt misunderstood and betrayed and had lots of vulnerability and distress, and then every time I've been invited back, you think, well, I don't want to do the same thing I did last time. And so you'd start digging around more in the source material in the comics and the old stories, and there's just so much in there. I mean, he has so many different facets. And one of the things, I think, I found most interesting about Loki, he's a shape-shifter, he is the quintessential trickster, a mercurial spirit who is flexible and fleet-footed, and you can't pin him down. You don't know whether you can trust him. You don't know what his motivations are. You don't know why he's doing what he's doing. He's committing acts of provocation and transgression and disruption. And across the films, actually, Thor - Thor is always asking him, 'What is it you want, Loki? Why - what do you really want?' And I'm not - I've always asked myself, I wonder what he does want, and I wonder if he even knows. And so the question for me now is, behind all the masks that he wears, is there an authentic self there that he is aware of? Does he even care to know? Is he interested? If he isn't, is there a situation that might confront him with it? And might that compel any kind of change? And that in itself is a kind of human question... Can we change? Are we capable of change? Do we know who we are, really? Do we think we know who we are? Do we care? All that stuff about identity and - and self-knowledge is - is, um, when you're playing with a character as complex and rich as Loki, that becomes a really - really interesting dramatic question for an actor to, uh, to pay with. So I've enjoyed that enormously." That screen test footage of Tom auditioning for the role of Thor apparently was a bonus feature in the blu-ray for Thor: The Dark World.:Tom Hiddleston auditions for Thor - Thor: The Dark World Extra | HD Marvel UK Jan 30, 2014 -- Kevin Feige: "We always were putting our chips on Loki. We believed in him as a character. Had Tom not brought him to life in a way the audience responded to, he probably wouldn't have gone anywhere." -- Craig Kyle(?): "You know, at first Tom was up for Thor. He trained, he came in, he was ripped, you know, he was swinging the hammer in the rain, he did a tremendous job. But he wasn't Thor. The moment he came in and read, though, he was Loki." -- Kevin Feige: "The audience responded so strongly to Tom, we couldn't have been happier." -- Natalie Portman: "He finds so much humor in his evil. And he and Chris have a great rapport with each other. They've got sort of a brotherly thing that's fun to be around." I'm Still Yelling About These 17 TV Moments From This Week, So We Should Talk About Them By Nora Dominick June 26, 2021https://www.buzzfeed.com/noradominick/tv-moments-of-week-6-25-21 Quote 1. First, on Loki, Loki and Sylvie, the variant the TVA has been tracking, ended up on Lamentis-1 and tried to escape before the moon was destroyed. * * *2. And on Loki, the series confirmed Loki's bisexuality during this perfect conversation with Sylvie. Edited June 27, 2021 by tv echo 1 Link to comment
Cobalt Stargazer June 28, 2021 Share June 28, 2021 For everyone who wants to see this: 4 2 Link to comment
tv echo June 28, 2021 Share June 28, 2021 (edited) Warning: new footage from not-yet-aired episodes is included at the end of the sneak peek video below (starting after the 1:22 mark)... ‘Loki’: Watch the New Mid-Season Sneak Peek Now BY RACHEL PAIGE June 28, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/loki-new-mid-season-sneak-peek Quote With three episodes down and only three more episodes to go, things are still just only getting started with Marvel Studios’ Loki, streaming exclusively on Disney+. A brand new mid-season sneak peek reminds us that yes, Loki is still up to his usual tricks — but this time, he’s got the Time Variance Authority breathing down his neck over them. Can a mischievous scamp change his ways? Agent Mobius sure thinks so, telling the God of Mischief: “I believe, stupidly, you can be whatever you want to be. Even someone good.” The trailer also reveals a little bit more of the dangerous Loki Variant the TVA has been hunting all season, Sylvie. And if you ask Loki, he should have the same amount of security as her because anything less than that is insulting. Edited June 28, 2021 by tv echo 1 Link to comment
tv echo June 30, 2021 Share June 30, 2021 (edited) ‘Loki’: Inside the Decision to Have Him ‘Fall In Love With Another Version of Himself’ RACHEL PAIGE June 29, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/loki-sylvie-in-love Quote ... After putting the pieces together from Loki’s context cues, Mobius arrives at the only logical conclusion: Loki’s fallen for the other Variant, aka Sylvie. “You like her! Does she like you?” teases Mobius. “That was one of the cruxes of my pitch [for the series], that there was going to be a love story,” head writer Michael Waldron explains to Marvel.com. “We went back and forth for a little bit about, like do we really want to have this guy fall in love with another version of himself? Is that too crazy? But in a series that, to me, is ultimately about self-love, self-reflection, and forgiving yourself, it just felt right that that would be Loki's first real love story.” * * * Loki reassures her that while they might lose, they don’t die — they survive. He goes on to call Sylvie “amazing” for how she almost took down the TVA on her own, and it’s clear from the look on his face that even though they’ve only been together a short while, Loki’s already come to admire and respect her. As the moon literally crumbles around them, Sylvie places a hand on Loki’s arm, and that’s when it happens: A branch on the Sacred Timeline. These two Lokis are having a moment they were never supposed to have, which as Mobius puts it, is “pure chaos.” “The look that they share, that moment, [it started as] a blossoming friendship,” continues Waldron. “Then for the first time, they both feel that twinge of, ‘Oh, could this be something more? What is this I'm feeling?’ These are two beings of pure chaos that are the same person falling in love with one another. That's a straight-up and down branch, and exactly the sort of thing that would terrify the TVA.” * * * Even more so than Loki just realizing he is capable of loving someone other than himself, Loki is finally willing to accept himself and all his flaws. “I don't think Loki's relationship with himself has been very healthy,” Tom Hiddleston explains. “Trying to accept those aspects of himself, which he's been on the run from, was a way of thinking about that in a really interesting way. Also, Sylvie's not Loki. Sylvie is Sylvie. That's interesting, too. I'm really excited to see what people make of it.” As Mobius notes, it might just be a case of extreme narcissism, but it also makes complete sense for the character. “Who’s a better match for Loki than himself?” director Kate Herron chimes in. “The whole show is about identity. It's about him, and he is on a very different path, and he is on a different journey. He sees things in Sylvie that he is like, ‘Oh, I've been there. I know what you feel.’ But she's like, ‘Well, I don't feel that way.’ And I think that was the kind of fun thing about it. She is him, but she's not him. They've had such different life experiences. So just from an identity perspective, it was interesting to dig into that.” “When Loki meets Sylvie, he's inspired solely by curiosity,” reveals Hiddleston. “He wants to talk to her and understand her and try to discern what was similar about their experiences, and what was different. He keeps asking her questions because he wants to see if his experience was also her experience. I think he realizes, and she realizes, that while they're the same, they're not the same.” * * * “I think something that Sophia captured really beautifully is that she’s in a different space,” continues Herron. “She's almost where Loki was in Thor in some ways where she's dealing with a lot of pain. For different reasons, obviously. It was really interesting having her in a different headspace of a different Loki.” * * * “As we were cutting it together in the studio, everyone was, ‘Oh, this [relationship] is really cool. Let's dig into that more,’" shares Herron. “When we went back to filming, we added or tweaked scripts basically to [emphasize it].” ‘Loki’: Behind the Scenes of the Crumbling Time Variance Authority RACHEL PAIGE June 30, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/loki-tva-in-disarray Quote Renslayer wasn’t always sitting behind a big desk in a big office at the TVA. “She has worked her way up to the top. She wasn't born into power. She started as a Hunter,” Mbatha-Raw tells Marvel.com. As viewers see at the start of Episode 4, Renslayer was the Hunter tasked with grabbing the Loki variant — aka Sylvie — from her timeline to stand trial. * * * “She's really worked hard to get where she is, so she's not going to be reckless with the power that has been hard-earned for her,” Mbatha-Raw continues. “She, in some ways, is deeply indoctrinated with the ways of the TVA. She's completely conditioned by their thinking and the idea of the Sacred Timeline, and the concept of free will is quite alien to her. She's a believer. She believes in law and order, and it's done quite well for her so far in terms of getting her to where she is. She's not going to abandon her philosophy lightly.” * * * “It was fun to start off with everything being sort of very orderly and black-and-white for Renslayer. As her reality begins to crumble, we discover that alongside her. She has put everything into this. This is her whole world. Her career is her life.” * * * “Her only friend, really, is Mobius, and she kind of betrays him,” Mbatha-Raw says. “Or she sees it as he betrayed her, and they have this massive schism. And you sort of think, gosh, where is she going to go now? Who's going to be in her corner? Who's she going to have a drink with at the end of the day. It's a lot of stress!” * * * While reading the dummy sides (fake scenes for the audition), Mosaku and director Kate Herron determined the gender didn’t alter who Hunter B-15 is at the root of the character. “Despite being written a man, Hunter B-15 is a Hunter and works for the TVA. It didn’t change the scripts. I have free reign because she's new. B-15 doesn't exist in the MCU, so I really got to start from scratch and explore different ideas and themes, and take her wherever Kate and I wanted to.” * * * “The relationship between Mobius and Renslayer, it's the way you might have with your boss. Or when you're back in school with the principal or someone in a position of authority and having to sort of try to charm them so you're able to pursue your projects,” Wilson tells Marvel.com. “That's the dynamic between Mobius and Renslayer. She sort of loses patience with Mobius and with another one of his schemes. But, I think, she also sort of enjoys that he's a little bit of a rascal.” * * * “The betrayal of Mobius by Renslayer is pretty shocking. And it's a little bit of a hall of mirrors within the whole series, that people aren't quite who they seem to be. In the same way that Loki, when he lands in this bizarre place called the TVA, Mobius will have sort of the same struggles. What is this organization? And is it something that is worthy of his devotion?” * * * Coy with her response, Tara Strong, who voices the perky clock, explains, “It's safe to say that Miss Minutes knows absolutely everything, and it's also safe to say I wouldn't mess with her too much.” * * * “She knows so much about the TVA, and it’s her job to relay this information to Loki,” says Strong. “[She needs] him to get past some of the things he's done [in order] to improve himself as a member of this universe, and how to grow and help. I [navigate] these moments with him, careful to not give away how much I actually know in the world.” ‘Loki’: The Time Keepers Are Front and Center in New Character Poster RACHEL PAIGE June 29, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/loki-time-keepers-character-posterVillain | Marvel Studios' Loki | Disney+ Marvel Entertainment Jun 29, 2021 Edited June 30, 2021 by tv echo Link to comment
tv echo July 1, 2021 Share July 1, 2021 (edited) The Good, The Bart, and The Loki will premiere on Disney+ on July 7... 'Loki' Faces Off Against 'The Simpsons' in an All-New Animated Crossover Short on Disney+ MARCO VITO ODDO JUNE 30, 2021https://collider.com/the-simpsons-loki-animated-short-disney-plus/ Quote Disney+ has announced a new Marvel-themed short from The Simpsons, featuring Tom Hiddleston as the voice of Loki. Titled The Good, The Bart, and The Loki, the new crossover short promises to give the God of Mischief his biggest challenge yet, as the Asgardian tries to survive the heroes of Springfield. * * * New episodes of Loki are being released weekly on Disney+, every Wednesday. The Good, The Bart, and The Loki will premiere on Disney+ on July 7. .... Best TV Shows Of June 2021 By Alex Zalben Jun 30, 2021https://decider.com/2021/06/30/best-tv-shows-june-2021/ Quote 4 'Loki' Disney+ ... Marvel’s domination of the pop culture conversation continues into the summer with Loki, a rip-roaring ride through the MCU’s increasingly convoluted timeline. But while Marvel’s take on time travel will always be confusing, Tom Hiddleston’s affection for his Asgardian troublemaker is crystal clear. Pair his effortlessly charming and endlessly fascinating performance as Loki with Owen Wilson’s deadpan humor and Sophie Di Martino’s breakout role as the grimly determined Sylvie and you’ve got one can’t-miss series of the summer. — Brett White Edited July 1, 2021 by tv echo 1 Link to comment
