Patrick Stewart is admitting that he did not anticipate Tom Hardy‘s Hollywood career lasting more than 20 years since first working with his fellow Brit.
Stewart wrote in his memoir “Making It So” (via Insider) that shooting 2002 film “Star Trek: Nemesis” alongside Hardy created a “challenging” dynamic with the future “Venom” star, who largely kept to himself on set.
“Tom wouldn’t engage with any of us on a social level,” Stewart wrote. “Never said, ‘Good morning,’ never said, ‘Goodnight,’ and spent the hours he wasn’t needed on set in his trailer with his girlfriend.”
The actor added, “He was by no means hostile — it was just challenging to establish any rapport with him.”
Hardy portrayed the movie’s villain Shinzon, a clone of Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard.
“‘Nemesis,’ which came out in 2002, was particularly weak,” Stewart wrote of the “Star Trek” installment. “I didn’t have a single exciting scene to play, and the actor who portrayed the movie’s villain, Shinzon, was an odd, solitary young man from London. His name was Tom Hardy.”
Stewart continued, “On the evening Tom wrapped his role, he characteristically left without ceremony or niceties, simply walking out of the door. As it closed, I said quietly to [co-stars] Brent [Spiner] and Jonathan [Frakes], ‘And there goes someone I think we shall never hear of again.’ It gives me nothing but pleasure that Tom has proven me so wrong.”
Hardy most recently starred in Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders.” Director Nichols told IndieWire that Hardy was like a “tornado” on set.
“Tom doesn’t strike me as an actor, certainly not in the traditional sense. He’s like a force,” Nichols said. “He’s like a hurricane or a tornado. Like you sit back and watch. But then when you have all that, he vibrates.”
