Tom Hardy names his favourite movies of all time: “I just think the end is really classy”
Tom Hardy has established himself as one of the top talents in the film industry by tackling incredibly diverse challenges throughout his career. Ranging from high-profile roles in superhero movies to incredible performances in arthouse vehicles such as Nicolas Winding Refn’s Bronson, Hardy has shown his versatility time and time again.
Currently, Hardy is gearing up for the release of his upcoming project, which is titled Havoc. Directed by Gareth Evans, the film is going to be an action thriller about a detective who embarks on a journey to rescue a politician’s son while fighting his way through the underworld. That’s probably why he recently entered a local Jiu Jitsu tournament and ended up actually winning it.
During a conversation, Hardy was asked to name some of his favourite cinematic masterpieces of all time. Although he maintained that this wasn’t a definitive list, the actor highlighted works by pioneers such as the Coen brothers, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet, Terry Gilliam, Gaspar Noé and many more.
However, he has always insisted that his favourite film will always be Oliver Stone’s 1986 war film Platoon, which conducted a hard-hitting exploration of the Vietnam War. The picture is perhaps one of the most potent views of the tragic events that happened during the war. Accurately capturing the pain of both sides of the skirmish line, Stone’s movie is brutal and epic. While talking about the film, Hardy said: “I just think the end is really classy. I just thought it was a really beautifully put-together film.”
He added: “And Platoon has got — with the exception unfortunately of Charlie Sheen, everybody else in it is dope. Every actor and every character that I need as an English guy [is there]. You know what I mean? Every accent, class, creed, colour, and religion is in there for me, so it’s a study book. It was something that had a taste across America [from] working class to upper class. It just had everything in it.”
In addition to the aforementioned works, Hardy admires the filmographies of veteran actors such as Gary Oldman, Ed Harris, Peter O’Toole and Anthony Hopkins. Although he expressed admiration for Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt, Hardy claimed that he prefers Willem Dafoe and Harrison Ford. Also singling out Vince Casell, who stars La Haine. Hardy says, “They have IT for me as well as being quite attractive to boot, excuse me, I’m getting into a character at the moment…There are too many actors and films, I like to name them all.”
The actor also revealed that he was fond of cheap productions and exploitation flicks because he drew inspiration from them. He commented, “I love B movies too. In fact, I steal a lot of my styles from late night TV. High Brows don’t seem to watch it.”
Check out the full list below.
Tom Hardy’s favourite movies:
- La Haine (Mathieu Kassovitz, 1985)
- Platoon (Oliver Stone, 1986)
- The Big Lebowski (Coen brothers, 1998)
- The Princess Bride (Rob Reiner, 1987)
- Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet, 1975)
- Time Bandits (Terry Gilliam, 1981)
- Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick, 1987)
- Irréversible (Gaspar Noé, 2002)
- Bringing Out the Dead (Martin Scorsese, 1999)
- One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Miloš Forman, 1975)
- Fever (Alex Winter, 1999)
- The Piano (Jane Campion, 1993)
- Man Bites Dog (Rémy Belvaux, Benoît Poelvoorde, André Bonzel, 1992)
- Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)
- Amadeus (Miloš Forman, 1984)
- Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola, 1992)
