STACK NZ May Issue #62

INTERVIEW

CINEMA

Bronson

Inception

Hardy and CharlizeTheron in Mad Max: Fury Road

British actor Tom Hardy is known for his brawn, his looks, and his ever accelerating ascent into the Hollywood elite.

With director George Miller

A fter a rocky start, which included drinking at 13, being expelled from school and developing substance addiction problems, Tom Hardy was first nudged into the world of showbiz at age 19, when he won a modelling competition and secured himself a contract. He studied at the Drama Centre in London, before ambitiously cutting his studies short in favour of a part in HBO's mini-series Band of Brothers . A retrospective Hardy admits that he has had a “naughty” past – and was even arrested for car theft and gun possession. But after checking into rehab in 2003, Hardy gradually secured himself larger parts, and over the years has gained critical acclaim for his work in films like Bronson , Inception , Lawless and Locke . Today, at 37, Hardy has adjusted to the Hollywood lifestyle, but it’s still not something he takes for granted. “I'm lucky to be where I am now after messing up things when I first arrived in Hollywood,” he says. “It took me a while to earn back people's respect and find good roles again. I still feel like I'm a character actor who's getting the shot at playing lead roles, which is great.” In fact, this ‘character actor’ now has a franchise to call his own. While he lives in London with his fiancée, actress Charlotte Riley, and has a three-year-old son, Louis, from a previous relationship, he recently

the lead. "When I saw the first Mad Max , I remember feeling the same way that I felt when I began listening to Jimi Hendrix records," he recalls. "There was too much to understand, and the sounds and images were very disturbing to me, but now I love them madly." The childhood links don’t end there: “When I was 17, I was given a dog named Mad Max, although I wasn't that fond of the name because the dog was so friendly! Then 17 years later, my dog died and I got the call that I'm going to playing Mad Max... That was kind of eerie.” Max’s canine namesake was a friendly pup, but the film’s protagonist is certainly not. Hardy found getting to grips with his character an intense experience, though explains he’s often drawn to characters who frighten him. “I like to play people who are opposite or very different from who I am, whoever that is!”

When I saw the first Mad Max , I remember feeling the same way that I felt when I began listening to Jimi Hendrix records

spent six months in the Namibian desert shooting the wildly anticipated blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road . Three decades after director George Miller first brought the post-apocalyptic franchise to life, Hardy has taken over the role that put a young Mel

he laughs. “I find it much simpler to interpret people who make me wonder what it's like to be in their skin, maybe to be tougher than I am.” Mad Max may be quite the tough cookie, but this actor is made of hard stuff himself.

Gibson on the map. Hardy becomes Max Rockatansky, crossing a bleak desert wasteland, trying to survive, and fighting enemies armed with spectacularly scary vehicles. Any actor would be clamouring for the role, but Hardy had his personal reasons behind vying for

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