Hiddleston Latest In Cast Announcements For Aardman's 'Early Man'

By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

It’s been made official, the man known for playing the villanious Asgardian god Loki from Marvel’s The Avengers, will be playing the ridiculously pompous Lord Nooth, Governer of Bronze Age Town in Aardman Animations’ feature film Early Man. In a press release Aardman described Nooth as “a money-loving tyrant and rival to the film’s Stone Age hero, Dug [voiced by Eddie Redmayne].”

This will be Hiddleston’s first time working alongside Redmayne. Redmayne won a BAFTA award for his portrayal of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking in the 2015 feature film The Theory of Everything and will be playing Newt Scamander in J.K. Rowling’s upcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, to be released in North America November 18, 2016.

Early Man‘s director Nick Park (Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf or Death) said of Hiddleston “Tom is a wonderful actor and it’s so thrilling to see him bring our comic villain to life with his amazing talent, energy and enthusiasm. It is a great privilege to work with Tom and I’m so excited to see his character Lord Nooth emerge on screen!”

Hiddleston is admittedly a fan of Aardman Animations, the company responsible for such stop-motion feature films as Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Chicken Run, Shaun the Sheep The Movie, and The Pirates! Band of Misfits. “I have been a fan of Nick Park and Aardman for as long as I can remember, and am incredibly honoured to be working with Nick and the team on this adventure” said Hiddleston.

Hiddletston gave praise to Park via his Instagram stating Park “…is absolutely as brilliant as you might expect. Sometimes he makes me laugh so much I have to leave the sound studio for five minutes and calm down and have another go.”

Early Man introduces caveman Dug and animal sidekick Hognob (who resembles something of a warthog) as Dug unites his tribe against the mighty Bronze Age. Here is the official synopsis from Aardman:

“Pint sized Dug’s not really cut out to be a caveman. But when disaster strikes and his tribe are driven from their homeland by the might Bronze Age, it’s Dug, the most inept of the tribe, who proves he’s got what it takes and leads them to victory! Set at the dawn of time, when dinosaurs and woolly mammoths roamed the earth, Early Man tells the story of how one plucky tribe of cavemen learn to work together and be a team.”

Early Man continues in a partnership with StudioCanal that saw success with Shaun the Sheep The Movie. StudioCanal is co-financing the film and will distribute the film worldwide. The British Film Institute (BFI), a foundation that has been promoting, financing and educating people on United Kingdom (UK) films, is also a partner.

The film has been written by Mark Burton (Shaun the Sheep The Movie), James Higginson, and John O’Farrell (Spitting Image TV series).