“Stephen King’s work comes from a very wise understanding of the experience of being alive”: Tom Hiddleston and Chiwetel Ejiofor on The Life of Chuck

A triptych which tackles one seemingly ordinary accountant’s connection to the end of the world, The Life of Chuck is writer-director Mike Flanagan’s third Stephen King feature adaptation but the first that isn’t horror. There are certainly terrifying elements of the reverse chronology story as it looks at three key parts of Charles ‘Chuck’ Krantz’s life, but the emphasis is more on the joy of living, with a light fantasy / sci-fi dimension. This depiction of life is more of a piece with King adaptations such as The Shawshank Redemption (1994) and The Green Mile (1999).

Chuck is played as an adult by Tom Hiddleston, whose most significant contribution is in the film’s middle section, when Chuck sees a drumming busker while on a break from a banking conference and dances with great vim to the adulation of passers-by. Meanwhile, Chiwetel Ejiofor – another British actor playing an American – leads the opening section, a moving and philosophical sequence depicting the world grinding to a halt. Ejiofor stars as teacher Marty, who fleetingly reunites with his ex-wife (Karen Gillan) as things fall apart and also shares a touching scene with a neighbour, played by Scream (1996) star Matthew Lillard. Chuck’s childhood is depicted in the film’s final act, with Star Wars (1977) stalwart Mark Hamill and Mia Sara featuring as Chuck’s loving paternal grandparents after the death of his parents.

Erudite and engaging interviewees, Hiddleston and Ejiofor sat down in a central London hotel to discuss the film. They pondered their favourite King adaptation, what makes Flanagan a successful filmmaker and why Hiddleston hasn’t directed a film yet.

Lou Thomas: What was the first thing that intrigued you when you read the script?

Tom Hiddleston: The mystery, the structure, which I thought was completely ingenious and original, and the question mark of Chuck – Charles Krantz, who Mike Flanagan had asked me to play – who seems for all the world to be an ordinary man and is revealed to be so much more.

Chiwetel Ejiofor: Yeah, the Stephen King of it all and the Mike Flanagan of it all. I found the script very entertaining. I was intrigued, but the mystery at the centre of it really kept me guessing and kept me asking questions about it all the way through. I found it very emotional and philosophical.

Mike has received plaudits for his TV and film work, particularly with his genre pieces. What’s the secret of his success?

Ejiofor: He has this way of creating a tone and an atmosphere. It’s because everything is very deeply curated, in the way that he puts the films together, and the way that he casts, the way that he gets the heads of department, and the crew, and everybody – in some ways more than I’ve ever felt before – making the same film. Everybody is invested in the same things, and it’s really him at the centre of all of that.

Hiddleston: He put his heart and soul into this, and the challenge, the great offering to all of us is to commit as much heart and soul as he has. I think he’s incredibly faithful to Stephen King as well. He really understands that all of Stephen King’s work comes from a very wise understanding of the experience of being alive. Stephen King doesn’t flinch looking at any aspect of life, but he lands always somehow on the side of life, even if he’s exploring something that seems antithetical to it.

What’s your favourite Stephen King adaptation?

Ejiofor: The Shawshank Redemption. It had such an amazing impact. In terms of the characters, in terms of what they’re talking to, and also the structure of that. The fact that it’s a mystery that writes itself into a corner. And then Rita Hayworth.

Hiddleston: There’s a little Easter egg that you probably noticed, but the movie that Marty is watching at home, while the world is coming to an end, is Cover Girl [1944] starring Gene Kelly and Rita Hayworth. The Shawshank Redemption is based on a Stephen King story called ‘Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption’. So, there’s a nice little Stephen King connection moment happening. 

I watched Shawshank at a really formative time in my life. I must have been 14 or 15, and it just really hit me. I was so moved by it. Like Chiwetel is saying, it’s a mystery, and it seems to be a story about an institution or a man who’s wrongfully accused of murder – and how do you survive a brutal institution? But it isn’t about that at all. Of course, it is, but it’s also about friendship and connection, and that human connection is really the only reason for living, the proper business of living, whether you are behind the walls of an institution or outside them. And the last 20 minutes of that film are some of the most moving sequences I think I’ve ever seen.

