He also discusses fame and how it affects his life choices.
Tom Hardy looks gruff and rugged, and sometimes he has the attitude to back it up.
Covering British Esquire for its May issue, the Mad Max: Fury Road actor talks about everything from his level of fame to how he picks and chooses film roles. He also admits that since reaching a new level of success, he has had to learn to adjust the way he works.
“I have a reputation for being difficult. And I am. I am, in fact,” he says. “But I’m not being unreasonable. Before, if someone hurt me, I would lambaste a bit, in order to get them to stop. It ultimately comes from fear.”
But over time, he learned that he couldn’t always “go wild” because it could hurt his future and his career, which he couldn’t afford because he had a family to support.
“If I cause enough damage, people will never ask me to do something I don’t want to do again,” he continues. “But that kind of backfires after a while, so you don’t want to do that. You grow.”
All of this growing up also seems to have given the Inception actor a little perspective, as he tells the magazine that fame won’t change his life choices or the way he raises his family.
“I’m 37. How mega-famous can I be at 37? Anything that gets in the way [mine and my family’s life] go first. I don’t say that lightly. Because I’m comfortable enough financially to say that, as far as I can,” he explains.
But he makes it clear that no matter how much money he makes, he won’t trade it for what he’s passionate about.
“I’m not a multi-multi-millionaire; I don’t have enough money to survive my whole life and take care of my friends and family, but I would rather I could go to Crock A Doodle (where the interview of British Esquire took place) and being with my dogs, and walking down the street, and people know me and say hello,” he told the magazine.
“It’s great, it’s like being a local in an old-school sitcom, Cheers or whatever, but in real life. Do you know me? Great. It’s cool. Totally. Brilliant. Love it. At least I know I’m not alone in the world,” he adds.
