Tom Hardy on The Bikeriders performance: "If it doesn't work, it's not for the want of trying"
Hardy has a key role in the star-studded new film about a '60s biker gang.
Tom Hardy has often been known for going fairly big in his on-screen performances – and in new film The Bikeriders, he's taking on yet another larger-than-life role.
His character Johnny – like most of the characters in the film – is loosely based on a real person who featured in the 1967 photobook on which the film is based, and so when RadioTimes.com spoke to Hardy ahead of the film's release, we asked how he went about crafting his performance based on the still images from that book.
“Questions, asking lots and lots of questions," was his response, before he offered some rather abstract thoughts about the process.
"There's convincing and not convincing," he said. "And trying to find something that's convincing, which is also a reach from me, so my own personal silhouette in the world, how can I act and pretend to be somebody that I'm not that sits in a world that can be both earthed in reality principle, but it's also not, like tied so hard to reality principle that it gets in the way of narrative fantasy and symbolism?
"Because it's a story, ultimately, and it's not real. But it contains truths, I think. Does that makes sense? There are lots of processes. I wouldn't bore you with that."
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Asked if there was any aspect of the photobook – or his research into the '60s biking subculture more generally – that helped him when it came to shaping the character, he wasn't able to pinpoint any one thing.
“That's what I'm saying," he continued. "Like, I ask questions, and then I sit – and then from those answers, or perhaps conversations that are ongoing, start to look at things that may... I can identify a little bit of that, a little bit of this.
"I put together a collage of working... facade, an illusion that is coherent, on a day to day basis, which I add to or strip away, while I pretend. Like, I don't really know how else to put it. So, like trying out lots of little things in the sauce and keep tasting it. And then if it doesn't work – it's not for the want of trying."
Hardy has many big-name co-stars in the film, and one who puts in a particularly memorable performance is Jodie Comer, who adopts a very distinct Midwestern accent for the role of Kathy.
According to writer/director Jeff Nichols, he was extremely impressed at how well Comer was able to imitate the accent of the real woman her character is based on – whose voice was captured in a series of recordings from the era.
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"I mean, I've been listening to this audio since 2014, I think [that] is when I first put my hands on it," he said. "And I used to just drive around my hometown, listening to this stuff, kind of gaining the confidence to write in these voices.
"And so [Jodie] sent me a QuickTime audio file of the work that she was doing on it. And for the first three to five seconds, I thought it was the real recording. That's how close she was getting to it. "
He continued: "But I mean, what's really great about Jodie is, yeah, she puts in all that work, but you don't see it. You know, it kind of all disappears into a character right in front of you, into a performance. It's a bit of a magic trick to be honest."
The Bikeriders is now showing in UK cinemas.
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