tv echo July 2, 2021 Share July 2, 2021 Music video by Natalie Holt performing "TVA" from Loki... Natalie Holt - TVA (From "Loki") MarvelMusicVEVO Jul 2, 2021 3 Link to comment
tv echo July 3, 2021 Share July 3, 2021 (edited) Loki Director On Sylvie's Nexus Event And Why We Didn't See More Of Her Timeline Reset Attack NICK VENABLE JUL. 2. 2021 https://www.cinemablend.com/television/2569887/loki-director-kate-herron-sylvie-nexus-event-timeline-reset-attack-tom-hiddleston?pv=related_list Quote Episode 4 began with The Walking Dead star Cailey Fleming as a young Sylvie, seemingly as happy as could be while playing with her Viking-centric toys. Her afternoon was soon interrupted by Gugu Mbatha Raw's non-bounty hunter Ravonna Renslayer, who roughly hauled Sylvie away to the TVA as her henchmen set a reset charge in that timeline. Viewers didn't see anything particularly incriminating, and Ravonna herself later implied Sylvie's Nexus Event wasn't so impactful in saying she couldn't even remember what it was. When I asked Loki helmer Kate Herron about whether Sylvie's big moment was more of a major catalyst or an insignificant one, here's what she said: "My interpretation of it is that it's definitely open for discussion, because I wouldn't want to shut that down. I think it's kind of fun seeing everyone and their read on it. But I think there's something tragic, in the sense that we see her as a little girl and she's playing with her toys, and it doesn't seem like it's a big thing that she's done. So I think that's the really key thing with her is that we don't necessarily know what the exact event was, but it wasn't villainous, and it didn't seem [that way]. I think that's the clear thing, particularly with Episode 4, is that obviously our perspective on the TVA started to shift. For example, it was really important for me showing her going through the same process as Loki but it's like, 'Okay, how do we show that through the eyes of a child that's also innocent?' And we should feel, as an audience, wrongfully there. So I think that was really key for us." * * * Kate Herron continued, and her words were a reminder of Episode 1's introductory video with Miss Minutes, which pointed out that Nexus Events can be caused by something as otherwise insignificant as waking up late for work. Here's how she put it: "But in terms of like, what exactly it was, I would kind of just leave that open to the fans to discuss because yeah, I think it's fun. I have my own idea of what it is, but I think in my head, it's definitely something innocent and something out of her control. Which kind of plays into the fact that not everyone arrested by the TVA is necessarily like Loki and has stolen a tesseract and created this branch. Sometimes you accidentally do just step onto the wrong leaf and you create this branch. Do those people, where it's accidental, do they deserve to go through this process where ultimately they're deleted by the TVA? Probably not. Or maybe they do, for the better of servicing and protecting the timeline. So yeah, that's kind of all part of the discussion." * * * Then in Episode 4, when Loki and Sylvie were captured and brought back into the TVA, that big attack was already an afterthought. I asked Kate Herron why the show didn't dedicate more focus on what came from Sylvie's actions, and she explained it by saying the point of the story in that moment wasn't about the TVA chaos, but about the burgeoning relationship between the two trickster gods. "I think the thinking was like, you know in Episode 3, while they're on Lamentis? That was sort of to hand in being sorted out, essentially. Because when she's infiltrating the TVA, we see Minutemen running off through time doors, so you get an impression that they are tidying up the timeline. But it just wasn't the P.O.V. that we were with at that point, basically. You know what I mean? We weren't back in the TVA. And I think we get an impression [of what happens], because obviously we leave Renslayer there when they fall through the time door. For us, it was more just that we're not there for that tidy-up moment in the story; we're with our two Lokis on Lamentis." Listen to the Digital Soundtrack for Loki: Volume 1 (Episodes 1-3) Now BY CHRISTINE DINH July 2, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/digital-soundtrack-loki-volume-1-natalie-holt?linkId=123055998 Quote As we await the next episode, Marvel Music/Hollywood Records just released Loki: Volume 1 (Episodes 1-3), now available for your listening pleasure! The instrumental score from the Original Series, streaming exclusively on Disney+, is by composer Natalie Holt. * * * “Natalie Holt is an amazing composer,” says director Kate Herron. “Her influences are very exciting. The score is very layered and electronic with a dark, strange energy that is very much Loki.” Watch the music video for the series' end credits sequence, "TVA," above! Holt added, “Getting to work in the MCU, and on a character like Loki, was such a gift. I have so enjoyed inhabiting this world, fleshing out stories and adding layers of emotion and meaning with music, and being a part of this exciting chapter in the MCU development.” * * * Volume 1 will be followed by Loki: Volume 2 (Episodes 4-6) on July 23. Album producers are Kevin Feige, Kate Herron and Dave Jordan. Was Evil Angel Devilishly Good? Was Legends Cameo Too Random? Sports' Roughest Moment? And More TV Qs! By Vlada Gelman, Matt Webb Mitovich, Michael Ausiello, Kimberly Roots, Dave Nemetz, Rebecca Iannucci, Ryan Schwartz, Nick Caruso, Mekeisha Madden Toby, Keisha Hatchett and Charlie Mason / July 2 2021https://tvline.com/2021/07/02/evil-season-2-archangel-michael-scarier-than-supernatural-tv-questions/ Quote 14 | Since it has been the case for WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and now Loki, should we assume Episode 4 will always be a game-changer for Disney+’s Marvel shows? Also, is the Disney Store selling Alligator Loki plushes yet? Edited July 3, 2021 by tv echo 1 Link to comment
tv echo July 4, 2021 Share July 4, 2021 I'm Still Yelling About These 13 TV Moments From This Week, So We Should Talk About Them Nora Dominick July 3, 2021https://www.buzzfeed.com/noradominick/tv-moments-of-week-7-2-21 Quote 1. First, on Loki, Mobius was pruned after Loki revealed that everyone at the TVA is a Variant, and then Sylvie and Loki were brought in front of the Time-Keepers, who turned out to be androids. * * *2. And on Loki, Ravonna shockingly pruned Loki, and he ended up in another world with four other Lokis. 1 Link to comment
Melina22 July 5, 2021 Share July 5, 2021 TH is 6'2??This really surprised me. Why did I think he was much smaller? That said I don't think he would have been a good Thor, but he's a perfect Loki. I really enjoyed reading his interview. Any actress who can play a big, active role like Sylvie while still nursing her baby is a real life superhero. She definitely won't have to worry about dieting! 1 Link to comment
tv echo July 5, 2021 Share July 5, 2021 (edited) How Our Loki Questions About The Time-Keepers And TVA Pruning Were Addressed By The Director NICK VENABLE JUL. 5, 2021https://www.cinemablend.com/television/2569952/loki-questions-time-keepers-pruning-director-kate-herron-tom-hiddleston-owen-wilson Quote Ever since their collective name was first referenced in Loki's first episode, many fans have had an inkling that there was something potentially fraudulent happening with the Time-Keepers, despite their legitimate existence in Marvel Comics' history. The suspicions were certainly helped along by the seemingly powerful entities not making a physical appearance throughout the first three episodes, and were at last confirmed in Episode 4 when Sophia Di Martino's Sylvie decapitated one and revealed the trio to be robots. And because that Time-Keeper reveal seemed to indicate that someone else is behind the curtain pulling the metaphorical strings, I asked Loki's Kate Herron what she could say about it. In her words: "I would say that it was really just that fine thread across the first three episodes, sort of leading people with the right questions, which I've seen the audience are asking. Which is like, 'Why do we ever see these Time-Keepers? Who are the Time-Keepers?' And then obviously, we see them in Episode 4. And I think, honestly, it's really just when everyone should be at if what you're asking me is like, 'Who's behind the TVA?' And yeah, we will answer that. It's something people would have to stay tuned to see. But I think it was definitely fun bringing those characters to life, but making sure, obviously before we realize they're not real, that they feel real because they're based on the characters from the comics. And I think it was really just about that fine line and making sure that it didn't just look like they were talking to animatronic robots; they're talking to these sentient creatures, or at least we thought they were. So yes, I think that was really the fine line in terms of the storytelling, but in terms of the actual question [of who is behind the TVA], I would say again you have to stay tuned." * * * Up until the final scene in Loki Episode 4, it was a foregone conclusion for many fans that getting pruned by the TVA meant getting wiped out of existence. However, Loki's arrival in a destroyed New York during the mid-credits scene implied that pruning does not automatically mean death. So what does it mean? Director Kate Herron was quick to cheekily dodge this question, though she did reveal the answer is coming sooner rather than later. "I will say you will all have your answers next week. [Laughs.]" * * * To that end, I asked Kate Herron if Ravonna was actually preparing for Mobius' eventual pruning during their conversation in her office when she asked where he'd most want to go on the sacred timeline. I can't help but believe Ravonna asked him that question because she recognized a change in Mobius' loyalty to the TVA and was preparing for the worst, but also that her feelings for Mobius were genuine enough that she would allow him to dictate his post-pruning destination. (The pain on her face was definitely present once he was erased, as it were.) But if that is indeed the case, Herron isn't fessing up quite yet. In her words: "I would say for us, I think it's connecting to their game, right? 'If you could go anywhere, where would you go?' I think that it's more just about their relationship and who they are as characters at that point. And I think that's the beautiful thing about it is that we've heard them have that conversation in such a different context earlier on, and then now, it's like, 'Oh, actually, you know where I would go?' Yeah, I feel like he knows, maybe, what's coming, but I think he's gonna go out swinging, basically." LIVE Filmmakers Panel with Loki's Director Kate Herron The Female Lead Streamed live on Jul 5, 2021 Questions Asked of Kate Herron: What was it like working with the one and only Tom Hiddleston? And is he mischievous in real life as well? What was it like directing all the fight scenes? Where did the inspiration for Miss Minutes come from? What is Kate's "glorious purpose" in film and/or life? How did Kate become a director? Who were her inspirations? What were Kate's influences in designing the look of the TVA? Was Kate inspired by the comics or fan art? Did the Easter eggs in the Loki series come from Kate or from those above her (Marvel)? Did Kate face challenges as a female director in breaking into the industry? Who is Kate's favorite MCU character? Which part of the Loki series is Kate most proud of? Does Kate have a favorite prop from Loki? What the biggest thing that Kate loved from working on Loki? Does having a female director change the lens through which people see the work? Some Things Learned from Kate Herron: TH was also an executive producer on Loki. Loki grew up in a palace, so his fighting style is quite "balletic" and "slick and stylish" Other characters' fighting styles are rougher because they didn't have a life like that. Miss Minutes was inspired by Mr. DNA from Jurassic Park and was the idea of Michael Waldron, who grew up in the South. For the look of the TVA, Kate was initially inspired by the comic books (rows of desks) but also wanted the look of Brutalist architecture, plus office culture and retro tech. The Loki production crew was 50-50 in terms of a gender split. Kate's favorite MCU character is Loki. Kate's favorite prop from Loki is the TemPad. At the end of this video, there were also short interviews with Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Wunmi Mosaku. Edited July 5, 2021 by tv echo 2 Link to comment
