"Crimson Peak" star Tom Hiddleston and "The Imitation Game" actor Benedict Cumberbatch are two of the UK's most promising actors and they are also very close friends. It's not shocking then that they would get offers to do the same roles by the same directors.
In fact, Guillermo Del Toro's new horror film was reportedly offered to the "Sherlock" star before Cumberbatch decided to turn down the role. With his very busy schedule (which includes film, TV and theater projects in the next couple of years), he couldn't play Thomas Sharpe for "Crimson Peak".
Thankfully, the role didn't go to waste, seeing as Hiddleston seems to be doing a great job as Thomas Sharpe based on the trailers released recently.
Then again, perhaps it did help that Del Toro edited the entire script just for the "Crimson Peak" star Tom Hiddleston.
"He called me, my agents called and said, 'Guillermo Del Toro is going to call you in the next hour' and he called me and told me the story and he said, 'Don't say yes, or no. But I'm gonna rewrite the script this weekend or tonight or tomorrow," he told Collider. "And I'm gonna send you a new draft' and like an hour later Jessica [Chastain] called me and said, 'You have to do it' [Laughs] 'I want you to do it, and Guillermo wants you to do it' and I was really excited I couldn't wait to read the script."
He reportedly said "yes" about 72 hours later.
"Then, it must have been like a day later, I got it and I read it immediately in one sitting and he had rewritten the role, so I got sort of my own draft, he had rewritten the part for me in a way," he continued.
His admiration for the director also pushed him into saying yes right away.
"Working with Guillermo who I've admired for so long, and the script itself was just brilliant, the screenplay was captivating and rich and sophisticated and terrifying; and the role was amazing, and different than anything else I'd done, It was a very, very quick 'yes' after that," he confirmed.
Despite knowing that the script was altered just for him, he reportedly never found out how the original screenplay was written with Benedict Cumberbatch as the lead. Nevertheless, the "Crimson Peak" for Tom Hiddleston however, seems to be a promising version.
"Crimson Peak" hits cinemas in Oct. 16.
