Tom Hiddleston, who is best known for playing Loki in Thor, The Avengers, and in the forthcoming Thor: The Dark World, said that as soon as he accepted the part in Guillermo Del Toro’s gothic horror flick Crimson Peak he phoned his friend Benedict Cumberbatch to let him know. Hiddleston stated, “As soon as Guillermo called, I called Benedict and I said this is happening, and he was like, 'Amazing!' So, I had his blessing." It is still unknown why Cumberbatch stepped down from the role.
There were a plethora of reasons, Hiddleston said, that played into his decision in accepting the role. Once he received and read the script, he loved the plot and the characters. On top of that, he knows and admires many of his fellow cast members, such as Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) and Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty). He also knows Guillermo Del Toro and loves his work. Hiddleston added that he is, “…really, really excited about it.”
The actor, who plays a colorful and convincing bad guy in Thor, has the potential of working very well in a horror movie. Crimson Peak is a ghost story, which Del Toro says will be set-oriented and in the vein of classical horror; he wants it to feel like a “throwback.”
With the cast set, the film is set to begin filming in February of 2014 in Toronto, with a release date of April 2015.