tv echo July 7, 2021 Share July 7, 2021 (edited) Style | Marvel Studios’ Loki | Disney+ Marvel Entertainment Jul 6, 2021 'Loki' Director Kate Herron on Her Original Pitch, Existential Crises, and the One Sylvie Detail You May Have Missed BY LIZ SHANNON MILLER JULY 6, 2021https://collider.com/loki-kate-herron-interview-marvel-disney-plus/ Quote That's wonderful. I was reading about how you had a 60-page pitch document — if you were to put a percentage on it, how much of it do you actually think made it into the show? HERRON: I would say at least 80 percent. There were definitely some aspects... For example, I think we weren't sure about the Minutemen — were these cyborgs? Obviously, as people see in Episode 4, me and the writers got to, "Let's give them a past to make them human and people." But I remember my pitch had video of all of these really intense robotic images. So that's probably one of the bits that didn't get in, which I think is definitely better for the story. But now, I would say in terms of design, the lighting, the look... Casting ideas, like Gugu [Mbatha-Raw] was in my pitch, music ideas. I made a playlist and [theremin legend] Clara Rockmore was in my playlist. I think definitely the DNA of what I was going to bring, in terms of me, definitely was all in that pitch. And then I would say that what you film is never finally what you pitch, obviously, because you bring all these amazing heads of department on and you collaborate with the team. You grow from that together. I would definitely say the kind of base is definitely in there from what I brought, but it evolved obviously, as the story evolved or just production things led to certain things evolving or changing. * * *Absolutely. So one thing that's been really interesting about the show is that it's a Marvel show, there's a lot of fun stuff happening, but many of the episodes have contained these subtle moments that, to put it in the words of my coworkers, just give them existential crises. There's Loki confronting his death in Episode 1, there's the climate change subplot in Episode 2 that's very subtle, but also very hard to escape. As a director, what was key to you about finding the right balance to hit with those elements? HERRON: I think honestly for me, it always comes back to character, right? Because you can put the characters in these fantastical worlds, but I think the characters are what really are going to ground it, and it's all about POV and how we're experiencing these things. The show has a lot of heart in it, which was always really important to me. And just really being on the side with the characters, or maybe not being on side with them, but at least understanding why are they doing what they're doing — I think that was key. And also giving it a grounding of reality. We wanted to talk about climate change in the second episode, but the only way we did that was hidden things in the screens in the background, like the houses. My production designer, he put all the houses on stilts, and obviously it's in Alabama, which there shouldn't be water there, in the way that we have it in Roxxcart. So there were lots of visual things that we did in that sense — like the prices of boxes of water and blankets and things like that. I guess they always say, isn't it like the devil is in the details? And I think that's something that I knew as well, particularly going into a Marvel project — people are going to screenshot every frame of it. So it's a chance, I think, beyond just fun comic book or MCU Easter eggs, to give little details and try and make these worlds feel lived in and real. Yeah. I think honestly, the details of Episode 2 are what make it so unsettling. Along with how grim and accepting people just are of what's going on. HERRON: Marvel, when I got this job, Kevin Feige was like, "I want this to feel like one of our big movies." And I love Spielberg and I think his films I love because the characters are always leading me through that path. You know, Jurassic Park is a film I always go back to a lot — it's a fantastical world, but I care about all the characters in that situation, and then I think in caring about them, it can make it relatable and help me kind of see this heightened world through, not always familiar eyes, but at least eyes I can understand. * * *Of course. I don't know why I'm fixated on percentages today, but if you were to estimate what percent of everything set-wise physically exists, what percent would you estimate? HERRON: Oh, like 90 percent. There are some aspects of the story obviously, which will become very obvious to people, that are heavy for our visual effects team. I would say everything from Episode 1 to 4 so far was like 95 percent, 90 percent. Obviously in Sharoo, the buildings only go so high and then we extended beyond that. It was a real nice marriage between visual effects and practical. I think that's always the dream, right? I think for us, we were pulling from a lot of old-school references, so for me, the practical also lent itself to that style and that look. And I think it's however you use the visual effects and the practical working together to give you story. For us, tonally, it just felt like the right way to go about it. * * *Just to follow up on that really quickly. I was going to wait until the very end to ask you about the future, but I'm curious, if there is a Loki Season 2, would you want to come back for it? HERRON: I think for me, I'm just so focused on this story and I've been so wrapped up in it for two years. I think I poured every aspect of my soul and my time into the show, and I think for me, that's where my head's at really, is just focusing on this. * * *Of course. There's one thing that I know you can't talk about too much, just because it's really going to be followed up on in Episode 5. But I do think I can ask you with no fear of reprisal — what your reaction was to seeing Richard E. Grant in the Classic Loki costume the first time? HERRON: It was a dream because obviously, it will be explained in the next episode, but it was so much fun. I'm so happy we got him and I think he looks wonderful. I was ecstatic to see him. Was he always the dream casting for that part? HERRON: Yeah. He was, yeah. He was our north star and he said yes. So I'm very happy. Edited July 7, 2021 by tv echo 1 Link to comment
tv echo July 8, 2021 Share July 8, 2021 (edited) Loki's Sophia Di Martino Explains The Importance Of Not Wearing Heels As Sylvie LAURA HURLEY JUL. 8. 2021https://www.cinemablend.com/television/2569859/lokis-sophia-di-martino-importance-not-wearing-heels-sylvie Quote The third episode of Loki was the one that first really delved into who Sylvie is as a character rather than just a version of Loki not played by Tom Hiddleston, and she made quite an impression as she stormed the TVA until Loki ruined her plan and whisked them away to Lamentis-1. Even before she began wreaking havoc on the TVA, however, there was a small moment of Sylvie pulling her hair back and out of her face so she could jump into action. When I noted the moment in an interview with Sophia Di Martino, the actress explained how Sylvie's personality is reflected in her look, saying: "I think it was really important to us, to me and to Kate Herron, the director, and to Christine Wada, the costume designer. And Amy Wood, the hair designer. You know, we wanted her to be sort of practical. And the fact that, you know what it's like when you're going to do like a dirty job, you're going to put your hair back. You're going to get it out of your face, so it's not going to get in your way. And it's literally that. She just wants to get it out of her face so she can concentrate on taking out these Minutemen, because that's her mission in that moment. And it was really important for me to have, you know, the costume be really comfortable and to be able to run in it and to be able to fight in it and throw a kick in it and it not, you know, break or be uncomfortable or not be able to move. I didn't want to be wearing heels and leotard or something gross like that." * * * Interestingly, Sylvie's practical look in Loki comes after WandaVision ended on the reveal of a new look for Wanda that's much more practical than what she was wearing in Avengers: Endgame and previous MCU movies (as well as earlier in WandaVision). Is this the beginning of a new trend? Sophia Di Martino continued, explaining why the costume made sense from a character perspective for Sylvie: "So I think it was all down to sort of practicality, comfort and the fact that this character has been on the run. Like, she's been hiding in apocalypses. It's not a comfortable existence. The way she looks needs to reflect that. And the fact that she's a little bit disheveled is a part of that. And you know, like the roots, her hair growing out and her whole vibe." Edited July 8, 2021 by tv echo 3 Link to comment
Spartan Girl July 8, 2021 Share July 8, 2021 The Loki/Simpsons short was HILARIOUS. Spoiler It was kind of sweet to see Loki and Homer bonding at the end. Although if Loki thinks the Simpsons are a more functional family than his own, he’s sadly mistaken. But then he probably only thinks that because Homer will let him do whatever he wants 🤣 1 Link to comment
tv echo July 8, 2021 Share July 8, 2021 (edited) Alligator Loki's Real-Life Secret Origin, Revealed BY MORGAN SHAUNETTE JULY 7, 2021https://www.cbr.com/alligator-loki-real-secret-origin-story/ Quote Michael Waldron, the head writer for Loki, discussed the character with Marvel, saying the idea came about during an early discussion with producers Steven Broussard and Kevin Wright. "We were talking about [how] we want to meet many different versions of Loki in this show," Waldron said. "I was just like, there should be an Alligator Loki. And it's like, well, why? Because he's green." Waldron continued, "It's so stupid, but it also makes total sense. You almost have to take it seriously, like maybe he is [a Loki]? Why shouldn't there be an alligator version of Loki? For all we know, that's an alligator universe or whatever. It's just the sort of irreverent thing that, in this show, we play straight and make the audience take it seriously." * * * The Alligator Loki is a computer generated character in the show, but director Kate Herron said that a prop alligator with googly eyes attached ("It was like a Muppet character") was used on set so the actors could play off of it. "You put [the stuffed alligator] in there, and the actors can interact with it and get a sense of how heavy or how large the alligator would be. [It was filmed] in the world of imagination with our cast because sometimes they were acting to a blade of grass." Herron also discussed what went into the design of Alligator Loki. "We had some early versions when we were doing visual effects that probably were a bit too cute, in the sense of it was a bit more like a cartoony kind of alligator. But it just became funnier and funnier the more it looked like a real alligator that just happened to be wearing the horns. That was the sweet spot. Once we landed in that spot where it felt like a real alligator, but with a kind of slightly jaunty horns on, that's where we were like, 'Oh, there he is.'" Waldron concluded by avoiding the question of whether or not the gator was actually a Loki or not. “I know, but I want people to wonder. I want that to be the next great Marvel debate.” ‘Loki’ Composer Natalie Holt Has Been Seeding Clues to the Finale Since the Beginning By Alex Zalben Jul 8, 2021https://decider.com/2021/07/08/loki-natalie-holt-composer-interview/ Quote Decider: How were you first approached for Loki? Was it a bake-off situation? Natalie Holt: Definitely, it was a bake-off situation. It was a general call out, I think they were hoping to get a female composer because there was an incentive on upping the female heads of departments. And so, I got the call that it was a Marvel project, looking for something epic and spacey. I sent in a show reel, with things I’ve done that might fit that brief. Although, to be honest, nothing much I’ve done before would indicate that I’d have been able to score Loki. I think they took a bit of a risk on me to be honest, but I’m glad they did. So what did you send them that sold them on the idea of you composing for Loki? I guess it was just the connection from the meeting, I haven’t asked them what they went for in the end. But I it was all on the pitch, which was, you got to read the first two scripts. And then you got sent a scene, which was him coming down the elevator with Mobius, Loki and Mobius in the elevator, going through into the time theater. And the first half of that time theater sequence, which was quite different since last August. It’s developed a lot since then, but that was what I had to do, that was the pitch. How do you craft a theme for somebody like Loki, who isn’t exactly a villain and isn’t exactly a hero? Tom’s performance is the thing that I think I was–like, it’s lucky that it wasn’t just this abstract character that I’ve not got any chance to know… I had all these things that I could research and watch to see how this character is performed, and how Tom plays it. I had an enormous amount of resources that — if I’m just coming cold to a project, that there’s no established style or footage to watch. And so that was a bit of a gift, because Tom does play it big and grand and over top. I needed the theme to suit Tom’s performance. And I already thought Tom’s performance before was great. * * *Let’s talk about the title theme, which comes in so big and powerful… What was the goal there? How did you start to approach crafting that, over those Loki letters that appear in different variations? So the genesis of that theme came when I was walking down the street — and actually, I have to say, the TVA theme, it calls to a moment at the very end. it’s overarching. There’s a reason, it’s going somewhere, so that version in Episode 6 is the one that I did first. I was just walking down the street and I was like, I want it to just see this grand, almost like a religious experience where you’re feeling these huge swells of cords and feeling the power of an entity. But yet there’s this kind of thing, this taking thing, going on over the top that’s driving you forward. So that was like [humming the TVA theme] I was humming that first and then I was just singing it in my phone. I’m so lucky to have such amazing musicians, collaborators to play my stuff. Because if it was just me, I don’t think anyone would be