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By Matt Patches July 12, 2010 |
Here's what's ahead:
Why Tom Hardy's Eames is a little bit Shakespeare, a little bit James Bond.
Inception's got some crazy-ass stunts - and they weren't made in a computer.
Hardy gushes on his role in Star Trek: Nemesis.
Inside info on the upcoming Mad Max sequel/prequel/reboot/something.
Matt Patches: Creating your character...everyone appears to have a complicated back story and you sense that in the movie without anyone explicitly explaining it. Was there a lot of back story that you got from Chris or that you were able to develop yourself?
Tom Hardy: Both really. Chris had masterminded the entire operation. When reading Inception and getting to the end of it, and feeling like I understood, but realizing at the same time it doesn't matter how much I understand. The only way I'm going to understand this is talking to Chris Nolan and devote everything toward whatever he wanted me to do. We had a discussion about feedback, what sort of person he wanted my character to be. I felt that he was along the lines of an old, Graham Greene-type diplomat. Sort of faded, shabby, grandeur the old Shakespeare lovey mixed with somebody from her Majesties' Special Forces.
Then the Forger, which is very important, is someone who creates...in the same way people create and forge documents and passports to oil paintings. I just had to look into that. He agreed with me, also having some James Bond in there too. And as soon as he gave me that I said, "brilliant!"
And then the costumes were like a peacock...campy, old money. Like a traveler, very savvy person.
Matt Patches: I think you summed that up perfectly when you called Joseph Gordon-Levitt, "darling."
Tom Hardy: Yeah, yeah, I don't think that was originally in the script.
Matt Patches: Really? That's amazing. I was curious about the lighter, comedic elements in the movie, most of which stem from your character. Was in the script or if there was a lot of improvisation?
Tom Hardy: Mmm, ever so slightly. I would never stray from somebody's script, absolutely not. Chris Nolan... every comma, punctuation mark, he designed it and it wasn't for me to go in there and reshape it. It's a very large piece of machinery. The "darling" part was accidental. I came out with "darling" and we kept it in because it was funny, but we did plenty of them without "darling." I felt comfortable on set...we were having fun. It's very kind of him to have kept it in. We were having fun.
