Tumgik
#The A.V. Club yt
uhlikzsuzsanna · 3 years
Video
youtube
Owen Wilson isn't quite as into jet skis as his Loki character, Mobius • 2021.06.18.
U.S. maritime law is a weird thing. You need classes, a test, and a license to drive a car, but in a lot of states, any old 12 year old can operate a jet ski without any license, training, or, really, supervision. Considering jet skis are 750 pound death rockets that are most likely capable of decapitating anyone who’s floating in the water, that’s not the best idea, but, hey, they sure are fun to ride.
Loki’s Mobius likes them, at least. He’s never been on one—that would be too unseemly given his status in the TVA—but he likes the idea of them. He likes the concept that the TVA is keeping life moving along for regular people who might want to coast across open bodies of water at dangerous rates of speed. If the TVA can’t protect the fun freedoms, what are they even doing?
Owen Wilson, who plays Mobius, doesn’t entirely agree. As he tells us in the video above, “I can’t say I’m a huge fan of jet skis. I put them sort of, but not quite in the category of leaf blowers. It isn’t a sound that I love. You know, when you think about Walden Pond, you don’t think about a jet ski screaming along.” He continues, “When I was like a kid, of course, I loved them. They seemed like the greatest thing. Now, I think I prefer the peace and quiet of just seeing a lake or looking out at the ocean rather than hearing [jet skis], although they are pretty fun when you get on them.” Amen, brother.
12 notes · View notes
uhlikzsuzsanna · 3 years
Video
youtube
Tom Hiddleston on Loki's "glorious purpose," quest for power • 2021.06.09
There’s a line from The Avengers that all Loki fans love: “I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose.” Tricked, in effect, by the man he believed was his father and fully convinced he’s smarter and more righteous than his burly brother Thor, Loki has spent his adult life trying to rise to what he believes is his pre-ordained right to power, come what Avengers may. But then what? If Loki takes over Asgard or even Midgard, then what happens? If Loki is, in fact, born to lead, then what will he lead all of us toward? 
 It’s one of the big questions of the new Disney+ series Loki, which just premiered on the service today. If Loki’s not butting heads with Thor and his compatriots, who is he, really? And is he really everything he believes himself to be? Who would Loki rule for, other than himself? 
 It’s a question we posed to Loki himself, actor Tom Hiddleston, in a recent chat, and one that he had an appropriately encyclopedic answer for. 
As he explains in the video above: As children, Odin told Thor and Loki “only one of you can ascend to the throne, but you were both born to be kings.” So there’s the sense that Loki has grown up with a sense of an entitlement to a birthright, and it gets distorted in The Avengers movie into this line he says to Nick Fury when he arrives: “I am burdened with glorious purpose.” I suppose it’s a motto. It’s a motivation. It’s a sense of self determination. And it’s a way that Loki gives meaning to his existence. 
 When he’s confronted by the TVA, this institution that governs the order of time, it calls into question the narrative of meaning that Loki has constructed for himself, that he thought his life was meant a particular thing and perhaps that meaning has been revealed to be fraudulent or or ineffective or insufficient in some way. 
 Loki’s contact with the TVA in the show serves both as conflict and as agitation, in that it takes the character out of the cycle of “Scheme to overthrow humanity. Lose. Stew. Repeat.” It’s a device Hiddleston particularly likes, telling us: 
I think it’s very funny. If any human being believes they have agency in their lives and is making active choices, if somebody turned around said “actually these aren’t choices, you’re just rolling along predetermined tracks of of a reality that is supposed to happen and has been chosen not by you by somebody else, it would be a bit of a head scratcher. 
I think that there is a question mark in the series about the nature of free will and self-determination or agency or self-awareness or choice. We all perceive reality in the way that only we perceive it, each of us, and I think [the show] raises the question of what is reality is there are other different ways of looking at reality? If your perception changes, then your awareness changes, then perhaps your choices change. 
 An exciting thing is that Loki is someone who is very much in control or believed he was all his life, driven towards what he conceived as this glorious purpose. His experiences in the TVA call that purpose into question. In that vacuum, what does he do? Hopefully the show answers those questions, 
New episodes of Loki will be available each Wednesday on Disney+.