very impressed, if they had the Natalie singing in the phone version [laughs]. You mentioned the ticking, and there are sections that seem to almost run the notes backwards, like they’re traveling through time… How do you layer it all together? Yeah, that kind of thing [humming] was a kind of high sense, which was a … plug-in actually. It wasn’t analog to start off with, and then I recorded it and played it through a tape machine and then did loads of layers. I think there’s a layer of a Moog in there as well. There was just a very synth version and I played orchestral strings with, I think they’re spitfire strings, playing on those chords and really horrible, nasty, EX 24 brass as well, which is again distorted. And then, with a tape machine, you can kind of slow it down, and you get that feeling of it going backwards and speeding up. And that analog tape sound really feels like it sort of sets that off. That really low-fi demo version of the TVA theme, with no orchestral or anything on it, is what stayed as the opening title cards. That is the demo version, because everybody liked it so much. I recorded it with the orchestra and I was like, “oh, I’m so attached. I’ve heard that demo version for such a long time I don’t want it to sound all posh and nice with the orchestra playing it” …. So we kept that, and it’s on the album as well. * * *It’s interesting to hear you’re referring to this way even though it’s over the title that says Loki, Loki, Loki over and over… Is that the TVA theme, versus the Loki theme? That’s the TVA theme, yeah. Is there a separate Loki theme then? Yeah, the “Loki Green Theme” is Loki’s actual theme. And the TVA theme is just kind of where he is in this series. I wanted it to juxtapose his own theme and interplay with it. There’s moments where those two were going at the same time. * * *For Sylvie, then, I’m not fishing for spoilers. With Sylvie, I feel like she’s so different. She’s been pruned, and she’s obviously lived in apocalypses. She’s been kidnapped as a child and had this extremely traumatic upbringing, which is very un-Loki. And then I felt like the feelings that Loki was having towards her, that we see at the beginning of Episode 4… We’re like, “ooh all this staring.” He looks at her like he looks at his mother, and so I connected that, actually, Sylvie’s theme and Frigga’s theme are connected. They’re both played in those historic, Norwegian folk instruments, the Hardanger [fiddle] and Nyckelharpa, to just feel that sense of past and sense of history and this emotional grounding as well. But Sylvie seems very dark and orchestral and driving and murderous [laughs]. * * *The Miss Minutes theme is so much fun. It certainly struck me, very specifically, like those old Wonderful World of Disney videos Walt Disney used to do. Well definitely, yeah, that’s what we were calling on was those instructional 1950s videos. That was a moment where [director] Kate [Herron] was like, “oh, it’d be really cool if we had time to score this rather than just use source tracks.” I was really keen to do this, to score those moments as well, and we did have time. So yeah, I got to do the “DB Cooper” and “Miss Minutes,” which I think if on a normal TV show, those would have been left over to their music supervisor as source cues. But it was so fun to get to write those, and expand the themes, because in that Miss Minutes video, we hear the TV thing when we see the Time Keepers that TVA thing comes in, really creepy theramin layers. I’m just tight connecting the TVA thing with the Time Keepers, right from Episode 1. And everything’s linked and being seeded, up until Episode 6. How much is hidden in the score throughout the first couple of episodes that people may not pick up on until Episode 6? There is something quite fundamental, but we’ll have to see where it goes [laughs]. There’s a lot–Everything’s connected. There is definitely an overarching narrative to the whole thing. It becomes clear at the end of Episode 6. Edited July 8, 2021 by tv echo 2 Link to comment
tv echo July 9, 2021 Share July 9, 2021 (edited) Loki composer Natalie Holt and Loki director Kate Herron will be part of the following virtual panels at Comic-Con@Home 2021, July 23-25, 2021 (Loki head writer Michael Waldron will also be part of Starz's Heels panel on July 23, at 10:00 am PT, because Waldron created Heels)...https://www.comic-con.org/cci/programming-schedule Quote Rhapsody PR’s 13th Annual Behind-the-Music panel Talented music creatives join forces to give you a behind-the-scenes look at creating the music for some of today's most popular films and series! With composers Jeff Russo (Star Trek: Discovery); Natalie Holt (Marvel’s Loki); Mac Quayle (Ratched); Siddhartha Khosla (This Is Us); Dominic Lewis (Monsters at Work); music supervisor Maggie Phillips (Fargo); and score mixer Phil McGowan (Cobra Kai). Moderated by actor/singer Jon Jon Briones (Dr. Richard Hanover on Netflix’s Ratched). Start time: Jul 23, 2021 11:00 am (GMT-07:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) * * *Women Rocking Hollywood 2021: Supporting Female Filmmakers in a Post-Covid World Now in our 6th year at the San Diego Comic-Con, the Women Rocking Hollywood panel continues to provide a platform for women navigating the challenges of working behind the camera in film and TV. The industry that has historically been out of balance and skewed toward what director Catherine Hardwicke calls “pale and male” is now grappling with how the major studios, independent productions, and streaming media will proceed in a post-pandemic world. How can we keep the momentum moving forward, and keep the importance of hiring and amplifying the work of more female filmmakers top of mind with gatekeepers that can help bring about parity? One way is to celebrate the work of women creating great content. Kate Herron (director: sex education, exec producer/director: Loki), Sian Heder (producer/writer/director: Orange is the New Black, writer/director: CODA), Christina M. Kim (exec producer/writer: Blindspot, exec producer/showrunner: Kung Fu), Shaz Bennett (writer/director: Alaska is a Drag, director: Queen Sugar), and Ebony Adams (manager of public programs: Women in Film: LA) discuss their current and upcoming projects, as well as the state of the industry. Moderated by Leslie Combemale (senior contributor: Alliance of Women Film Journalists, producer/creator: Women Rocking Hollywood). Start time: Jul 24, 2021 11:00 am (GMT-07:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada) Sweet Tooth, Manifest Top Latest U.S. Streaming Ranking — Loki Delivers Most Watched MCU Series Debut Matt Webb Mitovich July 8, 2021https://tvline.com/2021/07/08/streaming-ratings-sweet-tooth-manifest-lucifer-loki/ Quote Debuting at No. 6 on the Nielsen chart, Loki‘s premiere delivered 731 million minutes viewed, marking the best launch thus far for a Disney+/MCU series. (Of note, Loki released on a Wednesday versus the typical Friday, establishing a new norm for Disney+.) Because you were about to ask: WandaVision‘s double-episode debut amassed 434 million minutes, while Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s first episode delivered 495 million minutes. Shop Marvel Must Haves: Alligator Loki RACHEL PAIGE July 8, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/gear/shop-marvel-must-haves-alligator-loki Meet the Other Lokis in Marvel Studios’ ‘Loki’ RACHEL PAIGE July 7, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/meet-the-other-lokis-classic-kid-boastful-alligator Quote The new group of outcasts, played by Richard E. Grant, Jack Veal, DeObia Oparei, and a CGI alligator, respectively, quickly become Loki’s guide through this strange new space, offering him refuge in their “Loki Palace” until all hell breaks loose there. “It was completely surreal and an absolute delight,” Tom Hiddleston tells Marvel.com. “I've been living with playing Loki for a long time and have become used to all his different characteristics. To suddenly be surrounded by incarnations and embodiments of those characteristics... those moments with Richard, DeObia, and Jack all together was so much fun. They're all brilliant.” * * * “In that moment, the character who looks least like Loki is me,” Hiddleston continues. “It was like being at some sort of surrealist party. It was brilliant. I just enjoyed it so much. And my character, Loki, is completely out of his depth and a fish out of water. And it was such an enjoyable thing to play.” * * * “Again, that was quite surreal,” Hiddleston says. “President Loki is almost the worst of the bad bunch. It certainly felt this way; he's the least vulnerable, the most autocratic and terrifyingly ambitious character who seems to have no empathy or care for anyone else.” Playing both roles required “a few quick changes on those days” as Hiddleston jumped from one character to the other. “Doing them both in the same scene was slightly mad, but in an enjoyable way. And fun, too, because it was about leaning into Loki as a pure villain, or his capacity to be a pure villain.” * * * A Loki who’s not a villain whatsoever is Classic Loki, perfectly played by Richard E. Grant. Even Owen Wilson chimed in about the actor telling Marvel.com, “I love Richard E. Grant. So getting to do some scenes with him and then just meet him and hang out with him was great”. Out of all the Lokis, Classic Loki’s the one who affects Loki the most, both with helping him (and Sylvie) fight off Alioth, but also via his run-in with the TVA. * * * Calling it a “thought experiment,” head writer Michael Waldron tells Marvel.com the backstory came from the question of, “What if Loki did in fact survive the events of Avengers: Infinity War?” “And I thought, ‘Well, what if that did happen?’” continues Waldron. “And if it did, in fact, how could he have aged up? How could he have lived out his years in a way that the TVA would never come find him?” From that, Classic Loki’s backstory was born, and serves as a reminder to Loki that he, too, can change his ways, is not relegated to one role on the Sacred Timeline, and can form actual relationships with people. “It was that tragic thing where he finally realizes ‘I'm meant to be alone,’” Waldron adds. “It is just so sad. There's a real lesson there for our Loki in that he's going to reject that notion-- that this tiger can change his stripes, and he refuses to be alone. [Loki] wants to do the right thing. [He] wants to see if he can have real companionship in his life.” ‘Loki’: Sophia Di Martino on Fighting and Falling in Love RACHEL PAIGE July 7, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/sophia-di-martino-sylvie-loki Quote “I watched all of Tom's stuff and I got to know as much about Loki as I could,” Martino tells Marvel.com. “Then I forgot all about that and tried to create something unique. Kate Herron, the director, was, ‘Soph, do whatever you want with it. Just play. Just have fun with it.’” Viewers meet Sylvie mid-mission on her quest to take down the TVA. “She's so angry, she's so focused,” explains Di Martino. But there are more layers to her than just that, as she quickly gives Loki a run for his money. “She's sarcastic,” Di Martino adds. “She's sort of cutting to Loki, which is so fun to play. And she's got this fighting style, which is rough around the edges. She's not an elegant fighter.” * * *“She's not trained like Loki is,” Di Martino continues. “She can't do some of the flourishes that he would, but she's figured out how to brawl. She's a street fighter and she loves it. That was a really great key to unlocking part of Sylvie for me, was how much she just loves a fight. She knows that she's either going to win, or if she isn't going to win, she'll survive. She's that damaged character who's dangerous because she knows she can survive.” * * * “[Her life] was taken away from her,” she reflects. “It really explains why Sylvie's so bitter and jealous of Loki and his charmed life, when she's been on the run from the TVA for as long as she can remember. She's this wild cat who's just on a survival mission.” The only thing — or, well person – who gives Sylvie pause is Loki himself. After the two share a moment on Lamentis-1 that’s so powerful it causes a straight up and down spike on the timeline, it’s clear that there’s something more brewing between them. Di Martino herself likens the pair to “two teenagers who have never had these feelings before.” “Obviously, Tom’s a super charming, very easy to fall-in-love-with guy. With Sylvie, I was really aware that she's never had feelings like this about anybody. This is a hugely vulnerable position for her to be in. I really wanted it to be not too easy for her to just sort of go there. It’s that moment where it's so awkward. They just don't know how to put it into words. They don't know how to behave around each other. It's all a bit too intense and a bit much.” * * * “Sylvie still feels extremely uncomfortable showing that vulnerability and admitting that she likes someone in that way, or that she has feelings for someone in that way,” Di Martino says. “It's something that she's just never been able to do. Never have the opportunity, never met anyone that she's ever liked, let alone cared about. She's got a wall built up. She's not going to just let that down for anybody, and even if she wants to, it's difficult to get rid of. Though the two try to chat about it, they don’t get far. “You know those people that are really awkward at hugging? I imagine it's almost like that [for Loki and Sylvie]. [The kind of] people that need a hug the most but kind of just don't know how to do it. It's a little bit like that. I just want to hug both of them and say, ‘It's all right, guys. It's all right. Let's have a group hug.’” Edited July 9, 2021 by tv echo Link to comment
