The 'Venom' star is thinking about his future in showbusiness and as a father.
Tom Hardy has a new outlook on his future. The actor is getting candid about his shifting priorities amid fatherhood, the pandemic and his successful career.
Hardy, 43, recently sat down for a sprawling and thoughtful interview with Esquire UK, where he revealed that he feels he's got less of a single-minded drive for acting and showbusiness than he once did. This burgeoning feeling was made all the more prominent as his priorities shifted during the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.
"I didn’t pay much attention to structure and discipline as a kid, but without it now, being a father, I’m lost," Hardy, a father of three, shared. "I had an opportunity to observe the world and my own behaviours and how I lived my life and what’s important and what isn’t."
During the pandemic -- which Hardy said was filled largely with “15-minute workouts in the garden, home-schooling and making sourdough" -- he came to a conclusion about where he wants to focus his attention.
"I think there’s less reason to work, ultimately, because the life-drive is to be with the kids and to be fit and healthy and eat well and stuff," Hardy said. "If you’ve got a roof over your head and a bed underneath you and food in the fridge, how much is enough? Because it’s not a dress rehearsal, life, is it? It’s going out live. This is one-time."
That being said, Hardy is still in what he calls his "engine-room years" or the "children and death-tax years."
"While you’ve still got arms and a functioning body then you go, you grind. Till the kids leave home," he said. "Then maybe my wages will be significantly lower, but acting will probably still be there for me. And I can still play parts. So who knows? You might see me do some horrendous romcoms. And never see me again."
"I’m not so worried to disappear now," the actor explained. "When I was a youngster you had to be heard, otherwise you’d be invisible. Once you’ve established yourself you can stop making that much noise. Because you’re here now, what are you going to do? And what is enough? What do you need? What do my family need?"
This reconsideration of his priorities seemingly extends to his interest in what roles he'd like to take on in the future.
"I spent a lot of time fighting the concept of ‘grown-up’. I think all the baddies and all those sorts of ‘grrrr’ characters that I’ve played, I’m not that. The whole acting thing has been kind of peacock-ish, counter to what I am," Hardy said. "What’s most indelible on my memory are things that are shocking or scary so it’s very easy to mimic them. It’s actually much harder to mimic things that are soft and nice and intimate if you don’t grow up in that way... Now I’m getting older these things are becoming less scary."
That being said, Hardy is still very much in the midst of playing these so-called "grrr" characters in splashy, big budget films -- including the hotly anticipated Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which is set to hit theaters Sept. 24.
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