My father came from an intellectual and studious avenue as opposed to a brawler’s avenue. So I had to go further afield and I brought all kinds of unscrupulous oiks back home – earless, toothless vagabonds – to teach me the arts of the old bagarre.
I love dogs. Like, A LOT. They’re my favorite animal. Ever.
I’m just getting settled as a responsible man – but if you split the elephant into little mouthfuls it will be fine.
I’m into parlor dramas. I’m into theatre. I’m trained for the stage. I trained to do Chekhov and Shakespeare, I was trained for the stage.
I set myself that decision, otherwise I’m driving an opinion at you, and I think that would be treating you like you’re an idiot. I don’t want to force-feed you my opinion.
I had a huge imagination. My granddad says I was a bit of a Walter Mitty character.
I get hired more then I get seen more. I get seen more then maybe celebrity and fame happens but at the end of the day there’s no difference between my five dollar performance and my fifty million dollar performance. It’s not going to make me a better father.
If you look round Hollywood there’s no end of white smiles and six packs. Long lines of beautiful people lining up to be incredible on film.
I’m very sensitive. Because my mum was my primary emotional caregiver growing up, I found myself being pinned into dresses, darting her dresses, choosing her high heels for the evening or what to wear. I’m very much a mommy’s boy.
David Mamet we all know is a great screenplay writer and playwright and a great director. If you like him, you like him. If you hate him, you really hate him. He’s someone who’s into controversy, you know what I mean? That’s David Mamet.
If you’re lucky like me, your relationship with your brother has resolved itself on the peaceful side of the fence and has stayed there. But if you’re someone who’s got a family that’s all fractured and finding it hard to relate, that’s a very sad place to be.
As actors, we have the opportunity to work with many directors. Directors only work with themselves and other actors. They never know what it is like to work with another director. So that relationship that one has with a director is entirely always the king.
I like to be other people, not me. And when you’re on the red carpet, it’s like, ‘Here’s Tom Hardy.’ I don’t want to be me. That’s why I play other people.
I hate publicists and publicity. But I love the people.
There’s an abundance of exposure when you start working in American films. Inevitably you become a brand and that has to be controlled.
Being an only child, I didn’t have any other family but my mom and dad really, since the rest of my family lived quite far away from London.
I liked you better when you were drunk .
Maybe it’s a little ambitious of me to presume that no matter how big the film is, that I can always go down to the shop to buy a pint of milk.
Vanity is normal in performers. Does it bother other people? All the time. But nine times out of 10, that says more about them than you.
It’s mistakes that make us who we are.
You know, I think anybody who has a dream to do something, that dream will keep you warm in the coldest of nights. You know what I mean? When you’re like most lonely... that dream needs to be nurtured and cultivated so, even if you never speak to another person again in your life, that thing, that dream has to keep you company. So I would pour everything into that dream.