tv echo July 10, 2021 Share July 10, 2021 (edited) Tom Hiddleston won the SpoilerTV Staff's vote for June 2021 Performer of the Month... Performers of the Month - June 2021 | SPOILERTV SpoilerTV Jul 9, 2021https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIvHDLfZUrA SpoilerTV Staff's Top 5 Nominees: Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid's Tale, 4x10) Jean Smart (Hacks, 1x10) Sophia Di Martino (Loki, 1x04)Tom Hiddleston (Loki, 1x04) - WINNER Wallis Day (Batwoman, 2x17) The 25 Most Heartbreaking TV Character Deaths of the Year (So Far) By Team TVLine / July 9 2021https://tvline.com/lists/tv-deaths-2021-major-characters-dead-photos/ Quote Classic Loki, Loki ... After just one episode, Richard E. Grant’s Loki variant completely captured our hearts, making his demise via the smoke monster Alioth an immediate addition to this list. As Loki and Sylvie attempted to enchant Alioth, Classic Loki distracted the beast by casting a projection of the city of Asgard — and when his magic weakened and Alioth came hurtling toward him, Classic Loki embraced his glorious purpose and sacrificed himself with his head (and Horned Helmet!) held high. Date of Death: July 7, 2021 The Simpsons Showrunner Reveals What Marvel Wouldn't Let Them Do in Loki-Themed Short By PATRICK CAVANAUGH - July 7, 2021 https://comicbook.com/marvel/news/simpsons-marvel-loki-short-stan-lee-cameo-al-jean-interview-reaction/ Quote ... When it came time to craft the all-new Marvel-themed short The Good, The Bart, and The Loki, showrunner Al Jean had toyed with the idea of using audio captured from [Stan] Lee during a previous recording session to include an homage to Lee and his many Marvel Cinematic Universe appearances, though Marvel Studios noted that, in the wake of his passing, he won't have any future cameos, even in animated form. The Good, The Bart, and The Loki is now streaming on Disney+. "Only one time. It wasn't a joke. We just thought, 'Oh, we have Stan Lee audio from when he was on our show, could we cameo him in?" Jean shared with ComicBook.com in regards to anything in the short Marvel asked them to avoid. "And they said that their policy is he doesn't cameo now that he's passed away, which is a completely understandable policy. That was their only note and that was, of course, easily done. And the Grogu note [for the Star Wars-themed short] made total sense, too. It was like, if you let everybody use Grogu in their stuff that wanted to, it would be all over. Believe me, I respect that these franchises have a great power beyond ours. I respect it." * * *The Good, The Bart, and The Loki is now streaming on Disney+ . FYI, if you're interested in Loki-related merchandise, here's the link to Marvel's "LOKI MUST HAVES":https://www.marvel.com/search?by_tag=1&query=Loki Must Haves Edited July 10, 2021 by tv echo 1 Link to comment
tv echo July 11, 2021 Share July 11, 2021 (edited) Performer of the Week: Richard E. Grant By Team TVLine / July 10 2021,https://tvline.com/2021/07/10/richard-e-grant-classic-loki-episode-5-performance/ Quote THE PERFORMER | Richard E. Grant THE SHOW | Disney+’s Loki THE EPISODE | “Journey Into Mystery” (July 7, 2021) THE PERFORMANCE | It speaks to the quality of Grant’s work in Loki‘s fifth episode that, having only known Classic Loki for about 40 minutes, we nonetheless became deeply emotionally invested in his survival. But even with limited time to endear his character to us, the actor gave a performance as glorious as any Loki could hope to be. When Tom Hiddleston’s Loki first encountered Grant’s older variant, Classic Loki was cynical, sarcastic and reluctant to open up, not unlike his counterparts from other timelines. But when the variants returned to their underground bunker and the conversation turned to Classic Loki’s backstory, Grant quickly gave his character great depth as he explained his escape from Thanos and ultimate arrest by the TVA. Grant tinged Classic Loki’s words with pride, longing and resentment as he recounted his years spent in isolation in space. By the time he and the other variants toasted to being the God of Outcasts, Classic Loki’s sadness and regret — despite his considerable skill with magic — were palpable. Later, as Loki and Sylvie attempted to defeat the beastly entity Alioth, Classic Loki helped them by casting a projection of Asgard to distract the monster. Here, Grant was at his most impressive, bringing profound humanity to a scene executed with heavy special effects. Classic Loki’s magic eventually gave out, and Alioth turned its smoky head on him — but the variant remained unafraid as death approached. And when Grant threw back his head, cackling with tears in his eyes before Alioth destroyed him, we instantly understood the weight of Classic Loki’s sacrifice, and the bittersweet satisfaction it gave him to die so heroically. Loki's Purple Bird Creatures And Giant Stone Heads Explained By Production Designer NICK VENABLE : JUL. 10. 2021https://www.cinemablend.com/television/2570203/lokis-purple-bird-creatures-giant-stone-heads-explained-production-designer-tom-hiddleston Quote CinemaBlend spoke with Loki's head of production design, the talented Kasra Farahani, about a bunch of details seen in Episode 5's The Void, and when I asked about those massive heads that Loki and his merry band of variants stood near during their first argument, he confirmed that neither the heads nor the purple quasi-birds were lifted from Marvel Comics. In his words: "The big giant hands, they were... I don't have a clear story for that one. [Laughs.] That was really just a visual thing, because we were trying to find moments to infuse The Void with surrealism. So that was the point of the giant heads, and also of the little Void creatures that look like the little peacocks. Originally, at some point, I was proposing a far more Salvador Dali-esque, Dada-esque version of The Void, and it evolved over time. But those bird creatures and heads made it through from the Dada-esque version to the English moors version of The Void." * * * While the bird creatures obviously weren't real-life creatures whose heads were supplanted with floating inanimate objects, which I'm sure PETA wouldn't have been hyped for, it turns out those heads were definitely physical and tangible background objects on the set. When I asked Kasra Farahani how much of the Void was physical sets, and how much was created through CG, he explained: "Yeah, so we built a really large chunk of Void terrain inspired by the moors in England. We built a chunk of this on stage, and if I remember correctly, it's in the area of like a 150ftx200ft space of terrain that we built. Then we brought in different elements to make it feel like different parts of The Void. So for example, the bus stop that he arrives on was one set-up. The giant heads were another set-up. The drive-in movie theater, where Sylvie wakes up, is another set. There's a total of seven or so different set-ups; we shot this over seven days. So that was all built, and then of course the barber shop was another one. We built that barber shop on that same terrain. And finally, the Loki Palace, which was another set entirely, but that was entirely built as a full 360-degree environment; no set extension in that." Loki comments from Part 1 of a two-part interview with Kevin Feige (recently conducted by Rotten Tomatoes)... Kevin Feige Breaks Down the MCU’s Phase 4 – Part 1: ‘WandaVision,’ ‘Falcon,’ ‘Loki' & ‘Black Widow’ Rotten Tomatoes Jul 8, 2021https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw8Dbk-SLmk -- Kevin Feige: "Seeing audiences respond for characters - that the characters they were not expecting, or that they were not asking for. I wouldn't say there was a huge contingency of people banging down the door for Agatha Harkness to appear in the MCU. But she's a great character, portrayed by great actress. And by the first few episodes, people are asking, where is she going to show up again? What else is she going to do? I think the same thing's happening right now with John Walker from the Falcon and the Winter Soldier series, and certainly with Mobius M. Mobius, as portrayed by Owen Wilson in the Loki series. So that is something that is so important to the MCU, is including new characters. The comic is filled with many lifetimes of spectacular characters. Uh, and when you find the best actors to portray them, uh, it can quickly go from - from an audience never hearing of a character to them upset with us that we haven't already announced their own standalone movie. And that makes us all very happy." -- Kevin Feige: "Well, you know, I think everything we do, um, I hope, are building blocks towards the bigger - the bigger MCU, while also just being entertainment - entertaining pieces of art in and of themselves. The Loki series, um, explores an organization that - that we've been obsessed with, uh, for years at Marvel Studios, from - from the comics, called the Time Variance Authority. And honestly, 15, 20 years ago, going, 'This is a great idea. I wonder if we could ever do something with this?' And honestly, thinking it was a pipe dream that would never - would never come to fruition. Avengers was a pipe dream, uh, 20 years ago. And now that we have this series that, uh, that our producer Kevin Wright and - and our director Kate Herron and our head writer Michael Waldron, uh, and executive producer Steve Broussard, have - have taken the TVA conceit we loved so much and turned it into an entirely different way of looking at the MCU and looking at the timeline of the MCU and, yes, the potential of alternate realities that we've heard whispers of from the Ancient One and from other characters in a few of our movies. But actually being able to explore it and try to understand it in a - again, rather subversive way - in a bureau - in a very bureaucratic organization that may or may not be telling the truth about the way things work. ... The title character also being someone who you shouldn't necessarily take at face value and is perhaps the most famous, uh, trickster or God of Mischief that there is." -- Kevin Feige: "Tom [Hiddleston] is as great an actor as they come. He's as charismatic a person as there is. But he also honestly loves that he's been given this chance and that, from the moment we hired him with Ken Branagh on the first Thor film to the response that episode 3 got the other - the other week when it debuted on Disney+, Tom is just as enthusiastic, from that first call to each episode of Loki coming out. And that is so important, I think. All of us at Marvel Studios, um, try to maintain that enthusiasm and acknowledgment and humility of how lucky we are to be in this position. And Tom can take that with his immense amount of talent and really rally a crew behind him as well, which is what he did on that show." -- Kevin Feige: "So one of the other things that's - that personally is so exciting about continuing a franchise for this long is getting to evolve, um, your relationship with the cast. Tom [Hiddleson] started as a - as an actor that Ken Branagh knew, who, as people may know, famously auditioned, not for Loki, but for Thor. Then, you know, felt very thankful to get this job as Loki. I now find myself thankful that he said, yes, and that he is an executive producer on this Loki series and is helping us make this series what it is. So - so relationships evolving, um, over the years is one of the great pleasures of working with spectacular talents like that." Edited July 12, 2021 by tv echo 2 Link to comment
tv echo July 12, 2021 Share July 12, 2021 (edited) Go to article to see discussion and screenshots of the below-listed items... Loki's 20 Wildest References And Marvel Easter Eggs Shown In The Void NICK VENABLE JUL. 11. 2021https://www.cinemablend.com/television/2570244/loki-references-marvel-easter-eggs-the-void-journey-into-mystery-disney-plus Doctor Strange's Demolished Sanctum Sanctorum Qeng Tower / Avengers Tower Alligator Loki A Pirate Ship Near A UFO The Huge Pile Of TVA Lunch Trays A Giant Yellowjacket Helmet The Thanos-Copter A Japanese Atom Bomb Frog Thor And Mjolnir Hi-C Ecto-Cooler The Polybius Arcade Cabinet The Return Of Mardi Gras Loki Variant That Pizza Car (Probably) Oswald And The Martians Marquee The Dashboard Hula Girl The USS Eldridge Ronan The Accuser's Dark Aster A Hydra Helicarrier The Sphinx With Its Nose Still Attached The Living Tribunal Statue BONUS: The Burger Chef Sign Marvel's Loki: How Black Widow Affected The Look Of The TVA's Minutemen Uniforms NICK VENABLE JUL. 12. 2021 https://www.cinemablend.com/television/2570261/marvels-loki-how-black-widow-affected-the-look-of-the-tvas-minutemen-uniforms Quote ... And it turns out Black Widow and Loki could have shared more in common visually, perhaps in an alternate timeline, as costumer designer Christina Wada explained to CinemaBlend how the TVA's badass Minutemen uniforms were partially affected by the assassin-turned-Avenger's signature look. When I asked if there were any limits to how Loki's designs were crafted, she said: "I mean, there are things that are just iconic to other characters. And I remember wanting to use - you know how the Minutemen have those orange insignias on their collars and their sleeves? At one point, I think I was trying to do a riff on an hourglass, but then realized that it was too much like Black Widow. So there's stuff where you're like, 'Oh, I want to use that, but I can't!' Stuff like that comes up along the way. But it's a fairly specific color palette to Loki for sure. And brown doesn't bump on anybody in the MCU, which is great, and was really fun to get in there." * * * When I asked Christine Wada about how she approached the inspired boredom of the TVA agents' uniforms, here's how she put it: "What's funny is that people tend to gloss over that stuff really fast, and it really is kind of the hardest to come up with something that just seems so unnoticeable but still does some subliminal work. You know? So for me, the TVA was challenging in that, how do you create this world of this benign organization and give it some sort of structure system? And then breaking it down into rankings and structure like you would have at a police station. And then how does that all sort of evolve into all the different branches? Bringing in that mid-century element was really fun, because that we did sort of a twist on it. We inverted collars, and I definitely tried to sort of do some little mind-bending design twists to things that your eye is not used to seeing, but just doing it ever so slightly different. Because I think it just ties into the story of like, what's reality? Right? So I kept thinking about every time I would design something, whether it was for the TVA or some of these peripheral characters, it was like, how do you sort of turn it into an Escher?" Is Sylvie the Superior Loki?! | Ask Marvel Marvel Entertainment Jul 12, 2021 The Loki Variants Find Their Glorious Purpose with New Character Posters RACHEL PAIGE July 12, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/loki-variants-character-posters Edited July 12, 2021 by tv echo 2 Link to comment
