Esquire: We Have Been Expecting You (2012)

We Have Been Expecting You

For the February 2012 issue of Esquire magazine Tom Hiddleston tried his hand at runway model to show off the newest menswear collections for some of the world's top designers. 

Calvin Klein Collection

Two-button cotton-nylon-and-resin suit ($1,320) and cotton shirt ($395) by Calvin Klein Collection; steel Aqua Terra Co-Axial chronograph ($7,600) by Omega.

Prada

 Double-breasted wool jacket ($2,280), cotton shirt ($420), and mohair trousers ($570) by Prada.

Ralph Lauren

Two-button cotton jacket ($1,295), cotton shirt ($295), and cotton trousers ($395) by Ralph Lauren Black Label Denim; leather ankle boots ($575) by Ralph Lauren.

Giorgio Armani

Double-breasted cotton-and-polyamide jacket ($2,195) and cotton trousers ($725) by Giorgio Armani; suede monk-straps ($1,175) by Santoni.

Louis Vuitton

Two-button wool jacket ($2,710) and cotton shirt ($1,106) by Louis Vuitton.

Dolce & Gabbana

One-button linen jacket ($1,050), cotton shirt ($275), and silk-and-cotton trousers ($550) by Dolce & Gabbana; leather shoes ($650) by Church's.

Gucci

Two-button cotton-and-nylon suit ($2,840) and cotton shirt ($700) by Gucci; suede monk-straps ($660) by Church's; silk pocket square ($85) by Ermenegildo Zegna; cotton socks ($32) by Bresciani.

Bottega Veneta

Two-button cotton-and-linen suit ($3,100) and cotton shirt ($390) by Bottega Veneta.

Tom Hiddleston Was Not Expecting Any of This

ESQUIRE: You've had a hell of a year: Midnight in Paris, Thor, War Horse, getting naked with Rachel Weisz in a small movie called The Deep Blue Sea. Have you checked out FuckYeahTomHiddleston, the Tumblr feed that's been documenting your success?

TOM HIDDLESTON: I'm ashamed to say I was made aware of it quite recently. I have, with a cursory eye, glanced at the articles, but I don't think it would be good for my vanity to scour it with a fine-tooth comb. I haven't got a Ph.D. in FuckYeahTomHiddleston.

ESQ: If only there were a feed called FuckYeahWarHorse.

TH: I spent six weeks in boot camp before we started shooting, learning to ride horses like it was second nature to me, and they're amazing animals. The horses are really the stars of this movie, even though it's about a very human notion — one I think Steven Spielberg feels a great attachment to — that somehow hope will survive in even the most horrific circumstances, like the theater of death that was no-man's-land in the First World War.

ESQ: You play an English cavalry officer during the early days of that war. Coming after Thor, which relied heavily on CGI effects, War Horse was made the old-fashioned way. With actual horses.

TH: Not only that, but in one scene, I was really leading a cavalry charge of 120 horses, tearing across this field at forty miles an hour for four hundred meters. I felt the thunder of 480 hooves in my ears. Tears were streaming down my face because I was going so quickly. I was screaming hell fury. There's no acting required in that situation. And when you compare that to Thor, you had Chris Hemsworth [who played Thor] and I [playing the villain, Loki] surrounded by green screens so much of the time. Everything had to be created in my imagination.

ESQ: Is it true you knew nothing about Midnight in Paris until you showed up to the set?

TH: It is. At the end of shooting Thor, I got a letter in the mail on Woody Allen — headed paper. And it said, "Dear Tom: I'm making a movie" — I always imagine his voice like [Hiddleston goes into a decent Woody Allen accent], "I'm making a movie in Paris this summer. I've enclosed some pages. I'd like you to have a look at Mr. Fitzgerald. I'd love you to do it. Let me know what you think. Best wishes, Woody." I'd never met him. I never auditioned. Nothing. He must've seen my demo reel. So I read these pages, and this character seemed to be interacting with characters called Zelda and Ernest. I thought, Woody Allen is asking me to play F. Scott Fitzgerald. And because I hadn't read the whole script, I didn't know what the film was about until I turned up on my first day to shoot in Paris. I saw Owen Wilson and he had to explain the story to me.

ESQ: In May, you'll play Loki again opposite half of Hollywood in the super-superhero movie The Avengers.Is this the career you wanted when you started acting?

TH: It's beyond. It's completely beyond my expectations.

ESQ: What were your expectations?

TH: My projection of the future as a twenty-five-year-old was completely off target. For some reason I thought I was going to be a theater actor. It felt like the doors of film and movies were definitively closed to me. I thought to myself, A life in the theater is a noble thing. It's really fun and full of the nicest people in the world. I never thought I'd be in a big superhero movie. Twice! Two of them! And yet here I am. The door opened and I walked through.