Actor Tom Hardy gave a highly praised and rewarding performance as Bane in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Rises. But he admitted that Rises, and films like it, can potentially be too limiting for actors.
Tom Hardy once explained what draws him to dark roles
Acting has always been an important part of Hardy’s life, and in some cases a blessing. The star’s tumultuous childhood included troubles with drug addiction and self-esteem issues. But acting gave him a positive means to channel his energy and find confidence.
“Acting channelled me into something. I found some self-esteem and thought, ‘I’m actually quite good at something,’” Hardy once said according to CTV News.
Hardy’s passion for acting would lead him towards having one of the most versatile and successful careers in Hollywood. The star has been known to gravitate towards heavy material. Films like Bronson, Warrior, and The Revenant demonstrated a slight pattern with Hardy playing disturbed characters . But Hardy asserted he doesn’t exactly go out looking specifically for dark roles.
“I just see if I can see it when I read it. Either I feel I can’t do it, or it slots in and I know I’d enjoy taking the part and growing with it,” he once told Esquire.
Tom Hardy once felt restrained as an artist working in films like ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
Hardy portrayed another disturbed character in the villainous Bane. It was a role in a movie that he was more than excited to be a part of. But he also felt working on such huge franchise films had its own drawbacks.
“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,” Hardy once told Hitflix (via Comic Book Movie).
Hardy’s feelings towards franchise films at the time weren’t just limited to Rises, however. He believed that was simply the nature of big-budget blockbusters.
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“You deal with something 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, ‘I AM THE VILLAIN!’ and make a lot of noise,” he added.
Overall, Hardy confided that these kinds of franchise opportunities could pose a risk to an actor’s ability.
“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,” he said.
Tom Hardy had to apologize for comparing ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ to a Starbucks
It seemed that Hardy’s comments were met with a bit of criticism by fans. It got to the point where the Mad Max star felt he had to apologize for his remarks and clarify his statement.
“I’m really sorry if anyone misunderstood what I said about comparing working for a huge franchise to being like working for Starbucks. I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, it could have been British Airways, it could have been Virgin, it could have been Nike, it could have been any huge company,” Hardy once said according to Variety.
He also took the time to remind his detractors that he was only human.
“My friends say, ‘Don’t read anything, just ignore it,’ but I do. And I read comics. And I cry,” he said.
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