Other than indulging in some natty period dress, the films are very different, but I suggest that the characters are not.В They are each what you might call devilishly charming. Before then, you can grip the velvet at your local cinema while watching Guillermo Del ToroвЂ™s elaborate вЂgothic romance with ghostsвЂ™ Crimson Peak, in which Hiddleston plays Thomas Sharpe, a mysteriously suave and suavely mysterious Victorian British aristocrat seeking New World funds for his family pileвЂ™s mine.В Then, early next year вЂ“ as well as I Saw The Light вЂ“ you can see him as Dr Robert Laing in Ben WheatleyвЂ™s High-Rise: a Kubrick-esque adaptation of JG BallardвЂ™s rats-in-a-cage exploration of the human psyche, in which the occupants of an avant-garde Seventies apartment block descend into a primal chaos. I Saw The Light is one of three Hiddleston films coming up over the next few months. Related: Listen to Tom Hiddleston Perform Kermit The Frog & Miss Piggy Impressions for ShortList ThatвЂ™s when I realised how privileged I am to do this job.' Everyone was in a really good place and we didnвЂ™t want to stop and come back the next day, so Rodney got out a bottle of whiskey and said, вЂHere ya go, boys!вЂ™ and we kept singing and playing all night. вЂњThere was one long night in the studio we had to record some of the tracks ahead of time. Being in Nashville, being in the whole atmosphere of country blues music, the history вЂ“ he loosened me up. вЂњI stayed with a musician called Rodney CrowellВ for five weeks and we sang and played every day, and he was amazing. I went there six weeks before we were due to start shooting,вЂќ he says. вЂњI perhaps didnвЂ™t fully appreciate how iconic he is in the US until I arrived in Nashville. вЂњIвЂ™ve felt a huge responsibility to not screw it up,вЂќ the 34-year-old says. He played the guitar before making I Saw The Light, but he wasnвЂ™t an alcoholic, womanising country legend. This impromptu performance also proves that Hiddleston doesnвЂ™t do things by halves. Well, sort of, but weвЂ™ll come to that later. I mean to say, вЂњDo you play in the film?вЂќ The polite way of asking, вЂњWere you dubbed over by a more proficient country and western musician?вЂќ Hiddleston understands this and asks if weвЂ™d like to hear something:В his own daft question.В He whips out his Gibson (no euphemism)В and delivers, to these ears, an emphatic Hank (again, no euphemism).В ItвЂ™s one way of answering a question, though вЂ“ thankfully for the purposes of this interview, the rest of his responses are delivered more traditionally. I hadnвЂ™t realised it was his, so, considering he appears as Hank Williams in the forthcoming biopic I Saw The Light, I ask a prize-winning dumb question: do you play? Tom Hiddleston is about to leave the riverside flat where weвЂ™ve just photographed him with a cat on his shoulder.В He picks up the guitar thatвЂ™s been lying on the living room floor all day. Handsome, talented and a master of animals is there no chink in Tom HiddlestonвЂ™s armour?В Andrew Dickens has a good, hard look

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