Tom Hardy is known for his famous roles in movies like Mad Max: Fury Road, The Dark Knight Rises, and Venom, and being shirtless most of the time in his films. However, getting his body buff and having a penchant for doing death-defying stunts has now taken a significant toll on his health.
The Physical Toll of Action Roles on Tom Hardy
In an interview with Esquire, Hardy talked about his injuries and health issues brought about by years of performing stunts and extreme transformations for his roles. He loved playing Eddie in Venom, “juggling chainsaws… put me on a unicycle and throw everything at me!” but he was just really “trying to push myself as much as I could.” He added, “I’ve had two knee surgeries now, my disc’s herniated in my back, I’ve got sciatica as well.”
He also expressed his disbelief about dealing with plantar fasciitis: “Where did that come from? And why? Why? And I pulled my tendon in my hip as well.” He said his body is “all falling to bits now, and it’s not going to get better.”
His commitment to his craft has seen him undergo significant body changes. For instance, his portrayal of Bane in The Dark Knight Rises required him to gain substantial muscle mass. In an interview with Men’s Health, he said he gained 30 pounds (13 kg) for the role. Hardy said, “If you really study the photographs [of Bane], I was really overweight, actually. I ate a lot, and I wasn’t much heavier than I am now, but I just ate more pizza.” He added, “It wasn’t great for my heart. The point was to look as big as possible.”
Similarly, his role in Bronson demanded a rigorous physical regimen to accurately depict the notorious British prisoner. For the biographical movie, he mentioned he needed “to put on a lot of weight as quick as possible, and I only had five weeks to do it, and a lot of that was fat. I ate everything,” per Interview Magazine.
Looking Ahead
While it seems there’s no slowing down Hardy from taking on physically demanding roles, since his latest projects MobLand, and the movie Havoc, both entailed him doing action stunts. He did say he’s done playing Eddie Brock in the Venom franchise. Still, he regrets not being able to have a crossover with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. He told Esquire, “That’s way beyond my control. And I’d love to do that, but that’s not even a conversation to have at my level, of just being an actor in that world.”
You can watch Tom Hardy’s Havoc on Netflix and MobLand on Paramount+.
