We’ve been covering a lot of Tom Hiddleston and Benedict Cumberbatch lately, and I think we’re due for some good old fashioned blokin’. Just FYI: I don’t control the promotional gossip cycle! If I’m not covering one of our favorite men, that’s probably because there are no new photos of interviews. Luckily, Tom Hardy’s The Drop doesn’t come out in the UK until mid-November, so he’s still doing some promotional work. Hardy gave a decent interview to The Independent back at TIFF, but it just came out a few days ago – you can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
His dangerous energy: “Fear runs everything. It’s adrenalin. It’s energy as well as a crippling emotion.”
Why he did The Drop: “I like dogs, I like New York and I like characters that are desperate and lonely and aren’t normally looked at under the microscope. Hustlers and pimps and villains and drunks and homeless people and loneliness; disparity and the losers.” With Bob, Hardy set out to explore “the layers of denial and the masks that you have to create in order to participate in life, on life’s terms, whilst trying to deal with having done something so heinous that you can’t forgive yourself, but at the same time you can justify. The complexity of that I found fascinating; that was a big challenge in its own right.”
Why he’s worked with Noomi Rapace a bunch of times: “It’s all about teams of people. No one auditions at the top level. It’s a conversation with a director or other actors as people discuss a project that’s in the ether. And Noomi is awesome at finding stuff. She’s ahead of the game; she knows everything about everyone, whereas I’m not so good at that. I do sitting down and waiting. If I don’t know who a director is. I’ll text Noomi and go, ‘who’s this dude?’ ‘Oh, he directed The Godfather.’ ‘What’s that about?’ So, I’m a pr-ck. But getting me in the room with a director is key because I’m not a great reader or watcher of films.”
He’s not going to take time off anytime soon: “If you’re on something, once you’ve done it, you move straight onto the next one. But I see it all as a big school. What we do in many ways is a university of a type, metaphorically speaking, and I have the opportunity to study people and life through my work. I open up doors to experiences that I wouldn’t have if my job wasn’t this, and I get to visit lots of places, in extremis.”
There are other quotes and stories in there about how Tom can’t even sit still for an interview, much less to watch the films of some of the directors he’s worked with. Is that rude or not? I’m trying to decide. What would we say if Chris Pine or Chris Evans or Mark Ruffalo claimed they don’t have the patience to watch movies and do a little research into the directors they work with? Does Tom get a pass because he’s self-aware enough to say he’s a “pr-ck”?
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
The Bloke! It’s a bloke-y kind of day!
😊
I can believe he only read the script but i don’t believe he didn’t do some search on the director even if that could be the reason why he worked with McG
I’m kinda not speaking to the Bloke, what with him doing the dirty on the alien beauty of Cillian only last week. Hmph. I suppose, if he does sitting and waiting for long enough – what should we say? 3 nanoseconds? 4? – I might come around.
I get him, though. I think, if you’re the instinctive type of performer, as he is, the research likely won’t help you. The Bloke is like the opposite of the Hiddlesburp, ain’t he?
“what with him doing the dirty on the alien beauty of Cillian only last week. ”
What does that mean? Explain yourself.
Peaky Blinders (TV show) plot point. Can’t say any more for fear of spoilers as this is a US site and the US won’t get the series for ages.
(There. Duly explained as ordered. Should I also salute? Are you SirYessir or Ma’amYesma’am?!)
Oooh! I haven’t gotten around to watching it yet! I’m always late! (I’m in the UK atm)
I thought you meant something that was about to break my heart (and turn me on at the same time!). I have a dirty, dirty mind ::blushes::
And that’ll be a Ma’amYesma’am thank you very much!
Get thee to BBC iPlayer immediately!
thank you for not spoiling … peaky blinders is on netflix, so it is available to the US. I’ve only watched the first three episodes but I’m getting hooked in. cillian murphy is a beautiful man!
ab – We’re on series 2 in the UK. Last episode on Thursday!
I’m sure Cillian recovered. Aliens have amazing restorative powers. So no need for you to punish him = unless you really want to punish him.
And I do understand what you mean by an instinctive performer. It does explain some of the roles he takes.
Is Cillian an alien? where from? what type? mmmm
oh, and those big elbows of mine Sixer have been extended and ultra -hugging strength around Cillian. You can have Hardy-boy, he’s a bit wobbly for me.
Me? Punish? Perish the thought! Oh, hang on…
Yes, you! And do you have the ball gags? Idris somehow got free of his.
Idris is a repeat offender. I have a mega-tough set with his name engraved on. Here, catch!
