The Big Picture

Collider’s Steve Weintraub interviews Tom Hardy for Jeff Nichols’
The Bikeriders
.
In
The Bikeriders
, Hardy plays a leather-clad biker who leads a motorcycle club through the changing landscape of 1960s America.
Hardy discusses epic shots in the movie, working with vintage Harley-Davidson motorcycles and maintaining control in a scene.
Hardy also talks about his process and changing methods for preparing for roles and why it’s okay if you like or dislike his performances.

Tom Hardy is a versatile actor in Hollywood. He’s worked on many a high-profile project at this point in his career — The Dark Knight Rises, Sony’s Venom trilogy, and, of course, George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road — so, what’s his process? How does Hardy, someone who seems to inhabit wildly different characters effortlessly, take on these different personas, like tough guy Johnny in Jeff Nichols’ upcoming film, The Bikeriders?

In his latest, opposite Oscar-nominee Austin Butler (Elvis), Jodie Comer (Killing Eve), and fellow real-life Harley enthusiast Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon), Hardy plays the perplexing Johnny. The character is a leather-sporting biker who establishes the Chicago Vandals, a bike club, to join the outcasts of 1960s America into a family. As the landscape of the US shifts throughout the Vietnam War, so, too, do the Vandals, evolving into something much more violent.

During this interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Hardy talks about filming scenes with vintage Harley-Davidson motorcycles, the beautiful shots captured by Nichols and cinematographer Adam Stone (Take Shelter), and the attention it took to maintain control over “antiquarian” machines during a scene. The actor also opens up about his process with each new role over his 20-year-long career and why some people may assume Hardy simply “doesn’t care.”

You can watch the full conversation in the video above or read the transcript below.

The Bikeriders Follows the rise of a midwestern motorcycle club as it evolves over the course of a decade – from a gathering place for local outsiders into a more sinister gang, threatening the original group’s way of life.Release Date June 21, 2024 Director Jeff Nichols Runtime 116 Minutes

COLLIDER: There’s gonna be people out there who have never seen anything you’ve done. What’s the first thing you’d like them watching and why?

TOM HARDY: Just enjoy yourself. If you don’t like it, that’s cool. There’s something for everybody. I’m just one of the tribe.

Is there a certain role that you would like people to start with?

HARDY: Nah, I don’t mind. If you like movies, enjoy them. If you don’t like my movies or movies I’m in or anything like that, then that’s cool too. There’s plenty for everybody.

Talking Harley-Davidsons With Tom Hardy
“I’m not particularly crazy on them, but I can get on one and movie it about.”

One of the things that’s really cool about The Bikeriders is that there’s that shot of everyone on the highway, no helmets, all riding motorcycles that are vintage. I know what a bitch it is for insurance to pull something like that off. What did it mean to you to actually be riding real bikes with everyone and really doing that stuff?

HARDY: It’s a great shot, the one with Austin and Jodie and the whole fleet coming up behind them. That’s just a beautiful shot. I don’t think I was in that one. [Laughs]

But there are other shots of everyone, and you’re riding a motorcycle in the movie.

HARDY: There are loads that I was riding in the movie, but that particular shot, how did it feel? I can’t tell you how it felt to be in that one, but to watch it, I was like, “Whoa! Wish I was in that.” The other stuff where I rode, I mean, I like riding. I ride. I’m not particularly good, but I’ve been riding for about seven years, maybe more. I like bikes. I’m not particularly crazy on them, so I don’t know that many super skills or anything, but I can get on one and move it about.

The difference between the bikes that I ride is that they have brakes. Not that Harleys don’t have brakes — they do — but these were sort of antiquarian bikes in many ways. They were there originally in 1958, 1960, 1963, ‘67. All the Harleys that were in that movie were timepieces. They were incredible for that very reason, but they have fundamental differences to the bikes that I ride today. For example, if I accelerate, my accelerator goes back of its own accord on my throttle, whereas these, if you pull them back, you have to turn them off. The brakes you have to pump, and even then, it’s questionable whether they’ll stop you. They might slow you down a bit, but you keep pumping them and pump them a little bit like a commode in a trailer [laughs] when you’re trying to get rid of a dookie. Anything that you might need for a Harley may fall off another Harley, so if you want to look for parts, they’re coming off those bikes.

It was amazing, but at the same time, it was face-pulling and trying to maintain looking like you’re in control. They needed a certain amount of management in order for you not to fall off it, and certainly to stop on them. So, it was great, but it needed some attention.

Tom Hardy Breaks Down His Process (or Lack Thereof)

For a role like this, how early before you start shooting are you breaking down the script and thinking about your character? How much, as your career has gone on, has the way you get ready for a role changed?

HARDY: It’s a difficult one, that one, because I trained; I went to drama school. I did all that. I’m 46 years old. I’ve been doing this for about 20 years, and so some people may go, “Well, you’re not very good,” and some people might like what I do, but I’ve economized how I work on things now. I’ve always been quite instinctive, so I don’t have a process. Any process that works to get the job done, really. I’m quite geeky, so I’ve studied lots of stuff.

But how long do I prepare? It depends on what it is. Sometimes I don’t read a script. I’ll ask somebody to tell me the story, like the director, because the case file of the script will corroborate what the director is really excited about, what they’re trying to say, or what they’re trying to do with a piece or a character. Sometimes now, I find that I prefer conversations with directors or writers, or the polycross of the two, to understand what it is that they’re trying to do or what they want to do with the character. That may sound, perhaps, as if I don’t care. It’s quite the opposite, actually. Sometimes the case file doesn’t corroborate what the director is trying to get at, or the writer. Not everything is set in stone, some things you don’t mess with at all.

Obviously, in theatre you have to learn your lines before turning up and all that sort of stuff. I understand the discipline of theatre, I understand the discipline of acting, but it changes. It depends very much on what we’re trying to do as a team. Obviously, there are certain scenes that are going to need more attention than others, some very little — they come easily. It really just depends. So, I approach every project depending on how I meet it.

The Bikeriders is in theaters in the US on June 21. Check the link below for showtimes.

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