TOM HIDDLESTON ON LEARNING TO DANCE BOSSA NOVA AND JAZZ FOR STEPHEN KING ADAPTATION ‘THE LIFE OF CHUCK': ‘IT TOOK MY HIPS A MINUTE'

Tom Hiddleston had to learn to move and groove to play Charles "Chuck" Krantz in "The Life of Chuck," a feel-good apocalyptic story (yes, those exist!) that premieres on Friday at the Toronto Film Festival.

Adapted from Stephen King's 2020 novella of the same name and directed by "The Haunting of Hill House's" Mike Flanagan, "The Life of Chuck" is billed as a "life-affirming" story about an ordinary man named Charles Krantz. It's set against the backdrop of a world that appears to be slowly crumbling. But there aren't any tidal waves or fiery infernos to signal armageddon. It's the rare King text that's more about human beings as opposed to ghosts and demonic figures. Think "Shawshank Redemption" and "Stand By Me" rather than "It" or "Pet Sematary."

Hiddleston, best known for portraying the mischievous Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, plays the titular Chuck, an inhibited accountant whose life is shrouded in mystery. On a nondescript day that unfolds in the middle of the film, he sees a street drummer while walking back from a banking conference - and he's compelled to put down his briefcase and move to the beat. To prepare for the extended sequence, Hiddleston had a six-week crash course to learn everything from jazz, swing, polka, samba and cha-cha in order to quickstep and moonwalk.

"I had to do all of these technical dances, none of which I have any training in," Hiddleston said at Variety‘s Toronto Film Festival studio, sponsored by J.Crew and SharkNinja. "There are some that came more easily than others. I found I love dancing jazz and swing. Bossa nova is a technical thing that took my hips a minute to get my head around. Polka is like a 100-meter sprint. It feels like a gallop."

He stressed the routine is more about effort than execution. "This dance number evolves very spontaneously. If I didn't nail the technique, it was about expressing the joy," he said. "But yeah, bossa nova…"

Ejiofor, who plays a teacher trying to grapple with the end times, chimed in: "It looked great to me!"

Though Ejiofor admired Hiddelston's moves, it was only from afar. The two men don't share any scenes in the movie. That's because "The Life of Chuck" is split into three distinct chapters that unfurl in reverse chronological order. Ejiofor and Karen Gillan, who plays his ex and a hospital worker, appear in the first segment as the world is ending. Meanwhile, Hiddleston doesn't show up until the second act. Benjamin Pajak, Cody Flanagan and Jacob Tremblay play younger iterations of Chuck Krantz at the end of the film.

"It created such an interesting way to dole out information and make connections between different periods in someone's life," said Flanagan. As a filmmaker, he saw the unconventional structure as an opportunity to get creative with form. "We said, ‘These are such distinct stories, so we can shoot them differently. They can have different aspect ratios. We can have a different color palette for them.' Our lives are like this. They are not ordered and monochromatic."

Flanagan, who previously adapted King's work with 2017's "Gerald's Game" and 2019's "The Shining" sequel "Doctor Sleep," read "The Life of Chuck" during the early days of the pandemic and was instantly moved by the text.

"There's no moment that roars off the page and says, ‘I want to be a movie.' But as I continued to read, cinematic sequences began to play out in my imagination," he said. "When I put the story down, I was amazed by how much joy and hope and emotion I was feeling on a story that I didn't think was necessary going that way in the beginning."

Given the themes of the film, shooting "The Life of Chuck" was a chance for the cast to get reflective about the idea of saying goodbye.

"In the film, the characters seek out connection with each other. I think that's probably the most natural thing in the world," Gillan said. "I've read a weird amount of quotes from people on their deathbeds. They talk about how so many things that you've given weight to fall away, like the accolades you've won or the money you've earned or things you've achieved. Actually, what matters is the relationships and connections."

Hiddleston echoed those sentiments, saying that "moments of spontaneity, connection and joy become [what] we remember in the last hours of our lives."

"[The film] is about trying to find those moments and experience them and hold them dear," he said. "Because the world is full of pain and suffering. That's true. But there are also moments of of joy. And I've never seen it so beautifully expressed as in this story."