Tom Hardy’s big problem with the modern-day movie hero: “I don’t recognise this man”
Tom Hardy isn’t just one of the best actors of his generation, but an actor who has refused to take on the type of roles that are most popular among contemporary leading men.
Although there was once a time when all actors desired to play a great hero, Hardy has proven that it’s far more interesting to play the weirder character parts.
Even when he is playing the protagonist of the film, as was the case in the underrated films Locke, Warrior, and Bronson, he was playing dark, dangerous characters who wrestle with their inner demons. He’s also managed to make the most out of films where he’s only a supporting character, as was the case with his collaborations with Christopher Nolan on Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, and Dunkirk, so it should come as no surprise that Hardy has cited Gary Oldman as his acting hero, not just because they had the opportunity to work together on four separate occasions.
Oldman is an actor who always makes unconventional choices in order to ensure that his characters feel authentic, and Hardy expressed similar desires when discussing his issues with the type of leading-man roles that Hollywood tends to offer.
“It’s the difference between Indiana Jones when Harrison Ford played him in the 1980s and Thor,” Hardy said. “One was allowed to express personal characteristics. Now, you’ve got to look like you’ve just come off a vegan diet, gone to the gym, part Navy Seal, really clean-valued, clean-living, moralistic, and then you go out and save the world from an impending danger that isn’t really dangerous at all, and it becomes not committed to any sense of the gubbins of reality. I don’t recognise this man.”
His affinity for the Indiana Jones series is interesting because there has never been a character since who found that rare balance of heroism and realism. Even though Indy is a brilliant archeologist and charming romantic at heart, he frequently loses and often deals with serious emotional repercussions on his missions. It’s something that isn’t seen as often, given that many of today’s best young actors have taken on roles in which they are seemingly impervious to danger.
To Hardy’s credit, the few times in which he has taken more traditional protagonist roles have been experiences where he’s added a few idiosyncrasies. Mad Max: Fury Road isn’t just the best action movie since Raiders of the Lost Ark, but a very odd showcase for him, portraying the iconic post-apocalyptic drifter as a clumsy, passive criminal who only accidentally ends up saving the day, even if he’s ultimately secondary to Imperator Furious, played by Charlize Theron.
It also allowed him to express the type of “personal characteristics” that Hardy finds lacking in modern action cinema, as a major part of the film revolves around Max mourning the death of his family.
While some may call him hypocritical for criticising Thor, given that he starred in a trilogy of superhero films of his own, his performance as Eddie Brock in the Venom franchise is hardly “clean-living” and “moralistic”, as it mostly just gave him an excuse to be weird. Moreover, given that Hardy’s popularity has not waned in the slightest, his strategy appears to be working.
