Tom Hardy Felt Like He Was ‘Playing God’ With Gary Oldman in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’: ‘I Ignored Him’
Actor Tom Hardy had the opportunity to work alongside one of his idols Gary Oldman in The Dark Knight Rises. But he joked that playing the villainous Bane helped curb Hardy’s intense admiration for The Professional star.
Tom Hardy once shared what it was like playing Bane opposite Gary Oldman in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
Hardy shared that he’s always looked up to Gary Oldman since the days that he was an aspiring actor. In a 2011 interview with Shortlist, Hardy confided that he even wanted to follow Oldman’s example as a film star.
“Gary Oldman is my absolute complete and utter hero,” Hardy said. “He’s the f***ing man. I look at him and I want to be like that for my generation — I want to have that same quality. He’s incredible. And there is a definite ‘hang on a minute’ [moment], but I’ve got past the star-struck part now.”
The star-struck effect that Oldman had on Hardy was very much apparent when they collaborated for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Hardy found himself unable to even remember his lines in the thriller while acting with Oldman.
“I spent my entire experience with Gary staring at him and not returning any lines because I think he’s God,” Hardy recalled to Total Film.
But in The Dark Knight Rises, Hardy joked that the reverse happened.
“The second time [on The Dark Knight Rises] I was playing God, so I ignored him. Kicked him a bit, that kind of thing. Gary Oldman is one of my heroes, I did nothing but gleam from him,” Hardy recalled.
Tom Hardy made Gary Oldman feel old
Oldman has been a star in the film industry for decades. But as he’s getting up there in age, he took notice of a new generation of elite actors that were succeeding him. Hardy was only one of them.
“You look at a different generation and at people like Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy, and Michael Fassbender, who are great young actors that are coming through,” Oldman once told Collider.
But in a 2011 Q & A with Vanity Fair, Oldman confided that Hardy reminded himself how old he himself was getting.
“Whether you like it or not, you become older and a bit of an elder statesmen. You know you’re getting old when Tom Hardy says, ‘I used to watch you as a kid.’ But he meant it in a nice way,” Oldman said. “A whole new generation coming up flatteringly look up to you – but you’re just looking for something else; you just slow down.”
Another Dark Knight co-star, Heath Ledger, reminded Oldman what he didn’t miss about being a young actor, however.
“I remember being on the set of The Dark Knight with Heath, and we all knew he was going to be dazzling – you could see it. I remember thinking one day, Rather you than me,” Oldman recalled.
Tom Hardy shared that he stole everything he did from Gary Oldman
Hardy is known for being one of Hollywood’s most versatile actors. His role as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises couldn’t be any more different from his roles in Bronson and Inception. But Hardy confided that, aside from using his own abilities, he used Oldman as inspiration for every one of those roles.
“This is a man that I’ve stolen everything that I’ve done from, like Bronson and Stuart: A Life Backwards,” Hardy once said according to IMDb. “That’s me trying to emulate what Gary’s done, and to work with him makes me feel like I don’t have any characters of my own.”
Over the years, Hardy revealed that Oldman has also become a bit of a friend of his. He was able to convince his idol to do the movie Lawless alongside him, which Hardy couldn’t believe.
“Then for him to actually like me, and to work three times with him – because we did Lawless afterwards. I remember saying, ‘Would you look at the script, it’s really cool’, and he’s like ‘Yeah, sure,’” Hardy recalled. “This is crazy, you know?”
