Tom Hardy Compares His Dark Knight Rises Role to a Store at the Airport
Over the weekend at Comic-Con, Tom Hardy described his villainous role as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises thusly: "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, [shouting] 'I AM THE VILLAIN!' and make a lot of noise." But wait, there's more!
"There's a formula here, you can't muck around with it," Hardy continued at the press day for Lionsgate's Warrior, as reported by HitFix. "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."
"Or the not-paycheck 'cause they're making you a stahhh. Whatever it is, you're paying an entrance to getting higher exposure. 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."
So, to recap: Being the villain in The Dark Knight Rises is like being the $10 and Under boutique or the Cinnabon at the airport, where everyone would rather shop at the Duty Free store, or working as a barista at Starbucks to keep your punk band afloat. Makes total sense. Let's start a trend: Name your airport spirit animal-retailer below!
· Tom Hardy compares work on 'Dark Knight Rises,' 'Mad Max' to Starbucks [HitFix]
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So sick of Nolanphiles talking about genius and emotional complexity and spiritual resonance. Hardy nails it: Nolan's a clever Starbucks franchisee. ("Clever", btw, is not the same thing as "smart".)
@The Cantankerist, right, cause Christopher Nolan isn't smart. I would very much like to see you wright something as complex as Inception by yourself. Oh, wait, don't tell me, "Inception sucks." Hmmm, well to each his own right? I'm sure you liked Memento but you probably think "it's the only good thing he's ever done." And I'm sure you have an excuse for why it's so good without attributing any credit to Nolan (who wrote and directed it).
@As, I'd very much like to see you write something as complex as "write" by yourself. 🙂 just j/k
But no, I don't think Inception is evidence of a smart filmmaker. I think it's clever in its structure, and attracted no end of Internet adulation off the back of that (the online fanbase always goes nuts for high-concept cleverness) - but a smart filmmaker would make those emotional scenes land, and Nolan (consistently) doesn't. If he weren't trying for those moments, it wouldn't matter (in fact on the available evidence he probably should just go for the intellectual engine), but he shoots and CLANG. It sabotages his films at crucial moments: that final monologue from Gary Oldman in TDK, for instance, is ludicrous. He puts characters in these intricate, labyrinthine, potentially exciting situations - and he's got a great eye - but then makes the most rudimentary (almost insulting) attempts at investing those characters with an inner life. At most, they get a quirk. An extraordinary performance breaks through (Ledger in TDK, for instance) but everyone else is a wash.
So what, you might say. What the hell, eh, they're comic-book movies. The problem is, without genuine emotional investment in the characters, a movie's just a glammed-up chess game. Still, clever ain't to be sniffed at in the age of "Transformers 5: What The Hell Was That Shit?", I guess.
Memento's alright. Batman Begins is alright. The others are all fatally hamstrung by the fact that the audience doesn't actually care about the characters. At least, these are my observations. Still, as you say, to each his (or her) own. If you think of "Inception" as complex, then you and I have very different ideas about what constitutes complexity.
On the other hand, I'd love to see Nolan go full-noir. I mean, I know Memento's a fair way there already, but something hard-bitten like the Chandler or Hammett novels where no heartstring-tugs are attempted, he could direct the hell out of that. They draw character from narrative and attempt little else.
As I am myself a person who does not watch a lot of movies (I am rather picky about what I like and I do have my favorite directors and producers) I think Mr. Hardy is right. Sometimes it seems like a lot of hype (marketing and such) to get people to go to theaters and watch the movies, and lately it seems that only about 2% of the movies out there are worth going to. I like the Nolan movies, but he's like a lot of producers/directors; he has his own specific way of filming and his scripts follow a pattern (to me they seem to) so when a new Nolan film comes out, we know basically what to expect. That's fine, but diversity and variety will keep a producer making movies that will attract more movie goers. I loved inception. I thought it was great, and well done. Not many producers could pull that off. As far as being restrained as an artist, I can see that's true also. You do the best you can, and hope it's enough. You learn along the way, and that's the most important thing. To me, acting brings a lot of facets to a person's skill and will make an actor better and better each time. I'm just an average person; I do tend to go to movies that are produced by specific directors. As for the actor Tom Hardy, I like him. I also watch movies that have certain actors in them, and no matter who produces the films he's in, he's an actor who can carry the character to where it should go, and I will pay to see them. His ability to act in diverse parts shows exactly how good he is. To me, that's what acting is all about, and he has that skill. It's rather refreshing to see someone who can embrace such parts and make the person believe that it's real. So, Tom, don't undersell yourself. You're better than you think.
What an asshole Hardy is. Like he didn't sense this kind of rant before he took the role? Cut me a break. And Cantankerist, you're comments are as pretentious as the plot of Inception, but at least Inception works a some levels.