Actor says appearance had to be a secret, so he flew to San Diego in costume

Jul 24, 2013 20:51 GMT  ·  By
Tom Hiddleston as Loki at Comic-Con 2013, trying to recruit human soldiers for his army
   Tom Hiddleston as Loki at Comic-Con 2013, trying to recruit human soldiers for his army

One of the biggest surprises to come out of Comic-Con 2013 was Loki’s interruption of the “Thor: The Dark World” panel when no one even knew that Tom Hiddleston, the actor playing the character, would be in San Diego at the time of the convention.

Speaking with Los Angeles Times’ Hero Complex, Hiddleston explains that the stunt was incredibly difficult to pull off because, in this industry, such a secret is hard to keep.

Basically, he knew that if he’d show up without a costume at the convention, everyone would know that he’d also be on the Marvel panel in Hall H.

So, obviously, he came in disguise, since that’s something that those who attend the convention do on a regular basis. Hiddleston opted for a Jango Fett costume, from “Star Wars.”

“I had to fly in — this is no joke — I flew in to San Diego from London as Jango Fett from the ‘Star Wars’ films because I knew that if I was seen in San Diego there would be a picture on Twitter or Instagram or Facebook, ‘I’ve just seen Thomas in the San Diego airport, I’ve just seen him in the hotel. He’s obviously here for ‘Thor 2’,” the actor says.

He explains that he opted for this costume because he’s tall and because they had run out of Stormtrooper outfits at the store.

However, the idea to come as Loki wasn’t his, Tom admits: Kevin Feige, Marvel movie chief, thought of it and then came up with a plan to make it happen.

Once he agreed to it, Hiddleston realized the enormity of his “mission”: unlike on a movie set, he would be facing a mixed crowd of 6,000+ fans and critics, and they would react to what he did and said on stage.

Consequently, it was important that he never break character. In all fairness, he did do that a bit when he almost burst in laughter at one point, as the videos embedded below will show.

“I was so excited, but I initially got a little worried because I didn’t want to say things that Loki wouldn’t say. I didn’t want to say ‘Here’s the clip’ or ‘Roll trailer’,” Hiddleston explains.

“I figured it had to be within the integrity of the character. I wrote some things. We tried to make it really simple; I didn’t want to overstay my welcome. It was cool, it was great. It was basically a top-secret stealth mission by Kevin and myself. Nobody else knew about it,” he adds.

The full interview is here. It’s a must read.