One of the film’s standout performances comes from Tom Hardy as Forrest, who croaks out monosyllabic grunts after long pauses in the middle of dialogue exchanges. According to Nick Cave, Hardy’s choices were unexpected but hugely effective. “Personally I his performance is incredibly memorable,” he said. “But, it’s very much what he brought to it. His frame of reference was equally as bizarre. When we were in rehearsal in Georgia, he said, ‘I want to play Forrest like an old lesbian.’ I went, ‘Okay.’ At another point, he said, ‘I’ve changed my mind. Now, I want to play it like the little old lady inTweetie Pie.’ I went, ‘Okay.’ But when he did it, it made sense. What he is, is this woman, matriarch, like the mother, trying to hold this fatherless family together. He’s literary sitting around dying socks, but a violent person at the same time and he doesn’t say much. When Jessica Chastain’s character comes in, it’s not so much of a love thing, it’s that she’s a direct threat to his matriarchal world that he’s built. That was interesting. That was a whole thing that Tom brought to the character. The grunting and that stuff was something that initially mystified everyone. Like, ‘What the fuck is he doing?’ But, I think he was playing the long game and he understood this character and he understood that when it was cut together, it would be fucking incredible. That is what a great actor to do. You want someone who is going to come in and blow everyone away. That is what Tom Hardy did.”
- Nick Cave praises Tom Hardy. :)
(Source: iamrogue.com)
