Tom Hardy on the Differences Between Acting in Warrior and The Dark Knight Rises
Posted 07.27.11 by BrentJS
British actor Tom Hardy has been popping up in Hollywood blockbusters since his role in Black Hawk Down a decade ago. Yet, he only really landed on the American moviegoing audience's radar after appearing in Christopher Nolan's Inception. While he hasn't quite hit superstar status yet, Hardy seems destined for it with two high-profile roles on the horizon: the physically enhanced criminal genius Bane in Nolan's highly anticipated third and final Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises, and the post-apocalyptic rugged individualist Max Rockatansky in George Miller's Mad Max reboot,
Mad Max: Fury Road.
However, Hardy is going to have to work on his PR skills if he's ever going to win a place in the hearts of movie fans, especially genre fans. While doing press for his latest movie, Warrior, Hardy talked up the MMA (mixed martial arts) family drama while dissing The Dark Knight Rises and other genre franchises by equating them to Starbucks.
[Warrior] is like the top end of creating something out of nothing. You deal with something [like] Dark Knight — or Mad Max, or Superman or Spider-Man whatever — it’s like going to work in an airport and going, "Hi I’m over here!" and then everybody goes, "Oh, here’s that, that’s the villain of the piece." Then it’s a thousand people going to Duty-Free. Like, [shouting] "I AM THE VILLAIN!" and make a lot of noise. There’s a formula here, you can’t muck around with it. There’s a lot of rules, you’re restrained in many ways as an artist. But then you’re also grateful because of the huge exposure and the paycheck.
Or the not-paycheck 'cause they’re making you a stahhh. Whatever it is, you’re paying an entrance to getting higher exposure. These movies are huge vehicles to make a lot of money... and make a large audience happy. So now you’re at the very top level of trying to bring character work in a boutique way to something that is, y’know, Starbucks.
The Dark Knight Rises is currently in production. It is slated to open July 20, 2012. Mad Max: Fury Road is scheduled to go into production early next year. It does not yet have a release date.
Next Showing: Warrior opens Sept. 9