Igår kväll blev det en digital presskonferens med teamet bakom Loki, den nya Disney Plus-exklusiva TV-serien, där Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, regissören Kate Herron, manusförfattaren Michael Waldron och Marvel Studios-bossen Kevin Feige samlades via Zoom för att berätta mer om den högaktuella Disney Plus-exklusiviteten.
Det framgick exempelvis att planerna om en TV-serie in började förrän Endgame-produktionen, att filmer som Zodiac och Silence of the Lambs blev inspirationskällor och att Herron i princip fick "stalka" och ständigt ringa upp Marvel för att få gigget. Nykomlingarna Mbatha-Raw och Mosaku är exalterade över att sätta sitt prägel på det ständigt växande Marvel-universumet och det är möjligt att en andra säsong kan vara på gång. Men framförallt pekar både manusförfattaren Waldron (som bland annat skrivit Rick & Morty) och Feige på utmaningarna att få till en balans när det kommer till alla tidslinjer och annat fuffens som den fiktiva byrån TVA (Time Variance Authority) sysslar med:
"Early on, it was sort of thee low hanging fruit. There was ideas for a short film going back almost a decade for Loki running a Studio 54 in the 70s. I think we had some concept art of him on a horse. Thankfully, thanks to Michael and Kate, the story became more interesting than that."
Feige kommenterade också den komiska tonen som de nordiska bröderna har stått för på sistone och som har smält över till Lokis soloshow:
"I think they all had a certain amount of humor in the comics. The answer comes down to the performers and the remarkable talents of Mr. Hemsworth and Mr. Hiddleston, so, it wasn't necessarily a conscious plan to say let's make them even funnier now. They have just always been funny and we took that from behind-the-scenes and decided to put it on camera in more recent years."
Owen Wilson spelar Morbius, en slags tidsofficer som initierar ett samarbete med den fängslade asaguden, och berättar att det var konversationerna med regissören Herron som gjorde att han till slut hoppade ombord det hemlighetsfulla Marvel-projektet - även om han till en början inte riktigt förstod sig på hemlighetsmakeriet:
<em>"It didn't take much convincing. It was really the conversations Kate and I had that was a comprehensive phone call where Kate walked me through the idea for the show and the dynamic between Mobius and Loki...I think I signed on right then."
"It's exciting to be a part of [the MCU], seeing the trailer start to come out and how excited people get...the secrecy surrounding this I didn't quite understand until I saw that the fan base is so revved up and passionate and Marvel's just so committed to trying to surprise people so then you get into it."
Hiddleston, som knappast behöver introduceras här och som också agerar exekutiv producent, var såklart taggad på på att ge karaktären en mer komplex personlighet, samtidigt som man fick lov att bryta ner Loki för att lära känna honom på ett helt annat plan:
"What I love about the series is Loki is stripped of everything that's familiar to him. []... He's stripped of his status and his power. If you take all of those things Loki has used to identify himself over the last six movies, what remains of Loki? Who is he within or outside of those things? I think those questions for all of us became really fascinating to ask...is he capable of growth? Is he capable of change? Do his experiences with the TVA give him insight to who he might be?...I hope the audience get a kick out of where we might go."
"I just love playing the character and I always have, I feel so fortunate that I'm still here and there are still new aspects of the character. I think he's a character of huge range so it never feels like the same experience. Particularly, this time around, I'm surrounded by these amazing people, truly. It's not something that is lost on me. All my conversations with Kevin and Kate and Michael and my interactions with Owen, Gugu, and Wunmi, we just had a really good time. I think because of Loki's complexity, new dynamics, new stuff emerges."
Han diskuterade också hur han arbetade ihop med Wilson, där sistnämnda fick gå en slags "Loki-utbildning" för att förstå sig på kaosguden:
"It was such an interesting time, trying to compress the experience of my time in the MCU, six movies, and Mobius is an expert in Loki, He knows more about Loki than Loki does and Owen asked such insightful, intelligent questions that made me rethink various aspects of the character. Our conversations found their way into the scenes themselves. In their interactions, because they're quite intense conversations...at one point, Owen was like, 'This kind of feels a bit like a play,' I think maybe there was germ of an idea that settled in Owen's mind that a theatrical experience might be coming around the corner."
Wilson fortsatte:
"It was always sort of a chess match between Mobius and Loki. He is just clearly playing catch up, I thought that the scenes they were fun to do...They were long scenes, that's where it started to feel like a play...I think they have some tension and humor."
Loki får digital premiär imorgon på Disney Plus. Är detta något du ser fram emot?