Amethyst July 13, 2021 Share July 13, 2021 I love the variant posters, but damn, President Loki and Kid Loki's faces have been photoshopped way too much. They look like mannequins. Link to comment
tv echo July 14, 2021 Share July 14, 2021 (edited) Loki | Cast Talks About The Season Finale Marvel Studios Movies Jul 14, 2021 Change | Marvel Studios’ Loki | Disney+ Marvel Entertainment Jul 13, 2021 Loki: Deconstructing He Who Remains’ Life’s Work at the Citadel at the End of Time CHRISTINE DINH July 14, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/loki-he-who-remains-citadel-end-of-time-kang-statue Quote While the duo is unsure of who they will find at the End of Time, series production designer Kasra Farahani assures us that He Who Remains has made his presence known since the very beginning, when Loki first stepped foot in the bureaucratic organization in the first episode, “Glorious Purpose.” * * * The Citadel at the End of Time exists on top of an asteroid. Speaking to Marvel.com, Farahani reveals the inspiration, “In the comics, there’s precedent for the Citadel at the End of Time being on an asteroid,” referring to THOR (1966) #245. “What I proposed, early on, was this idea that the entire building, all of the architecture, was carved in situ from the asteroid; there were no other building materials,” comparing it to carvings like Petra in Jordan. The Citadel at the End of Time would be all carved from this black stone with gold vein embellishments. Farahani recommends fans to rewatch the series and spot the citadel stone making its presence early on, pointing out that the statues in Judge Renslayer’s office, the front of the judge’s dais in the Time Court, and the elevator to the Time Keepers’ chamber, are all carved from the same stone. “This is the link from He Who Remains to the TVA — this rock that the whole place is quarried from,” says the production designer. The Citadel at the End of Time is meant to punctuate He Who Remains’ position as “this sad, lonely figure rattling around a big empty space.” After all, the creator of the TVA had to stave off his other variants, culminating in the Mutiversal War. Achieving cosmic harmony is an arduous and solitary task. To reflect He Who Remains’ eons of isolation, Farahani remarks, “The thinking with the Citadel was that it was in ruins except for the office. He retreated from all the different parts of the Citadel, abandoned them, and just holed up in his office.” Adding to the mystery of who the man behind the curtain was, Farahani constructed 13-foot-tall sculptures of these Sentinels of time in the Hall of Heroes that Loki and Sylvie navigate through upon their arrival to the Citadel at the End of Time. A lot of care and thought went into these sculptures, with Farahani noting, “The Sentinels are each holding half of an hourglass. One is collecting time by holding it up, and the other one’s holding it down and time is coming out of it.” As you navigate into the next room, Farahani designed an elaborate timekeeping apparatus where the room itself serves as the clock. He adds, “It’s slowly unveiling these kinds of mysteries of the place without telling you who he actually is until you get there.” * * * For a man who existed from the beginning of time to the end of it, what kind of books would He Who Remains entertain himself with. “There are many books on chronology, orology, the study of time, the study of clocks,” lists Farahani. “There’s lots of astronomy and astrological study. All the different worlds’ cultures, and their philosophies on these topics. He’s somebody who’s trying to evaluate all possible permutations of reality, basically. That was how we created this mad scientist recluse for a persona for him.” Farahani adds that the strange, anachronistic objects on his shelves and his desk are from the strange, far-flung corners of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “things He’s picked up along the way that influence his thinking.” .... Mortified, Loki looks to the Time Keepers statue area and finds the statues are no longer there. In its place is a single statue of the face of the man he just met at the end of time in a futuristic suit— the variant He Who Remains warned them about—Kang. * * * Farahani reveals that the look and design of the Kang statue was a game day decision designed by the in-house VisDev team. He assures Marvel.com that the entire set dressing of the TVA architecture was identical to the TVA we started the series with, in order “to delay the audience and Loki’s understanding that they were in a different place, that they were in a different timeline.” ‘Loki’: The Truth About Judge Renslayer and Miss Minutes RACHEL PAIGE July 14, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/loki-judge-renslayer-miss-minutes-he-who-remains Quote “It was fun to start off with everything being sort of very orderly and black and white for Renslayer,” Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who plays the TVA judge, tells Marvel.com. “And then as her reality begins to crumble, we were discovering that alongside [her]… It's a lot for her to take on, and she gets sort of more desperate, and the stakes just get higher and higher for her.” * * * “She has the making of a very complex villain that has her own set of principles and beliefs that drive her,” head writer Michael Waldron explains. “She doesn't believe that what she's doing is evil. She believes that the mission is for greater good, and Renslayer probably wishes that she never learned that the Time Keepers were fake, that they had just been able to keep doing this forever.” * * * “She's the good soldier of the TVA, just a disciple to the bureaucracy,” Waldron continues. “Then it's revealed to be a lie to her. Instead of that galvanizing her and making her question her life's purpose, the way it did with Mobius, Renslayer wants to stay in power. She reacts more in anger.” * * * As for her parting thoughts as she disappears to parts unknown, “She's [thinking], ‘Peace out. Bye. Free will!’” Mbatha-Raw says with a laugh. “She wants to [find] who pulled the wool over her eyes. That's what she's going to go out in search of,” Waldron adds. But in regards to her destination? Waldron isn’t saying. “She is a scary customer to be out there in the Multiverse. So we'll see what happens." * * * “Early on in the scripts, we all were definitely united on, ‘We've got to keep Miss Minutes in the story somehow,’” director Kate Herron tells Marvel.com. “She was a really fun way to deliver some pretty heady exposition,” head writer Michael Waldron adds. “There's something sing-songy and sort of non-threatening about [the way she talks]. But yet, when it turns, and when she becomes evil, suddenly it's really scary. Eventually, it was decided that Miss Minutes should be “that devil on the shoulder and trying to tempt both Loki and Sylvie,” Herron adds. “It was fun that you got a sense of there's something a bit more sinister going on here with her. We always had a version where [Loki and Sylvie] kept meeting her at the Citadel. At one point, we had a fight scene with Miss Minutes in the Citadel; we had all kinds of stuff [for her].” * * * Strong had a blast voicing Miss Minutes, slowly going from cheerful and happy to absolutely furious that Loki and Sylvie have shown up at the Citadel at the End of Time. Describing Miss Minutes’ relationship to He Who Remains as “protective,” Strong understands “how important her role is and how important it is to the universe. Any wrong move, and life itself ceases to exist.” “As the onion of this time clock is peeled away, it becomes more intriguing who she really is,” Strong continues. “It was so much fun to play her angry after starting at this place of very cute and cautious of how much you know about her, to finally let her emotions really come out and be furious that Loki’s messed up the timeline so much, and she's so angry about it. It's just fun to unleash and play her to this next level in this maximum capacity.” Loki Just Introduced a Major Marvel Character With Its Season 1 Finale By Matt Webb Mitovich / July 14 2021,https://tvline.com/2021/07/14/loki-season-1-finale-cast-jonathan-majors-kang-the-conqueror/ Quote As highly speculated — though the actor just weeks ago attempted to throw our sister site Variety off the scent, saying of a possible Loki appearance, “I have no idea what you’re talking about” — Lovecraft Country‘s Jonathan Majors loomed large in the Marvel series’ Season 1 finale, playing a character referred to as He Who Remains. Majors of course is due to star in the MCU film Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (in theaters February 2023) as the Marvel villain Kang the Conqueror. And though his Loki character acknowledged he has been known by “many names” including as a “conqueror,” the name Kang was never stated outright. Kang’s backstory, though, matches up with a story that He Who Remains told about a variant of himself who, long, long ago, as a scientist from the 31st Century, discovered other universes stacked on top of our own. Alas, other variants of said scientist did same, a power struggle ensued, and…. yada yada yada (our full recap will detail his spiel later)… He Who Remains tamed and weaponized Alioth to end that multiversal war and formed the TVA to maintain one timeline and avoid others. ‘Loki’ Renewed for Season 2 at Disney+ BY LESLEY GOLDBERG JULY 14, 2021 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/loki-renewed-for-season-2-at-disney-1234981743/ Quote That push continued Wednesday with the Loki finale. Without getting into spoilers (we’ll leave that to our Heat Vision colleagues), the Loki finale set the stage for Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Hiddleston’s Loki character is also expected to also appear in the next Dr. Strange. (Marvel has yet to confirm whether or not that’s happening.) The multiverse-busting finale also seems to have paved the way for the upcoming Spider-Man: Far From Home as it’s been rumored that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, along with former key villains played by Jamie Foxx (Electro) and Alfred Molina (Doctor Octopus), will appear in Marvel’s December release. Edited July 14, 2021 by tv echo 1 Link to comment
TrininisaScorp July 15, 2021 Share July 15, 2021 (edited) 13 hours ago, tv echo said: Loki | Cast Talks About The Season Finale Marvel Studios Movies Jul 14, 2021 This was the sweetest thing! I love, LOVE the earnest appreciation that Tom has for Loki, and the kindness he gives to fans. Personally, I love Loki b/c Tom brought would could have been a one note character into something soulful, beautiful, sassy, yet fractured, and I've been a fan ever since. Edited July 15, 2021 by TrininisaScorp 3 Link to comment
