charlidos

I don’t give a monkey’s about [being a sex symbol]. I’m still sort of bowlegged and scrawny with crooked teeth and feel like three years old so I get a bit embarrassed about that kind of stuff.

- Tom Hardy, describing himself… ♥ ♥

The BBC version of events also comes down on the side of the queen’s virginity, though with Leicester played by Tom Hardy in black leather britches and a codpiece Blackadder would kill for, you can see how a young queen might be tempted.

“Yup”, says Hardy, “it’s all about sex. And I don’t get any. Leicester’s the bloke Elizabeth’s supposed to be in love with, but it just never happens. He ends up, after 40 years, like some fart-sodden dog whom the queen talks to and pets, but they never get to have sex.”

Chris said I lied to him when we first met about whether I could ski. Who wouldn’t? It’s Chris Nolan. If he asked me if I could rock-climb, I’d tell him I could rock-climb anything.

Yes, it was extremely cold. But I loved it.

- Tom Hardy, on his skiing adventures in Inception. 

Matthew is young and athletic, but also a particular breed of person. When you consider how dangerous life was in general in those days, choosing a career in law enforcement was a seriously risky job, especially for a married man like Matthew who is father to two small children. Law enforcement wasn’t a remotely touchy-feely occupation; it was about seeing people hang (for crimes they might or might not have committed). Death and depravity was widespread and sending offenders off to the colonies was acceptable practice. The police force was new, and methods were rough and ready – a good beating was often meted out to wrongdoers. All of which means I see him as a scrapper, a guy who likes a good fight but equally has a burning zeal to do right. So I’m playing him as a mixture of an Edinburgh award winner and hood rapper.

While he’s naturally inquisitive and good at finding things out, in Sweeney’s case his instincts are all wrong. Matthew cannot help but befriend Sweeney after the barber saves his life, when he operates on the young law enforcer and removes a bullet from his shoulder. I think it’s a terrific section of the story and reminds us all how barbers often carried out surgical procedures - and without anaesthetic or antiseptic! It calls for great bravery on Matthew’s part and steadfast courage on Sweeney’s. It’s no wonder that Matthew is eternally grateful to his barber saviour – especially when you consider that stepping on a rusty nail could finish you off in those days! It’s understandable that after this life-saving episode, Matthew fails to recognise Sweeney as a killer.

- Tom Hardy on his character in Sweeney Todd. I love how he always, ALWAYS have so many thoughts, so many dimensions worked out on all his characters. (Pic is from my scanned photo!)

(Source: BBC)

The character who dominates this production is Tom Hardy’s Bill Sikes, another character Phelps has foregrounded. Hardy is quite a slight man in the flesh, but the pent-up energy of his presence on screen has already led to his being cast as a string of violent characters, such as Stuart Shorter in BBC2’s Stuart: a Life Backwards this autumn. Master-thief and murderer Sikes is the most terrifying yet.

“Violence goes straight through him,” says Hardy, who describes himself as “not a tough guy” – yet in the same breath talks about his boxing training, and how he bit a piece of camera equipment on set as a joke.

Hardy is expressive on what his Bill Sikes isn’t going to be like – “that pantomime, chocolate-box, Christmas Carol side of Dickens”. But he best sums up his portrayal through rumbling growls and wild eye movements.

- Tom Hardy on Oliver Twist. He bit a piece of camera equipment? Uhm. *g*

(Source: telegraph.co.uk)

I don’t want to become Tom Cruise. I think it’s inevitable that once you enter this machine there are numerous outcomes that can occur. The worst-case scenario being anything could bomb tomorrow and your career is over. The agents say that this can keep going, and we can churn up interest, and keep pushing and campaigning and go all the way, with Oscars, red carpets, big production, big movies. I’m not going to say no to that, because I’ll take this as far as this will go. But it’s not what I want, and it’s not what I need.

- Tom Hardy quoted in an article in British GQ, Feb 2013, about Tom Cruise and being a star - or NOT wanting to be a star, as the case may be.

“Yes that is true, but it’s a question of when. And who with, and how that works. But that is in the works,” he continued.

“It’s just a question of what comes first, who writes what and who’s directing.”

- Tom Hardy confirming he’s doing the film on Al Capone. Some day. Photo because it’s ridiculously adorable. :)

(Source: oneredleafentertainment.com)

“It’s hard to place Robert Dudley accurately, but he was the queen’s great love for 40 years. There must have been something he was good at to survive so long.”

- Tom Hardy on his character in The Virgin Queen. My scan! (It’s a very small photo to begin with, alas.)