For as talented as he is, Tom Hiddleston has a shocking lack of awards. Sure, he's won a couple of popcorn trophies at the MTV Movie Awards for his work in Avengers, but his acting skill deserves more credit. Now that might all change, since Tom Hiddleston was nominated for the Theater Awards Best Actor award. Hosted by the London Evening Standard, the ceremony honors those who display extraordinary talent in live stage productions. Hiddleston was nominated for his lead role in Shakespeare's Coriolanus.
The two other actors nominated for the category are Ben Miles, his co star from The Hollow Crown, and Mark Strong who starred alongside Hiddleston in the Jaguar car commercials. (I'm pretty sure Britain only has 10 actors and they all know each other.)
But as great as Miles and Strong undoubtedly were in their own plays, Hiddleston deserves this award over them, hands down. Not every actor could transition from a blockbuster screen hit to a small live stage, but Hiddleston made it look easy. His work in the underrated Shakespeare play brought in clamoring crowds every night. It was even filmed to be broadcast in theaters in America because so many people wanted to see it so badly.
I was one of those people and having watched Coriolanus, Hiddleston definitely earned the Theater Award nomination. And he most certainly deserves to win for the following reasons.
HIS CRYING SCENE WAS SPECTACULAR
Many actors cannot cry on cue, but Hiddles did so nearly every night for months. But not only did he shed tears, his whole face expressed the depth of the despair he was feeling. It made me emotional to watch it.
HIS RANGE OF EMOTION WAS UNPARALLELED
Hiddleston could go from sobbing in one scene to seething anger in the next. That takes a lot of skill, but he made it look effortless.
HE REALLY COMMITTED TO THE ROLE
In fact, he chose to show up an extra hour before the other actors "to have time for a full physical and vocal warm up." Only Hiddleston would enjoy his homework.
HE DID HIS OWN STUNTS
Hiddleston's sword fighting scenes were all conducted with real blades, and it was really Hiddleston getting thrown around on stage. Therefore he had to spend hours practicing, but properly doing his own stunts was important to Hiddleston. “I get such a kick when you see an actor flying across the screen and you know that it’s the real actor who’s done the stunt," he said back when he was playing Loki. "I am always ready to get in there and mix it up with the stunt team.”
HE NAILED THE DRAMA/COMEDY BALANCE
Most of Coriolanus is pretty depressing. But there are some funny moments in it, which Hiddleston executed to perfection. He has a scene where he dramatically reveals himself to another character. You can tell Coriolanus wants there to be this big shocked realization, but the other guy is like, "who are you?" And Hiddleston's "I'm done with this bulls****" face is amazing.
I'd give him the award for that face alone. Just kidding, but he really does deserve the Best Actor statue come Nov. 30. As cool as an MTV popcorn trophy is, Hiddleston's talent is worthy of a more prestigious honor. No one deserves that Theater award as much as him.
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