tv echo July 15, 2021 Share July 15, 2021 (edited) ‘Loki’: How the Cliffhanger Ending Sets the Stage for What’s Next RACHEL PAIGE July 14, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/loki-cliffhanger-tva-he-who-remains-kang Quote Episode 6, “For All Time. Always.,” ends on a major cliffhanger as Loki realizes that He Who Remains was telling the truth with his warning. Loki and Sylvie broke the Sacred Timeline, and now they’re going to have to deal with the fallout and consequences. The most pressing one being that Loki finds himself in an unfamiliar world. The creative team behind the show went through a few different endings for the episode, before landing on this reveal that completely pulls the rug out from underneath Loki. “There were different versions of it [and] it was something that was developed over the hiatus,” head writer Michael Waldron tells Marvel.com. “It was finally kind of locked in, like, alright this feels right. We've maybe closed one chapter of the story and that is something that gives us thrilling propulsive energy into whatever happens next.” “We wanted to end Loki’s story well, but also there’s this cliffhanger of, ‘Where’s he going to go?’” director Kate Herron says. “It was an ending that we all knew we wanted...that the multiverse would be born and open again, and here he goes.” * * * “He is a changed character by the end,” Herron continues. “I feel quite emotional when I see that scene [in the Time Theater]. You see him at his lowest ebb, and you just don't know how he's going to move past it. Then he takes that breath in. And he's like, no, I still have a fight. For me, that was really important to show people he still has a fight in his heart. I really wanted to just show that moment of hope. It’s cheesy, but better to have loved and lost, right?” * * * “It crushes his soul,” Hiddleston says, reflecting on Sylvie’s betrayal at the 11th hour. “For perhaps the first time, one of the only times in his life, he was brave and he lost. He made a brave choice and it didn't work. The confusion is unprecedented and it shatters him internally. He doesn't even know how to process what he's feeling. This is why it registers as a shock [for him]. But then he becomes determined that there is still something he can do. Perhaps he can get to Mobius and Hunter B-15, and enlist their support.” It’s a good plan that quickly goes sideways. No sooner does he reach Mobius and Hunter B-15, “He realizes that in the time he's been sitting on that step, something has changed.” “Something has changed reality, including the reality of the TVA,” Hiddleston says. “The three statues of the Time Keepers are no more. In their place is a statue of Kang. And that his friend Mobius doesn't recognize him and doesn't know who he is. His destabilization in that moment is profound.” Starring up at that statue, Loki and everyone else in the TVA might not know the ramifications of it, but Kang is certainly a name to be feared. Herron was thrilled to be the one to bring him to life for the first time, though he’s not really Kang — he’s one of his variants with a dire warning. “It sets the table for future outings with them,” Herron continues. “It was a massive responsibility and privileged to bring that character to the screen. He's such a different villain to Thanos. I remember what I saw in the outline when I first pitched [to direct the series]. I was, ‘It would be awesome if we got to do that.’ But things can change at the drop of a hat. I thought, ‘Well, maybe they'll change it and say we're not allowed.’ But they never did. That's what's so exciting about these TV shows, that they are going to interconnect with the movies in a big way. I found that really exciting, not only as a fan but just as a filmmaker.” ‘Loki’ Will Return for Season 2 on Disney+ RACHEL PAIGE July 15, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/loki-season-2-disney-plus-tom-hiddleston Quote “I am so grateful that we got to do Season 1, I still am not quite able to process that we get to have another go at this. I am so excited by the possibilities,” star Tom Hiddleston tells Marvel.com. “We are already in discussions. Deep, deep, deep discussions. I can’t wait to get started.” * * * “I want to say thank you to the audience because without the audience, we wouldn’t be able to make a Season 2,” Hiddleston continues. “I hope Season 1 was full of surprises. And I think Season 2 will be full of even more.” Tom Hiddleston Reflects on How Loki’s Been “Changed By The Journey” RACHEL PAIGE July 15, 2021https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/tom-hiddleston-loki-journey-season-1 Quote “Loki, as a show, has introduced so many complex ideas, and themes, and conversations,” Tom Hiddleston tells Marvel.com. “One of the things I've been so pleased and thrilled to see with the show is how deeply the audience is engaged with the big ideas, the ideas of fate versus free will, agency versus determinism. Do we have the capacity to genuinely choose our path through our lives? And in those choices, where do we derive meaning? To what extent are any of us free? To what extent are these characters free to choose their route through the universe and self-realize and determine the course of their lives?” * * * “People latched onto the relationship between Loki and Mobius, and understood that there was a mirror in the two of them,” Hiddleston says. “Both Mobius and Loki had a lot to teach each other. Mobius opens up Loki’s sense of his own identity and that this might be something that's malleable. And then Sylvie opens up something in Loki about the nature of identity. And that Loki is able to then reflect back to Mobius.” “In Episode 5, suddenly, the conversations the three of them have had [cause] an effect on the variant Lokis — on Classic Loki, on Kid Loki, on Boastful Loki. I like to think on Alligator Loki, too. Maybe he starts to think about free will.” * * * This all comes to a head when Loki and Sylvie have the most important conversation of all, with He Who Remains. Standing before this man behind the curtain, He Who Remains lays out his entire philosophy, the reason behind the TVA and all the smoke and mirrors. It’s to protect the Sacred Timeline from his own variants. “This conversation between the three of them about the nature of reality, about the nature of time, about the nature of the multiverse, and the question about whether the TVA organization has any moral authority to determine reality as we see it,” Hiddleston continues. “There's an enormous amount to unpack, an enormous amount to think about, and it provokes as many questions as it provides answers.” Loki, having gained a new perspective, wants to stop and think about what he’s just learned since it’s heavy. Sylvie, on the other hand, believes “he’s stalling for time and that it’s another manipulation. She feels is on the precipice of some catharsis,” adds Hiddleston. The two come to a disagreement where they both believe they’re the one in the right. Loki wants to weigh the options of He Who Remains’ proposal, and Sylvie just wants this puppet-master dead. “It’s incredibly distressing for both of them that they disagree in this moment,” Hiddleston says. “It was quite an intense scene for us. We knew we had to be quite precise about the way the scene unfolded.” * * * “Right up to the time of the few days in which we filmed it, we were refining the dialogue between Loki and Sylvie because we needed to make sure that there was a balance,” Hiddleston recalls. “Both their positions [needed to be] articulated, and the audience could see the struggle. We worked all weekend to make sure we integrated the scene with the choreography so that it was completely seamless. The disagreement was at the center of all of it, and every word and every move.” Unfortunately, the two just can’t see eye to eye on the situation — as He Who Remains points out, Sylvie can’t trust and Loki can’t be trusted. Hiddleston even notes, “At the center of Loki’s identity, certainly for as long as I’ve played him, is untrustworthiness. He’s unpredictable and spontaneous.” But now, with a tearful confession to Sylvie, Loki’s newly changed outlook shines through as he takes everything he’s learned over the course of the series and tries to reason with her. But, “it’s heartbreaking pain because she’s not on the same page.” “The confession in Episode 6 reveals how much he’s evolved. Sylvie believes Loki’s position comes from the same old motivation to sit on a throne. But it doesn’t. It comes from genuine care for another being outside of himself. It speaks to a theme that was very close to all of our hearts as filmmakers, which was about self-confrontation, and self-awareness, and self-forgiveness, and self-acceptance in some way. That the only way of moving forward is to acknowledge who you are. And then change can begin.” Making matters worse, Sylvie isn’t the only familiar face Loki loses in the end. Though he ends up back within the halls of the TVA, this isn’t the TVA he left. The choices Loki and Sylvie made at the Citadel at the End of Time are already breeding consequences, one of which is that “his friend Mobius doesn’t recognize him and doesn’t know who he is. His destabilization in that moment is profound.” * * * “I’m very moved by the idea of their friendship,” he continues. “I don’t think Loki has allowed himself to have many friends. Because to have friends, you have to be vulnerable, and you have to trust. Loki’s so defensive, vulnerability and trust, those two things don’t come easily to him. Mobius is perhaps the first figure in Loki’s life to sit across from him and reflect him back to himself without judgment, but somehow with compassion.” “Mobius is able to contain Loki and say, ‘This is who you are. And I understand.’ That feeling of compassion or lack of judgment is new for Loki, and allows him to open up in a way that facilitates the genesis of this unique friendship. Mobius also is surprised by his affection for Loki. And then it’s Loki who teaches Mobius about life outside the TVA, life before the TVA. Maybe he had a life. Maybe he had a family. Maybe he had a jet ski. They mean a lot to each other, and they’ve done a lot for each other.” With a new Mobius now in the mix, this means that the pair’s parting goodbye in Episode 5 was their final farewell, when “Mobius offers his hand; Loki chooses to hug him and he says, ‘Thank you, my friend.’ That’s very sincere and very meaningful.” * * * “What’s been fascinating for me making it, and continues to be one of the most interesting questions of our story, is the moral complexity of the TVA,” Hiddleston concludes. “The idea that an organization that claims to govern the order of time with benevolence and precision is actually something much more ambiguous. And there's a question: On what authority does the TVA, or anyone who has set it up or runs it, decide who gets to live and who doesn't, who gets to participate in reality as we know it?” TVA TemPad review: who needs TikTok when you can control time and space? Chaim Gartenberg Jul 14, 2021https://www.theverge.com/tldr/22576224/tva-tempad-review-loki-season-1-review-marvel-timedoor Quote Unlike most modern devices, the TemPad aims for an almost retro-futuristic design. Despite featuring dual displays on both the exterior and interior of the device, the TemPad itself is clad in a warm wood and brass finish that’s reminiscent of a simpler time. Broadly speaking, the TemPad harkens back to a pre-iPhone era: the external touchscreen, matched with an internal display and physical keys, brings to mind older devices like 2007’s LG Voyager and a time before blank, featureless touchscreen slates dominated the market. * * *8.8 OUT OF 10 GOOD STUFF Tasteful design Useful digital assistant Complete control over travel through time and space For all time BAD STUFF Poor battery life Limited availability No app store Always And here's a fun Loki quiz (and my results below)... Can You Survive The Time Variance Authority From Loki? Jamie Jirak July 14, 2021https://www.buzzfeed.com/jamiejirak1/can-you-survive-the-time-variance-authority-from-loki?origin=nofil Quote Yes, you survived! Congrats! You are as swift as Sylvie and managed to escape the clutches of the TVA. You may need to hide out in apocalypses, but at least your memory wasn't wiped nor did you get sent to The Void. Edited July 15, 2021 by tv echo Link to comment
tv echo July 16, 2021 Share July 16, 2021 (edited) FYI, Tom Hiddleston answered some questions on Tumblr this week...https://tomblr.tumblr.com/tagged/answertime Hair ties and no heels: The evolution of female superhero costumes is finally here By Sydney Bucksbaum July 16, 2021https://ew.com/movies/costume-designers-evolving-female-comic-book-characters-black-widow-loki/ Quote Over on the small screen, another fierce fighter in the MCU let her impressive skills speak for themselves, rather than her clothing. In Disney+'s Loki series, Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino), a female variant of Tom Hiddleston's titular MCU character, wrought havoc on the Time Variance Authority's sacred timeline — and she did it all in sensible clothes you might expect to see on a male comic book villain. "From the very get-go, Kate [Herron, the director] and I spoke about her character being very mysterious and somewhat androgynous in the beginning, and not to have such a strong reveal where it becomes just a total play on gender, but to let her evolve on her own as a strong female lead, without having to over-sexualize her character," costume designer Christine Wada tells EW. After years of seeing armor tailor-made for female comic book characters in frustrating and head-scratching ways, Wada came in with the goal to keep things the same for male and female characters on Loki. "It's easy to want to go with the normal shapes and silhouettes that we've seen," she says. "With Sylvie, it's not like she has a very exaggerated figure, she just looks like a fighter, like she's been through battle and that she can stand on her own, and that she's ready to run. Our goal with her was to keep it about her character and not turn her into a joke. What would Sylvie do?" That translated to Sylvie's entire look, not just her armor. "Even the choice of a harem drop-crotch pant, for centuries people have been fighting in those pants, and it also just lends itself to a more androgynous vibe," Wada says. "It allowed us to not have everything be form-fitting. There's a way to emphasize movement with a looser pant just as much as you can with a tight pant or a spandex suit. It doesn't always have to be a spandex suit on a woman to have her look like she's ready to rumble, and I was really happy that was accepted by the audience and Marvel and everybody to put that kind of a pant on a leading female character." * * * Wada has always approached projects with the idea that "all good design and all good storytelling comes out of truth and function," and even on a series steeped in deep comic book lore and set in magical universes, she strived to bring that grounded aspect to Sylvie's look. "I believe it more that somebody can go fight when they're in a rugged boot more than a pair of high heels," she says with a laugh. "I just think function is such a clear and important thing to reference in all good design. It just takes time to break out of these norms and these ways we're used to seeing things always, and I love that about this show is we were constantly questioning that." She extended that idea all across Loki, to every character from the main cast to background players. "With the TVA employees, it was a conscious decision to not put the secretary in a skirt, and to have different genders in different roles, to have female minutemen and to have male secretaries, to really be truthful to that future that we all envision," Wada says. "It's easy to just stick with what was comfortable, but sometimes it takes pushing it for things to change, even a little bit. I definitely hope that I can keep working on projects like this, like Loki, where the story allows you to think about that and consider that in your approach to so many different creative decisions." Future | Marvel Studios' Loki | Disney+ Marvel Entertainment Jul 15, 2021 Edited July 16, 2021 by tv echo 2 Link to comment
