00:11Sì, è assicurante.
00:13Up to a point.
00:20Well, I'm playing the character who's described in the novel and in the story as the worst man in the
00:27world.
00:27He is, in some ways, you could say he's the devil.
00:30He's an arms dealer, a very, very wealthy, very successful businessman who lives a life of great luxury, great glamour.
00:41But he does it by profiting from death and war and destruction.
00:49And he is the devil.
00:51But like the devil always, as we know the devil must have, the devil is charming.
00:55The devil has, he has good jokes, he's good fun to hang out with.
00:59He's, you know, he's, it's, his world is an enjoyable one to be in.
01:07It has to be that way, otherwise the devil wouldn't get any purchase at all on our lives.
01:12But it was great, it was a thrill to play because I've loved this book since I was very young.
01:18And I, I say very young, at 93 it came out.
01:24And I love this, I love the story, I love the character.
01:28And it was a real honour to actually be a part of it and see it come to life.
01:33It's been in my head for 20-something years.
01:35So it, it was a thrill to be part of it.
01:41You know, a lot of people would have tossed that cigarette away when the paying customer turned up.
01:52Well, I, it's so, it's, it's all in the story.
01:56It's so beautifully, it's such a beautiful idea that he, Tom Hiddleston plays the spy.
02:04He is the, the man who must go into this world to kill the monster, I am the monster.
02:09Um, but at the same time he goes into this world and part of him is seduced by the world,
02:18this beautiful world that he, he now inhabits.
02:21In the same way, the monster somehow knows that he is a monster and knows that he deserves to be
02:29caught.
02:30And the two of them are sort of, it's like a strange dance between the two of them.
02:36They're both attracted to something else.
02:38There are all kinds of strange, um, resonances, I think.
02:43There's a, there's an element of the heart of darkness, you know, that, that, that I am playing Kurtz, who
02:48has gone crazy.
02:50Um, and, and, uh, is it Marlow, I think, who has to go and, uh, seek him out, but also
02:57Roper, in some sense, knows that he's going to be betrayed and that, obviously, has an almost sort of biblical,
03:05um, resonance.
03:07He, he knows that, uh, that he, at some, that one of his number will betray him.
03:14And, uh, the, the, the combination of those things is absolutely fascinating to play.
03:20And it was a real thrill to, to see Tom Hiddleston doing his thing.
03:23It was really wonderful.
03:30Well, I am about to, to, to start something, not quite on the same scale as House, but it, it's
03:37a American series that will be, is based on a novel.
03:40But it will be more like, uh, we're doing 10 episodes instead of 24, which we would do every year.
03:47And it, it, it's, it's a single story, so it's not, um, just episodes, um, it, it's not just, uh,
03:53individual stories.
03:55Um, but that's the way, I think is the way television is going.
03:59That seems to be what the audience enjoys seeing, you know, following a single story rather than, um, uh, episodic,
04:08um, uh, television.
04:11But, uh, you know, if it's good, of course, once you get sucked into a story, both as an actor
04:18and as a viewer, I just want to see it through.
04:20I want to just follow it to the end.
04:26I think it probably is.
04:28I believe this is the first season that more people have watched non-broadcast television than broadcast television.
04:35It's the first time this has ever happened.
04:37And obviously Netflix and, and Amazon, the streaming services have obviously got an enormous amount to do with that.
04:43Um, it's interesting.
04:45And I think it's a, it's sort of a good thing in a way.
04:48We, we love to talk about how, how people's attention spans are getting smaller and smaller and smaller.
04:55Well, that seems to be at odds with our habit now of watching longer and longer and longer, uh, stories.
05:03That people want to watch a story that lasts for 30 episodes, 50 episodes, 100 episodes.
05:09Um, they love the continuation of a story instead of just seeing everything in little tiny fragments.
05:17So maybe, I don't know, maybe that's a good thing.
05:19And maybe it's a healthy thing.
05:21That's, after all, how we live our lives.
05:24He said tritely and stupidly.
05:27I wish I hadn't said that last bit.
05:29Anyway.
05:30All right.
05:31Thank you.
05:32Thanks a lot.
05:34Adios.
05:35Good night, sir.
05:39Good night, sir.
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