10 notes · View notes
uhlikzsuzsanna · 3 years
Video
youtube
Loki's Wunmi Mosaku isn't really sure how time and space work either • 2021.06.17.
If you’ve watched Loki on Disney+, you might have some questions. We do, at least. Like, how does time work in the TVA? Are the workers born as babies, or are they just created as fully formed adults? Are there TVA schools? Homes? What does Mobius do in his off hours, assuming he has any? If workers are created, why bother installing them into lower level jobs and making them work their way up? Why not just create different levels of workers to begin with? And why does it look like the ‘70s in there?
We posed a few of those questions to Wunmi Mosaku, who plays the show’s stern soldier B-15. A veteran of Lovecraft Country, Mosaku is no stranger to wacky timelines and out there sci-fi, but even she couldn’t explain how the TVA works, really. As she tells us in the video above, “The Time Variance Authority is run by the Time Keepers and they have created this world outside of time and space. And so we’re all kind of just from this space... the TVA. This is where we’re from, and this is what we do. This is what we know.” Prompted to explain whether TVA timelines are predetermined or mapped out, just like in other realms and worlds, Mosaku replied, “Well, it’s outside of time and space, the whole thing. It’s this whole thing and... Yeah, it’s the TVA. It’s outside of space.”
Who can explain Marvel concepts really, though? And what if Mosaku was cagey not because time and space are doctoral level concepts to explain, but rather because she was under some sort of Marvel gag order, meaning we might learn a little more about the workings of the TVA deeper into the current season of Loki? Here’s hoping it’s the latter, though if it’s the former, that’s okay too. It’s all a little confusing sometimes, even for those actually in the room.
8 notes · View notes
uhlikzsuzsanna · 3 years
Video
youtube
Loki's director on retro-futuristic computers and the significance of Mobius' soda choices • 2021.06.10.
Loki director Kate Herron is no stranger to episodic TV, having directed the critical hit Sex Education a couple of years ago. Still, some homes and a high school do not a whole separate universe make, so it’s a fair assumption that she—like nearly anyone tasked with the role—could face a fairly steep learning curve when it came to tackling the level of world-building necessary in creating a Marvel project. And yet, as Herron told us for the video above, it was a fairly simple transition. As she relayed: 
"Before this, I done a show called Sex Education, which is like a drama comedy. In that, we were almost setting up a world because it’s this heightened teen world. So there were definitely things that I learned on that that I took to Loki— even just basic stuff. Like I remember saying to my producer “we’re going to need at least three hallways that we can film on,” just so it looks like different levels....In my pitch, I made a massive document where I broke down everything from look to design to story to characters, and I just came in with questions." 
 Herron’s quest for world-building extends beyond just flashy sets and cool outfits. With the production team, she thought about the implication of props and technology, with some of the ideas not making the cut: 
"I think for me, with the world building—it’s even basic stuff, right? Like the technology. Within the TVA, I had a very specific idea of “I think it’d be cool to have this retro-futuristic look” to it. But at the same time, how does that technology connect? Like our TemPad, for example, is sort of the main bit you see our characters use across the show. But originally there was a thing called a Time Twister that used to be a separate thing. Me and Russell Bobbitt, who did the props, we were like, “Actually, let’s just combine those and make it one because it’s a lot more slick. Blocking-wise, it’s a lot easier to capture someone pulling one thing out. 
So it was very new things like that. And then obviously the bigger thing was “what is this office like that exists outside of space and time?” That was exciting to me and it meant taking inspiration from the comics. They had these amazing rows of infinite desks in the comics that go into the horizon. I basically was like, “I want to pay homage to that and have that idea in there.” But then also, I love sci-fi and I just wanted the show to be like this big love letter to it. So we’ve got references scattered across the whole thing to different sci-fi movies that hopefully fellow sci fi nerds will enjoy."
8 notes · View notes
uhlikzsuzsanna · 3 years
Video
youtube
Loki's head writer says Marvel never showed him the "master plan" • 2021.06. 14. - The A.V. Club
5 notes · View notes