so let's talk the Marvel Cinematic Universe no not endgame though I have
now seen it and so I'm safe to go back on the Internet: Thor the dark world yeah
we're back there I know. There's this scene in the dark world where Jane
Foster meets Loki and smacks him in the face and says "that's for New York" as it
turns out Natalie Portman was told just to actually hit Tom Hiddleston in the
face "it was actually a punch we did a few that were fake but they could tell
because I am just bad at that so there were a few real ones because they were
like you were just a little girl you really can't hurt him so I don't know he
acted like he could handle it but I think I actually hurt him" and Tom
Hiddleston said "it made me feel good. It made me feel like it's good you know I'm pleased to have
given pleasure in some regard even if it is just to provide a target for for
Natalie's unprocessed rage [how's her arm?] it's pretty good she's an athlete" right okay then
this is a video about why you shouldn't punch Tom Hiddleston in the face even if
Tom Hiddleston says it's okay and most especially this is a video about how you
shouldn't tell actors to punch each other in the face just at all really. In
my last video I talked about getting older and learning new things and how
that means that sometimes you see things in a new way and then you can't unsee
them. This is one of those things. Theatrical combat rules as I was taught
them they're not very hard it wasn't very long ago there are only two: be safe
be convincing. And letting someone smack
someone else in the face full force is
not not safe. I mean it may be convincing but not safe. I know it sounds obvious
but you could seriously hurt someone doing that. Now there is such a thing as a
contact punch to the face but it is somewhat somewhat beyond my level shall
we say there is a way to punch someone in the face make contact with their face
and not hurt them. this was not that and see now some of you are thinking "well
if Tom Hiddleston is happy for Natalie Portman to smack him in the face that
surely that should be good enough for everyone" well no no actually I I don't
think that's right and I think it's trying to take too individualistic
a look at something which isn't actually just about the individual. The state
of Tom Hiddleston's jaw or cheek or nose or vision or hearing all of which could
have been affected if a punch had landed wrong is not just Tom Hiddleston's
business I mean mostly it would be Tom Hiddleston's business but you're on a
set with hundreds of people minimum who are spending millions of dollars making
this movie, like, it's not all about you. and so I don't think that argument
really holds water even if you set aside the need for safety for the individual
which I don't think you should but even if you did the safety is for the sake of
the production as a whole as well. People have died on movie sets major movie sets
relatively recently safety first for everyone's sake. and given that it's
a movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe I think it's also kind of a dodgy
precedent to set because that's gonna trickle down to movies with less
stratospheric budgets "come on Tom Hiddleston let a woman punch him in the
face for Thor the dark world why won't you just..." fill in the blank here
side note this is also why intimacy coordinators something I recently
learned about which is basically like a fight director but for intimate scenes
seem like such a good common sense idea to me seriously though who wants to wing
it under those circumstances? you choreograph your violence why would you
also not choreograph your intimacy so everybody's okay with everything? Stage
combat has provided me with many joys the joy of pretending to punch someone
in the face the joy of pretending to wrestle people to the ground or hit them
with the staff or stab them with a sword but the key word here is pretending
nobody's actually getting hurt and if someone is getting hurt you're doing it
wrong and you should stop. I think the first time I heard this story I might
have find it quite funny like seriously dude who lets someone punch them in the
face for veracity's sake seriously? nowadays I'm just getting all
finger-wagging librarian on how bad a precedent it is to set. Thanks stage
combat! But I did three basic exams in the summer and since December I have
taken Jo Staff, 18th century smallsword and unarmed intermediate level in the
summer I'm doing an advanced course and even with all of that I still don't
think I would be qualified or well trained enough to punch someone in the
face safely. I'm just saying.