formerlyfreedom July 17, 2021 Share July 17, 2021 ‘Loki’ Director & EP Kate Herron Says She’s Not Returning For Season 2 Quote Loki, Sylvie and He Who Remains’ variants will be coming back for Season 2 of Marvel’s Loki, but EP and director Kate Herron, who has been a force behind the project, says she will not be. “I’m not returning,” the UK filmmaker told Deadline in an interview this morning. “I always planned to be just on for this, and to be honest, Season 2 wasn’t in the — that’s something that just came out, and I’m so excited. I’m really happy to watch it as a fan next season, but I just think I’m proud of what we did here and I’ve given it my all. I’m working on some other stuff yet to be announced.” Link to comment
tv echo July 17, 2021 Share July 17, 2021 (edited) Performer of the Week: Tom Hiddleston By Team TVLine / July 17 2021https://tvline.com/2021/07/17/tom-hiddleston-loki-season-1-finale-episode-6-performance/ Quote THE PERFORMER | Tom Hiddleston THE SHOW | Disney+’s Loki THE EPISODE | “For All Time. Always.” (July 14, 2021) THE PERFORMANCE | Hiddleston had a sizable challenge ahead of him as he led a standalone series centered on his Marvel character. Having revived the 2012 iteration of Loki in this series — thus erasing his considerable character development from later MCU films like Thor: Ragnarok — Hiddleston had to bring back a greedier, more insolent version of the God of Mischief, while also softening him enough in these six episodes to keep us invested in Loki’s survival. It was a delicate balance for the actor, and one he struck beautifully. Even as Hiddleston fired off Loki’s many quips, he also found quiet, sensitive moments along the way — Loki singing a melancholy Asgardian song to Sylvie, or conjuring a blanket for her in The Void — to illustrate his character’s deepening self-awareness and growing affection for his female counterpart. * * * Wednesday’s finale featured Hiddleston’s loveliest work yet, as a crestfallen Loki learned that Sylvie no longer trusted him and believed he’d been conning her all along. “Really? That’s what you think of me? After all this time?” Loki asked her, Hiddleston’s eyes dark with disappointment. Even as Loki and Sylvie broke out into a physical fight, Hiddleston’s body language communicated Loki’s heartbreak that Sylvie would think him so power-hungry. “Kill me! Take your throne!” Sylvie offered, and Hiddleston packed Loki’s “No!” with both sadness and disbelief that she’d even suggest such a thing. But it was when Sylvie nearly brought her blade down on He Who Remains that Hiddleston really shined. As Loki urged Sylvie to stop fighting for just a moment, he also revealed how deeply he cared for her, eyes brimming with tears: “I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want a throne. I just… I just want you to be OK.” It was as much a confession of love as it was a revelation for Loki that he could care for someone else so intensely, and Hiddleston brought such a tenderness to the scene that Sylvie’s eventual betrayal of Loki left us utterly crushed. Loki director Kate Herron and star Jonathan Majors on his pivotal character's wild debut By Chancellor Agard July 16, 2021 https://ew.com/tv/loki-kate-herron-jonathan-majors-kang/ Quote Like the Sacred Timeline, Loki's end point was determined from the beginning: The multiverse would be born after Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) reached the Citadel at the End of Time and met He Who Remains, the mysterious and potentially villainous figure who created the Time Variance Authority and lorded over the Sacred Timeline. "It was always our North star," Loki executive producer and director Kate Herron told EW Friday morning, two days after the chaos-creating finale arrived on the streamer. "What happened [between] when they met him and when the multiverse was born was still on the table, that's something obviously me, the writers, Michael [Waldron, the head writer], and the studio discussed and worked on.... I think honestly, for me and the writing team, we were just like, 'Okay, we'll just keep assuming we're going to get to introduce him until we're not allowed to.'" Thankfully, no one told them no. Thus, Loki's first season ended with the introduction of Lovecraft Country's Jonathan Majors as He Who Remains — a variant of Kang the Conqueror, the supervillain Majors will play in 2023's Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania. "We got to do it and what an honor it was to bring him into the MCU. It was a big secret to sit on," said Herron. "It was one of those moments in one's life, depending on one's occupation, where you go, 'Ah, this is it. This is it,'" Majors told EW when we spoke to him for an upcoming piece about his Emmy nomination for Lovecraft Country. "'All the s--- you talked about wanting to do, [now] there's a door in front of you. Be brave, walk through the door, and leave it on the field.' That was my mentality." * * * "[The character's appeal is] in the writing, in the sense that we want to know who is behind the Citadel and who could be there. I think the exciting thing was he tells this story about his past and who he is. For me beyond that, then, it's, which actor are we going to bring in? Because it's got to be an actor with presence that immediately grabs you, because not every actor can do that, and Jonathan is one of the best actors out there. The fact that we got him to do this, I was just so happy because I was like, 'We're gonna be in really safe hands now.' He just commands attention. That for me was the real key thing for me, just getting the casting right," said Herron. "I was so excited that I got to be part of the conversation about the casting of his character with the studio and Peyton [Reed, Ant & The Wasp: Quantumania's director]. It was a massive honor and very exciting, and he's just an actor that we all loved." * * * As of right now, Majors couldn't say much about how playing He Who Remains affected his performance as Kang in Quantumania, which is currently in production. "You take it a day at a time. That's all I would say about that," he said. "You take it a day at a time and clean your plate and see what tomorrow brings. See what the next story is, and then take it from there." Edited July 17, 2021 by tv echo 1 Link to comment
tv echo July 17, 2021 Share July 17, 2021 (edited) Loki composer Natalie Holt explained why a certain scene (Loki as King of Asgard and Thor as a frog) was deleted from this first episode... 'King Loki' Deleted Scene Would've Included Thor Transformed (Exclusive) By John Ross Bradford July 16, 2021https://thedirect.com/article/loki-thor-king-throg-explained-exclusive Quote In an exclusive interview with Loki composer Natalie Holt, The Direct learned that the highly-talked-about scene of Loki in the Asgardian throne room from promotional footage was supposed to be included in a deleted scene of Throg giving Loki a beatdown in a TVA time loop. When asked if there were any musical themes or cues that didn't make the final cut of Loki's debut season, Holt admitted that there was a "big, grand moment where Loki takes over the crown in Asgard, and then you see Thor as a frog:" "That was a moment in Episode 1. When Mobius is showing [Loki] his life, there were more moments in there. I think they just kind of cut it down to kind of give it a bit more focus. But there were a few extra moments in there, and that Frog of Thunder moment was one of them. I had actually written, I had done something with choir for it like it was this big, grand moment where Loki takes over the crown in Asgard, and then you see Thor as a frog." We then asked Holt if this scene with Loki and Throg in the throne room is the same scene that many fans saw a shot of in the promotional footage for Loki. The new Marvel composer confirmed that the shot of Loki on Asgard's throne "was going to be in it" as part of the Throg sequence: "Yeah! Where he’s like, rising like this [raises her arms] and he’s wearing a crown. Yeah, that was part of it. It was going to be in it." * * * After asking the Loki composer why the scene was left on the cutting room floor, she admitted that, despite it being a "really fun moment," it felt like it was "too off-piste" and the creative team didn't want to get caught up in "too many light-hearted moments" since "Loki needed to be kind of broken down in Episode 1:" "I don’t think it got cut until quite late down the line. It’s a fun scene, but...it felt like it was kind of too off-piste. They were like well we’ve had the D.B. Cooper [scene], we need to really get into the nuts and bolts of, like, Loki needs to be kind of broken down in Episode 1, and it was like too many of those light-hearted moments. It just felt like it played better without it. But it was a really fun moment.” Natalie Holt did, however, give fans hope that they might still get to see the "Frog of Thunder" sequence as "an extra scene at some point," before admitting that she "doesn't know where they are with that:" "I don’t know if I should be talking about this! [Loki director Kate Herron] was hoping to release it as kind of, like, an extra scene at some point, but I don’t know. I don’t know where they are with that." Edited July 17, 2021 by tv echo 1 Link to comment
gail56 July 17, 2021 Share July 17, 2021 Ok, that makes no sense. Our original Loki wasn't King of Asgard until Thor 1 and Thor was on Earth at the time. The only other time was when he was pretending to be Odin. At no time in our Lokis past was he King! How would he have been King in his longer ago past with Odin alive and well, and Thor was was next in line to the throne? Maybe a variant Loki becoming King and getting beaten up by Throg happened, but not the Loki we have been watching for 10 years. This was supposed to be the life of original Loki up until he took the Tesseract, correct? If so that never could have happened. Loki was never King until Thor 1. If that scene had been shown in the Time Theatre sequence I am sure a lot of fans would have pointed that out. Big goof. 1 Link to comment
GHScorpiosRule July 17, 2021 Share July 17, 2021 8 minutes ago, gail56 said: Ok, that makes no sense. Our original Loki wasn't King of Asgard until Thor 1 and Thor was on Earth at the time. The only other time was when he was pretending to be Odin. At no time in our Lokis past was he King! How would he have been King in his longer ago past with Odin alive and well, and Thor was was next in line to the throne? Maybe a variant Loki becoming King and getting beaten up by Throg happened, but not the Loki we have been watching for 10 years. This was supposed to be the life of original Loki up until he took the Tesseract, correct? If so that never could have happened. Loki was never King until Thor 1. If that scene had been shown in the Time Theatre sequence I am sure a lot of fans would have pointed that out. Big goof. I’m not sure I understand your post-Thor came out before Avengers and it’s from the latter that Loki grabbed the tesseract creating an alternate timeline. 1 Link to comment
gail56 July 17, 2021 Share July 17, 2021 1 hour ago, GHScorpiosRule said: I’m not sure I understand your post-Thor came out before Avengers and it’s from the latter that Loki grabbed the tesseract creating an alternate timeline. Yes, the Loki we are following now grabbed the Tessaract and escaped in Endgame from 2012 so he is a Variant. Our main Loki we have been following for 10 years died in Infinity War. He was not King until Thor 1. It is my understanding that the past life Mobius is showing Variant Loki is also supposed to be what main MCU Loki did in *his* past. In that case Loki wasn't King until the events of Thor 1 and Thor was on Earth with Jane. Main MCU Loki would not have had Throg beating him up after he became King in his past. If the Variant Loki we are following had some differences in his past life from original Loki then Throg beating him up after becoming King would work. However, as I said above it is my understanding that the past life he was being shown was also supposed to be main MCU Lokis past life as well, with no differences until this Loki taking the Tesseract in Endgame. 2 Link to comment
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