The Life of Chuck prominently features a huge catastrophe. If the world was ending tomorrow, how would you spend the remaining time?

Hiddleston: With family, if I could get to them. Maybe I’d do all the things I normally do. Well, not all of them, but ones I love doing: have unhurried conversations, take the dog for a walk, nice plate of scrambled eggs. It’d be hard. You wouldn’t want to put too much pressure on stuff, my hunch is, if you could get to the people you loved and hold them close.

Ejiofor: The film is talking to this idea of just detaching from ego. From our very conscious reality understanding our place in the cosmic scope of things. Maybe it’s important in those moments, as they discover in this film in a way, to really see one’s size, and really understand how small we are in the scope of things. Maybe that brings a bit of peace.

Tom, your dancing scene is one of the most joyous scenes I’ve seen in a film this year. How into dancing were you before? Did you have to do much training, and how did it feel when you finally got it down?

Hiddleston: I’ve always liked dancing, but it’s really been like a thing we all do at parties and weddings, and I think a good wedding always finishes on the dancefloor. But I didn’t have the classical training in a way that Chuck had, so I had to at least make some strides towards that. I had an amazing team of choreographers led by Mandy Moore in Los Angeles, and Stephanie Powell in London, and Mandy works with someone else called Jonathan Redavid who taught me how to moonwalk, which was part of the deal.

With Stephanie and with Mandy, I got a fast-track, amazing speed run at jazz, swing, cha-cha, the Charleston, the bossa nova and the salsa, and the samba and the polka, and all these different styles, which was really thrilling and humbling. I certainly met my limitations. But it gave me such respect for dancers, and the mobility and agility and athleticism that they have. It’s a really extraordinary thing to get close to the combination of freedom and precision that great dancers have. But when the day came, that was what it was about, it was about joy and freedom. So, I tried to commit to that.

This film tackles big themes like love and life and death. Do you think the film has any overriding message, and if so, what is it?

Ejiofor: It’s this idea of all of the memories that we have, and all of the people that populate our consciousness and our subconscious. Some of the people that we think about that are very near have this very impactful influence on our lives. But there are people that we don’t think about very often, or haven’t thought about in years, that are still there. And actually, there’s something very comforting to me about the idea that even people that you meet once – that you only cross over with just on a random occasion, or just pass in the street – are still there, they’re still in the universe, and you are in theirs, in the universe of your mind, and you still hold them all, even though you think in that brief moment, I’ll never see or never encounter this person again in my life.

The film is full of these lovely little magic moments. Do you have any small little stories about anything unexpected that happened on set that you can tell?

Hiddleston: A lot of unexpected stuff, certainly in the dance. There were some times when I would be moonwalking across the asphalt and the soles of my shoes would get stuck, and it would be less of a moonwalk and more of a sandpaper shuffle.

I was wearing glasses, and sometimes they would fly off my head and come back. There were all kinds of spontaneous things, but that’s the magic of making films. All that the camera is interested in is life, and these moments. Great directors always teach you to embrace the accidents because they’re not premeditated, they just happen, and hopefully we’ve included some of that.

You’ve both got a range of work that you’ve done on stage, TV, film. What’s the one piece of advice you give young actors who are trying to make it?

Ejiofor: There’s so many, but I do think that being on stage was really important for me as an actor, and starting out – in terms of building your craft, but also getting people to see you in that context as well, of really taking a story through from beginning to end, and allowing an audience to go on a journey with you.

Tom, Chiwetel’s directed two films, how come you’ve not had a go yet? And would you like to in the future?

Ejiofor (gently mocking): How come, eh?

Hiddleston: Chiwetel’s a magnificent director. I just haven’t got around to it yet. I’ve got a few things to learn from you. I would love to. I have great respect for directing as well, as I know you do, and it’s something that I don’t take lightly because you’re responsible for everybody’s creativity, and everyone’s imagination. I’ve been busy. But there’s still time.

Ejiofor: That’s the answer. “I’ve been busy.”

The Life of Chuck is in cinemas from 20 August and on an extended run at BFI Southbank from 29 August.