The Life of Chuck is the latest Stephen King adaptation to hit theaters, taking the story of the novella of the same name, which was released in 2020 with his If It Bleeds collection. The Life of Chuck received great reviews, and while it likely isn’t going to top most people’s lists of the best movies of the year, it will undoubtedly go down as another excellent adaptation of the legendary horror author’s work, taking his original story and illustrating it to fit a new medium extremely well.

The Life of Chuck boasted a stacked cast, with the тιтular character of Chuck being portrayed, in part, by Tom Hiddleston, who has been a beloved performer since his breakout in the original Thor. However, one interesting aspect of the film is that, despite Hiddleston seeming to be the main star of the show, at least initially, he wasn’t actually in the movie all that much.

Life Of Chuck’s Promotion Marketed Tom Hiddleston As The Key Star

Tom Hiddleston’s Protagonist Was Featured Heavily In The Trailer & Posters

The Life of Chuck had a decent amount of marketing done for a relatively small movie, and the defining characteristic of all of its marketing materials was that Hiddleston was placed at the center of most of it. He took center stage in the film’s main trailer, and nearly all the posters feature him as the central figure, which definitely led to more than a few people ᴀssuming that he was going to be the main star of the film, appearing throughout its runtime.

That would be especially confusing to people less familiar with the original short story, which took place across many different eras of Chuck’s life, meaning that Hiddleston’s adult version of the character would only appear for a portion of the movie. However, it is worth noting that trailers and marketing materials don’t have to show the full story, and sometimes a slightly misleading marketing push can be very effective at surprising audiences. In this case, it was likely to be more related to the fact that Hiddleston was the biggest star out of all the Chuck actors.

Tom Hiddleston Mostly Appears In Act 2 Of Life Of Chuck

And He Only Has A Few Lines Of Dialogue

The Life of Chuck is split into three acts, with each focusing on a different aspect of Chuck’s life. Hiddleston’s appearance was mostly centered around the second act, not really appearing throughout the rest of the movie. While Chuck remained the main character throughout, the film was mostly concerned with his younger self, played by Benjamin Pajak, Cody Flanagan, and Jacob Tremblay, so Hiddleston’s version only really had one major and impactful scene, which was his big, public dance.

While that was still a very significant scene, the fact that it was Hiddleston’s only major moment to shine in the movie was still a surprise, as it meant that he only really appeared for a quarter of the film. The framing of the film, surrounding multiple periods with different actors in each of them, makes for a very interesting conversation about who the actual star of the movie was. Obviously, Chuck remained the main character throughout the whole film, as it was named after him, but none of the four actors portraying him felt like the “leading” performer.

Thankfully, Tom Hiddleston’s Smaller Role Doesn’t Hurt The Life Of Chuck

Life Of Chuck Celebrated The Protagonist In A Very Beautiful Way

Despite Hiddleston’s short appearance in the film, The Life of Chuck still managed to be a great film, with solid performances by every actor, obviously including Hiddleston. The original Life of Chuck novella was very heartfelt, telling a sweet story about the small moments that make life worth living, and the film was able to capture that essence perfectly and distill it into a film that accomplished the same. Even if The Life of Chuck won’t have as much cultural impact as some of the more popular movies coming out these days, it was a beautiful story nonetheless.