Tom Hardy is best known for his serious work, be it turning up the drama in features like Warrior and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy or just turning into a full-blown monster, as seen in movies like Bronson and The Dark Knight Rises. That said, two years ago he decided to branch out with a bit of lighter fare and tried doing a romantic comedy. What's unfortunate is that the experience has sworn him off the genre for the foreseeable future.
This bit of knowledge was dropped by Tom Hardy in a recent interview with USA Today during the Toronto International Film Festival, where the actor was promoting his new movie The Drop, based on the novel and adapted by Dennis Lehane. During the conversation, Hardy revealed that he likes challenging himself by taking on projects unlike those he's tried before, but that his experiment doing the 2012 McG film This Means War was a failure that will likely keep him away from those kinds of projects for a long time. While it seems like he partially blames himself for his own misery, calling himself an "other" on set, he explained that there was just no joy for him working on that movie:
"I didn't understand how you could do something which is so much fun and be so miserable doing it. I probably won't do a romantic comedy again, do you know what I mean?"
Based on a script by Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past) and Timothy Dowling (Just Go With It), This Means War starred Tom Hardy as Tuck, a highly skilled CIA operative who discovers that his best friend and fellow operative FDR (Chris Pine) is dating the same woman he is (Reese Witherspoon). In order to try and disrupt the relationship of the other, both men put their highly advanced skills - and access to gadgetry - to use. If you're trying to recall the film, it's understandable that you might have forgotten some of the finer points. Critics - including our own Sean O'Connell - tore the movie apart, and then it wound up being a domestic box office dud - opening at #5 on opening weekend and ultimately making only $54 million back on a $65 million reported budget.
It's arguable that you could call 2012 the biggest year of Hardy's career so far, as that 12-month span included the releases of not just This Means War but also The Dark Knight Rises and Lawless. The number of titles featuring the actor have been limited in the years since, but he has been producing quality work. His most recent drama, Locke, which was given a small, limited release this past spring, earned a number of positive reviews, and The Drop has a good amount of positive buzz coming out of TIFF. Next year he will be back in the blockbuster world with the titular role in George Miller's long-awaited Mad Max: Fury Road, and we can also look forward to his performance in the Russia-set Child 44.
