With a Cambridge double first to his name Tom Hiddleston is one of the cleverest actors in the business, which may explain the terrific array of filmmakers he's embellished his CV with in the past year or so.
Alongside Joanna Hogg and her lo-fi drama Archipelago, currently winning critical plaudits from all and sundry, Hiddleston has worked with Terence Davies on The Deep Blue Sea and Woody Allen on Midnight In Paris. Not to mention fellow Rada alumnus Kenneth Branagh on that movie with the 'ol big hammer. You know the one. Rhymes with 'Phwoar'.
When Empire caught up with him, it was a horse we had in mind - specifically, a War Horse. Hiddleston plays a chivalrous cavalry officer in Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Michael Morpungo's novel. To prepare he did five weeks horse-riding bootcamp, followed by a further stint in a hellish-sounding trenchcamp. Despite the mud-splattered saddle soreness, he had nothing but a contagious enthusiasm to show for his experience working with Spielberg. Here's what he had to say about it.
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Watch the interview in full here.
Initially planned for late 2010, **War Horse **will be out on January 13, 2012. **Archipelago **is out now.