Tom Hardy, the man who played the iconic Batman villain, Bane, in Christian Bale’s The Dark Knight Rises in 2012, has a thing for maniacal characters. His performance became one of the major highlights which led the film to hit the $1 billion mark at the box office.
Be it his breakthrough film, Bronson (2008), or 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, Hardy didn’t fail to impress. Being an asset for Christopher Nolan, doing films like Inception (2010) and Dunkirk (2017), Hardy showed his other side.
Then came along 2018’s Venom and Hardy was back in his maniacal pants. Talking to Variety, he revealed that he moved away from Superhero films as he wasn’t that big of a fanboy of the material.
To make Venom, he credited his son who, as he pointed out, was an absolute fan of the character and hoped to see a live-action film centered around it. Hardy’s fatherhood pushed him to make his child happy.
Tom Hardy’s Actual Motivation To Become Venom
After working with Christopher Nolan in The Dark Knight Rises, Tom Hardy noted the fact that he wasn’t interested in making any more superhero films. Being a father, however, he said that he often stumbled upon Marvel or DC characters as his son, Louis, kept introducing him to those. He came across Venom, and the rest is history.
“First and foremost I’m a dad. One of the things you come across as a father is a massive influx of stories brought to you after Fireman Sam by Spider-Mans and Venoms and Captain America. So, my son came to me with a specific character [Venom] that he absolutely fell in love with.”
Venom became a massive hit for Sony Pictures, collecting $856 million globally, which led them to launch their own Spider-Man villain universe.
Tom Hardy Found Venom Really Interesting
Hardy brought years of experience to the table before Venom actually took off. For the sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, he co-wrote the story with writer Kelly Marcel. Incorporating dynamic acting techniques on set, as per The Hollywood Reporter, Hardy was quite involved with Venom.
“I started to take a look at it, and then as if by magic, a script appeared on the horizon. Having done ‘Dark Knight’ with Chris [Nolan], I’d kind of done my superhero bit, but when I was presented with the opportunity to play Venom — and that correlated with my son’s love of Venom and how cool he was — I got really, really excited and decided I wanted to do it.”
Venom: Let There Be Carnage, though fell a little short on the collections, created a massive buzz among cinephiles globally. Directed by actor/filmmaker – Andy Serkis, it starred Woody Harrelson as Carnage, and Naomie Harris as his aide.
Venom films can be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.
Source: Variety