The actor Tom Hardy compared to a digestive biscuit: “He quintessentially exists”
At first glance, it might come off as a thinly veiled insult for one actor to compare another to a biscuit, but Tom Hardy invoked the name of the humble digestive out of nothing but kindness.
In fairness, there are plenty of worse biscuits to be compared to. It sounds inherently offensive to call somebody a fucking Hobnob, for instance, and the societal connotations of the Ginger Nut speak for themselves, while the debate over whether the Tunnock’s teacake is or isn’t superior to the caramel wafer has the potential to incite a riot depending on where it’s said and who it’s said in front of.
It’s almost overpoweringly British, but more than 50 million packets of digestives are sold nationwide annually. Why? Another entirely accurate cultural stereotype, of course. Take one digestive and one cup of tea, and combine them to discover one of the country’s favourite pastimes, albeit while running the risk of sogginess depending on how long it stays submerged in its milky prison.
What does any of this have to do with acting? On the surface, not much. What does it have to do with an actor who’s been the recipient of three Academy Award nominations and has appeared in a string of all-time classics as part of a storied career that stretches back to the late 1960s? Under most circumstances, even less.
And yet, Hardy couldn’t think of any better way to pay tribute to the man who played his father in hard-hitting MMA drama Warrior than tying him to a bestselling bickie. “Nick Nolte is carved from the rock of actors,” he explained to Hey U Guys. “He’s as prevalent in my life as a digestive biscuit. He quintessentially exists.”
Hardy described Nolte as “an American brand of type of actor, this lived-in, hard cop, tough guy, been through the fucking mill, working class, with a huge heart” type of performer, one who’s a “huge grizzly bear with a thorn in his side” but also “a huge sensitive, childlike clown inside.” Not very biscuit-like, but the point remains surprisingly clear.
Just like the digestive biscuit won’t be backing down from its position as a fixture of living rooms and offices across the United Kingdom, Nolte will continue to find work playing Nolte-esque characters who fulfil all of the criteria his Warrior co-star listed. If anyone has got a cuppa handy, in goes the digestive. If a movie needs a craggy, weatherbeaten veteran who sounds like they’ve been using gravel as a mouthwash for the last four decades, in goes Nolte.
It’s hardly the most obvious of comparisons to make, but Hardy does hit the nail on the head in a roundabout way. Not many folks would want to dip Nick Nolte in their tea, right enough, but he’s been a fixture on their screens for every bit as long as audiences have been dunking their digestives.