•Sixer•
So have you replaced This bloke with Another bloke? (I fear for your mental health my dear).
*waits for answer with trepidation*
Is there a limit to how many we can have? An Cillian isn’t really a bloke. He’s more of an ethereal, beautiful space alien type.
•Lilacflowers•
YOU are asking ME if we need to limit the number of beautiful boys we collect? Oh heck no! But, I do think we need to invest in a larger property. We wouldn’t want our boys to be unduly uncomfortable (ball gags and restraints aside) and then be accused of being poor hostesses.
@LS
Well, I reserve the right to be a floozy. Murphy is my current favourite but there’s no way in creation I’d ever really turn down The Bloke.
It’s a rainy, need a cuppa’ tea day here. The Bloke with a puppy goes nicely.
He likes dogs – that’s enough for me! 🙂 For me, a man “must love dogs.” I saw The Drop – really liked it. His character seemed similar in type to his character in Lawless. Also sad and great to see James Gandolfini in it – reminded me of what a great actor we lost.
Thank you Kaiser!!! Yay Bloke Tuesday!
I’m around actors all the time and it never ceases to amaze me how little some of them watch the work of their peers. As a film buff, I just don’t get the lack of interest in consuming a medium in which they themselves earn their bread and butter.
I remember years ago when a TV-actress said in an interview that she doesn’t own a TV, because she doesn’t want her kids to watch the ‘crap’ that’s on it. So, TV isn’t good enough for her or her kids, but it’s good enough for the public who allow her to earn her living of making crappy TV. Major Side-eye!
Here is a photo of Tom in his underpants. All is forgiven Tom…All is forgiven.
http://instagram.com/p/uyTW1IjOA1/?modal=true
WELL…*someone’s* watched Pride and Prejudice (BBC), and that is on my list of bangable men……come to me Tommy-boy, you won’t have to watch a lot of movies. You just have to watch Jane Eyre (2006 version is the BEST) with me every weekend…..
Maybe the guy has a legit case of ADHD and just can’t do these things. Thats kind of what it sounds like to me.
Oh Mr. Hardy how I’ve missed you! (And he has Noomi on speed dial??? Hmmmmm)
I can’t keep still to watch a film in the house, I need to be at a cinema where it is impossible for to play with mobi or pick up a magazine or wonder off and eat something.
However, I find it strange how some film actors are not cine-lovers, have a really poor knowledge of directors and the like. It might work for him, but it’s a bit old skool – the kind of actors who turn up and given a script and just lean on the director to do all the work. Bit, like the day-job if I wait for my bosses to tell me what to do, nothing would get done, I’ve always had to lead from the top and put ideas in and get on with it.
For the ones who have very steady work, I can completely understand. You’re working very long hours, and the last thing you want to do on your day off is the same thing you’ve been doing all week. I know that when I’m in a play, one of the last things I want to do is…go see a play. Alternately when I have a job where I’m on a computer all day my email communication goes to crap because it’s the last thing I want to do when I get home.
Yeah, but it’s the their job to know that stuff. Just like it’s a programmer’s job to know about new programming languages. Or just like it’s a scientist’s job to know about new discoveries in their field. If a programmer or scientist was going to work with someone new, they’d look into them and know something about them. They have to know that stuff to keep on top of their game in their field or else it just makes them seem unprofessional.
It’s not about not checking your email because you’re on the computer all day. Or not doing things in your off time because you already did them all week at your job. It’s about researching FOR your job. Actors researching films and people who made those films is part of their JOB, not something they’d do in their down time.
It’s not their job, really. Yes, of course, it’s good to know who you’re working with and be familiar with their work, but it isn’t a necessity for job performance. And even if you are familiar with their work, they may be taking a completely different path to ones they’ve previously taken. You’re supposed to apply what the director is asking of you in the moment. Every actor has a different method. That’s what’s great about acting. There really isn’t a “right” way. It’s not a JOB like most JOBS.
Actually, you’d be surprised how many directors want actors with no preconceived notions about their work. They like to be able to mold them. Some like actors who don’t come at a film/show from an academic standpoint.
I don’t think Tom Hardy is hurting for work. 😉
Um, dude is an actor, it’s his job to be a reader and watcher of films. No, he does not get a pass because he claimed he’s a pr-ck. Just because one is aware one is an @ss doesn’t give one the right to be an @ass. Being self-aware is only part of the equation. Changing yourself once you are self-aware is the other half. Tom is only half way there.
Don’t take his words too seriously love, if anybody’s giving a 100 % it’s Tom Hardy. He’s top notch!