Tom Hiddleston names his favourite films, Heat tops the list

With the release of his film The Life of Chuck, Tom Hiddleston sat down with Letterboxd to talk about his favourite films. Topping the list is Michael Mann's Heat. "The reason I love Heat so much is the detail and precision and care in every aspect of the film making by Michael Mann is exquisite. I love the film. I think it's it's complete and it's only got better with age."

Hiddleston also said that Heat showcases Mann, Robert De Niro, and Al Pacino at the peak of their powers and "maybe the great cinema performance from Val Kilmer."

This is not the first time Tom Hiddleston is expressing his admiration for the crime thriller. In an episode of The Graham Norton Show, Hiddleston delivered his rendition of the iconic restaurant scene in Heat, featuring De Niro and Pacino's characters, while impersonating the two legendary actors. The other films in Tom Hiddleston's favourite films' list are Paolo Sorrentino's The Great Beauty/ La grande bellezza, Singin' in The Rain, and The Shawshank Redemption.

Calling The Great Beauty an "incredibly dynamic" film, Hiddleston said, "It has an extraordinary performance at the centre of it" and "extraordinary wisdom." Praising the film's opening sequence, the actor described Sorrentino as a "director of immense regard."

Describing the 1952 classic from directors Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen as an "eternal" film, Hiddleston said, "When the world is run by machines, the machines will look back and wonder 'how on earth they made Singin' in The Rain'. It is so pure, honest and open-hearted." The actor went on to praise the songs in the film 'Good Morning, Good Morning' and 'Make 'Em Laugh' and termed the scene where Kelly sings in the rain "an eternal footage" that "will never die".

Hiddleston said that Frank Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption is a film that "inspired" him "so many times" and one that he goes back to watching. "It made a big dent in my heart and soul when I was young; it continued to do that," said Hiddleston about the Tim Robbins-Morgan Freeman starrer. He called it a "meditation on friendship and the freedom of the human spirit" and praised Robbins and Freeman's performances.

Speaking of The Shawshank Redemption, Hiddleston stars in the latest Stephen King adaptation The Life of Chuck.