Fangirls make the best partners. Why? We keep our cheatin’ hearts in the fictional realm. I’ve had my obsessive crushes over the years, always an actor in a geeky role: Elijah Wood as Frodo (those eyes!), Hugh Jackman as Wolverine (the testosterone!), and now Tom Hiddleston as Loki (the snark!). I’m still a fan of Elijah and Hugh, but when I want to show my kids a pretty photo from NatGeo Instagram, it’s Tom’s chest pics I have to scroll past first.
My friend Karen is equally Hiddle-obsessed. She sends me interviews, memes, upcoming roles, etc. These are our “sanity savers” as we deal with our regular daily stress (raising teens, dealing with aging parents, personal health issues, did I mention teenagers?). We just made plans to see Tom live in New York City next month. Quick, get me my fainting salts! Our husbands are well aware of our mutual fantasy crush, but also acknowledge our need for fangirl obsession as mental escape. They pick their battles. Some people do drugs; we are part of the Hiddlestoners Facebook page. A couple weeks ago we got together with a few other women to have a HiddlestonFest: potluck dinner, wine, fun snacks, and watched some of The Night Manager, and then Crimson Peak.
I highly recommend The Night Manager. It’s a six-part series based on the novel by John le Carré but reworked for the present Middle East conflicts. Tom plays Jonathan Pine, a British soldier who is recruited to become a spy. Well-written and acted with an intelligent, intriguing plot. I happened to run off to the bathroom and missed a romantic scene. Everyone decided it was worth watching again (all for my benefit, of course) but then we had issues with the TV and couldn’t go back to the scene we left off, and had to watch the romantic part AGAIN. Lots of giggles.
Crimson Peak I can only half comment on because I spent much of the time hiding behind my hands. I don’t do horror movies. Karen promised to watch it ahead of time so she could tell me when to look away. Lots and lots. Though I enjoyed the room chatter of what was happening, “wow… someone did not age well… ew.” In this movie, Tom plays Englishman Sir Thomas Sharpe, who seduces and marries an innocent young American woman named Edith who is able to communicate with the dead. This helps her (though these were all the scenes I only listened to) figure out the horror of the home and sister of her new husband. Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro, you know it’s going to be visually stunning. Since I spent much of my time NOT looking, I noticed the music was quite bland. And Victorian-era music is so rich! Oh well. It was a fun gothic romance mystery to “watch” with friends.
We are planning another HiddlestonFest. Perhaps to see High Rise? (Though I was really confused by the trailer.) Our husbands don’t care if we giggle like our teenage daughters over a movie star as long as we come home to reality at the end of the day. And honestly, that’s the best part of a fangirl crush–it’s not real. Loki is sexy and exciting on the big screen, but life partner? Not so much. However, if my husband wanted a cosplay idea…
